Original Post
I have never completed a game 100%. I've been wanting to develop a 2d side scolling platformer in XNA for a while now, and I have a relatively complicated game (read: some harder than simple design features, such as 360 degree aiming, edge grabbing, long story that needs fleshing out, crap load of graphics, etc..) in mind that I would love to develop in the near future. The problem is, I can see this taking a while. As a means to an end, I have decided to first create a really simple 2d platformer, in the vein of Mario, if only just to complete a game. I have already created my tile engine with collision detection and resolution, 45 deg slopes, sprite animatations, scrolling background, input, and a menu system. Pretty simple, but enough to start creating something simple. Ok, so now I have an engine to build a simple game. But I want to publish the game on Xbox Live Community Games when it launches, so unfortunately, people are going to have to pay for it to play it. What I'm hoping you may be able to help me with is to provide me with some simple ideas to put in to the platformer game. I've settled on the player character being a Penguin, named Pengu (genius, I know, but easy enough to draw). Would you prefer, say, to kill enemies by jumping on them, or perhaps punching them? Should I have swimming levels? What do you prefer in your platformers? Any ideas would be appreciated.
