The story of Platformania

Platformania started in 2016, where the first version was developed. Back then it used 16x16 pixel tiles, just like old school platformers like Commander Keen, Super Mario Bros, etc. You could already build your own levels in the online level editor. A link was posted on the Public Commander Keen Forum and a few members started showing interest in the project. After a year it was decided that the game would not become succesful enough to keep it going.

The domain name expired, but in 2026, ten years later, the domain name was reregistered to the original owner, Josh May. Parts of the original source code was found on an old hard disk, and with the help of archive.org, some web code was also found.

The dream was still there, to create a fun, free puzzle platformer that was playable for everyone. There would be thousands of levels to choose from, ranging from easy to difficult. The decision was made to upscale the graphics, to use 32x32 pixel tiles. More objects and interactions were added, and a mobile website was created. Platformania was now playable on any phone.

Later the graphics were upscaled to 48x48 pixel tiles and eventually to 64x64 tiles to make the graphics look more detailed and modern. The reason it took so long to make this decision was because of worries about performance issues. Javascript is not the most performant language and a lot of time was spent to optimize the game as much as possible. On modern hardware it runs smoothly at 60 fps.

When you look at some of the earlier levels, you can see an old object that was added all the way in 2016: the cat. The cat was added as a joke, to test out various AI behavior. It will walk around, but not do anything useful. It is still a 16x16 sprite, and when you see it walking around in the current 64x64 pixel world, you can see how much progress has been made.

The main character has been given a name, and a back story has been written. This is one of the things that made Platformania succesful, and in 2026, more than a hundred players have registered, and started creating their own levels.