My level underwent some drastic changes between v1 and v2, I ended up scrapping my v1 and starting over as I believed it didn’t provide a good foundation for me to build upon, but that some of the encounters I made could be reused.
Overall I think my changes made a significant positive impact on my level. For starters, I separated individual mechanics into their own sections where they could be introduced and interacted with at a steady pace, so as to not overwhelm the player. This structure was fun to work with because it was very modular and I could easily design short but fun challenges for the player to overcome with breaks and checkpoints in the middle. This also made the critical path of the level extremely easy to follow, as the Player was always looking for the exit door in every room.
Some mechanics I thought were implemented well were textboxes, Chompers, Switches, and Doors. I implemented some text boxes that helped the player know what to expect, as well as provided some good pacing to my level as players would slow down to read the messages between platforming and combat challenges I also created a character through these textboxes named <SYSTEM>, who acted kind of like GLaDOS in the early sections of Portal, providing the player with guidance as well as the sense that they were being tested.
When placing the chompers, I deliberately rotated some of them so that they would be facing away from the player when the player approached them. This demonstrated to players that Chompers had a “blind spot” that could be exploited to sneak up behind them for a free hit. My players were able to pick up on this. Meanwhile, the doors and switches added a more cinematic feel to the level I was told by my players, as each transition room has a door that must be opened with a nearby switch.
One mechanic that did not go as well as I thought it would was the Acid challenge room. I used the acid not just as a death pit to fall into but as blocks that would kill you on contact. One such challenge was that the player had to jump through a crack between two acid blocks, but the crack ended up being difficult to get through as it was pretty small.
Annotated Map of the Boss Lead-Up Section
In the lead-up to the boss battle, I plan to challenge the player by presenting them with a gauntlet style challenge consisting of all the mechanics they’ve learned about so far. I’m excited to use multiple mechanics at once and see how they can interact with each other! One idea I had was to again combine the moving platforms with the acid, but this time have a series of platforms rising and sinking in and out of a pool of acid. I think this will make for an interesting and intense timing challenge! I also like the idea of using Spitters as “turrets” of sorts by placing them outside the player’s reach, forcing them to dodge the Spitter’s projectiles as they take on other challenges. One other idea I want to expand upon that I’ve used already is using the doors as platforms that rise up out from the acid. I don’t know if I can place the AI enemies on top of the doors and have them be pushed by them, but if so I’d like to have a section where platforms rise up out of the acid with enemies on top of them that must be defeated.
I plan to introduce the boss arena with two giant imposing doors. I believe that this approach will really catch the attention of the player as it will stand out against the geometry of the rest of the level. The scale of the doors will also hopefully make the player’s expect something big and grand to be inside of it.
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