Abilities Part Three: Double Jump Use Cases & Implementation Guide

This four-part series guides you through the new Abilities granted by unique items, shows you how to incorporate them into your Experience, and offers tips for creating engaging gameplay with them.

As part of The Sandbox’s Game Maker and Game Client 0.11 update, we’ve introduced three new Abilities Players can equip in-game: Flight, Air Dance, and Double Jump. To help our Creator community understand and implement these exciting features, we’ve launched a four-part series guiding you through each step.

1. Abilities Part One: Use Cases & Implementation Guide
2. Abilities Part Two: How to Use & Implement Flight
3. Abilities Part Three: How to Use & Implement Double Jump
4. Abilities Part Four: How to Use & Implement Air Dance

Keep reading to learn all about Double Jump and how you can implement it into your next Experience.

Double Jump for Longer Distances

Double Jump is now available in The Sandbox, making it easier for Players to navigate environments, progress through levels, and explore hard-to-reach areas. This ability is activated by pressing the jump button twice, allowing Players to jump higher and farther than with a standard jump. When combined with Edge Recovery, Double Jump enables access to areas that were previously out of reach.

Double Jump has many uses, from avoiding obstacles and environmental hazards to clearing wider gaps or reaching elevated platforms. In particular, it’s ideal for jumping across long distances that a regular jump couldn’t cover.

Use Cases for Double Jump

Use cases for Double Jump are abundant. Below are some of the most common use cases that pertain to using the Ability to cover distances.

Extending Jump Sequences: Double Jump allows more freedom for the Player to choose a path through the level.

Gap Bridging: Players can use Double Jump to clear gaps that would otherwise be impassable with a single jump. This opens up new paths or routes or allows Players to speed run an area.

Unlocking Secret Paths: Certain areas could be designed to be reachable only with a well-timed Double Jump, hiding secret rooms or rewards just out of the normal jump’s range.

Level Design Considerations for Double Jump

Jump Length and Height

• Distance Scaling: Carefully consider the maximum distance a Player can jump with the Double Jump compared to a single jump. Always consider the max distance for the jump.
• Height Trade-Off: Consider how Players can now Double Jump to reach greater heights and jump further, and how this could affect your platform sections.

Failure Consequences

• Soft Failures: Players shouldn’t lose too much progress if they fail a Double Jump. It’s best to provide a challenge, but stop short of making it impossible.

Platform Spacing and Distance

• Long Gaps: Introduce platforms with wider spacing that require a Double Jump to cross. Mix up the way this can be used in platforming sections.

Dynamic and Moving Platforms

• Moving Targets: Use moving platforms that require Players to time their Double Jumps to land successfully. These platforms could require Double Jump timing to land on the next one.

Environmental Feedback

• Lighting and Shadows: Use lighting and shadows to emphasize distant platforms or other visual signposting to let Players know what kind of jump they need.

Checkpoint Placement

• Strategic Checkpoints: Place checkpoints before or after difficult Double Jump sequences to prevent Player frustration from repeated failure. Use the combination behaviour to offer passwords to get back to these areas even if they leave the experience.

Double Jump to Reach Greater Heights

Double Jump can be combined with Edge Recovery to reach high levels that would normally be inaccessible to the Player. This allows for improved navigation and more creative environmental design.

Use Cases for Double Jump (Height Focused)

• Vertical Exploration: Players can explore areas vertically without needing stairs or ladders. This can add variety to your level design.
• Puzzle Elements: Use the combination of Double Jump and Edge Recovery as part of puzzles where Players must time jumps correctly or find hidden areas.
• Traversal over Obstacles: Use Double Jumps to avoid hazards like lava, spikes, or moving platforms, helping to maintain flow and keep the Player moving.

