3D Level 1 V2

 3D UNITY LEVEL 1 VERSION 2

LOGAN VAN DYNE


Playtesting the unity platformer levels created by the rest of the class was a great opportunity to be able to get more ideas and inspiration for our own levels, as well as locate and discuss ways to solve whatever issues or improvements the level designers could make for our levels. Many of the issues we encountered weren’t based off of the design of the level itself, rather the occasional game kit bug here and there, such as health kits or collisions not working properly. The main feedback for most of our levels was to make them longer, so for the second version of my level, I decided to double the length of it and change the level from 5 areas to 10. 

In the new locations for the level, I primarily relied on the moving platform mechanics for traversal, which in turn stretched out the level alongside the new locations added. By referring further to the example level provided within the game kit, I was able to fully implement the three-part door, utilizing all of it’s unique switches to open. The first of which was a pressure pad to reveal a secret door, with the switch inside. This was difficult for my playtester to find as I hid the circuit which led to it, causing some confusion. When the playtester realized their error, they attempted to backtrack, but I accidentally made that impossible to do. I should have placed the moving platforms higher in relation to the new location rather than dropping them down as much as they did, so the player could jump back if they had the need to do so. 

The second location utilized the enemy counter switch, where you had to kill all of the enemies present to cause the switch to reveal itself. This portion of the level worked flawlessly, and the largest issue here was involving the moving platforms to get to and from each location. The rolling mechanic built into the player was still causing issues, even after upsizing the platforms, and the player often rolled off of the moving platforms after landing on them, causing them to fall off and respawn. This was rather tedious, however I cannot see a great way to fix this besides making the moving platforms even larger, which would result in them being less challenging as a result of having less risk of falling off. 

The final switch I implemented for the main door involved a pressure pad which was too heavy for the player to use themselves, so they had to go to another location to allow a platform to fall, causing a box to fall onto the pressure pad and activate it for the player. After this, the door opens, and the player can proceed to the final room, which is a giant tree infested with the enemies. Once the player clears these out, they can proceed to the end of the level to “beat” it. Even with all of the new locations and mechanics added, the difficulty level still stayed relatively the same, and the flow was even clearer thanks to the linear usage of the moving platforms and new locations. There was little confusion besides the things previously mentioned involving the first new location and its key, and the players knew what to do for the majority of the new switches added. 

The only feedback given for this iteration was to make it easier for the player to backtrack if they miss something, to make the first switch easier to notice and utilize, and possibly more platform variation. Other than that, version 2 was well received and I feel that I did a good job implementing the changes needed from the previous version.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mega Man V2

Image
 MEGA MAN LEVEL V2 LOGAN VAN DYNE  After the creation and playtesting of the first iteration of our Megaman level, we were presented feedback from our playtesters on things we could improve upon or change about the design of the level, in terms of the pacing, enemy count, difficulty, and more. We then fixed and expanded our levels, since hardly any of them met the 10 minute minimum requirement that we were presented with, and then conducted another playtest with the same people. The basis of my level stayed the same, especially at the beginning- it was simply expanded upon in place of where the ending of the level used to be in the previous iteration. More enemies were added alongside additional platforming sequences which also rose in complexity and difficulty, adding extra enemies to previously uninhabited platforming segments to add additional challenges to what were once easy segments of the level. The additional enemy that I added was the Colton, who shot ranged projectil...
Read more

DnD Map 2 Feedback

Image
  DND MAP 2 PLAYTEST LOGAN VAN DYNE Our second Dungeons and Dragons map was completely different from the first- With a new ruleset, mechanic system, and prompts to work with, we had to rebuild everything we’ve done and essentially start completely new for the level design, characters, enemies, bosses, and even new items. The prompt for our level was a prison break in the setting of a post apocalyptic alien invasion, and we had to incorporate checkpoints, item drops, and ensure that this level was a step up from the previous tutorial difficulty we had previously worked with. We used annotated maps to lay out basic ideas for more complicated level design concepts, starting with the checkpoints. With the way I laid them out, they would be present before or after difficult encounters, however after playtesting, many of the enemies were either too weak or too strong. This makes the checkpoint system relatively useless until you get to the weak enemies, so a possible fix for this would ...
Read more

Mega Man Level 2

Image
MEGAMAN LEVEL 2 LOGAN VAN DYNE After we finalized our first Mega Man tutorial level, we began working on concepts for a second level, for a higher skill level of players, and a different theme- this time in a jungle setting. This opened up new opportunities for both the player and the level designer in terms of platforming, enemy usage, visuals, and different unlockable abilities- as an additional goal was to utilize different weapon types, doors, and keys to complete the level. The main premise of my level was utilizing “vines” created by hanging ladders as the primary source of platforming, alongside spikes, falling platforms, and quicksand.  Once concept art and annotated maps were created for the level, we went on to properly designing it. I started by placing wooden platforms to look like tree trunks and branches, and then added the ladders and platforming segments on top of them. The vines were somewhat problematic to implement, as they had to be placed a certain amount of sp...
Read more