ePortfolio Post 3
For the last couple of weeks for this semester, our class has been working on making a 3D platformer in Unity using 3D GameKit lite. Using this game kit, we were able to learn about linking interactable objects with each other (like moving platforms or pressure plates), dialogue boxes, checkpoints, and enemy placement. We did no coding for this project and solely relied on the game kit and its provided assets. We are now approaching our deadline for our final version of the 3D level, which is to implement a boss area / arena after our tutorial section.
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Photo taken from their asset page |
One thing that went well in my level was the ending segment of level. Since it had an open and flexible layout, I was able to incorporate every single mechanic into it. The mechanics I included into this part was parkour, enemy spawn points, a door switch, breakable blocks, and a healing crate. This meant that I could ensure that the player had the game knowledge to play levels outside of this tutorial. Another neat mechanic I was able to implement was adding sci-fi themed materials to parts of the level. I mainly used it for the floors of my "indoor" section.
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| Part of the ending segment of my level |
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| Sci-fi floor patterns I used from the game kit |
However, my tutorial level suffered one major issue; my level was too linear. Even though there were twists and turns and changes in elevation, it boiled down to the player just moving forward to win the level. I learned that even if the tutorial was meant to be easy, it doesn't mean that it should be boring. To fix this, I added some extra rooms attached to the main pathway to break up the flow of the level a little bit. Not only did this help make the level feel less linear, it also gave me more space to introduce new mechanics to the player. For example, in one of the rooms, I added breakable blocks for the player to break in order to progress through the game.
Another problem my level ran into was the strange difficulty curve. I forgot that this was supposed to be a tutorial level, so I added some tough jumps at the start and a ton of enemies at the end. While the playtesters and I were able to pass the level without dying, I could totally see a completely new player struggling to learn the game. To balance the difficulty out, I added a new room at the beginning to slowly introduce the player to the game instead of immediately facing them with danger. I also decreased the difficulty of some jumps around the map, and removed a lot of enemies towards the end section.
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The first version of my tutorial level |
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| Second version of my level. The added rooms are circle in red, and the difficulty adjustments are highlighted in blue. |
A key part of our final version of our levels is that we present a challenge to the player leading up to the boss fight. To do that, I plan to add two main sections with locked doors that the player must unlock. These sections will be divided in a way to test each of the player's skillsets: combat, parkour, and situational awareness.
To test the combat, I have designed a room filled with a decent amount of enemies with minimal healing. This will force the player to learn how to position correctly to efficiently deal with enemies.
For parkour, I included a lot of jumps and moving platforms throughout the level. This will also sometimes include enemies in the mix so that players get used to attacking after jumping.
Lastly, for situational awareness, I added the locked doors. This will force the player to look around the map to find the switches required to unlock the doors. This is also good because it encourages the player to explore around the map on their own without any help. Giving the player independence is vital because it tells them what to expect in the game going forward.
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| The map for my final section of the 3D level |
For the boss fight, I have a simple plan to keep the player locked in the room until they defeat the boss. The boss will be a giant melee mob with extra health points and increased damage. I also will include some healing for the player to utilize throughout the fight. Lastly, I am going to have the floor be completely flat so that the boss can chase the player around the room freely. I might also add acid around the edges of the room to add pressure on the player by making them feel trapped.
ePortfolio Post 2
April 10th 2024
Recently, our class has been working on the Megaman Maker to experiment with level designing. One of the main goals we had to keep in mind while making our levels was maintaining difficulty while making sure the level felt reasonably fair. We also had peer review sessions to get ideas from each other while learning how to apply each other's critiques in our levels.
For our first level, we were tasked to create a forest biome with the intent to teach the player about the basic mechanics of the game. The mechanics in question was sliding, shooting enemies, collecting healing powerups, climbing ladders, , and ending the level. The level was also supposed to last for about 3-5 minutes of game time, with at least 20 tiles total.. Below are some of the pictures for my level:
The first map concept I created for the forest level (and the starting area)
Sand elevator that leads to the end of the level:
Adding the doors to this forest level overall improved its quality. Since it requires a key to be picked up, it allowed me to add extra rooms for the player to navigate through in order to prolong the game time. These extra rooms also added some variety since they shifted the linear flow of the level. Some of the rooms would loop back around to itself while others were a narrow tunnel that you had to go back and forth in. Overall, it was a great addition to the level.
The locked door that loops back on to itself:
Some of the things that went well in this level was how to taught the player to deal with specific enemies. For example, the construction hat enemy can be countered by standing under it to avoid its bullets, then jumping up to kill it before it shoots again. This enemy was placed numerous times throughout the level so I was able to see the playtesters learn its pattern in real time. Another thing that this level did well was how fast the playtesters were able to glide through it. New players were forced to slow down to get used to the mechanics of the game, while more experienced players had fun gliding through the obstacles.
