Platformer

A platformer or platform game is a popular video game genre characterized by jumping to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles. Most of the characters can perform actions similar to those possible in real life, such as jumping, rolling, walking, etc. Platformers often have themes. For example, a popular platformer called "Don't Look Back" does not allow the player to move backwards. Many Scratchers have difficulty creating realistic platformers due to the complex mathematical programming and trigonometry involved.

Elements of Platformers

Colors

Many platformers are coded to in such a way that the player interacts with areas of different colors. Often times the color red is used to represent lava and must be avoided. Colors can also be used for other items that affect the player, such as an extra bounce or being shrunk. Platforms, or the land that the character can stand on, are typically "ground" colors, such as green, brown or black. Besides, there are some other common colors like blue representing water.

Control

Due to the need to move in a platformer, one must assign keys to the different directions. However, on mobile devices a keyboard cannot be used while viewing projects. Due to that reason, some users started making mobile-friendly platformers, enabling the use of the touchscreen to move the sprite.

Wall-Jumping

Wall-jumping is a popular element used in many platformers, including pen platformers, scrolling platformers, and static platformers. Wall-jumping can be characterized by the act of climbing up walls. While many Scratchers think it is a fun element to add to their project, some also choose to exclude wall-jumping due to the fact that it makes the game unrealistic - especially if it is being made into a realistic platformer.

Scrolling Platformers

Platformers can have scrolling for the smooth transition between locations as if the camera is following the player. This implies that the terrain/map would move to create space for more terrain. This means that the character sprite is always in one place on the screen. This is really useful as it can allow the creator to increase the level size and create a more realistic view, thus can give the user a more enjoyable time. However, this type of platformers usually requires more work than non-scrolling platformers.

Static Platformers

Platformer levels can also be non-scrolling. The action of contacting the edge of the screen or reaching a goal triggers a transition to the next location. Usually it is the next level. Static Platformers may be easier to code for some users due to their lack of a requirement for additional code to create the scrolling effect.

Pen Platformers

Platformer levels can also be created by pen. All or part of the platforms are coded with the pen blocks. Pen platformers can be scrolling or static. Pen Platformers are usually the hardest to code out of those two mentioned above as it would usually require a lot of complicated coding and the platform/grounds sprite is not drawn by the creator, the creator code the sprite to draw the ground by itself using the pen code blocks.