Why Does Celeste Feel So Good to Play?

Summary

This video dissects the tight and responsive controls of the platformer Celeste, focusing on its protagonist Madeline. The creators, Matt Thorson and Noel Berry, explain the importance of precise acceleration and deceleration curves that enhance player control. Key mechanics such as jumping, climbing, and dashing are examined, emphasizing their fluidity and intuitive feel. The game’s design incorporates feedback through animation and sound, creating an immersive experience. Additionally, forgiving mechanics like 'Coyote Time' allow for smoother gameplay. Overall, Celeste serves as a model for effective platformer character design, showcasing the balance between challenge and player agency.

Takeaways

• 😀 Precise controls are essential for platformer games to avoid sloppy physics and unresponsive gameplay.
• 😀 Madeline from 'Celeste' exemplifies great character movement with tight and responsive controls.
• 😀 The character's run involves three phases: acceleration, top speed, and deceleration, which should be finely tuned.
• 😀 Madeline's movement has ultra-short acceleration and deceleration curves, making her feel human and responsive.
• 😀 Jump mechanics are crucial; Madeline has a low jump height but good hang time, contributing to precise control.
• 😀 Additional mechanics like climbing and dashing enhance gameplay variety and resource management in 'Celeste.'
• 😀 Visual feedback (like dust particles and screen shake) enhances the feeling of control and movement in the game.
• 😀 Developers should be forgiving in gameplay design, incorporating features like Coyote Time to improve player experience.
• 😀 Continuous playtesting and adjustments are necessary during development to ensure smooth character movement.
• 😀 Different platformer designs can emerge by tweaking character movement curves, leading to varied gameplay experiences.

Q & A

What are the key elements to consider in platformer character movement?

The key elements include acceleration, top speed, and deceleration. These factors determine how quickly the character starts moving, reaches full speed, and stops.

How does Madeline's movement in Celeste compare to other platformers like Super Meat Boy and Mario?

Madeline has ultra short acceleration and deceleration curves, allowing her to reach full speed in about six frames and stop in just three frames. This is much quicker compared to characters in Super Meat Boy and Mario, making her feel more responsive and less slippery.

What is 'Coyote Time' and why is it important in Celeste?

Coyote Time refers to the mechanic where players can still jump for a few frames after leaving a platform. This makes gameplay feel more forgiving and allows players to maintain control over their character.

How do the jump mechanics of Madeline enhance gameplay?

Madeline's jump is relatively low but has significant hang time, allowing for precise landings. She can jump to about three times her height, giving her a bouncy, animated feel without being floaty.

What two additional moves does Madeline have in Celeste, and how do they function?

Madeline has a climb move that allows her to stick to walls and a dash move that propels her in a direction. The climb is limited by a stamina system, while the dash can be replenished by touching the ground or collecting crystals.

What role do art and sound effects play in enhancing the game's controls?

Art and sound effects like the squash and stretch of Madeline's jump, dust particles on landing, and screen shakes during dashes all contribute to the overall feel of movement and provide feedback to the player.

How did the developers arrive at the specific movement mechanics for Madeline?

The developers used intuition and extensive playtesting to experiment with different mechanics. They adjusted the numbers based on how players reacted during testing sessions.

What is the significance of the game's camera design in relation to Madeline's movement?

The game's camera is zoomed out and often static, which allows players to see the entire room and makes it easier to execute precise movements without disorienting camera shifts.

In what ways does Celeste's design encourage players to experiment with movement?

The game allows for multiple ways to solve challenges using different moves like jumping, climbing, and dashing. This encourages players to think creatively and experiment with combinations of these moves.

How do the advanced movement techniques contribute to speedrunning in Celeste?

Techniques like dash-cancel, hyperdash, and ultradash allow speedrunners to maximize momentum and execute moves with precision, turning difficult stages into fluid sequences of movement.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to AI Technology

This part introduces the fundamental concepts of artificial intelligence (AI), discussing its historical development, core principles, and its significance in contemporary society. It highlights key milestones in AI's evolution, from early algorithms to modern machine learning techniques, and emphasizes the impact of AI across various industries, such as healthcare, finance, and transportation. The section concludes by raising questions about ethical considerations and the future of AI technology.

