CAGD 270 Mega Man Level 2 Feedback

For my second Mega Man level, the requirements were to feature two power ups from a list, and use any platforms and enemies from Mega Man 1 and Mega Man 6. I picked the oil powerup and the kick powerup. I also utilized the flip platform, plantform, and spike platform. 

The first two screens are a quick tutorial of how the new platforms work. I’m proud of how I got the invisible tutorial to work. The flip platforms are pretty self explanatory, but for the spike platforms, I set up a passage where players will first step on a downwards facing spike platform to see it flip over, and then hit their head on the underside upwards facing spike platform to see how they can be flipped from the bottom. In the next screen, there are some plantforms and an easy enemy, so that when the player shoots at the enemy, they will see how plantforms can be opened by hitting them with shots. 

The first powerup I introduce is the oil. The player first encounters a lake with a ledge too high to jump to. However, if they swim under the lake, they can acquire the oil powerup. The cave is full of water, so when the player uses the ability to defeat enemies, they will realize that the oil floats and that they can ride it across the surface of the water. Eventually the player loops back around up to the lake, where they can figure out they can cross the lake on the oil. 

The second powerup I introduce is the kick. I have a ladder the player has to climb to jump to a ledge that’s out of reach. Because of the ladder climb, the player can’t use the oil to reach it. The player instead has to climb a different direction to acquire the kick powerup, go through a brief tutorial that shows how it works, and then return and use it to make the jump. 

I had several people playtest the level today on October 24th. For the successful parts of the level, all players were able to figure out how to use the powerups, and everyone completed the level. Players liked finding the oil powerup in the cave, and then realizing they could use it to cross the lake they couldn’t cross before. The following screen, where players skate past a bunch of enemies, was always successful as well. One player really appreciated the kick tutorial that showed how it can be used mid-air to gain extra distance. Most players found the challenge level to be very fair and deaths were rare.

For the challenges, a few players couldn’t figure out that they should return back to the lake from the cave right away. I think I could’ve made the circulation more clear on the cave exit screen. More players struggled to find their way back to the spot where they needed to kick to clear a jump. Additionally, while the jump tutorial worked for some people, others got stuck on it for a while. The player ascends three screens with the ability, but some players got stuck for a while since falling at the top means you have to climb the whole thing again. The penultimate screen, despite only having two enemies, was incredibly difficult for all players. From one perspective that’s good game design, since it creates a notable challenge by combining a few simple elements, but in practice it was way too hard. I think splitting it up into two screens with one enemy each would’ve been better.

CAGD 270 Mega Man v2 Feedback

This is the feedback post for version two of my mega man level. This level was limited to only using the basic attack, only having enemies from mega man 1 and mega man 6, and only using destructible blocks, quicksand, falling blocks, and key doors. The first version of my level was successful, but I still noted the feedback I received and made a handful of improvements. I had several people playtest version two of the level, and here is what I found during the playtest. 

For version two of my level, I made several overall changes. The main one was adding large health orbs at every checkpoint. I also introduced key doors. I added one door with the key in the same screen early on in the level to introduce the concept, and then at the middle of the level where the key is a few screens away. This shows the player that sometimes they have to search for the key. Since the player is ascending, the player sees the door first, so they know immediately that they need a key and where they need to bring it back to. Once they climb higher and find it, they don’t feel lost because they already know where the door is.

There were also some smaller changes I made throughout the level for quality of life improvements. In the early section, I made some platforms bigger or closer together. In the midsection, I reorganized some enemy placements to make it easier to get in and out of secret areas. This area also got some simpler platforming and one of the tougher rooms was made easier. The later sections of the level remained mostly unchanged, with some extra tiles to make it easier to backtrack through screens to reload them without bumping into enemies.

I had several people playtest my improved level. Most of the changes were subtle, but players noted how the overall flow of the level was greatly improved. No players died at all, which is desirable for an introduction level. Players were still challenged to approach encounters in a thoughtful manner, and some faced setbacks like falling down or losing health, but the quicksand and new health pickups ensured that these were easily recoverable and non-punishing. I think that my level is very successful as an introduction to these mechanics.

Also unlike last time, no players got stuck anywhere, even on sections that proved troublesome. 

There was only one flaw, which was that some checkpoint areas had small cracks players could fall through. I intended these to just be for decoration, but in this case I think gameplay is more important, and adding an extra tile or to would be beneficial. Still, only one person had trouble with these.

I agree with the players that most of the improvements I made had much to do with the overall flow of the level. Players progressed through sections where everything functioned as expected, and didn’t get caught on awkward geometry or enemy placement. They didn’t struggle with where to go, what to do, or what the outcome of actions would be. These elements are critical to the flow of gameplay, and make for a very satisfying introductory level.

CAGD 270 2D Mega Man v1 Feedback

For our first intro into Mega Man level design, we were given the following requirements: ten minute time, quicksand, falling platforms, breakable blocks, mm1 and mm6 enemies, health and checkpoints only, and a western theme. I had several classmates playtest my level in class. 

The level was split into five sections with four checkpoints between them. The first section introduces breakable blocks, enemies, quicksand, and platforming, all at a slow and easy pace. The second section adds more platforming and enemies, increasing the challenge slightly. The third section introduces sliding and has more platforming. The fourth introduces a few more enemies, and the last section introduces falling platforms. 

Overall, it went really well. The level was fairly linear, and players had no trouble figuring out where to go. Players rarely died, and most were able to complete the level with little difficulties. Players were able to flow through the encounters without getting stuck and by making good use of the mechanics. 

For breakable blocks, players had no trouble breaking them to clear their path or find hidden areas. I added lots of sections where enemies are positioned atop breakable blocks, and all players realized that they could shoot out the blocks under enemies to cause them to fall, defeating them with much more ease. This worked perfectly. 

I added quicksand as a hazard at the bottom of levels that was much more forgiving than death pits. It’s much easier since players can jump back out with a charitable timer before they sink. This also worked perfectly as intended, as players were still challenged by platforming but in a very easy, non-punishing way that had lots of room for error. 

Players were also able to complete the segments with falling platforms without much difficulty. All players enjoyed discovering that they could defeat tough enemies by crushing them with falling blocks. The first encounter like this worked as intended every time, with players going for the health pickup and killing the first tough enemy with the blocks. This meant that in the second encounter, they knew what to do right away.

Players were able to slide under blocks with ease, but not everyone thought to slide under enemy projectiles. However, none of the projectiles were damaging enough for this to be too harsh. 

Checkpoints were spaced well, with about three to four screens between each. The secret areas rewarded players with health, but often times this wasn’t especially needed. All the elements were introduced at a comfortable pace to get players used to each, and nobody had difficulty understanding how they worked or what to do.

There were several notes I took as players playtested the level for some improvements:

• Checkpoints need health pickups, so players going through the whole thing in one attempt can replenish their health without dying to reset their health being the optimal strategy.

• A few difficult encounters could benefit from having more health pickups.

• A few platforms at the start of the level could be a bit bigger.

• A few areas had the respawning enemies get in the way, so they should be adjusted.

• One player got out of bounds underneath the quicksand in one area, so that needs to be fixed.

Those were the major takeaways I found to improve the level. However, the fundamental design was highly successful. The enemies were the right amount of difficult, the platforming was intuitive in most places, the circulation elements and path forwards was obvious to all the playtesters.