CAGD 270 - Level Design

3D Level 2 V1 Feedback 5/1

    Hello there, my name is Mo, and this is my feedback from the playtest that was done on  Monday 5/1. I had my roommates play and test my level. For this new iteration, we were given a theme and this theme was a medieval castle. This was still done on the Unity Engine/Editor. Given the theme, I was thinking of going through a castle in this level and the boss is at the end of the level. One new aspect that was introduced was that we can use textures and I thought this was very beneficial in to create the atmosphere of the level. The castle was made up of stone textures with dirt and ground textures for the rocky aspects. In terms of things that went right, I thought I led more into the platforming aspect of the game that we needed to make. There wasn't a lot of maze type level as my first level was. The first room being a big door in which you need to open it with different platforming section was something that was better than before. Combat felt balanced as well as a large amount of them. It was also a focused amount of enemies in a certain area.    

    

The challenge of my level involved the platforming and enemies that were in my level. I focused some enemies at certain parts so that the enemy density wasn't over the top but the combat was still there. It involved around some switches for the door in my level. I also added checkpoints at critical areas so that players don't have to go so far back. 
    

I do feel as if my platforming was pretty bland in that it was just straight jump platform to platform. I want to incorporate more interesting platforming that is not just the same thing as jump jump jump. This was something brought up from my roommates as they felt it was a very one dimensional level. I also felt like my texture blending wasn't done as well because it was a very disconnecting atmosphere. I tried to create a rocky terrain but it didn't come out as nice and clear as I hoped it would. I also think the final boss could work better as well. I made the boss just big but it was so easy to beat that it didn't feel like a final boss. 

    

The critical path was very obvious as it was a straight line in which people had to go through. There wasn't such a deviation from the main path as the main path is such a straightforward path. I also learned from my last level and added UI elements so that the player knows where to go and have the UI events at certain/critical points so the player knows what's happening. I also incorporated things from my last level that I thought went well such as the lights on the large door to represent the progress of a player. I also think my jump puzzles were more intuitive and doable for the players so they don't have such a hard time trying to do it. 
    

The circulation components in my map that I felt were done but not in the best way as I think I was missing some things. I had entrances in the forms of doors and debris in the day. These doors could also be opened by a key. There weren't many corridors in my level as it was set as an open kind of level, so corridors didn't make sense to make. There were stairs and higher elevation but there wasn't much of it, the higher elevation had to be reached by doing some parkour. 

3D Level 1 V2 Feedback 4/17

    Hello there, my name is Mo, and this is my feedback from the playtest we did on Monday 4/17. For the second iteration of this level, it was mostly fixing up past problems and tightening some aspects of my level. I wanted to make sure the critical path was way more obvious and people actually knew where to go. The way I approached this was including more dialogue and changing the level to better reflect on where to go. I added more dialogue prompts for the player to engage in which would point in which way to go or lead ton unique challenges and tools. I also changed up one section of my level to better reflect this change as it was the platforming part over the blue acid. I changed the direction in where to go to make the player see where to go rather than just try to find out by looking around corners. 

  As stated before, I did a better job with the level information as before. More of the players who played this version saw and immediately knew where to go and found the end pretty easy as they had more visual cues on the way forward. This also achieved the visual aspect of the level that I wanted to portray to players for this level. Also, certain things such as the lights on the big door, certain doors around the map, and certain switches were moved to give a better sense. What I mean is that with dialogue, the buttons tell the player that there’s a purpose to what they’re doing by saying things like “I wonder if this clicked that light” and stuff like that. It gives another layer of know how to the player that oh I’m on the right path. I also think that the new jumping puzzle is an improvement from last time as it felt better to jump and flowed better as it was a path that players had to follow.   

    The challenge of the level was still there in the enemies and jumping puzzles within my level. I also fixed it he health kits so that they actually have heath now and was a big improvement with the enemy changes I did. Some parts felt lacking in its enemy density so I added a little more enemies, specifically near the new added section where the moving platform is. I also added more checkpoints into the level so players weren’t starting super far back but not every two seconds there was a checkpoint. 