05:03

🤖 Applications of AI in Daily Life

In this part, the practical applications of AI in everyday life are explored. Various examples illustrate how AI technologies are integrated into common activities, such as personal assistants like Siri and Alexa, recommendation systems in streaming services, and smart home devices. The section emphasizes the convenience and efficiency these applications bring to users while also discussing potential challenges, including privacy concerns and dependency on technology.

10:04

🌍 The Global Impact of AI

This section examines the broader implications of AI on a global scale, addressing both economic and social dimensions. It discusses how AI can drive innovation and growth in emerging markets, contributing to job creation and improving living standards. Conversely, it also highlights the risks of job displacement and the need for workforce retraining. The discussion includes perspectives from various stakeholders, including governments, businesses, and non-profit organizations, on navigating the transformative landscape shaped by AI.

15:06

⚖️ Ethical Considerations in AI Development

Focusing on the ethical dilemmas associated with AI, this part delves into topics such as bias in AI algorithms, transparency, accountability, and the implications of autonomous decision-making. It raises critical questions about who is responsible for AI-driven outcomes and how to ensure fairness in AI applications. The section advocates for ethical guidelines and frameworks that promote responsible AI development and usage, calling for collaboration among technologists, ethicists, and policymakers.

🔮 The Future of AI Technology

This final part speculates on the future trajectory of AI technology, envisioning advancements in capabilities and the potential for even more sophisticated AI systems. It explores emerging trends such as quantum computing, generalized AI, and the fusion of AI with other cutting-edge technologies like biotechnology and robotics. The section concludes with a discussion on the importance of ongoing research, education, and public engagement to ensure that AI develops in ways that align with societal values and needs.

Keywords

💡Platformer

A platformer is a genre of video games characterized by jumping between platforms, avoiding obstacles, and navigating levels. The video emphasizes the importance of designing responsive and precise controls for platformers, as sloppy mechanics can ruin the player experience. The example of 'Celeste' is highlighted to show how tight controls can enhance gameplay, allowing players to engage more deeply with the mechanics.

💡Controls

Controls refer to the input mechanisms that dictate how a player interacts with a game. The video discusses how responsive controls are essential for a satisfying platforming experience, using 'Celeste' as a benchmark for well-executed controls. It notes that Madeline, the protagonist, features tight and precise controls that make her movement feel fluid and intuitive, contrasting with other games that suffer from poor control design.

💡Acceleration and Deceleration

Acceleration and deceleration describe how quickly a character can speed up or slow down in a game. In 'Celeste', Madeline has ultra-short acceleration and deceleration curves, allowing her to reach full speed quickly and stop almost instantaneously. This design choice is crucial for creating a feeling of control and responsiveness, making platforming challenges more engaging and less frustrating for the player.

💡Jump Mechanics

Jump mechanics define how a character leaps, including height, duration, and control during the jump. The video compares the jump mechanics of various characters, highlighting how Madeline's jump is short and quick with a significant hang-time, allowing precise landings. This contrasts with characters like Meat Boy, whose jumps are longer and contribute to a floaty feeling, showcasing how different jump mechanics affect gameplay experience.

💡Coyote Time

Coyote Time is a game design concept that allows players to jump shortly after leaving a platform, simulating the 'coyote' character running off a cliff in cartoons. The video explains how this mechanic helps prevent frustrating moments where players feel punished for their timing. It emphasizes that this forgiving design choice enhances player experience by allowing for more fluid and forgiving gameplay, which is especially important in a challenging platformer like 'Celeste'.

💡Momentum

Momentum in platforming refers to the speed and force with which a character moves through the game environment. The video discusses how different games handle momentum differently, using examples like Sonic's long acceleration curves. In 'Celeste', the developers focused on creating a balance that allows players to feel in control while still enjoying the rush of movement, especially during advanced techniques like dashing.

💡Advanced Movement Techniques

Advanced movement techniques are complex maneuvers that skilled players can use to navigate levels more effectively. The video introduces techniques such as dash-canceling and hyperdashing, which allow players to maintain or gain speed creatively. These techniques illustrate the depth of 'Celeste's' movement system, enabling expert players to exploit the mechanics for speedrunning and precision gameplay, demonstrating the game's design flexibility.

