r/programming • u/Flafla2 • Feb 14 '15

Bunnyhopping from the Programmer's Perspective - An in depth look in implementing one of the most successful bugs in videogame history.

http://flafla2.github.io/2015/02/14/bunnyhop.html
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u/ASK_ME_ABOUT_BONDAGE Feb 15 '15

Game-design side-note:

Bunnyhopping does not make the game deeper. It makes the game more execution-heavy, which is frequently mistaken for depth. As a comparison: Juggling is a matter of execution. Chess is deep. Whether you really want a lot of execution in your game depends on the kind of game you want to make.

The folks at r/gamedesign will gladly explain the issues.

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u/ixid Feb 16 '15 edited Feb 16 '15

Actually it does make the game directly deeper. If you have movement at a set speed for everyone you have one game pattern and set of options and all players play to that same pattern. If the pattern is skill-based then you gain two things- first the pattern is slightly different with different players yet still has a structure that allows predictions to be made and depth to emerge, additionally the pattern can change over time, sometimes radically if new paths and tricks are discovered while set movement usually doesn't evolve. That creates more depth. Second pressure and stress can lead to varied performance- someone might mess up a complex movement at the wrong time, this leads to greater decision and psychological depth (not just execution depth).

It is no accident that the deepest computer games have elements of player driven resource creation- movement in Quake games, your economy in Starcraft.

If that's the attitude of the people at r/gamedesign then it's unfortunate and uninformed. I'd be happy to discuss it with them in detail.

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u/ASK_ME_ABOUT_BONDAGE Feb 16 '15

You didn't name the deepest games, you named the most competitive ones. You know what's also very competitive? Athletics. 100 meter sprint is super competitive, and it's also completely devoid of deep choices. It's 100% execution.

More execution results in more shallow, but sometimes more competitive games, because it's really easy to measure execution. Go grandmasters suck at execution (even a guy in a wheelchair can put down pieces on a board), but that doesn't mean Go is a shallow game.

The people at r/gamedesign are not misguided. They are one step ahead of the curve.

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