Why do they make water levels?

[FuckedUp]

Everyone hates them. You can count the number of water levels that were actually decent on one hand. So why on god's green earth do they make them?

 

[Red Hood]

Because as much as water levels suck the water level music is usually tight.

 

[Haramburger]

How do you feel about entire games that take place underwater?

 

[{o}P II]

Good thread OP

 

[FuckedUp]

Good thread OP

Mad you can't make threads anymore lol

 

[AnAccount]

if you're talking about platformers, it's because the water gives the player character essentially the ability to fly up and down, this breaks up the somewhat monotonous movement and enemy encounters you would be used to.

In terms of older platformers, due to being short and the game length relying on resets. water levels essentially throw a curveball at a player that might have a good grasp on the mechanics half way through. and thus sending them back for a reset, and extending the perceived length of time to beat the game.

A lot of the aggravation of water levels probably stem from these exact things. Breaking up a good formula? Unnecessary curveballs half way through? Resets extending the life of a game. It's not hard to see the dislike.

 

[Haramburger]

I thought the water levels on NES Bartman were pretty good.

 

[TenMilesWide]

if you're talking about platformers, it's because the water gives the player character essentially the ability to fly up and down, this breaks up the somewhat monotonous movement and enemy encounters you would be used to.

In terms of older platformers, due to being short and the game length relying on resets. water levels essentially throw a curveball at a player that might have a good grasp on the mechanics half way through. and thus sending them back for a reset, and extending the perceived length of time to beat the game.

A lot of the aggravation of water levels probably stem from these exact things. Breaking up a good formula? Unnecessary curveballs half way through? Resets extending the life of a game. It's not hard to see the dislike.

Same goes for ice levels, windy levels, magnetic or gravity reversal levels, and autoscrollers.

I don't think it's just about resets and extending play time, but also maintaining player interest with minimal effort. Ideally you want to make a game that players will recommend to others after they're done, so you want levels that they'll remember and talk about. It's a lot harder to make a really tight level that builds on all the ideas you've set up previously and ramps up the difficulty just enough to keep people playing than it is to make a relatively plain, basically serviceable level and then slap some physics gimmick on top of it. Sometimes the physics gimmick does the work for you and makes the level fun to play, sometimes it doesn't. It's a bit of a gamble.

 

[Judge Dredd]

As others said, it's to add gameplay variety. See also driving levels, stealth levels, turret levels, etc.

The reason they suck varies, but chances are they didn't have enough time and care into them. eg. testers know their way around the level and how to manipulate the physics to get where they need to go, whereas a first time player won't know that and drown a lot as a result.

 

[Drain Todger]

Glug, glug, glug.

 

[Dom Cruise]

My favorite water level is in Banjo Tooie, seeing the lost city of Atlantis as a kid blew my mind, it was such a cool, unexpected moment when you were expecting a more typical water level, not to mention the cool little added extra touch of the sunken UFO.

And also from Rare while the underwater levels in Donkey Kong Country may not be great, the music is absolutely wonderful.

 

[A Random]

You guys should play Starfy games. The best platformers with water levels, in part by making the water controls better than the off-water controls, but not make the latter so much inferior to being underwater.

10/10 would play again.

 

[The Penultimate Warrior]

Because as much ad water levels suck the water level music is usually tight.

Case in point, one of the best video game tunes ever

https://youtu.be/wAPpVplHiDE

 

[POWER IN MISERY]

swimming feels good in the real world so it should feel good in the virtual world as well right?

 

[Papa Adolfo's Take'n'Bake]

Interjecting to say that if you bitch about OoT's Water Temple being difficult, you're a fucking scrub.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

Water in general is such a taboo thing when it comes to video games. It's either something characters have no problem going into, or they instantly die when they touch it. Some series and sequels later rectify the latter by giving them power-ups or equipment to go in the water or be able to swim with no issues.

For me water levels are better in 2D than they are in 3D, ESPECIALLY early PS1/N64 3D when controlling fuckers like Conker, Bubsy, and Rayman were like trying to move a floating boulder that would not cooperate with you half the time. Otherwise I enjoy exploring the deep and seeing what wonders are in the ocean. Sometimes depending on the game the water world looks better than dry land.

Virtua Fighter 2 did a funny gimmic by making you fight Dural underwater, but they removed the water in Fighters Megamix so it just looked like Greece but blue.

 

[LazarusOwenhart]

Anybody ever play Hydrophobia: Prophecy? Wasn't the best game but did do a very good job of making the ebb and flow of water through the level an interesting core game play mechanic. Shame it didn't do well really, the setting was awesome and for it's time it was a stunning game to look at.

 

[Kiyoshi's Wristbrace]

Water in any form in games is generally a nightmare. I can't stand navigating in it.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

Water levels has the best music in each game IMO.
But talking seriously, it's a matter of skills beating those, more than the regular ones.
There's one example:

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

I don't mind water levels so long as they don't have creepy-looking fish or anything that swallows you whole. I don't look forward to them or anything, but when done right they can be a nice change of pace. Plus they have nice music.

Just to name an example, I replayed Donkey Kong Country 1, and the water levels were bog-standard, not terribly interesting. What carried them was that it was the occasional break from the more intense platforming and the music is one of the best tracks in the game.