Endless runner

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Endless runner or infinite runner is a subgenre of platform game in which the player character runs for an infinite amount of time while avoiding obstacles. The player's objective is to reach a high score by surviving for as long as possible. [1] The method by which the game level or environment appears to continuously spawn before the player is an example of procedural generation. The genre exploded on mobile platforms following the success of Doodle Jump , Canabalt , and Temple Run [2] being other popular examples. [3] Its popularity is attributed to its simple gameplay that works well on touchscreen devices. [4]

Contents

Concepts

Endless runners can be side-scrolling, as in the genre's early titles, top-down, or 3D, but the player is placed in a neverending level in which the character automatically moves forward. The player's only form of control is to have the character dodge obstacles, either by moving out of the way or using a specific button. [5] Some form of points, currency, or other rewards are gained over time by maneuvering in the level or simply staying alive longer. The game progressively increases in difficulty as time goes on. The player has a game over if they are hindered enough by the obstacles that they are "caught" by whatever is chasing them and die. [1]

History

Precursors

The genre has its origins in the vertically scrolling video games of the 1970s, primarily racing games. The player always moves forward, avoiding obstacles and other vehicles. Taito's Speed Race , released in 1974, was the first. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the same concept was used in skiing games.

Vehicle-oriented platform games, like Jump Bug (1981) and Moon Patrol (1982), added both jumping and shooting as ways to deal with obstacles in continually scrolling levels. The home game B.C.'s Quest for Tires (1983) uses the forced-scrolling and jumping gameplay of Moon Patrol.

The idea of being chased relentlessly by an indestructible obstacle, monster, or boss to enforce forward progression was greatly influenced by the boulder scene from the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark . This theme appeared in games like Draconian (1984) in which the player must avoid obstacles while being pursued by an invincible giant dragon. This would become a recurring theme of endless running gameplay.

Early development

Atomic Runner Chelnov (1988), while also a shooter, has many of the hallmarks of a modern runner with forced scrolling and long jumping onto platforms to avoid hazards.

The 1990 Amiga and TV show game Hugo featured sequences of 3d endless running.

SkiFree (1991) by Chris Pirih and released in Microsoft Entertainment Pack 3 is probably the earliest true endless runner and was inspired by the 1980 Atari 2600 cartridge Skiing . [6] The player skis down an endless slope with procedurally generated obstacles, pursued by large indestructible yetis. Score is based on distance traveled. [7]

Battletoads (1991) has several forced scrolling areas where the player is required to avoid hazards and obstacles. [8] In Genji Tsuushin Agedama (1991) the player is constantly running in a forced scrolled environment. The pinball machine Doctor Who (1992) includes a video mode with forced running and avoiding obstacles.

SFCave (1996) is a Windows 3.1 game that involves flying through an endless cave without hitting the walls.

The 3D platform game Crash Bandicoot (1996) focuses on forward movement within corridors primarily in third person perspective, including obstacles and hazards that prevent backward motion, very similar to the modern Temple Run clone. It also includes levels where Crash must constantly stay ahead of a large boulder or pursuing dinosaur.

Mobile gaming boom and the emergence of endless games

The emergence of the touchscreen on smart phones and tablets paved the way for the type of simplistic game controls which gave birth to the modern genre.

Doodle Jump (April 2009), a vertical scroller, was one of the first mobile titles to be endless, with game only ending when falling to the bottom of the screen or hitting an obstacle. It was to pave the way for even more popular titles. [9]

The prototypical endless runner, building on Doodle Jump's success, was Canabalt (August 2009), [10] an indie game developed by Adam Saltsman in which the player flees from a city being destroyed by giant robots that is procedurally generated and infinite. Cannabalt used distance gained as the main scoring system. These were both common elements of subsequent runners. The 2D scroller limited movement to leaping and dodging obstacles simply by touching the screen, overcoming control limitation of touchscreen devices. [11] Adult Swim Games soon asked Saltsman for permission to adapt Canabalt's design into their own title, and released Robot Unicorn Attack (2010). It became an internet meme due to Adult Swim's larger audience and its quirky themes.

Within just months, the App Store was full of 2D endless runner clones. Some of the more popular 2D mobile titles included Tiny Wings (February 2011), Jetpack Joyride (September 2011), Punch Quest (2012) and Flappy Bird (2013). Running with Friends (2013) is notable in its effort to integrate with Facebook to support social multiplayer running.

