Ragalla Seliby-Kaplan
When designer my latest
3D level I manage to incorporate the more open-ended design but encountered
some issues from my critiques. Starting out I made 3 mandatory areas that had
to be explored but
I set them up in a
way that allows the player to talk them in what ever order they like and even
have them be settled on a platform that allowed them to over see the level
before going their so that they know perfectly what they are getting into and
what would be the best option to start with. I made each of them based on a
specific gimmick such as platforming over acid, combatting monsters, and
dodging moving blocks that could crush you. At the end you must hit a switch and
go out the same way you came in but if you made it through the first time a
second go around would be easy.
My playtesting showed
that people appreciated being able to see what lied ahead of them before going
there as it allowed them to go about the level in whatever order they liked instead
of being forced into one over the other. The simple concept kept it from being
a steep difficulty curve and players enjoyed the gimmicks on their own merit as
it kept the pieces different but clearly what you expect in a 3D action
adventurer or platformer. A clearly defined end goal also let players see what
they were supposed to do without me needing to explain it to them which helped.
What went wrong however was
bad planning on my part. The first issue was size as the level layout was too
big and just filled with empty space. Not the gimmicks themselves as they
provided a nice distraction but the in between space leading up to them was a
bit to massive for players liking and they suggested that I make it smaller to
cut down on the empty space. A big issue with level design had my walls to
small as exploiting them to avoid some of the gimmicks was possible so that can
be easily fixed by raising their height to stop that exploit from occurring in
the future. One key suggestion I had was the placement of warp points at the
end of a section that warped you back to the center. The allows the level to
flow more smoothing and to cut down on backtracking which players said was
annoying and pointless. The lack of health pick ups to restore life was also a
sticking point as they felt a bit pushed to not be allowed to make any mistakes.
The gimmick with the enemies was said to be too open as you could by pass them
if you ran fast enough which was my intention, I was given the option of a maze-like
area that had enemies placed at dead ends as a punishment system.
The overall flow of the
level as alright as proving a general hub kept players from getting lost or
distracting my unnecessary objects and the critical path was simple enough with
the elevated platform showing what needed to be done without stating it on my
part which was good. The challenges could use a but more reworking as some of
them were skippable and exploitable which wasn’t my intention so I feel that
this was a rough draft at best for making a completed and fully functioning
level that player could enjoy if I touched it up enough. Maybe I would start
from scratch but using this as a base for a much better level.
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