How Tinykin Keeps the Fun Flowing

How 3D platformers continue to delight us, 27 years after Super Mario 64.

What is the last game to mesmerise you that you couldn’t put aside until completed?

My answer is Tinykin, a 3D platformer released in September 2022 with a fantastic 90s vibe both in terms of gameplay & universe. I didn’t feel hooked like this to a game since Hades, the hit rogue-lite from Supergiant, and it got me thinking: how can Tinykin be so addictive with so little depth?

As a simple 3D platformer, this game is all about movement, there is no combat, no head-scratching puzzles. The progression is minimal, the narrative quite small, and to top it all, the game is very easy! Unlike Hades, there are no bosses to force you to improve & deep systems to master. It’s both surprising and fascinating how little Tinykin needed to hook me.

What is the recipe to avoid boredom when you don’t have any challenges?

The Anti Elden Ring

As game designers, we’ve been exposed to many theories about the optimal experience and how to keep players engaged. One of the most commonly used is the theory of flow by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, who states that to create an ideal experience, we should maintain the player in a state between boredom & anxiety.

A standard gameplay loop should therefore consist of a desirable objective, an obstacle to overcome and a reward at the end to complement the emotional & intellectual satisfaction of beating the challenge. In the age of rogue-lite, battle royale & Elden Ring, we’re making the victory harder so they feel better once earned. Some other titles have become masters at pretending you’re in danger & narrowingly succeeding in those close calls, such as the Uncharted series. What matters more to them is to keep the story flowing to avoid boredom.

In the design community, there is, therefore, a temptation to split the games into two categories: the “system/skill-based”, where you have to learn & master the rules of the game to solve problems, and “story-based”, where you’re motivated mainly by discovering the next story bit.

Tinykin doesn’t fall in either definition. It’s a 3D platformer with almost no platforming challenge: unlike in Super Mario, you don’t have difficult jumps or timed events. Your goal is “just” to explore an environment throughout without missing a corner to collect all sorts of items.

Technically, you don’t even need to get all of them to unlock the next level, so you’re neither optimizing the rules of the system nor craving to discover the next part in the (fun but light) story, you just keep exploring because you feel like it. For this reason, I’d define the Tinykin as “feel-based”, a third and often overlooked category.

How does this type of game keep the player engaged?

Getting Collectathon Right

Tinykin belongs to the “collectathon” sub-genre (for collection + marathon), a type of platforming game that was particularly popular in the 90s (the prime example being Super Mario 64) which mainly involves collecting a lot of stuff to progress to the next level.

The quality of the experience relies on three pillars: great movement, lots of content & intricate layers of collection. Let’s examine how Tinykin handles those with near perfection.

When you make a game about exploring a large environment, the very basic is to make a character that looks & plays great. Tinykin has you playing Milo, who can run, jump, ride fast on a bar of soap and hover inside a bubble. It’s a limited move set compared to the Italian plumber, but the sheer quality makes this character an instant joy to control. Almost nothing to master here, but zero friction either: you go anywhere you want swiftly and efficiently.

The second key for this type of game is to offer new contexts & situations constantly. Each of Tinykin’s levels is a room of the house inhabited by a bug-like population which allows for a good mix of oversized human furniture & smaller equipment (made of household items). Everywhere you look is a visual feast, sprawling with ideas. It’s a lot of work in the art & level design department, but it pays off: discovering new areas is always enjoyable, and their diversity makes it easier to remember what you have already visited.

And the third crucial aspect is to feature a bunch of stuff to collect!

The most frequent here (equivalent to Mario’s golden coins) are the “pollen”, which can either guide the player in plain sight or be hidden in a secret corner. Collecting about 70% in the level gets you a bonus item in the game’s hub (the “nectar”), but true completionists will scout the level entirely to get them all.

Then there are the small Tinykins, which function similarly to Pikmins: these creatures follow you around the level, and you can throw them to perform contextual actions such as forming a bridge or carrying an item. They don’t stick with you when you leave the level, giving the developers the perfect excuse to have you collect them again each time (and introduce new types).

And finally, there are few special items in each level. Each of them is unique and typically requires several steps to be collected. These items function with a sort of ‘door & key’ dynamic: you’ll often see an interaction that requires a certain amount of tinykins, giving you a reason to come back later.

What Are The Limits?

While Tinykin is an expertly crafted title and succeeds at what it attempts, the collectathon type of game also has clear limits.

The biggest drawback is that such a game needs to stay relatively short (5-10 hours) because they’re at a high risk of becoming stale. When collecting is so addictive, you play in long sessions, and even if you have new mechanics to unlock, the core loop can get boring eventually. Making deeper movement systems is a good approach to make these games last longer.

The other reason why we don’t see this type of game more frequently, I believe, is because feel-based games require a huge amount of content to keep the player away from boredom. Few indie studios venture into this territory when they could invest in other genres which require less art production.

One another aspect to consider when designing such a game is the potential to frustrate completionists, which is ironic for a genre based mostly on the desire to collect everything. Indeed, it would seem from my description that Tinykin is a challenge-free game, but it’s not: finding the last item of the level can be awfully hard. I think I might have spent a third of my playtime in each level going in circles until I found the last missing piece, some players might abandon before that point or check a guide (which kinda defeats the point).

Wrap-Up

At the end of the day, Tinykin is an awesome game with a laser-focused core gameplay, which reminds me of the best Nintendo games.

Of course, 3D Platforming is a niche subgenre these days, but its legacy is still strong. The modern open worlds are filled with sub-areas to explore, quest lists to tick and equipment to unlock. The type of “items” you collect has evolved, but the “feel-based” engagement philosophy remains. One would have a hard time telling me that Assassin’s Creed’s main strengths are the curiosity for the story or its puzzling challenges.

If you liked the topic of this article, I’m sure you’d also enjoy this one:

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