Monetization and the free-to-play model

Endless runners became known for the addictiveness of their gameplay. This also led to them being monetized using the Free to Play model. Monetization tactics used in endless runners included virtual currencies (using In app purchases on mobile and support for: [12]

  1. Fast-track progress (so as to avoid having to repeat early stages of the game)
  2. Credit to extend the run (such as with extra lives) and avoid game over (however this is often considered cheating)
  3. Customisation or unlocking of new main characters
  4. Social score comparison
  5. Advertising

Transition to 3D

Hugo featured 3D endless running already in 1990.

Bit.Trip Runner (2010) added rhythm game elements and was also one of the first in the genre to be rendered in 2.5D. [4]

Another of the earliest 3D titles in the genre was Temple Run (August, 2011), introducing an over-the-shoulder viewpoint. [4] Temple Run was followed by numerous clones and 3D innovations. Among the more popular third person 3D titles were Subway Surfers and Agent Dash (2012). Subway Surfers went on to become the most popular game of the 2010s, the first game to reach 1 billion downloads and with a total of 2.7 billion downloads achieved revenues of over $80 million through monetization. [13]

Peak Popularity

During the 2010s numerous large franchises adapted their gameplay into endless runner mobile spin-offs. The 2010s these included reboots of classic video games as endless runners including the notable titles: Pitfall! (2012), Rayman Jungle Run (2012), Rayman Fiesta Run , Sonic Dash [2] and Pac-Man Dash! (2013), Crossy Road (2014), Lara Croft: Relic Run [14] and Pac-Man 256 (2015) [15] as well as Super Mario Run (2016). [16] Original titles were often lost in the sea of generic titles, rare exceptions were Race The Sun (2013) and Alto's Adventure (2015) which received positive reviews. [17]

Google's Dinosaur Game (2014) was released at the height of the endless running craze with developers in September 2018 revealling that it had been played approximately 270 million times monthly. [18] Microsoft was later to do the same with Surf (2020).

Post 2010s the format has been criticised for being uninspired, particularly the adapted franchises, and a genre lacking ongoing innovation. [19] [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Platformer</span> Video game genre

A platformer is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels with uneven terrain and suspended platforms of varying height that require jumping and climbing to traverse. Other acrobatic maneuvers may factor into the gameplay, such as swinging from vines or grappling hooks, jumping off walls, gliding through the air, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines.

<i>Scramble</i> (video game) 1981 video game

Scramble is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game released in 1981. It was developed by Konami and manufactured and distributed by Leijac in Japan and Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels, and it established the foundation for a new genre.

<i>B.C.s Quest for Tires</i> 1983 video game

B.C.'s Quest for Tires is an horizontally scrolling video game designed by Rick Banks and Michael Bate and published by Sierra On-Line in 1983. Versions were released for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Apple II. Based on the comic strip B.C. by Johnny Hart, BC's Quest for Tires is similar to Irem's Moon Patrol from the previous year. A wheel-riding caveman is always moving forward through horizontally scrolling levels, and the player jumps or ducks as obstacles approach. The game's title is a play on the contemporaneous film Quest for Fire.

<i>Battletoads</i> (Game Boy video game) 1991 video game

Battletoads is a 1991 action game originally released by Rare in 1991 exclusively for the Nintendo Game Boy. Despite having the same title as the original Battletoads game, Battletoads for Game Boy is a completely different game with unique levels. It was never ported to any other systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Side-scrolling video game</span> Video game genre

A side-scrolling video game is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics during the golden age of arcade games was a pivotal leap in game design, comparable to the move to 3D graphics during the fifth generation.

<i>Aztec Challenge</i> 1982 video game

Aztec Challenge refers to either of two early action video games published by COSMI, as well as two subsequent remakes. In all game versions the player takes control of a running Aztec warrior. The first was a side-scrolling platform-jumping game created by Robert Tegel Bonifacio and released in 1982 for the Atari 8-bit family. Subsequently, a different game with the same title and overall theme was created by Paul Norman and released for the Commodore 64. It includes a level in a modified-first-person 3D-style.

<i>Temple Run</i> 2011 3D endless runner video game

Temple Run is a 3D endless runner video game developed and published by Imangi Studios. The player controls an explorer who has obtained an ancient relic and runs from demonic monkey-like creatures chasing him. The game was initially released for iOS devices on August 4, 2011, and later ported to Android systems and Windows Phone 8.

