Interesting Concepts for Side-scroller Puzzles
Ok so basically the idea here is that sidescroller games are fairly awesome on their own but often I find that they are repeating them selfs far too much. Games like braid that bring a new dimension to the ideas presented by the basis of the genre are of course refreshing but this trend needs to continue if the standard market is to be kept interested in this fun fairly simple and fantastic medium of games.

Now of course the first point is that sidescrolling is a gameplay feature as much as it is a genre so it can of course be the basis for your game but if your game it to be loved, bought and followed by a cult (*cough* Braid *cough*) then it needs a plus one. It needs something else to bring to the player and something else to make them think.

And before a single one of you stands up and says
"Mario is just a sidescroller that one of the most loved games of all time, derp derp derp"
I would like to ask you to kindly allow me to finish as I was just going to say that yes Mario was just a sidescroller but Mario got there first and you didn't, so tough luck better luck next time go create your own genre if you want to be lazy about design features, though that would probably be even more work than just making an interesting sidescroller, Mario started the genre, or at least made it big but its our job to make it bigger if we just keep doing the same thing as them the whole time well get no where and in 10 years time all we will have to show for our troubles is a crap load of FPS game and a really nice looking Mario copy with about 10 billion levels (to be fair that would be pretty fun so go ahead.)

So onto the main point of this topic, I want you to all in the forums below discuss an interesting feature that could be added to a sidescrolling game and if you have the "know-how" even prototype it, and no I will not be trying to hide from the set task with the claim "Well I made the topic so I dont have to." because I will, the idea that I had for a sidescroller is...

Lucid

Lucid follows the mental and physical exploits of a child around the age of 8 who is socially unaccepted, he goes into a dream world through a box he keeps under his bed, in this dream world his imaginary friend Elle who takes the form of a pixie, Elle is basically the players mouse pointer and she has the ability to cut objects into shapes, the player must use this skill to solve puzzles throughout the game world using his environment and the hopefully powerful physics world around him.

Disclaimer:
I Wont steal your ideas, I have my own as can be read above, I plan to complete Lucid at some point or another and if you want to make it then please dont steal it from me (Im sure you can think of better games anyway so be creative.) just help me out I'd be happy to share the spoils heres a link to a recruitment page Link and please by all means post you witty, funny or fascinating ideas for sidescrollers below, who knows you might catch the eye of some genius who will give you a hand in making it a reality.

Hi there!

It's really interesting to involve mouse mechanics in sidescroller. I don't know what research have you done on sidescrolling but that genre have gradually evolved over the time. Even flash , as a technology, successfully exploited some really hot features like - gravity, puzzle solving, etc.etc. The emerging sidescrollers today are really some chimeras including sub-genres in them. That on other hand gives a opportunity for some great innovative things i think xD
You should check games like little big planet (great physics), Bounty Arms + Whizzle (unreal engine 3), Limbo (fancy visuals :D ) - these are just top-notch games to give you an idea of the current sidescrolling games.
Can you design a level and show us how would a user complete it with Elle's ability to cut objects ? With that you can give us insight of your idea, because right now i personally can't imagine it the way it's in your mind.
This is what i get from your post:

Haha thanks for the reply i like your points on the evolution of the genre and agree completely, I've played all those games but note that they are also some of the very successful titles in sidescrolling dude to the innovative concepts and ground that they break.

I laughed a bit when I saw that the level you though of was one of the level designs that hadn't even occurred to me :p, heres 3 basic ideas for a levels.


Thanks for the reply, and the feed back on my idea, I think that a mechanic like this will be similar to that of World Of Goo where the ideas for puzzles may seem limited but with enough though and full exploration of the mechanic a huge range of levels may be created.

pm sent

Your dream world idea reminded me of Coma, which is in my opinion a very beautiful game. It uses the sidescrolling feature effectively, and while it has no new mechanics and in fact a minimal level of real player interaction, it still manages to catch the eye. What I'm getting at is that the innovation doesn't necessarily have to be mechanical in nature; it can be in the setting or story, the "atmosphere", or some other aspect.

A side-scroller set on a Möbius strip could have potential, depending on the mechanics. I wouldn't be surprised if something along this line has been done before, but there's plenty of room for innovation.

Wow just played Coma that was really quite amazing, it had amazing visuals but to be honest I found that many of the puzzles were slightly too straight forward, but still very interesting :D But I do agree with what your saying, I think the idea of story and art based games is very interesting, games like flower show this well (Though im not personally a fan) Even though the game-play is simplistic and very similar to other games it used amazing visuals to set itself apart.