Sorry for my English, I hope you can understand, what I meant :-).

I also like how it varies from interesting timing puzzles to levels which are mostly just art, like some of the more interesting tessellation levels that aren’t so much challenging as just plain pretty. :)

It also has a pretty nice level editor. I made a few levels, with level designs that you might find familiar…

http://subjunctive.net/jumpman/jumppac.jmp.zip

I haven’t really played around with tessellation tricks yet, though, and I look forward to it.

Really, the acceleration movement is more suited for analog controls. Because the game is played on a keyboard, there’s a mismatch in the design. If I had an analog stick, it would be much easy to control the character like it is in Monkey Ball.

I just got through level 9 (or was it 8) and I see what you mean. The last “world” or so was pretty interesting even though the game has camera and control issues. The “theme and variation” (ie. the “what ifs” and “various combinations”) is pretty thorough. There are a lot of levels that use each new mechanic before introducing a new one. I like that classic approach.

I agree. The game is neat and fairly well done.

I agree that the controls are an issue with the game. They’re just not usable enough for the modern gamer. Oddly, a newcomer to platforming would probably have an easier time with them, since she’d have to “unlearn” less… but without the practice of tens of platforming games, she wouldn’t be good enough to surpass some of “Jumpman’s” more difficult levels.

I do find the game very well-done, though. It’s certainly not the best example of platforming gameplay out there, and the levels are occasionally more trial-and-error than skill tests. But the game takes a premise and carries it through. It takes a set of “what ifs” and puts them together in various combinations. “What if levels actually wrapped like that?” “What if you could break away parts of the level?” “What if you could do both?” It’s a sort of experiment, and I think it successfully explores the options.

It’s not the most usable game, but I did have a lot of fun with it, and it provides great unity of theme. All the elements in the game fit together to make a sort of retro, psychedelic, slightly clumsy work. At least, that’s how I see it.

The main problem I have with games trying to “do what art (sometimes) does” by violating rules and conventions is that games are all about function. When designers go in and change things just for the heck of it, the product usually greatly suffers for it. After all, function is based on usability not subjectivity and/or expression.

From what I gather, you equate Jumpman to a riddle or a low quality joke; ie. once you know the answer/punch line, it doesn’t have the same impact anymore. I tend to think of Jumpman as simple and loose with a lot of interesting yet unsubstantial tricks.

You say the game turns platforming on its head. I’m not sure how. You jump around to get to the goal. You can rotate levels for some level transformation due to gravity and the changing state of the platforms/walls. There’s a bomb switch that also messes with the levels. Throw in a pinch of interplay (using the ball to crush enemies) and you have Jumpman.

I found a few levels to provide interesting puzzles/challenges, and the rest to be less focused.

Personally, I don’t put a lot of value in people/products that want to “mess” with me just because. Besides the game elements, the “icy” controls don’t match the level design. Accelerating to high speeds by holding down the arrow key is a very extreme and (from my experience) unnecessary way to move around. To makes things worse (ie. less playable) there’s no short jump (a quality of direct JUMP mechanics), and the game world isn’t quantified to the player movement. For these reasons, the gameplay doesn’t fit/come together. Also, the hit boxes for the enemies/player/goals/”lava” are very loose.

The way the game uses physics is also very loose. The only way to interact with the blocks/balls/enemies in some levels is to rotate the level. When you’re trying to clear a path or destroy an enemies to reach the goal, manipulating the level using the rotation is about as effective as trying to shake only red Skittles out of a bag of Skittles. You shake, the physics do what they do, and you hope for the best. If you don’t get your desired result, you try again. This design can easily lead into instances of trial and error/static space.

The game reminds me of Flywrench for many reasons. They’re both platformers, similar graphical styles, easy/fast deaths, and fast restarts. While Flrywrench is highly polished/tuned, Jumpman is not.