    The critical path in my eyes was still pretty obvious even with the help as there were some extra areas the player can explore, the main path was right there in front of them and they knew the way they needed to go. The map flowed well it just needed a little bit more information as stated but it went good. 

    The circulation components in my map that I felt were done very well as everything was added. There were entrances in the form of a door or a destructible block that acted as a door. The doors can be opened with a switch that is usually right there and the big door needed three switches. Corridors were used to link up different rooms and places between my maps and I added enemies to not have them be so one dimensional. 

3D Level 1 Feedback 4/10

    Hello there, my name is Mo, and this is my feedback from the playtest we did on Monday 4/10. For this level, we were given a whole new theme and a whole shift in the engine that we have to use. The new theme we were given was a sci fi forest. The engine that we used for this was Unity Editor. This was a new form to create a map that was very different from before. Both the DND and the MegaMan level was very much 2D however, Unity involves a 3 Dimensional aspect that creates its own unique challenges and tools. With the theme, I liked the idea of having a forest that has some alien temple architecture. One limitation we had was that the level was to be made purely with primitives and it seemed like with just the base materials that came with the building kit. This means that visually the game would be very bland so I had to get the gameplay down. I had a better framework for the level before hand and the layout I wanted the player to go through. In terms of things that went right, I felt as if the enemy density and layout with the environment done well. The layout I felt was pretty much straightforward with some minor hiccups here and there but nothing major. The combat system I felt was balanced as the enemies were super weak, but a large amount of them posed a threat. The enemy variety was there, albeit not that much of variety was used, in the right situation it was intriguing combat. I felt that many of the players and their playstyles were accommodated within my level. In one of my playtests, one player was skipping some parts of the level but it was stuff that made him a little faster that didn't break the game.

    I think I could have done a better job with the information in the level. Some aspects players got but a little bit of hand holding needed to be done as some aspects of the level felt was conveyed poorly to the player. I wanted it to be visual and have a sense of adventure and exploring within the levels but some guiding and confusion was there. An example would be the last button and being able to see the door open. I had made a window for players to see the door open so they know they got all the buttons. Some players missed it because they were in combat and didn't have a second to see around the environment. Another aspect that can be better was the moving platform I had in the level that leads to the third button. This platform was a repeating going up and down platform that the player would have to jump on. Once the player got to the platform however, sometimes the platform would be up or be coming down and the player would be very confused on where to go. A pressure plate or some dialogue to explaining this would go a long way. 

    The challenge of the level was there in the enemies and jumping puzzles within my level. They were also at a level that felt easy but you can still take damage and even fail. I also placed checkpoints on he path the player has to take and before some major thing that happens so that the player doesn't have to go back 5 million miles to where they were. 

    The critical path in my eyes was obvious as even though there were some extra areas the player can explore, the main path was right there in front of them and they knew the way they needed to go. The only part that needed a little bit of clarification was the moving platform but after that it was all smooth sailing. I think the map flowed very well with the layout having a straightforward way to go and breaking up the walking with jump puzzles and combat. 

    The circulation components in my map that I felt were done very well as everything was added. There were entrances in the form of a door or a destructible block that acted as a door. The doors can be opened with a switch that is usually right there and the big door needed three switches. Corridors were used to link up different rooms and places between my maps and I added enemies to not have them be so one dimensional. 

