2D platformer template
One screen, three platforms, one gap you can see before you jump. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo, 2023) still teaches run and jump. Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games, 2014) teaches the gap with a strike downward. Change the jump's height before you paint a second screen. The AI platformer maker, make a platformer with AI and the AI side-scroller game maker all start from this gap.
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What makes a 2D platformer
2D platformer: running and jumping across levels seen from the side.
The games that set the standard are Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo, 2023), Celeste (Maddy Makes Games, 2018) and Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games, 2014).
What the template starts with
The 2D platformer template starts with one screen with three platforms and one gap. That is the smallest version of the loop that defines the genre: run, jump, land, reach the goal.
What to change first
Jump the gap ten times. Shorten the jump until you miss on purpose, then give back just enough that a running jump clears and a standing jump does not. Art on the far platform will not teach that.
2D or 3D
The 2D platformer template starts in 2D.
Related templates
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Describe your version in one sentence. The AI writes a brief from the template, and nothing is built until you approve it. Free for Windows and Mac.