Playtest Feedback and Boss Area Design

 

Level 1v2 Playtest Feedback and Boss Area Design

12/9/24 Mason E. Barravecchia


Playtest Feedback for Level 1v2

How Did the Changes in Your Level Help with This Version?

The changes I implemented in Level 1 v2 aimed to improve enemy combat feel and puzzles. Specifically, I wanted to create a feeling where the player is challenged, but can still see the end goal to keep up their motivation throughout the level.

  • I added more enemies and parkour
  • I added more areas to explore
  • I added more doors to unlock and more parkour due to the positive feedback I recieved

These updates made a significant impact by enhancing the player flow and general enjoyability of my level.


What Mechanics Were Implemented Well and Why?

Some mechanics in this version worked particularly well, such as:

  • Doors and Switches: I used doors and switches to teach the player how to progress to new unexplored areas.
  • Parkour Ruins: I used Parkour areas to help entertain the player while posing a challenge to overcome to progress further in the level.

These mechanics contributed to the general flow and feel of the level, and helped make the level much less boring and bare bones.


What Was Implemented Poorly and Why?

Some additions were not as successful, including:

  • Parkour Area #1: There were some areas that you could completely skip over, as well as areas that were not very well clarified for the player.
  • Win Area: A simple mistake that displayed the win area message too early.


Boss Area Design

Approach to Layout and Design

For the boss area, I aim to:

  • Create a Sci-Fi/Jungle themed arena-tree area, where the boss resides inside of the arena on top of the tree that the player has to 'climb' up to.
  • Ensure the layout supports player exploration and peaks player curiosity.
  • Incorporate more moving platforms for the climbing area, and possibly the parkour ruins area for more fun and diversity in the level.

Vision for the Boss Fight

My overall vision is to design a boss fight that entices the players to use the environment around them within the arena. I hope to achieve this by creating various ways to fight the boss, move around, and recover mistakes as a player, overall making the fight the peak of the level.


Concept Sketch

Here is a VERY rough idea of how the arena will look.



Additional Reflections

Improving the Level Next Time

In future iterations, I plan to:

  • Immediately make the level more visually entertaining and more vertical to promote the player's immerse experience, as I feel like in the first few iterations of my level it lacked verticality and true exploration. (The path was too linear).

Player Skill and Challenge Balance

  • Critical Path: The critical path was easy to follow, but a bit too obvious for my liking.
  • Flow: The flow of the level was good, however, I believe I need to add more exciting elements to carry the overall experience.


Conclusion

The feedback and insights gained from playtesting Level 1 v2 have improved the gameplay experience and planning for the boss area. I look forward to applying these lessons to my level in order to create a challenging and memorable encounter in the next iteration of the game.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mega Man Level Design Reflection

Image
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...
Read more

Wizard's Convergence

Image
Mason Barravecchia Group 2  - Wizard Generals In the realm of Wizard's Convergence, you and your opponent command rival armies in a thrilling battle, using spells to aid your troops. Engage in strategic spellcasting and deploy battle-ready troops to fortify your forces and vanquish your opponent. Design Process: 1.  Initially, we chose between two of our original prompts for the creation of this game. 2. Early on, we originally were trying to work out making a very complex game featuring automatons that you could control every move of during the game, however, we ultimately decided that that concept was much too complicated for the scope of this class, and we decided to go with something a lot more simple. 3.  We decided to base our game on my original pitch and brainstormed ways to combine our creative ideas into a cohesive concept. 4.  After determining the game's theme, rules, and assets, we refined the rule sheet to enhance playability. We brainstormed additional...
Read more

Rage Cave - Mason Barravecchia

Image
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...
Read more