Platform Actor
The Platform Actor is one of the main features of the template. It consists of a set of useful behaviors an actor has in the context of a platformer game.
An actor is an entity that acts with purpose in the game's world. Actors can be a Player, an Enemy with AI and any sort of smart entity with some sort of intelligence.
The main goal with the Platform Actor is to have a self contained entity with useful built-in behaviors that can be used for setting up basic platform gameplay mechanics. To achieve that the Platform Actor leverage its behaviors from well established references in the genre.
To establish a broad, yet specific and well defined and scoped, library of behaviors the platform actor takes advantage of what, in my experience, are good references for what Pigdev Studio is aiming to achieve in its games. The references below appear in order of importance and influence in the Platform Actor's design.
Megaman X series offers a snappy yet fluid physics. The actor always move at a constant speed, no acceleration. A Heavy gravity guarantees that each jump will have a fast landing time, offering a good feeling of precision of the jump by decreasing the tension of anticipation lower gravity jumps, e.g. Mario Bros., offer. This kind of physics are ideal for fast paced action games because they avoid lagging feedback, e.g. waiting the acceleration time to reach the full walk speed.
The wall slide and wall jump is almost a trademark of Megaman X games, and is a must have for the Platform Actor as well. This feature offers a smooth landing, and it is good for games that have a bit of exploration in their levels by offering a safer way to climb down levels' pits and explore potential secret areas. It is also a good feature for combat mechanics, especially if combined with moving platforms or boss's pits.
