Platform Panic

Platform Panic is an endless platform game released on iOS, Android, and browser on December 17, 2014 with an Amazon App Store release on January 29, 2015. The player controls a character navigating through an infinite platform stage.

A major update to the game that would give each character a special ability was released on January 28, 2015, with a second update to be released on May 14 2015 that will introduce new backgrounds and traps to the game.

Controls

 * Swipe left/right (mobile)/left and right (browser) - move left/right
 * Swipe upwards (mobile)/up (browser) - jump
 * {{Spoiler/mini|Swipe upwards twice (mobile)/{{kbd|up}}twice (browser) - double jump (only spacegirl)
 * {{Spoiler/mini|Swipe upwards twice (mobile)/{{kbd|up}}twice (browser) - double jump (only spacegirl)

Gameplay
Platform Panic is a platforming game where the player navigates their player character through an infinite platforming stage. The player is scored based on how many rooms they clear. Each room has an exit that leads to another room, though some have two exits instead of one. Most rooms have coins in them that can be collected and spent to unlock other characters.

A break from previous Nitrome endless games, in Platform Panic every time the player dies they are given the chance to retain their score and try the room again either by paying five coins to watch an advertisement or buying a continue for a certain amount of coins. The starting price is fifteen coins, though it doubles for every subsequent restart again after previously using a restart during the same game.

Characters
Player can unlock various characters to play with by unlocking them with coins found during while playing.
 * Rosy Cheeks Boy (default)
 * Sir Jumpalot (20 coins)
 * Radd Bradd (60 coins)
 * Blue Rodent (150 coins)
 * Spacegirl? (250 coins)
 * Clive (400 coins)
 * Plumber (750 coins)
 * Awesome Ninja (1250 coins)
 * Mr. Smooth (2000 coins)

In app purchases
The game contains an in app purchase that allows players to remove ads, and also three coin related in app purchases.

Announcements

 * December 2 2014 - The game's trailer was released.
 * December 12 2014 - A Vine of the game was released
 * March 20 2014 - Information is revealed about the game's second major update and a screenshot is shared.

Release version
This version is labelled 1.0.7 in Android and 1.0.2 on iOS, and is the release version of the game.

Android version update 1
This version is labelled 1.0.8 and fixed some bugs along with a bug with the game's achievements that caused the "collect 5 coins in a room" achievement not to work properly.

Android version update 2
This version was released on January 6 2015 and is labelled 1.0.9. This updates fixes minor bugs.

Update 1
This version, labelled 1.2 on Android and 1.1.1 on iOS, adds a special upgrade to each character that can be purchased with coins. Along with this, the Android version also fixes a crash bug.

The Amazon App Store version is labelled 1.1.1 and contains the contents of the upgrades version and all previous versions.

Fourth Android update
Labelled as version 1.2.1 and released on March 23 2015, this update fixes bugs, along with fixing an event that crashed the game.

Update 2
This update was released on May 13th 2015 for iOS and Android, labelled as Version 1.2.2 on iOS and 1.3.0 on Android. This update is the second major content update to Platform Panic, adding the hazards spikewheels, crushers, lasers, the pipe interactive object, the drill tank enemy, new rooms and background art, and new achievements.

This update also adds a function to the game that records which rooms the player has completed. Along with this, the first time the player dies they can continue either by buying one with coins or watching a video advertisement. Some old rooms that were present before the update were changed to make them harder.

Development
Each character having a special ability was a feature Nitrome wanted to implement into the game's initial release, though they were unable to due to time constraints. Despite this they did say this feature may be added in a future update if the game is popular, an update that later came about on January 28, 2015.

The subsequent release of Platform Panic on the Amazon App Store was used to test the viability of porting further free games with advertisements to the said store. Nitrome began working on the game's second update, development having been started by March 13 2015.

The game's second update was revealed on March 20 2015, this update planning to bring new backgrounds, hazards, enemies, and levels. By April 29 2015 the update had been submitted to all the app stores the game was on and by May 5 2015 approved by all of them, with a planned release of May 14 2015.

Influences
Platform Panic's retro theme influenced much of the art and characters of the game.

Characters
Many of the characters appear to be references to various video game characters, though some may be based on more than one characters. These references are:
 * Rosy Cheeks Boy's character description is a reference to Bubble Bobble, as it is a reversal of the role of the main characters. Furthermore, when creating the character Nitrome was influenced by the protagonists from the Taito games Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, and Liquid Kids; along with Kirby from the Kirby series.
 * Sir Jumpalot wears a pair of "lucky boxer shorts", which is a reference to Sir Arthur of Ghosts n' Goblins.
 * Radd Bradd may be a reference to the "radical" skater mascots of the 90s, such as Kid Chameleon.
 * Blue Rodent is the "slowest runt of the litter", the opposite of this character being Sonic the Hedgehog, known as the "fastest thing alive".
 * Spacegirl?'s armor, upgrades and gender ambiguity is a reference to Samus of Metroid.
 * Plumber is based off Mario from the Mario series.
 * Clive was named after Clive Sinclair, who came up with the ZX Spectrum. Furthermore, Clive's sprite is based off the graphics of the system in question, also being influenced by the characters Colin the cleaner, Hen-House Harry from Chuckie Egg, and Captain Viridian from VVVVVV.
 * Awesome Ninja is possibly based off Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden and/or Joe Musashi from Shinobi, though Awesome Ninja may be based of the general concept of ninjas.
 * Mr. Smooth is a reference to the main characters from Prince of Persia, Flashback, Another World, and Canabalt.

Backgrounds
The testing facility background has a series of clouds, ! boxes and hills (complete with eyes) painted onto it. All of these set pieces are common scenery in the Super Mario Bros series.

One of the jungle backgrounds has two colored squares, sunflowers and palm tree with lantern. These set pieces are common scenery in Green Hill zone from Sonic the Hedgehog.

One of the jungle backgrounds has a Metroid from the Metroid series.

One of the jungle backgrounds has a pipe with a Piranha Plant from the Super Mario Bros. series.

Gameplay elements
Pipes are a reference to Warp Pipes from the super Mario Bros. series.

Porting
Prior to porting, Nitrome showed interest in porting Platform Panic to the Amazon App Store and also are interested in porting the game to Windows Phone.

Awards

 * Pocket Gamer
 * 2015
 * Pocket Gamer Awards 2015
 * Best Action/Arcade Game
 * Won
 * }

Promotions
On March 20 2015 Platform Panic was selected by Apple for their Indie Game Showcase.

Trivia

 * Platform Panic was hinted in the Bad Iceberg skin released a few days prior, with the game's robots and Radd Bradd appearing in the skin.
 * The room in the layout completion achievements does not appear in the game. This is also the same with the room shown in the Update 2 announcement, as this room can only be completed Plumber.