💡Feedback

Feedback refers to the visual, auditory, and tactile responses players receive from their actions in a game. The video highlights how 'Celeste' uses sound effects, animations, and visual cues to reinforce player actions, such as dust kicking up upon landing or screen shakes when dashing. This feedback loop enhances the sensation of control and satisfaction, making players feel more engaged with the game mechanics.

💡Game Design

Game design encompasses the process of creating the rules, mechanics, and overall experience of a game. The video discusses how the creators of 'Celeste', Matt and Noel, iterated on their design through playtesting and experimentation to refine Madeline's movement. This iterative process illustrates the importance of flexible design in developing a game that feels responsive and enjoyable, emphasizing the relationship between player input and game mechanics.

💡Player Agency

Player agency is the degree to which players can make meaningful choices in a game and see the consequences of those choices. The video discusses how 'Celeste' prioritizes player agency by ensuring that Madeline's controls feel responsive and intuitive. This design approach allows players to feel in control of their actions, fostering a deeper connection to the gameplay experience, especially during challenging sections of the game.

Highlights

The importance of precise and responsive controls in platformer game design.

Madeline from Celeste serves as an excellent example of tight, fluid movement.

The three main components of character run: acceleration, top speed, and deceleration.

Madeline achieves ultra-short acceleration and deceleration curves, making her feel very responsive.

The significance of jump mechanics, including jump height and jump curve, in platformers.

Madeline's jump is designed to be quick and precise, providing a sense of control.

The balance of air friction in mid-air movements allows for precise landings.

Celeste features a static camera design that helps maintain spatial awareness for the player.

The game avoids using built-in physics systems, opting for hard-coded movement to ensure precision.

Game design evolves through playtesting and iteration, impacting character controls and level design.

Madeline's climbing and dashing mechanics introduce strategic resource management in gameplay.

Coyote Time allows players to jump briefly after leaving a platform, enhancing playability.

The game's forgiving design includes numerous 'hacks' that reduce frustration in difficult sections.

The significance of sound effects and visual cues in enhancing player experience and feedback.

Advanced movement techniques, like dash-canceling, provide depth and fluidity in gameplay.

Celeste's design emphasizes that character movement should feel enjoyable even without specific goals.

Iterative design requires flexibility and a willingness to discard ideas that don't contribute positively.

Transcripts

If you’re making a platformer, you’ve got to get your main character feeling good.

Because sloppy physics, unresponsive controls, floaty jumps, and imprecise movement are completely

toxic in platformer design.

So it’s vitally important that you get this stuff right.

And if you wanted a character to learn from, you could do a lot worse than looking at Madeline

- a twenty-something wannabe mountain climber, and protagonist of 2018’s award-winning

platformer, Celeste.

Her controls are tight, precise, and responsive.

You can put her exactly where you want, and ping from platform to platform with fluidity

and accuracy.

And the game not only works at a super casual level, but it even holds up when you delve

deep into Celeste’s toughest challenges.

So how, exactly, is this achieved?

Well, to figure it out, I went on a bit of a journey.

I pulled apart the game’s code.

I went frame-by-frame on Madeline’s animation.

I chatted to Celeste speedrunners.

And I spoke to a couple people who know the game better than anyone else…

MATT: I’m Matt Thorson, director and co-creator of Celeste.

NOEL: I’m Noel Berry and I’m programmer and co-creator of Celeste.

And so, after all that, here’s what I learned about the killer controls of Celeste.

So let’s go back to the very beginning and look at Madeline’s most basic move: her run.

A character’s run can be split into three parts: acceleration, top speed, and deceleration.

As in, once you start moving the stick, how long does it take the hero to get up to top

speed?

And how long does it take to stop, when you let go?

Getting these two curves right is especially important.

Keep them short and the character will feel stiff and robotic - like in Mega Man 11.

Make them long and the character will feel heavy and lumbering to set off, like in Super

Meat Boy - and slippy and uncontrollable to stop, like in Super Mario Bros 3.