2D Mega Man Level 2 Feedback 3/27

 Hello there, my name is Mo, and this is my feedback from the playtest we did on Monday 3/26. With this new map, we were given a pre determined fiction with a theme of the overall game and out level had to encapsulate that spirit. The theme of the whole game was a Western. We were also given a new engine in the form of the MegaMan Creator. This was completely new and It allowed us to create new maps that aren't top down but side to side. It also allowed us to have so much more variety and substance in the map that we didn't get from Roll20. I played with the idea of a western town thats stuck underground and the player would have to traverse the underground town to escape. This was tricky as I didn't know a lot about Mega Man and its environments. Getting the background and tiles was a little hard again because I didn't know a lot of the art before hand so a lot of it was just looking for the different tiles I wanted. I think I could have done a better job with the environment and specifically the underground part. I felt as if I did a better job with gameplay and level design for this map than my first iteration of the Roll20 level. I had a better framework for the level before hand and the layout I wanted the player to go through. In terms of things that went right, I felt as if the enemy density and variety was very well done with each counter having something different about it. I also felt like my base map layout was straightforward and was easy to understand on where to go with some things that were. Combat was one thing that I felt as if went over well and that was in turn with the help of the engine. It would have been cool to have more weapons but with the one given, it was done well. I also felt as if the map also was suitable for any playstyle and this was seen when some of the playtesters would explore and some would just run and gun.

    With things I felt that went wrong, I felt as if the narrow vertical jumps I had were very tedious and super annoying. There was also the extra areas that were set up as extra areas for players to go to and then go back but it might distract the players and lose the idea of a critical path. The narrow jumps were meant to be a little bit of a harder challenge but instead of being a fun hard challenge, it just became tedious and a little annoying to traverse. Each playtester pointed out the problem with them and this was something that to me on paper looked good and even in gameplay was alright, but for new players was very tedious and not fun to do. One thing I also need to work on is the two way path I have set in the beginning. I had the idea that the player would go to the right first but if they explored the left, a new path would open and it would act as a shortcut and they would skip a little bit of the level. Due to the view of the player, they easily saw the left and went down it. Most people didn't see the right side and went immediately left while only one person went the right route. 

    I did feel as if the challenges were appropriate because each room was doable and I had checkpoints at places of interest so if they do die they can run the encounter back. I also used the breakable blocks to teach traversals and be able to scale certain jumps they can't make. This was something I knew I wanted to incorporate with the whole level and also use the falling blocks to help with traversal. Enemies also felt fairly balanced with health kits being available after fights which allow the people not die as much and they get to experience the game.

    I do feel as if the critical path is obvious due to its linear path. There are extra places to explore and I feel as if they need to be made so that people know that it is an extra place and not the main path they need to go. It was a straightforward path ahead with not a lot of side exploration and using the color coordinated doors, the players knew which way they needed to go. The overall flow was very well done. There weren't many pauses because of the combat being a bit easy and thankfully the players enjoyed the combat as it was fun and didn't feel like a chore. I definitely didn't want any standstill or pauses within the game and thankfully the only pauses was during places where they needed to do something like destroy engines. I felt as if the harder enemies added a good amount of variety and fun as it wasn't a case of the same thing in every encounter. This presented a scenario where the enemies were fun to fight but not too difficult. The enemies that are linked can be better with maybe adding a lot of them or separate. I need to improve some of the door mechanics or some rooms where they can find more items.

    The circulation components in my map that I felt were done well. There were entrances and the majority were doors with a key that can open anything that is colored blue. The players got the key from killing a guard in the first room, which gave them the key efficiently and have the way to open any blue door. I felt as this was a little better because it wouldn't need to be something people would have to find a key every time and they can move around the map more quickly. I also created corridors and I felt as if they were the best circulation component as they both helped the players traverse around and they fought a lot in the corridors. They also connected the maps together to have a linear design.

