TIGSource: Jumpman

Jumpman

Derek Yu — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:07:00 +0000

For being a platformer called “Jumpman,” this is one of the freshest games I’ve played recently. The most obvious comparison is messhof’s Punishment series, but this feels much more multidimensional (in more ways than one). There are some really interesting ideas at play here, and some of the best ones are in the later stages.

To quote the author:

The hope is to try to make you believe that every 2600-era platformer would have looked like this if only you’d pulled the camera back about 4 feet. Like, every old game had something where you could walk off one side of the screen and suddenly appear on the other, right? What was actually happening there? Did space in the world where Pac-Man lives just happen to loop back on itself every ten feet? What would happen if you just took the camera and turned it a little bit to the right, would you see Pac-Man duplicated every 10 feet stretching off into the distance forever…?

Jumpman makes me think that being a character in an Atari game is like being a character in the movie Cube. Disturbing!

TIGdb: Entry for Jumpman

"Jumpman" by Shih Tzu

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:18:23 +0000

Postmodern platformer. Neat.

So much of this is wonderful (the color levels were frustrating but fair). My biggest gripe has to do with what happens when jumping meets physics. Many times when you’re on an unsteady surface (the level where the hunters push the blocks around on the bottom comes to mind) jumping doesn’t function properly, probably because the game thinks you’re briefly in midair. Jumping off of a 45-degree surface is also quite difficult because any movement down the slope threatens to break your contact with the ground.

There were several spots that seemed too frustrating, although I eventually made it to the end, so they couldn’t have been that hard, I suppose. And turning death into just an inconvenient teleport was rather brilliant.

The crazy levels are the best, and I’d say this game is at least 40% crazy. I am glad this exists.

"Jumpman" by Lyx

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:02:36 +0000

Only improvement which i could think of (besides of the slippery issue) is autogenerated levels. Sure, there are more than enough levels builtin, but i think it may be even more interesting, if the levels we’re randomly generated… but considering that some of the appeal of the game comes from how the levels are designed, it may be difficult to create a good algo for that.

Really, i fully agree with what someone else said: MORE GAMES LIKE THIS! :-)

"Jumpman" by nuin

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:24:05 +0000

This game is great, not just good! No wonder this has made the rounds of just about every gaming blog. Bravo, mcc, get ye to the IGF with this game.

Jumpman plays great and the level design is a lot of fun, the way new ideas and mechanics are introduced, especially when the ‘bomb’ power-up and the ‘color changing’ levels come into play!

This game really achieves its goal of mixing old-school 2D gameplay with next-gen features.

I like that the game is self-contained and has an ending, which makes going through the levels more rewarding. The record-keeping ups the replay value nicely. Now mcc needs to get going on a new level pack with the same game engine. And let’s get a server going for level sharing! (And while we’re at it, get this on the wiiware, PSN, and XBLA!)

The ‘slipperiness’ took getting used to at first, but it works as part of the game. I used a controller, which really makes the game play better (just map the ‘rotate stage’ effect to the shoulder buttons)

"Jumpman" by Jay

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:35:34 +0000

great use of sound and dimension…. but frustrating controls - the slippery surface combinded with moon physics are totaly frustrating ( at least to me)

"Jumpman" by Krux

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:21:01 +0000

for all Linux Users

this game uses SDL insted of Game Maker => it runs perfectly in WINE

"Jumpman" by Vanguard

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:05:22 +0000

RMVX: I don’t see any reason why it would cause motion sickness. It’s a 2d platformer, and initially the only twist is that the player can rotate the playing field. The level design and gameplay are a lot of fun, and it throws in a lot of new twists as you progress that keep it fresh and interesting. Give it a shot!

"Jumpman" by Super anon

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:07:37 +0000

Holy jumping Jesus those later levels are aggravating.

"Jumpman" by mcc

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:24:06 +0000

RMVX, I did get at least one report of motion sickness when you get to the repeaty levels. If it becomes a problem there is a feature in the options screen labeled “tone down background” that should help with that though.

"Jumpman" by RMVX

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:19:32 +0000

Pretty intense looking game. Is it the sort that would give motion sickness? Kinda scared to give it a try

"Jumpman" by Therum

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 03:48:10 +0000

Awesome game. It gave me a serious Flywrench-style vibe, which is a very good thing.

"Jumpman" by captain_duck

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:49:29 +0000

I played this through earlier today and i loved it. Great game, worth a shot. Would like to see more of this actually.

"Jumpman" by Vanguard

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:28:01 +0000

This game is great!

"Jumpman" by Ilia Chentsov

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:36:57 +0000

The difference between games and art is that we don’t need to beat art to appreciate it.

"Jumpman" by desertmajava

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:27:04 +0000

Jumpman is… intensely experimental (also incredible gameplay-wise). The games industry really needs games like this in order for people to take it seriously and consider games a form of art. It plays excellenty and breaks the conventions of platformers wonderfully, but at the same time it’s also mesmerizinly hypnotic and minimalistic visually. Even the sounds are top-notch, the objects create their own little melodies and songs when they bounce across the levels and bump into each other and the characters. Truly a multi-tiered masterpiece.

"Jumpman" by jimmykane

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:38:20 +0000

Skofo: The game runs perfectly in Wine for me. The guy said on his website that he’s working on a Linux version.

"Jumpman" by Peevish

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:21:01 +0000

The game being incredibly slippery is part of the challenge; some levels would be incredibly easy in Mario but here are impossibly hard. Stick it out a bit, as the game goes on it really suits it. I love this thing.

"Jumpman" by Skofo

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:43:54 +0000

Where is the Linux version?

"Jumpman" by Bronze Dog

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:22:25 +0000

Well, I beat it all. Nicely done game. Paint levels were weird.

"Jumpman" by Bronze Dog

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:42:54 +0000

Wonderful game. And yeah, it takes a bit of time to get used to the slippy-slidey ice world.

Current point of stuckness: Second level of Path 6. Can’t do anything with the ball o’ death. Can’t quite make it past the enemies intact.

"Jumpman" by Sisyfos

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:00:52 +0000

The game seems interesting, but i just can’t stand the controls! It’s waaaay to slippery and the fact that you gain speed in mid air is annoying. Is there a reason to this that i’m missing? It really ruins the game for me.

"Jumpman" by wourme

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:50:50 +0000

I have no idea what to do on that “Hope” level. I’ll have to develop some additional patience before my next attempt.

"Jumpman" by Fuzz

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:56:18 +0000

I saw the topic on the forums and immediately played it. Wow.

"Jumpman" by Duckmeister

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:54:11 +0000

Derek, this is now the third time within 2 months you have made a Cube reference. I call shenanigans.

"Jumpman" by wourme

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:53:03 +0000

Very nice work. In this particular game, some of the things I might normally see as flaws (some of which have been pointed out by others) seem to fit.

"Jumpman" by IceNine

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:26:19 +0000

I was probably too quick to judge on the lives thing. Now that I think about it a bit more, the challenge in the game is in getting through each level alive (ala N+ as reehh pointed out). Adding a lives limit might be superficial in this game.

Drop me a line if you need help with the framerate thing. I look forward to finishing the game when I get home from work :)