PDP Week 4

This week I started building upon the fundamentals of my level design using the bounce pads from last week, while also conducing some research onto a good method to go about doing this. In the last blog post I created an area which is only accessible via a bounce-pad, so I decided to design an area which uses that mechanic with confidence in that the player will know how they work and will be able to reach the end.

According to a video below by (Brown, M. 2015), someone who has a lot of previous professional experience working in the games industry, there is a very efficient four-step method to constructing a game's level, as used in example games like Super Mario 3d World which expands upon the initial concept of 'showing not telling' that I researched. It basically involves ensuring your game has lots of variety while introducing a unique concept in every level, to make each one feel memorable to the player while also keeping the end-user engaged with the game without them getting bored, since there will always be something to look forward to in the next stage. This source underlines a good base guideline to set out each level: first, you introduce the new mechanic in a safe space, somewhere so that the player can experiment and toy with the new gameplay element in relative safety without fear of dying due to trial and error over bad game design.

The next step is to actually use the new game mechanic in the context it was designed in and take it another step forward. So far example with moving platforms (something I will implement into my level at a later date) the player will already understand their basic workings, so the next encounter with them could be over a pit or using them to climb up a wall, as the level's difficulty gradually scales. The next step is to take this new mechanic in a different direction, and apply a 'twist' to it as you throw the player off. For example, as a twist there could be moving platforms as you navigate over them, but there could also be bounce-pads as well to test the player's mastery of two different gameplay mechanics at once! This adds yet another layer of depth to your level as it gets harder at the same pace as the player, without ever having them way out of their comfort zone with no idea what to do.

For the last and final step, add one last tough challenge to truly test the player all of the skills that they've acquired in the level. Once they've reached the end of this final test and bypassed the whole stage, gracefully bow down to the mechanic for that level and discard it just before it gets tiring and wears out its welcome/ loses its appeal, as the player continues to proceed onto the next level, with yet another new gimmick lying in wait for them to master!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBmIkEvEBtA

This is a process I will implement into my own game, in fact, it's something I've already started doing when incorporating my bounce-pads and introducing them to the player! Such as when I first introduce the bounce-pad in a safe space, the player is free to experiment with it until they have a good understanding of the mechanics behind it. So I could take it a step further from here, and this is the progress I made:

When the player walks up the stair they will encounter a bounce-pad, and know exactly what they do.

Upon collision they will be bounced up to another platform. Initiating the 2nd step in the 4 step process with a challenge of jumping up onto platforms with these bounce-pads.

After a while I introduce the twist to the bounce-pad mechanic, which is the 3rd step of the process. There's another bounce-pad placed here, but this time it's on the wall! Another platform is clearly visible across the large gap, so using the player's previous knowledge and presumptions based on the evidence I've left for them, it's only logical to jump into the bounce-pad on the wall to see what happens...

The player will find themselves rocketing across the gap! This modified bounce-pad object was simply done, as I edited the strength value for that specific instance to be much stronger horizontally across the X axis than upwards on the Y axis.

The player will now come to the end with one last puzzle, following the guidelines for step 4. It's the final challenge for the player before they wave goodbye to the bounce-pad mechanic before it gets tiring.

All the player essentially has to do is bounce off the last jump-pad, and position themselves to land safely back at the start of the level without falling off into the water! It's the last hurdle to face until they go somewhere else and explore another part of my level, while also just being a really fun and exhilarating way to travel back to the start of the map as they tumble down from a great height!

Next week I will conduct some more research for different level design techniques to apply in another section of my level!


Reference:

Mark Brown, 2015. Game Maker’s Toolkit - Super Mario 3D World’s 4 Step Level Design [WWW Document]. URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBmIkEvEBtA (accessed 2.17.16).