Jumping
Learning paths through this topic
A low-gravity area where the jump still reaches the height you promised
Caves, moons and magic fields change gravity, and two things go wrong: the character jerks at the border when the pull flips at once, and a tuned jump overshoots into the ceiling once the pull is weaker. Here is a smooth handover and a way to still get exactly the height you want.
Hammering the jump key to break free of a trap or a snare
Being caught in a snare and wriggling free by mashing a key is a classic survival moment. Make the meter too forgiving and a held key or an auto-clicker frees you at once, too strict and nobody escapes. Here is a meter that rewards honest mashing, drains when you stop, and ignores machine-gun input.
A horse that must jump a fence at the right distance, or crash
A mount that clears any fence from any spot feels fake, and one that always crashes feels unfair. The honest rule is a window: too close and the chest hits the rails, too far and the landing is short. Here is how to compute that window from the fence and the animal's jump.
The jump stops dead when the head just clips the corner of a block
Players aim a jump through a gap and bump the edge of the ceiling by a few pixels, losing all their height. A small correction slides them past instead. Here is how much to forgive and why the direction matters.
A laggy connection makes one jump press happen twice, or not at all
Online, the button press travels to the server, may be sent again to be safe, and can arrive late or out of order. Handled carelessly the character double jumps on a single press, or a press that arrived just after leaving the ground is lost. Here is how to number the presses and what to do with each one.
Platforms you can jump up through but stand on, and drop down from
Thin platforms are easy to get wrong: the character gets yanked on top while jumping up through them, falls through when standing, or cannot drop down at all. Here is the rule that decides, step by step, whether this platform is solid right now.
Hopping between handholds on a cliff: which one does the jump go to?
On a cliff face the player points with the stick and presses jump, and the game must guess the hold they meant. Pick the nearest and it feels random; pick by direction alone and the character leaps at holds out of reach. Here is a choice that follows the stick but respects the reach.
Placing a block under your own feet while jumping, to build upward
Builders stack blocks under themselves to climb, and the moment the block appears the game must decide what happens to the body that is partly inside it. Wrong answers eject the player, trap them or drop them through. Here is the rule for when it is allowed and what the character does.
Stepping through a portal at a jump's speed and leaving in the right direction
A portal that keeps momentum is a joy: fall into one in the floor and shoot out of a wall. It goes wrong when the direction is not turned with the portal, when a slow fall drops back in, or when the character is thrown straight back into the entrance. Here is the turn and the minimum.
A wolf or other hunter leaping at a moving player: aim ahead, or not at all
A predator that jumps at where you are always misses, and one that always lands exactly on you feels like a cheat. Here is how to aim a committed leap ahead of a moving target, when to leap, when it is too far or too close, and how to keep it dodgeable.
Show where the character will land, or where an enemy's leap ends
Shadows, aiming marks and enemy jumps all need to know the landing point before it happens. The usual guess is off when the ground is higher or lower, or when going up is not the same as coming down. Here is the exact way.
A missed jump over a chasm should put you back somewhere safe
Falling off the edge of the world after a failed jump is part of exploring, but being put back on the very edge, on a crumbling stone or in lava is cruel. Here is how to remember a place that was truly safe, when it counts, and what to do when there is none.