Post-Apocalyptic DND Map 2/22

    Hello there, my name is Mo, and this is my feedback from the playtest we did on Wednesday 2/22. With this new map, we were given a pre determined fiction with a theme of the overall game and a theme for the specific level. The theme of the whole game was set in a post apocalyptic world and the theme of the level was a prison break. I played with the idea of a prison break by making a prison escape set in a ship. I wanted to make sure that the idea worked so I put a broken earth in the background to give the sense that some apocalyptic event happened to fracture the earth and the moon. I felt as if I did a better job with gameplay and level design for this map. The people who played my map were Angel and Jacob. They chose the classes Warrior and Ranger classes. In terms of things that went right, I felt as if the map layout was straightforward and was easy to understand on where to go. Combat was one thing that I felt as if went over well and with just a few adjustments, it would be the best combat I made in the 3 DND maps. The map also was suitable for any of the classes and if they chose the other classes, the map would have worked fine.

    With things I felt that went wrong, I felt as if the new mechanics, specifically items and combat, I introduced was good but needed to be a little more work. A new mechanic I introduced was a key that unlocked any blue marked doors. This allowed for ease of access to traverse the map without having to find a key each time. One thing that could have worked better was the combat and the aliens. I thought it would be cool to have enemies where when you attack one of them, it does damage to the same race. While this seemed ok on paper, in execution it didn't work out as I had hoped. It made the fighting fun but way too easy in which the players would destroy and keep moving. I thought it would be interesting if the aliens were one and it provided a unique gameplay loop, but that was actually the wrong choice. Especially in the engine room, when I had workers guarding the engines that the players destroyed, they mowed through them quick and moved on to the engine room without really having a challenge in it. 

    I did feel as if the challenges were appropriate because each room taught a certain skill and the boss battle that the players would be encountering. The players have to learn to use the key on blue doors and learning how to kill enemies. In the first room I introduce the key mechanic that I have mentioned before. This was supposed to be an early showing of a mechanic that would come up again.

    I do feel as if the critical path is obvious due to its linear path. It was a straightforward path ahead with not a lot of side exploration and using the color coordinated doors, the players knew which way they needed to go. The overall flow was very well done. There weren't many pauses because of the combat being a bit easy and thankfully the players enjoyed the combat as it was fun and didn't feel like a chore. I definitely didn't want any standstill or pauses within the game and thankfully the only pauses was during places where they needed to do something like destroy engines. I felt as if the harder enemies added a good amount of variety and fun as it wasn't a case of the same thing in every encounter. This presented a scenario where the enemies were fun to fight but not too difficult. The enemies that are linked can be better with maybe adding a lot of them or separate. I need to improve some of the door mechanics or some rooms where they can find more items.

    The circulation components in my map that I felt were done well. There were entrances and the majority were doors with a key that can open anything that is colored blue. The players got the key from killing a guard in the first room, which gave them the key efficiently and have the way to open any blue door. I felt as this was a little better because it wouldn't need to be something people would have to find a key every time and they can move around the map more quickly. I also created corridors and I felt as if they were the best circulation component as they both helped the players traverse around and they fought a lot in the corridors. They also connected the maps together to have a linear design.

Simple DND Map v2 2/15

    Hello there, my name is Mo, and this is my feedback from the second playtest we did on Wednesday 2/15. I decided to keep the fiction of the underground cave system with slight modifications in terms of gameplay. My original map was very much needing some repairs on gameplay as well as level design and I felt as if I did a better version for the second iteration. The people who played my map were Angel and Jacob. They chose the classes Warrior and Rogue classes. In terms of things that went right, I felt as if the map layout was still straightforward and simple to understand on where to go. Combat was one thing that felt way better rather than the wonky feel it had before. The new map also worked for the classes that the play testers chose and even if they chose a different class, I do believe that the map would work just fine. 

    With things I felt that went wrong, I felt as if the new mechanics I introduced was good but needed to be a little more work. The new mechanic was a new pressure plate system that interacted with different parts of the map such as enemies and doors. With the new mechanic, there wasn't a really great combat mechanic to it. The dragons that were trapped by the pressure plate system didn't seem that intimidating and I thought it would be interesting if they didn't attack, but that was actually the wrong choice. I thankfully changed the density from the last time in which density was an issue. The way that I feel as I can improve is working on the pressure plate system with the map a little bit better. I could have added more and made it a little more intriguing.

