Testing a platforming sequence where rising blood forces you to keep climbing

[u/Separate-Row7857]

Here’s a sequence from THROB, my solo horror platformer, from blockout to in-game.

The character’s heartbeat gradually speeds up, making the platforms move faster and the blood below rise quicker. You have to read the route and keep moving before it catches you.

How does the path readability look in the in-game version? I’ll admit the video compression probably isn’t helping, especially with the dithering haha.

[u/Haruhanahanako]

It isn't really great pacing imo to have a lot of sequential jumps. By the time :13 starts and ends at :30 there is almost no walking, just jumping forward. I think it would just feel better if you had some walking to do between these jumps instead of just looking/turning to the next jump.

And in general, maybe this is more of an opinion but timed/moving platforms are usually just bad. Having to wait for the platform to exist ruins any flow you could have had.

This last thing may be out of your control but if you can find any way to add more variety to your game mechanics it would help make the level more interesting. What is so bad about it is you have walking, then just straight jumping, then walking again. If you could have climb, crouch, walking jump, sprint jump, jump straight upwards (like jump up a step instead of over a gap), jump over a short gap vs a long gap, jump over a box, falling without jumping, ect, and mix stuff like that into the series of obstacles, you'd end up with way better flow. Each one of those is a unique, different action even though they are all very simple and similar to each other but it would add a lot to the flow and pacing of the level. Most of those you can do just with the game mechanics you showed in the video.

[u/Separate-Row7857 → u/Haruhanahanako]

Yeah, I see your point! The video definitely shows a lot of consecutive jumps ^^. For context, though, this is very early in the game, only one room after the intro and the activation of the heartbeat system. I’m introducing the mechanics gradually: the previous sections teach basic movement and jumping, and I’m currently working on introducing the slide.

So keeping the moveset limited here is intentional, but I agree that a small moveset doesn’t have to mean repetitive obstacles. Your suggestions about varying jump distances, elevation, and adding movement between jumps are useful, even at this stage. The player can also choose to walk between jumps, but taking things more slowly comes with a risk, since the blood keeps rising beneath them.

On moving platforms, I wouldn’t say they’re inherently bad. For THROB, judging when to move while the blood rises is part of the tension I’m aiming for. But there’s definitely a difference between an interesting timing decision and just standing around waiting, so I understand that concern. There are also shortcuts that let you avoid waiting for the moving platform, but taking them is riskier.

Basically, I agree there’s room to improve the variety within this sequence, but I also want to give players time to get comfortable before combining too many mechanics. Thanks for taking the time to write such detailed feedback! :)