Making Fast Gameplay

Guide info#

Short: 4-6 minutes

TLDR - What this guide covers#

• Fast Gameplay can be used to create intensity or help match the energy of a song.
• Faster parts should have higher contrast to make them distinct, but should also account for predictability.
• Using tools such as speed portals and triggers can help create the illusion of higher speeds, at the cost of harder playtesting.

1: What is Fast Gameplay?

In almost all levels, some form of speed is relevant. Fast gameplay is what it sounds; The gameplay is noticeably faster than normal. Speed is usually relative, meaning it’s based on its surroundings. A 2x speed part after a 0.5x speed part would feel much faster than one which is just 2x.

Higher relative speeds create more intensity and energy as well as contrast, since changing the speed will make one part distinct from others. Without faster gameplay to represent intense moments in the song or level, the final product can come out anticlimactic. While fast gameplay can improve the overall experience, you should still balance how much of this speed is used, otherwise your level becomes repetitive and exhausting.

2: Creating Fast Gameplay

When is it appropriate?#

Since fast gameplay connects to a level or song’s high intensity, consider creating sections of fast gameplay when the song you are using picks up tempo or increases in energy, an example being the drop of a song. Frequent changes to gameplay speed may also work well with building up to a drop.

Contrast#

As mentioned earlier, speed is relative. If a song slightly increases in speed, you shouldn’t go from half speed to 4x speed as it would be jarring to experience. If you want to make a sudden boost in speed noticeable, you can make the previous section slower. An example of this are Osio and Cipher’s parts in Glorescent. If you want the increase to be gradual, you can slowly speed up the level, like rply’s level commatose.

Predictability#

Although the speed should create a tense atmosphere for the player, it should still account for predictability. If the gameplay is too quick or introduces many sudden differences in gameplay from the previous part, the player may not be able to read the gameplay properly and won’t find the experience to be fun. One way to fix this is to make the gameplay simpler, taking Königstein by marwee as an example. Be aware there is no requirement to have sight-readable gameplay, and you are free to create sudden gameplay if you desire. A good example of this is We can dream by Icaruuu.

Clicking Speed#

To indicate to the player that a section is intense, you may want to increase the rate the player needs to click. Increasing inputs over the same amount of time can decrease the room for error and make the player feel more prone to slip-ups, which creates a tense atmosphere for a part. Your click pattern can help players learn the level easier, aiding in predictability; POLYATOMIC by Oasis, Renn241 and akinawoo has duals and toggle-orbs that line up with the song, making it easier to learn via click-sync.

3: Useful Mechanics

Speed Portals#

Speed portals do what their name suggests: Change the speed of the player. Fast gameplay is typically done with 3-4x speed portals, which is good for representing faster and intense sections of the song. Speed portals are in almost every level and easy to use, though their simplicity puts limitations on what they can do. Wyvernn’s part in Alone Intelligence gets its speed purely from speed portals, yet still feels engaging.

Timewarp#

Timewarp lets you change the game’s speed, which affects more than just the horizontal speed. An example of this is gravity being much faster than normal. Most will lower the gravity, but this comes with a balance that requires trial and error. You can use timewarp in places where the physics don’t matter much. OVERDOSE PARTY by Angel_GD and burgadahz17 makes use of Timewarp; You can see the physics for the gravity of the UFO change.

Move Triggers#

You can increase the speed of the player by moving the entire level towards the player, even though the actual speed is stagnant. Problems with this are that playtesting in the editor will look weird, and building a part becomes harder. Teleport triggers can also be used to achieve the same effect in reverse by teleporting the player forwards each frame, but it comes with potential desync, making start positions unusable. dropdead by Quitora moves the gameplay around to artificially increase the speed, but it also uses it to slow down the level as well.

Credits#

Created by @Kb and @NotAModerator