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I'm prototyping a 2D platofrm game with simple jump to tap mechanics. Here, the ball is constantly moving forward with a fixed velocity, and jumps when a key is pressed. For reference, image below :

enter image description here

This is one of the many scenarios in the game. Difficulty I have is determining the position of various obstacles. For example, in the attached image, how to determine how far the two obstacle pairs should be so that it's just right. Make sure player can jump through the first pair and clear the second pair without making it too easy or nearly impossible to clear. Any level design validation techniques?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ i think the concept used in floppy bird is uesful for you \$\endgroup\$ – Manoj Balaji M Mar 3 '16 at 5:10
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Make some levels just quickly. And have people play test them. Play testing is the best way to do anything. Have your play testers rate each levels difficulty and then you can organize them however. (sometimes always getting harder isn't the best way to do things) you will probably be surprised to find that your testers will find each level harder to complete than you did. And listen to everything your testers have to say about each level and implement what you find good. Repeat until you are done. Good luck! And have fun!

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  • \$\begingroup\$ While "playtest more" and "listen to playetesters feedback" are usually good advise, this question was asking explicitly about automated validation. \$\endgroup\$ – Philipp Apr 23 '16 at 16:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Philipp my mistake. I didn't catch that \$\endgroup\$ – user107793 Apr 23 '16 at 18:29
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One good discussion I foThe guide to implementing 2D platformers. One particularly useful tip mentioned there is Tile based level design. This approach removes the guess work as it gives some fixed quantity which can be used as reference. For example, I can quantify mechanics as :

  • player jumps two tiles high and 3 tiles long.
  • obstacles should have minimum 4 tiles of distance between them (horizontal)

and so on. Still looking for some more discussion.

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