Level Design Considerations:

• Accessibility: Ensure that the combination of Double Jump and Edge Recovery is intuitive for Players. Consider providing a tutorial or in-game hints to explain how and when to use the Ability.
• Level Flow: Design levels that take full advantage of these Abilities, with vertical spaces or distant platforms that reward Players who understand the mechanics. Avoid overcomplicating areas by requiring perfect timing too frequently. Keep it simple.
• Risk and Reward: Incorporate higher-risk paths that are only accessible using this combination but provide greater rewards, such as hidden collectibles, power-ups, or shortcuts.
• Backtracking: Create sections where Players can return to previous levels with Double Jump unlocked, allowing access to areas they couldn’t reach earlier, promoting replayability. Think Metrovania and how it can be combined with other abilities and uses.
• Hidden Areas: Position secret areas or alternate paths that can only be accessed by mastering Double Jump and Edge Recovery. These can reward exploration.
• Layered Design: Build levels with multiple tiers or layers of gameplay, where Players can explore both horizontal and vertical spaces using Double Jump.
• Environmental Feedback: Use environmental elements like ledges, beams, or glowing markers to indicate where Players should use Double Jump or Edge Recovery to progress. Make it very clear that they can jump up there if the platform is an asset and not a block.

Double Jump to Adjust Direction

With the addition of Double Jump, Players can adjust their direction slightly while in mid-air. This allows them to jump over obstacles and change direction during the jump. Players can use this feature to correct mistakes or redirect themselves, and it also enables level designs with hidden paths or shortcuts for skilled Players to bypass or jump around danger.

Use Cases for Double Jump (Adjust Direction)

• Precision Manoeuvring: Players can perform precision movements in mid-air to land on narrow platforms or avoid small gaps. Consider this when creating hidden areas or difficult paths.
• Chain Jumps: Players can navigate a series of obstacles or platforms by chaining multiple jumps with mid-air adjustments. This could be useful for speed runs where people have mastered this use.
• Momentum Control: Players can use this feature to maintain momentum during jumps and avoid overshooting targets.
• Corner Jumps: Players can jump around obstacles, such as the edge of a wall or an environmental hazard. This provides more freedom in how Players approach sections and perform jumps. Level design should reflect the increased freedom and versatility that Double Jump provides.

Design Considerations:

• Complex Design: Introduce more dynamic obstacles like rotating platforms, moving walls, or floating hazards that require Players to adjust their jumps mid-air to avoid collisions.
• Reward Skilled Players: Create optional shortcuts or secret areas that can only be accessed by Players who are adept at using mid-air direction changes, rewarding mastery of the mechanic.

Double Jump Over Obstacles

With DoubleJump, Players can now leap directly over obstacles and environmental hazards. A well-timed Double Jump allows them to avoid damage by clearing these dangers. This also empowers level design to incorporate traps and obstacles that Players can jump over, creating new layout possibilities and alternative pathways for progression.

Use Cases for Double Jump (Over Obstacles)

• Speed Challenges: Double Jump can be used to create speed-based challenges, where Players need to jump over multiple hazards quickly while moving forward, such as dodging a series of lasers or spikes in fast-paced sections.
• Airborne Collectibles: Place collectibles, power-ups, or buffs in mid-air that can only be accessed via Double Jump, encouraging Players to explore vertically as well as horizontally.
• Interactive Hazards: Players can Double Jump over hazards such as lava, electrical wires, or spike traps with precise timing. Players can jump over traps that activate as they approach, such as spike floors or moving blades.

Level Design Considerations:

• Skill-based Progression: Allow Players to jump over obstacles in quick succession to showcase how much people have mastered the skill.
• Risk vs. Reward: Place additional rewards, such as secret items or bonus objectives, in areas where Players must perform a risky Double Jump over dangerous obstacles. This can help mix up your environments.
• Difficulty Scaling: Start with basic traps that can be bypassed with a Double Jump. After this, you can add time-based Double Jumps over obstacles.
• Environmental Feedback: Use visual and audio cues to indicate the best timing for Double Jumps, such as subtle glowing effects on hazards, or sounds when traps are about to activate.
• Interactive Platforms: Create platforms that sink or disappear when Players step on them, forcing them to quickly Double Jump to the next safe platform.
• Checkpoint Placement: In difficult areas with many hazards, consider placing checkpoints after particularly tricky sections that require a series of Double Jumps to prevent frustration and encourage Players to experiment with timing.
• Hazard Frequency and Spacing: Carefully space hazards so that Players have enough room to perform a Double Jump, but make them tight enough to create tension and challenge. Avoid placing obstacles too close, which could make the jump feel impossible or unfair.
• Combining Obstacles: Use a mix of ground-based and mid-air hazards in the same section, requiring Players to time their jumps to avoid spikes on the ground while dodging moving blades or projectiles above.
• Keep the theme: Align the hazards and obstacles with the environment’s theme. For example, in a mechanical or industrial level, Double Jump might be used to clear rotating gears or electrical circuits, while in a natural environment, Players might jump over quicksand or thorns.