That game generally feels great to play, but Mario does feel like he’s running on ice

at times.

In Celeste, Madeline has ultra short acceleration and deceleration curves.

It takes her about six frames to get to full speed - which happens roughly four times faster

than Super Meat Boy.

And she comes to a stop in just three frames - about nine times faster than Mario in New

Super Mario Bros U.

Those digits are just high enough to make Madeline feel human, and to stop you from

being able to do huge standing jumps - but short enough that she almost instantly does

what you tell her to do.

You’re very rarely going to slip off the edge of a platform, in this game.

Her top speed is relatively low, too.

And unlike Mario and Meat Boy, there’s no run button to get even more speed.

I think this is just fast enough to feel fluid, but slow enough that you feel in total control

at all times.

We can do a similar process with the jump.

First, we calculate the character’s jump height by looking at high they can jump - compared

to their own body size.

So in New Super Mario Bros U, Mario can jump to a point that’s four times his own height,

while Meat Boy can jump massively high, to about six times his own height.

And then we can look at each character’s jump curve, noting the climb, hang time, and fall.

This also gives us a total jump time.

So Meat Boy has a tall and lengthy jump, making the character feel rather floaty.

Yarny from Unravel, on the other hand, has a really short jump, and not much hang-time,

making this wooly rag-doll feel surprisingly heavy, and leaden.

Madeline, again, sticks to the short end of the spectrum.

She goes up and down very fast, but with quite a lot of hang time so you can line up your landing.

And she can jump to about three times her own height - giving her one of the shortest

jumps around.

Like her run, these numbers are enough to make her feel bouncy and animated -

but about as far from floaty as you can get.

There’s more that makes Madeline’s basic movement feel good, of course.

There’s the fact that she can change direction very quickly, with no skidding.

And how she has massive amounts of air friction, which means if you stop moving the stick in

mid-air, she’ll almost instantly fall straight down.

That makes it easier to land precisely where you want to.

And then there’s the more fundamental design of the game’s camera.

Celeste is a zoomed-out game, where - at times - the entire room is framed by a static viewpoint.

This means that the screen isn’t flipping out all over the place, which makes it

easier to be precise with your runs and jumps.

If Madeline is the only thing moving, it’s easier to put her where you want to.

The devs did have to compromise on detail for the characters and environments, but I

think it was worth it.

Now, Madeline’s movement is entirely hard-coded, and written in Visual Studio, with the help

of Microsoft’s XNA framework.

So the devs didn’t use the built-in gravity or physics systems you sometimes find in game

engines like Unity and Game Maker, as they preferred to have precise control over the

player’s input.

So I asked Matt and Noel how they came to these numbers for Madeline’s movement.

MATT: A lot of it was intuitive, a lot of it was just from making a lot of platformers.

To get a sense of what you want a platformer to feel like and what works.

NOEL: And a lot of it was just experimentation, right?

Like trying things and getting people to playtest it, and seeing how it feels and watching them

and seeing like "oh that did not work as intended", so this needs to be toned down, this needs to

be better.

MATT: And it changed a lot through development too.

Lots of little changes - even big changes.

NOEL: And like in regards to how the pacing feels when you’re platforming, like when

should you be stopping and when should you be more flowing.

The mechanics changed to kind of like make that all feel better.

So those are the basics, but there’s way more to Madeline - in the form of two extra

moves you can use when scaling the mountain.

One is the climb.

Hold the trigger and Madeline will snap to a wall, and then can climb up it, and bounce

off for a springy wall jump.

Unlike Meat Boy, who slides up walls uncontrollably, Madeline sticks to surfaces like glue.

Climbing is dictated by a stamina system - Madeline’s got 110 stamina points, though that’s not

shown to the player, and they depreciate at different rates depending on whether you’re

holding still, climbing, or doing a climb jump.

The other move is the dash.

Hit the dash button and Madeline will fire off into the direction you’re holding.

She can only dash once in mid-air - elegantly represented by her hair turning blue - so

you’ll either need to touch the ground or grab a crystal to replenish your stock.

The dash does take control away from you, because Madeline fires in one direction at

max speed.

But that’s only for the first 0.15 seconds of the move.

