Spikes Around the World: Usage

Last time we looked at several of the most common types of spikes found in video games, but we have yet to explore reasons for why spikes are such a popular environmental hazard. Today, we'll be doing exactly that, looking at the many reasons why spikes are just so frequently utilized.

Versatility of Placement: One of the main reasons spikes are used in many games is they are simply easy to use just about anywhere. Unlike other environmental hazards such as lava, poison, or electricity, which all either have to have a 'source' (ex: cut wires for electricity) or generally appear in specific ways (ex: lava is almost always exclusively on the ground), spikes can be attached to just abut anything without looking silly or odd. They can be placed on ceilings, on floors, on walls, on enemies, and just about anything else at any angle and still look 'natural'. Spike placement is especially versatile because they can be placed directly on top of surfaces, inside surfaces (spike traps), or alongside surfaces (spike pits) and, maybe most importantly of all, they can be placed on multiple sides of surfaces to allow for things such as blocks which can be safely touched from the bottom, but not from any other direction.

Spikes can be placed in all sorts of areas

Versatility of Movement: Not only can spikes be placed just about anywhere, they can also move just about anywhere. They can suddenly stab outward from traps in the floor or walls, they can drop, they can be tossed out at all sorts of angles by enemies, and they can even shoot up or horizontally. While spikes generally move in a straight line, they can come from just about any source at any angle and any speed.

Ease of Identification: This may very well be the most important reason why spikes are so beloved by developers. If you've played a decent number of games, you can probably recall at least one time when you encountered an object which you simply couldn't identify - a power-up that looked like a bullet, an enemy which looked like a healing item, a damaging platform which looked safe, something in the background which you thought was in the same plane as your character, etc. The point is, you've probably taken damage from what you thought was an 'upgrade' or passed up a threatening-looking health capsule or some other unfortunate event simply because you had no idea what it was you were looking at. However, only in extremely rare circumstances is this the case with spikes. Part of this is due to just how common they are in games in the first place; play a handful of games and you'll know to avoid them. Yet, the main strength behind spikes is they are easy to identify as 'threatening' even for a person who has never before played a game. Regardless of if the spikes in question are tall, short, skinny, fat, singular, multiple, made of metal, or made of stone, they likely look sharp and pointy and not at all like things a person would generally think look safe to touch. A pit may look like a tunnel, a bullet an upgrade, and a background tile a platform, but spikes will almost certainly always look like a hazard. Which is why the next reason is...

Spikes are easy to identify regardless of perspective.

Surprise: Spikes are so easy to identify as something to avoid that they make the perfect environmental tool for toying with a player's expectations. A player may very well know to avoid spikes and be safe in the knowledge that as long as he or she stays away from them the quest can continue, yet this sense of 'safety' is exactly what will allow the player to be caught off guard when a slightly off-colored spike suddenly shoots or falls away from its brethren straight onto the player's head. On a similar note, since spikes are so frequently attached to surfaces, it is not uncommon for players to suddenly find themselves being chased by, forced upwards by, or (of course), about to be crushed by an entire wall of spikes which decides to start moving. More mischievous developers may also rely upon this same knowledge of 'spike safety' in quite a different way by making a certain patch of spikes breakable or even just a harmless illusion, completely blocking progress (usually poor design) or blocking off a handy upgrade (better design) with this neat trick. It is also easy to innovate with spikes because of just how frequently they appear as a complete hazard; give the player a way to nullify or outright destroy spikes, such as in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, or make spikes function differently than usual, such as in Spelunky where they can be safely touched from the sides, and the player will likely be thrilled at this surprising break from tradition.

Games like I Wanna Be The Guy use spikes to take advantage of player assumptions.

Ease of Creation: This is another big reason and one which was touched on in Ease of Identification because it overlaps somewhat. To put it simply, spikes are really easy to make; as long is it's sharp and pointy, it's probably easy to identify as a spike. For a start, this means they're easy to make for independent developers regardless of artistic talent. More importantly, this means they're flexible. It's very easy to make spikes of any size without risking the loss of identity, so for 2D games this means spikes can be used to fill up a full tile, half a tile, multiple tiles, or any other space while for 3D games the size and quantity can also easily be adjusted to fill any given region. Spikes also fit into hitboxes exceptionally well; while other hazards such as fire, lightning, or poison can be a nightmare for developers and/or players when it comes to identifying just where they end and where they begin, spikes have a clearly defined width and height and can easily be fit into a 'box'; even if there is a lot of 'empty space' to the sides of a spike at its tip, a developer needs only to add in one or two more overlapping spikes and the problem is solved.


So, that's some of the basics of spikes. They're easy for players to identify and easy for developers to create. They can be placed just about anywhere in many different sizes, shapes, and quantities. They even can be used to play with expectations and surprise players in various ways throughout a game. Gamers and developers alike love, hate, and love to hate spikes, but they have served video games well for decades and likely will continue to do so for many years to come.