    I did feel as if the challenges were appropriate because each room taught a certain skill and the boss battle that the players would be encountering. The players have to use light in the spawn room. In one of the first rooms they go in, I introduced the pressure plate mechanic that teaches the players that you can interact with the world and things will happen. This was supposed to be an early showing of a mechanic that would come up again, particularly in the boss fight. 

    I do feel as if the critical path is obvious due to its linear path. It was a straightforward path ahead with not a lot of side exploration and using light, the players knew which way they needed to go. The overall flow was better than before. Pauses were not as prominent because combat got worked on a lot where it felt fun and not like a slog. I wanted to get rid of the standstill and back and forth with enemies and I do feel as if I fixed it with adjusting enemies and their stats. I added a lot more enemies for better variety but in turn their stats went down. This presented a scenario where the enemies were fun to fight but not too difficult. I do need to improve the trapped dragons mechanic. I need to improve some of the mechanics to add on more substance and combat with it.

    The circulation components in my map that I felt were done well. There were entrances and the majority were doors but there was also arches for players to walk through. The doors were locked that had to be unlocked by pressing on the pressure plate. I felt as this was a little better because it wasn't just one pressure plate but many so players had to move a little bit. I also created corridors and I felt as if they were the best circulation component as they both helped the players learn light as well as their jump skill. They also connected the maps together to have a linear design.

Simple DND Map v1 2/10

 

    Hello, my name is Mo, and this is my feedback from the first playtest we did on Wednesday 2/8. The idea I had going into this map was an underground cave system. I originally had the idea of the players having to break out of jail and then go around but I went against that and let keys to doors be in lockboxes. The people who played my map were Angel and Jacob. They chose the classes Warrior and Rogue classes. In terms of things that went right, I felt as if the map layout was straightforward and simple to understand where to go. I also felt as if the combat, which was a little wonky, still achieved a battle inside of the game. The map also worked for the classes that the play testers chose and even if they chose a different class, I do believe that the map would work just fine. 

    In the things that went wrong, I felt as if the combat was a little wonky in trying to get the battles underway. This was a little more on the engine of Roll 20 but in terms of their stats that was on me. I felt as if some enemies were too powerful but also at the same time very weak. There also wasn't really much density and the layout didn't necessarily flow well with the entire map and getting mechanics down. Some ways I feel as if I can improve the map is have a more interesting layout that fits with the narrative while also flowing better with better enemy density. 

 

    I felt as if the challenges were appropriate because each challenge/tutorial related to a certain skill and the boss battle that the players would be encountering. In the spawn room they have to use light to be able to see where they're going. I also had a jumping puzzle and combat. In one of the first rooms, they go in, I put a pillar with a button. This was supposed to be an early showing of a mechanic that would come up again, particularly in the boss fight. Every room taught the players something and it all culminated in the final boss. 

 

    I felt as if the critical path was obvious because it was a very linear path. There wasn't much room to explore or forks in the road. It was a straightforward path ahead and using light, the players knew which way they needed to go. 

 

    The overall flow was a little muddy at best. I felt as if there were some pauses within the game as mentioned before. As mentioned before, combat was very hit or miss. There were a lot of standstills within the character combat. There was a lot of standstill and back and forth with some enemies. Once one character rolled, then I rolled for defense, and there were a lot of ties and nothing happening. This drastically slowed down the flow and there were some awkward portions where we just kept going back and forth and nothing else was happening. This is certainly something that I need to improve. 

 

    There were circulation components in my map that I felt were used well but also at the same time could have been stronger. There were entrances but they weren't all doors that are obvious for the player to see. The entrances were holes for players to be able to walk through. The doors were locks that had to be unlocked by finding a key. These keys were hidden within lockboxes. I also created corridors and I felt as if they were the best circulation component as they both helped the players learn light as well as their jump skill. It also connected the whole map together.