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Lots of old platformers are only left-to-right-ish and they don't allow you to move viewport left.

I'm interested was it just a game design choice or it's due to some limitations back then.

I have a lot of possible reasons in my head, but I'm interested in actual one, so please consider reply with citation.

Not sure I'm in correct community with this question, sorry in advance.

user3797758
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mingaleg
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  • You are in the right place :) – user3797758 Oct 21 '18 at 12:50
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    You might be in the wrong place if you're looking specifically for a citation or a verified reason, as opposed to a more speculative one. – Bernhard Barker Oct 21 '18 at 13:24
  • Well, first of all, you could elaborate on the possible reasons in order to clarify your question. It would also show that you put in some effort into researching the answer. It is not clear yet what you are actually asking for, given that you seem to disapprove of ROGRat's answer. – Battle Oct 22 '18 at 07:38

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The answer to this is a synergy of a number of factors. Most people are right handed. Most languages are written from left to right. When placing objects, people typically start to the left and work to the right.

Programmatically, if a game Map was represented using a two dimensional array, logical traversion of said map would require moving to the right.

There are a number of very old (late 70s, early 80s) games that permit both left and right exploration but depending on the title and it’s complexity, memory constraints might play a role.

ROGRat
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  • Hi, thank you for your interest. I suppose I didn't wrote my question clean enough. – mingaleg Oct 21 '18 at 10:36
  • If you play for example Super Mario Bros, then you will see, what as far as you move forward, the "camera" (viewport) is traveling right to, but then you go left, you stuck in the border. – mingaleg Oct 21 '18 at 10:38
  • So I'm looking for some citation which would clarify, was that a game design solution in first place or is that forced by computers limitations – mingaleg Oct 21 '18 at 10:41
  • I could totally understand, why and how you can became forced to prohibit to go left then you have long level with lots of enemies, but I want some historical evidences – mingaleg Oct 21 '18 at 10:44
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    @mingaleg - You do understand that there are no established norms, legislature or established science needed in order to simply do something in the realm of creative work? The reasons why game designers made it that way is well described in the answer. That's how innovation in a creative domain works: You try out things and they either work better or worse. There is no "official" source to back every single little or big game design decision on. Also it is unclear what you are actually asking for... "historical"... "evidences"?? – Battle Oct 22 '18 at 07:33
  • @mingaleg -- There is no citation. Regarding not being able to move left in Mario Brothers, that is a design decision and nothing to do with hardware limitations. Put most simply, MANY things take place in a left-to-right fashion, as I've already explained, therefore it's just common sense that games move in the same way. – ROGRat Mar 24 '22 at 03:12