Mason Barravecchia

Mega Man Level Design Reflection By Mason Barravecchia Designing my own Mega Man levels gave me a lot of insight into how various gameplay mechanics can impact the player’s experience. In this Blog, I’ll explore the design choices I made, how they affected gameplay, some feedback I received from my peers, and what I would adjust moving forward. Adding Keys and Doors Adding keys and doors introduced a fun layer of complexity to my second iteration, requiring players to think fast and strategically. Players now had the option to explore areas less linearly, which added a strong sense of choose-your-own-path type of gameplay. The keys/doors mechanic also created opportunities for player decision-making: should they backtrack for a key or explore a new area? This mechanic fit well, though some players did note that not all paths felt equally rewarding after completion. Weapons in the Second Level In the second level, I added the S.Arrow and O.Slider to give players more combat and movement...

Rage Cave By Mason Barravecchia CAGD 270 10/1/24 The Process Explained: My RPG level 'Rage Cave' was playtested various times by the following players: Els F., Jonathan S., and Robert O. They each played as the Warrior, Mage, and Rouge, and Ranger across various playtests. What Went Correctly: Playtesters and the Professor verbally expressed their enjoyment of the linear design of my map in the early drafts. Players enjoyed the pacing, and simplicity of the map layout. Players enjoyed the unique naming conventions of enemies scattered across the map. What Seemed Off: During some of the later playthroughs, Players noted that there wasnt much variation in what could happen inside of my level. They also expressed feeling somewhat trapped due to how linear the map layout was originally. To combat this, I re-designed the layout of my map, keeping it linear still, but much less obvious to the player that it all funneled down to the same area towards the end of the level. I achieved t...