Double Jump to Climb

Players can now Double Jump to access higher areas for climbing. Similar to using Double Jump for Edge Recovery, Players can also Double Jump to reach ladders, vines, or other climbable objects that would otherwise be out of reach. This opens up new pathways and level design possibilities, allowing for more freedom in how Players tackle different sections.

For example, Players could use jump, Double Jumping, directional jumping, Edge Recovery, or a combination of Double Jump and Edge Recovery. These methods can be integrated to create varied paths and improve progression.

As a creator, you can design gameplay that incorporates a mix of active and passive Avatar movements. For example, players can actively use jump, directional jump, or Double Jump, while passive Abilities like Edge Recovery automatically assist them when navigating ledges. By combining these mechanics, such as pairing Double Jump with Edge Recovery, you can build varied paths that enhance exploration and progression.

Use Cases for Double Jump (Climbing)

• Mid-air Ladder/Vine Transitions: Players can Double Jump mid-air to change direction and grab onto a nearby ladder or vine, adding complexity.
• Traversal of Multi-height Climbable Objects: Place climbable objects at varying heights where Players must Double Jump to reach the next level of ladders or vines.
• Hidden Vertical Routes: Create secret or alternate routes only accessible by Double Jumping to hidden or hard-to-reach ladders or vines, rewarding exploration.

Level Design Considerations:

• Freedom of Exploration: Ensure that Players feel a sense of freedom in how they navigate environments. They should be able to choose between Double Jumping to a ladder or Edge Recovery to get to the same point, promoting Player agency.
• Ladder and Vine Spacing: Properly space climbable objects so that Double Jumping feels like a useful tool, but doesn’t make climbing sections too easy or trivial.
• Difficulty Balance: Use Double Jump to increase the difficulty of certain sections without making them impossible. For example, placing ladders just out of reach of a normal jump adds a challenge while ensuring that Players can still succeed with practice.
• Climbing Object Visibility: Make sure ladders, vines, or other climbable objects are clearly visible to avoid frustration. Consider using visual cues like glowing edges, distinct colors, or environmental highlights to indicate where Players can Double Jump and climb.
• Tutorial: Include tutorial elements early in the game to introduce Double Jumping to ladders and climbing objects, ensuring Players understand how to use this mechanic.
• Vertical Exploration: With Double Jump allowing access to higher climbable objects, levels can have more vertical exploration elements, enabling the design of multi-level environments where Players explore up as much as they do across.
• Hidden Secrets: Place secret areas or hidden collectibles behind harder-to-reach ladders or vines that require skilled Double Jumps. This encourages Players to experiment with the mechanic and rewards exploration.
• Alternative Pathways: Use Double Jump to create alternate routes within the level, offering multiple ways to progress. One path may require Edge Recovery, while another could use Double Jumping to ladders, giving Players the freedom to choose their preferred method.
• Obstacle and Hazard Placement: Place environmental hazards like spikes, fire, or collapsing platforms near climbable objects to challenge Players to perform well-timed Double Jumps to reach safety.

Unleash Your Creativity with Abilities

By utilizing the new Abilities, you can introduce new ways for Players to interact with your 3D environment, adding layers of interactivity and immersion to your experiences. Whether enhancing movement with Flight and Double Jump or adding festive elements with Air Dance, these features elevate your worlds and deepen Player engagement.

Get started today and explore the transformative potential of Abilities in shaping your creations in The Sandbox.

Create Now.