To make a good platformer, start with the jump, not the levels: tune its height and timing until it feels right in your hands, then measure every gap and platform against what that jump can reach. Build each level around one idea that you teach, test and then mix with earlier ones; place enemies where the player sees them before reaching them, and checkpoints before hard sections. You can build this by describing the game to an AI game maker and tuning the jump with sliders while it runs.
- how to make a platformer game
- how to make a game like Mario without coding
- platformer level design tips
- how to make jumping feel good in a 2D game
- what is coyote time
What makes a platformer fun?
In a platformer game the player does one thing hundreds of times: jump. So the genre hides nothing. If the jump is heavy, the distances random or an enemy appears from nowhere, the player feels it within seconds, even without knowing why.
IllustrationThree pillars, and the order matters:
- The jump: how the character answers your hands. Everything else rests on it.
- The levels: distances and heights built on exactly what that jump can do.
- Enemies and hazards: what turns jumping from an exercise into a decision.
Most beginners start from the end: they build five levels, then change a jump that feels wrong and break them all.
How do I design a jump that feels right?
A jump is an arc: rise, peak, fall. Two numbers control it: jump strength (the upward speed the character launches with) and gravity (what pulls it down every instant). Together they produce what the player feels: height and time in the air.
| What you change | What happens | How it feels |
|---|---|---|
| Higher jump strength only | A higher, longer jump | More freedom, but the character may feel floaty |
| Higher gravity only | A shorter, quicker jump | Weight and bite, and it may not reach platforms |
| Both up together | The same height in less time | Fast and precise, good for challenge |
| Both down together | The same height in more time | Calm and easy, good for children |
| Higher run speed | More distance in the same jump | Momentum, but precise landings get harder |
A practical starting point: let the jump lift the hero about three times its own height and peak in under half a second. Then play. If you are waiting to land, raise gravity and jump strength together. If you have no time to steer in the air, lower both. Your hands are the judge.
What small tricks make jumping feel fair?
The games you love cheat in your favor. Each of these well-known tricks can be asked for in one sentence:
- Coyote time: jumping is still allowed for a fraction of a second after the hero leaves a ledge. Without it, players press on time by eye, fall, and feel cheated.
- Jump buffering: if the player presses just before touching the ground, the jump fires on landing and the press is not lost.
- Variable jump height: a short press gives a low hop, a long press the full jump. Precision without an extra button.
- Faster fall than rise: slightly stronger gravity on the way down sharpens the jump and reduces floatiness.
- Forgiving collision boxes: make the hero's hitbox a little smaller than the drawing, and coin boxes a little larger. Players forgive a game that flatters them, not one that charges them for a pixel.
Improve how jumping feels without changing the levels: add a short grace period for jumping after leaving a ledge, remember a jump press made just before landing, make jump height depend on how long the button is held, and make falling a little faster than rising. Then add these values to Tuning so I can change them with sliders.
Try it in FanannHow do I measure my levels from the jump?
Once the jump is fixed, measure it. Most platformers are built from equal squares (a tilemap), so measure in tiles: how many up does the hero reach, and how many across in a full running jump? Those two numbers are your ruler.
| Section type | Gap compared with the maximum jump | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Comfortable | About half | Level openings and rest sections after a challenge |
| Normal | About two thirds | Most of the level |
| Challenge | About four fifths | Once or twice per level, right after a checkpoint |
| Maximum jump | Almost the full distance | Optional secrets and rewards only |
Heights work the same way. And a small platform is harder than a wide one over the same gap, because the landing needs accuracy.
How do I build a level that teaches without text?
The best levels contain no explaining text. A well-known rule of level design: each level is one idea passing through four stops.
- 1Teach
Show the new idea where the player cannot lose. A moving platform over solid ground: fall and you simply try again.
- 2Test
The same idea with real danger. The moving platform is now over a pit.
- 3Mix
Combine it with something learned in an earlier level. A moving platform with an enemy patrolling on it.
