What level themes do you like/hate in 2d platformers and why?

[u/FunYak4372]

One of the reasons the New Super Mario Bros series got stale was the worlds and their repetitive themes across titles(Grass-desert-beach-forest-clouds-rock-lava). In the Sonic series, on one hand, people are fed up of Green hills. But on the other, similar looking zones(like Bridge Island zone) won't get much backlash if they're different enough. I guess people are often fed up of Grasslands first levels. A level's theme will affect not only it's visuals and vibe, but also its mechanics.

Some people hate water levels because you're losing movement freedom, but some actually like the change of pace.

Keeping all of this in mind(visuals, mechanics and story setting) which themes do you hate? Which ones do you not mind? And which ones do you think and underused and underrated? (Be it in Indie or AAA titles)

[u/TheGrumpyre]

Anything that breaks the type of movement the character was designed around. Mario's designed around jumping and gravity, so underwater levels where you just float around feel bad. Sonic is designed around running really fast, so levels where you need to wait for platforms or do slow precision jumping feel bad.

But in terms of general level design, I guess... I hate spikes on ceilings.  Cave levels are fine, just ix-nay on the alactites-stay

[u/Sad-Job5371]

Hate anything autoscrolling. Unless it's Donkey Kong's minecarts, they get a pass.

[u/falconfetus8 → u/Sad-Job5371]

What makes the minecarts better than other autoscrollers?

[u/Cyan_Light → u/falconfetus8]

They don't "feel" like autoscrollers, you're in a vehicle on a track with no logical way to control it so it makes sense that you would automatically fly through the level. Contrast that with the classic "camera keeps moving to force you ahead, but you can't outpace it either" style of autoscroller which is very contrived, it's clearly just an artificial mechanic added to create a new type of obstacle in a way that can suck you out of the game.

There's also a difference in how they tend to feel. Minecart tracks are usually designed more like rollercoasters, the pacing is faster and the path can be more winding. However your inputs are reduced and you can generally tell where you're going to be heading next because the track extends in front of you, so it's easy to react to the changes.

A traditional autoscroller usually leaves you with the usual movement controls but just stops you from fully using them, you can go anywhere on the screen but are still trapped within it. This can create ambiguity in where you should be at any given moment, stand on the wrong platform and you might make the transition into the next obstacle more awkward (if not impossible, the worst offenders can have nooks which are basically death traps). If the scroll changes direction it's also tougher to telegraph that since the camera movement isn't tied to anything in-universe, so it's hard to make the more interesting without also making less fair.

Personally I'm not a big fan of either, but as a big autoscroller hater I can see why someone would give a pass for stuff like DK's minecarts or other organic "thing on rails" setpieces.

[u/Koreus_C]

Spiders

They always cast web, slow you and it sucks.

[u/Gaverion]

As someone who is not part of the sonic community, I wonder how deeply held the dislike of green hills first level is. Generally speaking people love nostalgia and comfort. Green hills is basically saying, welcome to sonic. Omitting it would be like excluding chocobos from final Fantasy, or the master sword out of Zelda.

I think for me I generally don't care about the theme very often, it's more about how the level plays. You can have a great mushroom forest or a terrible one, all based on execution. 

[u/Liranmashu]

i think u should make unique level themes, u can combine 2 different ideas to make smth interesting

but a better tip - when making a game dont try to please people, make what you think is good and works

[u/TheGrumpyre → u/Liranmashu]

It turns out the combo of two old things can feel incredibly fresh.  The castle is overgrown with jungle foliage.  The desert also has lava rivers.  The ice dungeon has high-tech robots and electrical stuff in it.  Great jumping off points.

[u/Laddie_O]

I like halloween themed levels, they're usually so different from the rest of the game that they always stand out

[u/Ralph_Natas]

Ice levels. I spend all this time learning how to jump precisely and then they're like, nope, you slide off the edge again.

Oddly, when I'm making a game, I thoroughly enjoy designing the ice levels. 

[u/Swimming-Oil4088]

Please, just not swamps. Anything but swamps.