From there, she slows down and you’re given control back, meaning you can cancel the momentum

of the dash to stop yourself flinging into spikes.

This gives the move more nuance and expressiveness, compared to the same, more static move in

Celeste’s PICO-8 precursor.

With these three mechanics - the jump, the climb, and the dash - Celeste becomes a rapid-fire,

resource-management puzzle of managing vertical space, and picking when and where to execute

different moves.

A jump here, a dash there, on to the wall, then back off to regain stamina and replenish

your dash, before jetting off again.

Each move has its own feel, speed, and level of control - giving the game an exciting,

ever-changing pace.

All part of the developer’s plan, as it turns out.

MATT: Like, a lot of problems in Celeste can be solved in multiple ways.

Like you could either dash or you could climb.

There’s some where you could only use one or the other, or you have to use both in different

combinations.

But the dash was always supposed to be the more chaotic option where it’s kind of harder

to control, whereas the climb is more methodical and you have more precise control of it.

It’s not just the numbers that makes Madeline’s moveset feels so good: art, animation, and

sound effects help sell the feeling, too.

Like the squash and squeeze on her jump, which really emphasises the movement in her body.

The way tiny dust particles kick up, and the controller rumbles, when you hit the ground,

to sell the impact.

The four-frame pause and microscopic screen shake whenever you dash, which makes the jolting

movement feel even more heightened.

And the trail of shadows and the blazing white contrail, which emphasise the speed and direction.

Celeste isn’t a bonkers Vlambeer-style juice fest, but these subtle and short-lived effects

do a lot of heavy lifting in making the game feel better - and giving feedback to your

inputs and actions.

While Celeste is a very hard game at times - and gets even harder if you go for the strawberries,

and cassette tapes, and B-Side levels, and so on, the developers are actually extremely

generous to the player, with an untold number of hacks and special cases in the code that

make the game way less punishing.

The most famous, perhaps, is the way you can jump a few frames after leaving a platform

- and still spring into the air.

This is called Coyote time, named after the bits in Loony Toon cartoons where characters

run off platforms and keep sprinting in mid-air.

But there are loads of others hidden in the code.

Dashing into a corner won’t bonk you into oblivion, but you’ll merely sail around

the edge of the platform.

Spikes have a small hit box, so you won’t die if you touch the very tip.

These traffic light blocks will still grant you momentum, even if you’re a little late

on the button press.

If you do a climb jump but quickly push away from the wall, the game switches to a wall

jump and refunds the stamina.

And if you jump just before touching the ground, the game will remember that and execute the

command when you land.

NOEL: Because it feels bad if you press jump the frame before you touch the ground

and just touch the ground and there’s nothing.

You want it to feel like "no, I pressed the jump button, I was right there...". It feels like

the game messed up, like the game missed your input or something - it got eaten. And you

don’t want that, you want to feel like you’re in control of your character and it’s doing

what you want it to do. And when you do mess up it’s more on the player figuring out

like “how do I solve this problem and execute it better" and not "I was one frame off and

the game's has killed me".

MATT: It’s like working on the player’s intent rather than making it a precise simulation

of pressing buttons at the correct time.

NOEL: And the cool thing too about that is for actually really pro players, people who get

really really good at it, it does come down to those frames. Even if you say "you get three

frames off of a ledge, and you can still jump" - for a normal player that just makes the

game feel better.

But then for pro players who actually are trying to get through each level super fast, or trying to

execute something perfectly, then they get down to the frames, like "no, I have three extra

frames so I can use those to get across a gap I’m not supposed to get across"

MATT: They abuse it

NOEL: Yeah. So you still get that frame perfect play that’s possible but then for casual

players it just feels better.

It’s a good point, and boy have players found ways to get the most out of the game’s

movement code.

I asked TGH, the world’s top-ranking Celeste speedrunner, to explain some of the advanced

techniques he uses to turn the game’s toughest stages into graceful, effortless dances.

First, there’s the dash-cancel, where a forward dash can be cancelled at the last

second and turned into a massive jump that flings you through the air with all the momentum

of the dash.

Do this while crouching and you’ll get the hyperdash, which is a lower but faster jump.