- 4Reward
An easy stretch full of coins before the flag. The player finishes feeling skilled, not merely alive.
A complete first level that plays in about a minute:
- Flat ground with a row of coins: the player learns to walk and collect.
- One low step with a coin on it: jumping, with no danger.
- A comfortable gap with ground close below: gaps exist, and there is no punishment yet.
- One slow enemy on wide ground: jump over it or on it.
- A real gap, then a checkpoint.
- A gap and an enemy together, then a staircase of platforms with coins, then the flag.
Where do enemies and hazards go?
A platformer enemy is a moving obstacle with a rhythm: the player reads it and picks a moment. Start with one type and add one per level.
| Type | What it does | What it asks of the player | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patroller | Walks back and forth on its platform | Timing a jump over or onto it | Wide ground first, then narrower platforms |
| Spikes | Static; touching costs a life | Accurate landings | At the bottom of gaps and on platform edges |
| Moving platform | Carries the player between two points | Patience and reading rhythm | Over long gaps |
| Flyer | Moves up and down in the air | Choosing jump height | Over a normal gap, to make it a challenge |
| Boss | A repeating pattern of three moves | Learning the pattern, using the opening | The last level only |
How hard should the game be?
Easier than you think: you have played your level fifty times. If you finish it without losing every time, it suits a new player; if you sometimes lose, it is far too hard for them.
- Level 1Moving and jumping
One slow enemy, comfortable gaps, one checkpoint. Finished on the first or second try.
- Level 2A new idea
Moving platforms. Normal gaps, and one challenge right after a checkpoint.
- Level 3The mix
Enemies on moving platforms, spikes below. Two checkpoints.
- The endA final test
A section combining everything, or a boss with a clear pattern, then a win screen that has been earned.
Pick the one that sounds like you to see the advice.
The problem is the jump or the first gap. Ease the opening so nobody loses before they understand the controls.
Shorten the gap by a tile, slow the enemy, or put a checkpoint right before it. Do not change the jump.
Add optional coins in hard places and a best-time clock. Skilled players get a challenge without beginners being punished.
How do I build and test it without coding?
All of this holds whatever tool you use. The shortest way to try it is Fanann's platformer template: levels with fixed and moving platforms and checkpoints, patrolling enemies you clear by landing on them, coins, lives, and win and game-over screens. Gravity, jump strength, hero speed, number of lives and enemy speed are all sliders you drag while the game runs.
Make a platformer: an explorer girl in a hat runs and jumps through a desert oasis, collects dates, avoids scorpions and reaches a tent at the end of each level. Level one: flat ground, short gaps and one slow scorpion. Level two: moving platforms over quicksand. Level three: scorpions on moving platforms, and cactus spikes. A checkpoint in the middle of each level, three lives, a moment of protection after a hit, coins in arcs over the gaps, and large touch buttons on phones.
Try it in FanannPlayers forgive a hard level. They do not forgive a jump that did not obey.
For more on the numbers, read game feel and tuning; for the general build steps, make a 2D game with AI.
Key takeaways
- The jump is the game. Tune it first in an empty space, before you build any level.
- Jump strength and gravity work together: raise both for the same height in a faster, sharper arc.
- Make the comfortable gap about two thirds of the maximum jump, and ask for the maximum only rarely.
- One idea per level: teach it somewhere safe, test it with danger, then mix it with what came before.
- A fair loss is one after which the player knows what they did wrong.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a platformer like Mario?
How many levels does a first platformer need?
Why does the jump in my game feel floaty?
What is coyote time in platformers?
Can I make a platformer without coding?
How do I know a level is too hard?
Ask your AI assistant about this
Copy this prompt into the AI assistant you use, then add the details of your own case.
I am reading this guide: “How to make a platformer game: levels, jumps and enemies” https://fanann.com/en/blog/how-to-make-a-platformer-game/ My question: how to make a platformer game Use that page as a source and explain the answer step by step for my situation, tell me what to check before I start, and cite the page link.