Platformers are just inherently a tough genre when you don’t have physical controls. Many developers have nailed the virtual button thing, but that’s not ideal for everyone. Another option is to completely remove traditional platforming mechanics so you can distill a platforming game down to something that can be controlled with just a couple of taps. Hence the auto-runner. While auto-runners are generally associated with endless, randomly generated high-scoring games, the mechanic has actually been put to really good use in more traditional-style platforming games. See the Rayman mobile games or the Wind-Up Knight series for just a couple examples off the top of my head. Anyway, the point is that you can create a platforming game that plays nice with a touchscreen without sacrificing the accuracy, timing and skill needed for a really great platformer. That’s kind of what was on my mind when I came across the trailer for Adventure Roller Skates.
In it you play as an adventurer who must escape an ancient temple. Your character is always on the move, and tapping on either side of the screen will allow you to change directions or jump. You can also wall jump and, when you need to, cling to a wall in order to “pause time" a bit until it’s safe to start moving again. In addition to the main campaign where there’s hand-crafted levels, there’s also an endless mode where a flow of lava is constantly chasing you from below, giving you plenty of incentive to keep moving. Here’s a recent video of the endless mode in action.
Overall, I think it looks really cool! And that endless mode run in particular was quiet epic. If you’re also thinking Adventure Roller Skates looks pretty cool, you’ll definitely want to check out the forum thread where the developer has posted tons of animated .gifs and additional videos of the game. Also, he’s currently running a beta test and it’s quite possible some spots may still be open, if you’re interested in taking the game for a test drive and providing some feedback. The full release of Adventure Roller Skates is planned for sometime this fall so keep an eye out for more details soon.