<i>Jetpack Joyride</i> 2011 endless runner video game

Jetpack Joyride is a 2011 side-scrolling endless runner action video game created by Halfbrick Studios. It was released for iOS devices on the App Store on September 1, 2011 and has been ported to other systems. It was released online as a Flash version on May 11, 2012; on Android on September 28; on PlayStation Portable on November 20 in North America and November 21 in Europe; on BlackBerry PlayBook on December 13, 2012; on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on December 21 in Europe and December 31 in North America; on BlackBerry 10 on March 6, 2013; and on Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 on June 5. It was also released on PlayStation 4 on April 26, 2016.

<i>Canabalt</i> 2009 video game

Canabalt is a one-button endless runner designed by Adam Saltsman for the Experimental Gameplay Project in 2009. The 2D side-scrolling video game was originally written for Adobe Flash, then ported to iOS, Android, PlayStation Portable, and Ouya. An authorized version for the Commodore 64 was released on cartridge. Canabalt has been credited with popularizing the endless runner subgenre.

<i>Sonic Dash</i> 2013 video game

Sonic Dash is a 2013 endless runner mobile game developed by Hardlight and published by Japanese game studio Sega. It is Hardlight's second Sonic the Hedgehog game, the first being 2012's Sonic Jump. The game was released in March 2013 for iOS, November 2013 for Android, and December 2014 for Windows Phone and Windows, along with an arcade release in November 2015 as Sonic Dash Extreme. It was initially released as a paid application, but was made free-to-play a month after its iOS release.

<i>Subway Surfers</i> 2012 endless runner game

Subway Surfers is an endless runner mobile game which is co-developed by Kiloo and SYBO Games, private companies based in Denmark. It is available on Android, iOS, HarmonyOS, Amazon Fire Tablet, and Windows Phone platforms and uses the Unity game engine. In the game, players take the role of young graffiti artists who, upon being caught in the act of "tagging" a metro railway site, run through the railroad tracks to escape from the inspector and his dog. As they run, they grab gold coins, power-ups, and many other items along the way while simultaneously dodging collisions with trains and other objects. They can also jump on top of the trains and surf with hoverboards to evade capture until the character crashes into an obstacle, gets caught by the inspector, or gets hit by a train, at which point the game ends. Special events, such as the Season Hunt and other, can result in in-game rewards and characters.

<i>Iron Man 3: The Official Game</i> 2013 video game

Iron Man 3: The Official Game is a mobile phone video game developed and published by Gameloft. The game was released on April 25, 2013, and is based on the film Iron Man 3. It is now discontinued and not supported by Gameloft. The game is an endless runner, where the player attempts to dodge objects to score points and complete the level and defeat villains from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The game received mixed reviews, with critics praising the core premise, but criticizing the game's excessive in-app purchases and freemium-based time restrictions.

<i>Temple Run</i> (series) Endless runner video game series

Temple Run is a video game franchise of 3D endless running video games developed and published by Imangi Studios. The primary theme of the series is an explorer chased from a group of demon monkeys, however, the characters and theme vary between spin-offs. The game was initially released for iOS devices on August 4, 2011, and later ported to Android systems and Windows Phone 8. The series consists of five titles and has received commercial success with multiple entries surpassing 1 million downloads.

<i>Chucky: Slash & Dash</i> 2013 video game

Chucky: Slash & Dash is a 2013 endless runner video game by American developer Slimstown Studios and published by Universal Studios. The game was originally slated to be released for both iOS and Android devices on November 1 2013, but was ultimately released only for iOS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Saltsman</span> American video game designer

Adam Saltsman, also known as Adam Atomic, is an American indie video game designer best known for creating the endless runner Canabalt. He is a founder of Semi Secret Software and Finji video game studios.

<i>Sonic Runners</i> 2015 video game

Sonic Runners was a 2015 endless runner game in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise for Android and iOS. It was developed by Sonic Team as its first Sonic game exclusive to smartphones and published by Sega. In Sonic Runners, the player-character constantly ran forward, and players controlled their jumping from a side-scrolling perspective using the touchscreen. The game was free-to-play, featured a wide variety of playable characters from the Sonic series, and received periodic updates.

<i>Altos Adventure</i> 2015 video game

Alto's Adventure is a 2015 endless runner snowboarding video game developed by Team Alto and published by Snowman (iOS) and Noodlecake Studios (Android). The player-character automatically moves to the right of the screen through procedurally generated landscapes. The player taps the screen to jump and perform tricks (backflips), and works towards goals, competitive high scores, and upgrades. Snowman, a Toronto-based, three-person indie development team, previously worked on productivity apps before Alto's Adventure. The game was made to emulate the ethereal atmosphere of snowboarding, and was inspired by Ski Safari (2012), Tiny Wings (2012), Jetpack Joyride (2011), Journey (2012), Monument Valley (2014), Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (2000), and Windosill (2009).

