Level Design

 CAGD 270 3D Game Level 1 For our first playtest on our 3D levels designed in Unity, I had four people try my game. Two of these people are my roommates, and have experience with games. One individual was a colleague in another class, and the final playtester was a neighbor in my apartment complex. Each person played through the level once while I observed, and then gave me feedback at the end. My goal was to first see the areas that players either struggled or found trivial, before having them think back on the experience and tell me their observations. What went right: Starting with what went right during this playtest, every player was able to go through the level without failure, or without game bugs from stopping them from progression. No player needed to quit, or restart the level. Players also understood the controls quickly, allowing them to play without the burden of needing to learn a complex system. Feedback from one of the players said that the enemies grouped together ...

 CAGD 270 2D MegaMan Level V2 For the second version of my mega man level, I overhauled a variety of the major encounters in the level. The included changing the layout of the map during an encounter, as well as changing enemy spawns altogether. I believe that this adds a much more consistent gameplay experience, and allows players to improve their skill against an enemy type.  Below are some examples of encounters that have been modified for a smoother gameplay experience: Before Images: After Images: Additional Changes What went right? The map was a good length and provided very different time completions depending on the skill level of the player. Provided a good look at numerous mechanics. Felt like the map was full. Players didn't have a lull between area. Enemy spawns were fixed and didn't have respawning enemies. What went wrong? Level felt too easy. Too much health to pick up in the level compared to damage taken. Players with more gaming experience were able to run th...

 CAGD 270 2D Mega Man Level V1 For this playtest, I had five people play and provide feedback for my designed level. Three of these people I watched as they played throughout the level. For these people that I observed, players ran through the level twice. The first run was to experience the level, and the second to point out specific areas that they though needed improvement or that they enjoyed. The goal of this playtest was to gather as much data as possible in order to improve the player experience while experiencing the level. I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to Mega Man, however, I have played other similar platforming games. Jumping into this level editor was very intimidating because of all of the options that are offered while editing. Being limited to certain blocks from certain games helped reign in the scope of the game. Overall, the playtest was very helpful in discovering where players had the greatest hiccups. My players all had experience with playing ...

  CAGD 270 - Level Design Simple DnD Map v2 Feedback   The players of my game were Alex and Preston. Alex played as a warrior during this gameplay  while Preston played a mage again. After making some changes to the level, I felt that enemies were made to be a better tutorial experience. This included giving the players a chance to test their characters strengths and weaknesses very early in the first room. The critical path remained obvious for the players, with very small detours that would reward the player for exploration.       The changes made to the level involved two separate combat encounters. First, I added another enemy in the middle of them map pathing to extend the time the encounter would last. Secondly, I added terrain changes to the boss room that would challenge the players to stop them from sitting back at the entrance     After receiving feedback on the level and the changes that were implemented, I found that the seco...

CAGD 270 - Level Design Simple DnD Map v1 Feedback (2-15-2021)     The players of my game were Anthony Guardado and Preston Farris. Anthony played an Archer while Preston played a mage. While playing, I felt that the combat scaling played well, and that obstacles were easy enough to figure out quickly that taught players the basic move-set and mechanics of the game. Movement flowed really well, and players interacted with the extras that were added if they decided to investigate.      I believe that we could have made this level better by providing a greater challenge that interacted with the mechanics other than simply attacking the final boss. Combat just felt too quick, and not at all like a boss battle should. While this empowered the players, I think that it didn't show enough difficulty, even if the combat felt smooth.     To improve on this map, I would make the final room more confined, and add movement obstacles to the game, including jumps th...