To explain what I mean first (since I don't know if there's a common term for it).

The following example assumes the player is mid jump, and presses the jump button before hitting the ground;

Basically it's so that if the player presses the jump button a few frames before they touch the ground, they will still jump. It's just something that makes things a little easier.

How do you feel about buffering the player's input when it comes to jumps? Do you do it yourself? Do you like it, dislike it? Do you think it has certain unforeseen disadvantages?, etc.

I think a bit of a buffer would be good, so timing doesn't have to be too precise. Maybe you would store their jump press for a fraction of a second, and if they land during that time it follows up with another jump. This way you could get all the responsiveness you want, without players accidentally doing extra jumps when they didn't mean it.

I think a bit of a buffer would be good, so timing doesn't have to be too precise. Maybe you would store their jump press for a fraction of a second, and if they land during that time it follows up with another jump. This way you could get all the responsiveness you want, without players accidentally doing extra jumps when they didn't mean it.

I mean, I already use it myself (and what you described is basically how it works). I just want to know what other devs think of it, since it's not something every platformer does, and I wonder if it's because some people have reasons not to (other than say, double jumps).

it seems reasonable to have it. Maybe connect the amount of time prejumps are stored to difficulty setting:

easy : store prejumps 0.3s

normal: 0.2s

hard: 0.12s

or whatever. Could make sense, you need to try it out in your own game.

Personally I would find it annoying if I press jump too soon and nothing happens. I am all for the buffer, it just 'feels' better. As has been pointed out it also comes down to skill and timing which is a big part of game play and being able to perfectly time your jumps can be satisfying. Suliman's suggestion seems simple enough to implement and see how it feels.

Buffer might be a good idea, if it is very short.

But more important I think is to make sure the jump happens "whenever the character is on the ground and the button is down", as opposed to happening "when the button is pressed down, if the character is on the ground" (don't do it on button down event or whatever, do it as a check each frame)

That way, even if you press the button too early, as long as it is still down when you land, the character will jump.

You don't want the character to jump too long after you have released the button, I think that would feel weird, like your input is delayed.

If you don't want the character to be "bouncy" (that is, constantly jumping while you hold jump-button) then you could have a timestamp on press and only jump within a certain time after the button down event, if the button is down, or have a counter so it only can jump once.

I just want to know what other devs think of it, since it's not something every platformer does, and I wonder if it's because some people have reasons not to (other than say, double jumps).

I think some game devs just don't think too hard about what feels good. They might focus on what looks good, using the animation principle of anticipation to have a character squat down for a while before jumping, only to make the game feel unresponsive. Or they might think about making things realistic, and say it would be unrealistic to jump before you have landed.

I think it very much depends on the feel you are going for in your game. In a game that heavily relies on chaining series of jumps, it is an absolute must-have.

In your standard RPG-that-happens-to-have-jumping-because-stairs-are-hard... Well... probably not super important.

Never though of doing that, I am making a platformer right now and I think that would actually solve a problem I am having where wall jumping doesn't always respond. Thanks for posting that.

I think it would help immensely if you can give examples of games that do / don't use buffered jumps.

In fact if you had such a list of examples, you probably wouldn't even need our opinion, you could just emulate the one that feels best for your situation.

One game that always felt really good and responsive and fair were the Super Mario games. Did they use buffered jumps? I assume not but cant be sure.