<i>Lara Croft: Relic Run</i> 2015 video game

Lara Croft: Relic Run is a free-to-play action-adventure endless runner platforming game for mobile platforms. It was developed by Simutronics and published by Square Enix's European subsidiary in May 2015. Players take on the role of franchise protagonist Lara Croft as she searches for a lost colleague while confronting a shadowy conspiracy.

<i>Stride & Prejudice</i> Endless running video game

Stride & Prejudice is an endless running game developed by No Crusts Interactive and directed by Carla Engelbrecht Fisher. It is based on the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Players control Austen's character Elizabeth Bennett in a two-dimensional perspective as she runs along the words in the novel's text, tapping the touchscreen to jump whenever a gap appears. Players can either choose to play until they fall or play endlessly regardless of falling. Fisher designed the game with the intention of creating a gateway to both game players and book readers, as well as to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice. It has received a generally positive reception for the cleverness of the concept, though reviewers were also critical of the constant pace of the reading and the relative difficulty involved in retaining information.

<i>Snoopy Coaster</i> 2013 endless runner game

Snoopy Coaster is a mobile endless runner game developed by CGMatic and published by Chillingo for iOS and Android devices in March 2013. An installment in the Peanuts video game series, the game sees the player controlling Snoopy, who drives a roller coaster train through multiple different environments, most commonly a theme park.

References

  1. 1 2 Polansky, Lana (2013-07-01). "The Leaderboard: The Loneliness of the Endless Runner". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  2. 1 2 Fahey, Mike (2013-02-27). "Wouldn't Sonic Be the Perfect Endless Runner Hero? Sega Might Agree. [Update]". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  3. ↑ Whitwam, Ryan (2014-03-11). "Not So Fast for Android Turns the Endless Runner on its Head". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 2023-12-16. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  4. 1 2 3 Parkin, Simon (2013-06-07). "Don't Stop: The Game That Conquered Smartphones". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  5. ↑ Pocket Gamer staff. "Top 25 best endless runner games for Android phones and tablets". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  6. ↑ "SkiFree homepage". Archived from the original on 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  7. ↑ Vincent, Brittany (April 7, 2018). "Remembering SkiFree, and the Yeti that still haunts our dreams". Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  8. ↑ Harnett, Craig (17 August 2015). "The Toads are Back in Town: Celebrating Battletoads". Nintendojo. Archived from the original on 2021-11-11. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  9. ↑ Hodapp, Eli (October 2, 2009). "'Canabalt' – Run For Your Life!". TouchArcade . Archived from the original on August 20, 2013. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
  10. ↑ Parkin, Simon (June 7, 2013). "Don't Stop: The Game That Conquered Smartphones". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on June 12, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  11. ↑ How Canabalt jumped from indie game jam to the Museum of Modern Art Archived 2023-06-26 at the Wayback Machine by Craig Grannell 12 June 2015
  12. ↑ How to Monetize an Infinite Runner Archived 2023-07-04 at the Wayback Machine by Michail Katkoff for Game Analytics 22 February 2013
  13. ↑ Subway Surfers gets record 1 billion downloads on Google Play Store Archived 2023-06-26 at the Wayback Machine By C. Scott Brown 16 March 2018
  14. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (2015-05-28). "Lara Croft makes the leap to mobile today with an endless runner". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  15. ↑ Pac-Man 256 Launches on Mobile Today Archived 2023-06-26 at the Wayback Machine By Zorine Te 19 August 2015
  16. ↑ Super Mario Run review: a fun but compromised Mario on iPhone Archived 2023-06-26 at the Wayback Machine By Andrew Webster 16 December 2016
  17. ↑ Race The Sun Archived 2023-06-26 at the Wayback Machine By Neil Watton 1 May 2017
  18. ↑ "As the Chrome dino runs, we caught up with the Googlers who built it". The Keyword . September 6, 2018. Archived from the original on September 8, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  19. ↑ Crash Bandicoot Mobile Leaves a Beloved Game Tainted by the ‘Endless Runner’ Archived 2023-06-28 at the Wayback Machine by Max Moeller 22 April, 2020
  20. ↑ Doesn't Sony Have Any Better Ideas For Mobile Games? Archived 2023-06-26 at the Wayback Machine BY ERIC SWITZER 24 February 2023
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