How to Wall Jump in a Platformer


How to Wall Jump in a Platformer

The Windy Woods template is a great starting point for your own platformer.

In this tutorial, we'll add wall-jumping to the game.

Create a new project using the Windy Woods template. You can choose either GML Code or GML Visual:

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You can use your existing Windy Woods project if you already have one.

Level Set-Up

Let's add a small wall-jumping section in the first level for testing.

Open rm_level_1.

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Select the "CollisionTiles" layer.

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On the right, a new menu will open.

Under “Libraries”, choose the “normal” auto-tile library.

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Add some walls for the player to jump off of:

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If you run the game now, the player won't be able to climb or jump off of any of these walls:

Let’s fix that!

How to Stick to Walls in Windy Woods?

The player should first stick to a wall, as long as you hold left/right towards it.

Open obj_player's Create event, and add the following code at the end:

wall_direction = 0;
wall_jump_force = 12;
wall_jumping = false;

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This code initializes the variables we need for our wall jump.

wall_direction tells us if the player is sticking to a wall, and where that wall is.

It'll be 0 when not sticking to the wall, 1 when sticking to a wall on the right, and -1 when sticking to a wall on the left.

wall_jump_force is the horizontal jumping force applied when jumping from a wall.

wall_jumping will be set to true for a brief period after jumping from a wall, and will be false at other times. This way we can know if the player has just wall-jumped or not.

Sticking Left

Open obj_player's Key Down - Left event, and add the following code at the top of the event.

if (check_collision(-1, 0))
{
        wall_direction = -1;
        alarm[1] = 10;
}


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This code checks for a wall on the left, and if it finds one, it sets wall_direction to -1. This is how we indicate that we're sticking to a wall on the left.

It then sets Alarm 1 to run after 10 frames, which will reset the player’s wall jumping state. (That event doesn't exist yet - we'll make it soon.)

Stop Right There

When the player has just wall jumped, we don't want them to change directions. This requires a simple change.

In the same event, there's a condition that checks if the player is in knockback, which then exits the event.

Add ‘or wall_jumping’ to the following If Expression so the event exits if the player is wall jumping.

if (in_knockback or wall_jumping)
{
        exit;
}


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This means the player can’t move if they're wall jumping.

Sticking Right

Now, repeat the last two steps in the Key Down - Right event, but replace -1 with 1.

if (check_collision(1, 0))
{
        wall_direction = 1;
        alarm[1] = 10;
}

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Don't forget to add ‘or wall_jumping’ into the next condition.

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Alarm to reset state

Create an Alarm 1 event:

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And add the following code in it:

wall_direction = 0;


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This will reset wall_direction to 0, which means the player isn't wall jumping, and they can move again.

Slow Down Gravity

While the player sticks to a wall, we want them to fall slower.

Next, inherit the Begin Step event.

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Add the following code after event_inherited() or the Call Parent Event action:

if (wall_direction != 0)
{
        if (vel_y > 3) 
        {
                vel_y = 3;
        }
}


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This code reduces the player's Y velocity to 3, slowing its fall, if wall_direction is not 0 (i.e. the player is next to a wall and is pushing left or right).

If we run the game now, the player can stick to the wall, but can't jump off it yet.

Jumping from a Wall

Open obj_player's Key Press - Space event.

At the top of the event, add the following code:

if (!grounded)
{
        if (wall_direction != 0)
        {
                vel_y = -jump_speed;
                vel_x = wall_jump_force * wall_direction * -1;
                sprite_index = spr_player_jump;
                image_index = 0;
                grounded = false;
                wall_jumping = true;
                alarm[2] = 30;
                exit;
        }
}

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This code checks if the player is in mid-air and if wall_direction equals something other than 0.

If both of these requirements are met, we know that the player is sticking to a wall, and because of the event, that they're pressing Space. It’s wall-jumpin’ time.

We set the player's x and y speed, basing the x speed on the wall_direction, multiplied by -1 so the player jumps in the opposite direction of the wall.

Then it changes the player's sprite to the jumping one, sets grounded to false, and wall_jumping to true.

wall_jumping should be reset after half a second, so we set Alarm 2 to 30. We'll create this event soon.

Finally, it exits the event, so the normal jumping logic doesn’t run.

Reset Wall Jump

Create an Alarm 2 event:

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And add the following code to reset wall_jumping to false.

wall_jumping = false;


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Here we go!

The player can now wall jump.

You can now make new sections in your levels that use wall jumping, and hide secrets behind clever wall-jumps.

Read more GameMaker tutorials to build your game.

Happy GameMaking!