The bad things about the level was that the gameplay was too short. Before the doors were added, the players would usually beat the game in less than 2 minutes because the map was split into two different paths. These paths would lead to the end of the game, so you really only had to beat one path to beat the level. Another thing that my level initially failed in was the lack of variety. In my first version, I only had 2 enemy types: the construction helmet and flying guy. I also reused the same two backgrounds which made my level seem very cheap. In my second version, I was able to fix this by applying ideas I found in other people's games during a game testing session.
For our second level, we had to create a mechanically themed level with the pretty much the same requirements as the first level. However, this time we needed to implement new weapon types to the player. For my level, I used the tornado weapon as well as the super slide. To force the player to learn about these new weapons, I implemented special doors to prevent the player from progressing unless they used the new weapons (as suggested from our instructor).
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I personally felt like I showed a lot of improvement on my second level. I added a lot more design to the level which made it seem a lot livelier than my first level. This was achieved by using animated blocks, stylish backgrounds, and blocks that seemingly fit in with the background. I also made sure that there were strategically placed enemies to force conflict and provide difficulty to the player. I also allowed players to freely use the tornado weapon in the end section so that they could glide all the way to the end in a stylish manner.
The top section of this level:
Room for learning how to use the tornado:
My level definitely was not perfect though, and it had its flaws. For example, in the tornado sections, sometimes the player would get soft-locked behind segments due to lack of ammo. The enemies sort of panicked the players into using all the ammo to survive, so by the time they reached a tornado door, they couldn't progress. To fix this, I need to add ammo before each door to ensure that the player has enough to get to the next point of the level. Another thing I did not noticed until I finished the level was that I did not really showcase the slide charge weapon as much as I could have. There was about 5 seconds of gameplay before the player throws it away. In the future I would definitely add a room or two for the player to mess around with it longer.
A common area players would get soft-locked at:
The Megaman Maker project has taught me a ton about making levels from start to finish. I've learned about implementing variety to spice things up, counter-measures to soft-locking, and enemy placement to stimulate learning for the players. I've also learned a little more about taking critiques from others and using it to improve my work. Here's to the next project!
ePortfolio Post 1
March 6th 2024
For the past couple of weeks, our class has been working on the playtesting of our Dungeons and Dragons maps we created on Roll20. We worked on making a tutorial map that included player characters (warrior, rogue, ranger, wizard), enemy characters, a boss character, map hazards, fog of war, and keys to unlock doors. I had a blast making mine, and one of the coolest things I was able to implement were macros that Victor, a fellow play tester, showed me and a few others how to do. These macros automatically calculated the rolls for us which made playthroughs a lot quicker.
The players that played the final iteration of my map were Nathan, Mondo, and Santiago. Nathan chose the rogue, Mondo was the ranger, and Santiago was the wizard.
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| Wizard, Rogue, and Ranger from left to right. |
Some of the things that went well in the playtesting was how smooth the playthrough was. The macros made combat very fast since the players did not need to manually type out the damage calculations. The map also was very simple to understand so players knew how to progress through the map in a timely manner as well, having red circles guiding them to the next unexplored area. One last successful thing that the map did was teach the players about how to cross hazards and the penalties for failing to do so.
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| Final Version of my Roll20 DnD map |
However, there were also some key details that my map failed to execute successfully. First of which, was that the enemies were too easy to defeat. The play testers were usually able to one shot every mob in the game, including the boss. I think I failed to account for the chance that players could just one shot enemies especially if the mob has low defense, so I should have increased the defense of the enemies or put more on the map together. I also did not account for an item I added in the last version of the game, which allowed a player to one shot the boss by ignoring its defense. Another thing about my map was that it was too simple. There were no real secret rooms, which made the gameplay of the cave a little boring. The final chest (located next to the baby dragon boss) also had no items in it which made players a little sad when opening it.
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| The final "empty" chest |
One last thing that my map could have improved on was making the checkpoint a little more clear. I tried to implement them as healing fountains so it would make sense as to why they restored health, but some of the players instead thought it was an item they could pick up. I think to really make it stand out from the items, I could have made the image bigger in order to differentiate it from the items themselves.
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| Healing Fountain Area |
The implementation of the doors / keys added to the gameplay flow of my level because it forced conflict for the players to actually do something on the map. Since it forced conflict, it made players learn about the combat mechanics and basic rolling commands. Overall, it was beneficial to add the door mechanics to my map.
I think that the players didn't really respond to the implementation of my items. I tried to make all of them add niche combat mechanics because I knew that the items could make the tutorial level too easy (even though they did). For example, the red potion allowed players to revive on the spot to full health instead of giving the player an additional 2 health or defense. I think because they didn't really add raw stats to the player, the play testers didn't fully account for any of the items unless it was permanently active like the cursed mace (which ignores all defense when attacking). To fix this, I think I should have added more items that directly affected final calculations of attacks or defenses to encourage players to acknowledge their existence.
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| Item Legend |
My map has come a long way from the first version I worked on. There are door mechanics, hazards, items, legends, and an inventory system on the side of the map. There were also some changes to the areas to make the map have a little more exploration, but overall I would say that the mechanics of the map were the ones to change the most.
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| First Version |
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| Final Version |
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