You can extend these two moves by separating the dash and jump inputs slightly more, so

Madeline regains her dash in mid-air.

And “for even more speed”, says TGH, “after extending a hyperdash you can dash diagonally

down-forward to chain momentum, and in some cases you can gain ludicrous speed".

This is known as an ultradash.

You can also dash cancel upward along a wall for boosted height and vertical speed.

Which is called an up-hyper or wallbounce.

There are other techniques too, and TGH says “it’s amazing just how fluidly all these

techniques come together and work so well with the level design.”

That’s likely because almost of them are actually intended by the developers and some

are even taught to you in the game.

Not that I can actually perform them, mind you.

It was important to Matt and Noel that Madeline’s movement felt great, even if you don’t have

tricky, well-designed levels to explore.

After all, this was one of the key suggestions they had when I asked for the tips they might

give to someone making their own platformer character.

NOEL: Just make sure that the moment to moment feels good so that when someone’s just sitting

there with a controller, the room could be empty but they can move their character around,

make that feel good

MATT: With no goals or anything, just make sure it’s fun to be that character.

I remember playing Mario Sunshine and just running around Delfino Plaza for hours beause

it was just fun.

NOEL: You can flip off stuff and all these things. Just the player itself can do all these cool

interactive things that just feel fun.

But making levels - and adding in new mechanics like pinball bumpers, trampoline clouds, moving

blocks, pelting wind, and kamikaze hotel owners - can actually force you to go back to the

movement code, and change how things work.

MATT: We decided early on what we wanted Madeline to be able to do, but the details of the numbers

defintiely changed, and then the levels also changed, in tandem with that.

So you basically get the player character to where it feels alright, you know it’s

not perfect, you know you have to do testing and stuff, but you need levels to test too.

So you make a bunch of levels and then you test, and you find out "oh the player character has

to change", and then you have to change 20 levels.

You have to let different parts change other parts of the game,

and let it slowly reveal what it wants to be.

NOEL: And you have to be willing to throw away stuff sometimes too. Like "this is a cool idea

and a cool direction but it wasn’t working".

It’s progressing what the game is because you’re learning about what the game actually is

and figuring things out so even though you’re throwing work away,

it’s a learning experience that ultimately makes the game better.

MATT: Yeah, it’s still work that goes towards completing the game, even if it doesn’t

manifest as content.

It becomes part of your knowledge that you use to make the rest of the content.

Now, Celeste shows a great way to do very tight and responsive controls - but that’s

just one way to do a platformer.

Tweak those curves and you can get very different results, like the realistic animation of Playdead’s

Inside, or the intense air-control of N+.

Or Sonic games, which are all about building and maintaining momentum, so it’s suitable

that Sonic has a ridiculously long acceleration curve - and, likewise, struggles to come to

a complete stop.

Still, I think Madeline’s a really good place to start when thinking about platformer

character design.

Matt and Noel’s work shows the importance of getting the curves right when building

basic movement.

Adding mechanics that introduce very different ways to navigate the space.

Using feedback to emphasise movement.

Being forgiving about pixel precision.

Increasing the skill ceiling with advanced movement.

And not being afraid to test, tweak, and toss away work throughout the lengthy process of

getting this stuff right.

Thanks so much for watching.

There's a post on my Patreon now where I talk more about the run and jump graphs in this

episode, and those who back the show at $5 or more can watch the full interview with

Matt and Noel right now.

MARK: Did you come up with the term Coyote Time, Matt? Was that your invention?

MATT: No, that was a player, I think. Wasn’t it?

NOEL: I don’t know, actually

MATT: I think it was in the PICO-8 one, a player called it Coyote Time and we were like

that’s a good name.

NOEL: I’ve heard it used for other platformers too.

MATT: Okay. I think it comes from players. I don’t think developers made that term up.

Which is cool, I think developers should take it.

NOEL: Yeah, it’s a good word.

Sounds like we need to do some detective work.

Please remember that the GMTK Game Jam begins this Friday, so keep an eye on itch.io and

this YouTube channel for more info.

And don’t forget to subscribe and hit the bell button if you want new game design content

to keep appearing in your sub box.

See ya later.