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Vicarious Visions explains why Skylanders: SWAP-Force includes jumping
A portion of a Game Informer interview with various Vicarious Visions devs...
Game Informer: Can you describe the thought process and implementation related to introducing jumping into the Skylanders design?
Brent Gibson, visual development director: There is something about Jump that completes the feeling of controlling a character. There are so many games that I’ve played where I subconsciously jump as I play. It also adds a new dimension to the franchise that players were clamoring for. I believe the combination of it feeling good, it being fun, and it fully satisfying the gamers expectation made it an easy decision.
Jeremy Russo, game director: At the beginning of SWAP Force development, most of our attention was dedicated to creating the SWAP Force mechanic of mixing and matching interchangeable parts of Skylanders, but we also spent time exploring what aspects of Skylanders we could evolve or improve on. One of the things that “jumped” to the top of the list was, well, “jump.”
Jump was something the fans had been asking for, but it was also something we felt would add a whole new dimension to the gameplay and expand the variety of gameplay we could offer players. However, Skylanders was not a hardcore platformer, and we knew from years of experience making games for kids that a younger audience can struggle with 3D platforming games.
To ensure jumping added more fun and depth to the experience without alienating the younger demographic, we took a very methodical approach to implementing jump. We put a lot of focus into defining jump distance and height metrics, making the jump arc feel good and produce reliable outcomes, and put kids through the ringer on a wide variety of different platforming scenarios.
Where we ended up was a fantastic place, where the older gamers have praised us for adding a whole new layer of depth to the levels and feeling of control over the characters, and where the younger players are still able to progress all the way through our levels without getting stuck. We still retained some of the more hardcore platforming moments that we tried and really enjoyed, but they were all moved into optional and hidden areas off the critical path in our levels.
Full interview here
Game Informer: Can you describe the thought process and implementation related to introducing jumping into the Skylanders design?
Brent Gibson, visual development director: There is something about Jump that completes the feeling of controlling a character. There are so many games that I’ve played where I subconsciously jump as I play. It also adds a new dimension to the franchise that players were clamoring for. I believe the combination of it feeling good, it being fun, and it fully satisfying the gamers expectation made it an easy decision.
Jeremy Russo, game director: At the beginning of SWAP Force development, most of our attention was dedicated to creating the SWAP Force mechanic of mixing and matching interchangeable parts of Skylanders, but we also spent time exploring what aspects of Skylanders we could evolve or improve on. One of the things that “jumped” to the top of the list was, well, “jump.”
Jump was something the fans had been asking for, but it was also something we felt would add a whole new dimension to the gameplay and expand the variety of gameplay we could offer players. However, Skylanders was not a hardcore platformer, and we knew from years of experience making games for kids that a younger audience can struggle with 3D platforming games.
To ensure jumping added more fun and depth to the experience without alienating the younger demographic, we took a very methodical approach to implementing jump. We put a lot of focus into defining jump distance and height metrics, making the jump arc feel good and produce reliable outcomes, and put kids through the ringer on a wide variety of different platforming scenarios.
Where we ended up was a fantastic place, where the older gamers have praised us for adding a whole new layer of depth to the levels and feeling of control over the characters, and where the younger players are still able to progress all the way through our levels without getting stuck. We still retained some of the more hardcore platforming moments that we tried and really enjoyed, but they were all moved into optional and hidden areas off the critical path in our levels.