Floor Plans and Forges

So I guess I decided that the criticism of my beginner levels being too difficult meant that my intermediate level should be trivial. The difficulty spike was a problem; I knew it meant I could throw more punches and assume more things, like the idea that not everything needs to be introduced as a gradual slope, that players are expected to know the basics of their abilities, and it can probably be assumed that players have completed at least three stages before reaching this one. But I made a beginner level. If I was able to resubmit my 'beginner' level as the intermediate one, and the intermediate as the beginner, I absolutely would. This suffered from me not understanding the full possibilities of either weapon I put into the level. O. Slider works on water, which can be used as a kill floor, making it ideal for traversal. I did not use this while other level designers successfully did so. The arrows do not despawn and I had issues with timing and getting long distances, so ...

 Compared to the last level, this one was much better but still probably too hard for the beginning player. I made serious efforts to try and cut down on the difficulty, taking steps to make the platforming sections easier and removing some of the more difficult enemies in the level. Most were placed too early or in conjunction with other enemies in a way that made for some very bad screens. Most screens with enemies benefit by having one enemy removed, turning areas with inevitable damage into challenging encounters. Additionally, with the use of a key system, I decided it'd be appropriate to have branching paths and small fetch quests. I included one key which was made available to people who knew how to 'dig' through dust blocks with the mega buster that allowed them to skip the final screen. I had one player tell me that he didn't know why I kept putting dust blocks on the ground where they can't be destroyed, and I just shrugged and said there's a way.  He ...

 So whatever issue I had with DnD is now the complete opposite when it comes to drafting Mega Man levels. My DnD maps were too easy because they were barely playtested other than making sure that encounters were lethal and players could make consistent progress. Since I thought it'd be too daunting to playtest with every combination of classes in mind, I didn't. With Mega Man, I can test every minor change or rotation of block. I can test every thirty seconds if I wanted to.    I put just as much, if not more hours into playing the Mega Man level than I did editing it because there is absolutely no pre-measuring, or assumptions, or rules of thumb that beat rigorous playtesting. Aspects of the level that felt like total garbage to play were slowly worked out. Tight corridors were widened, platforming challenges shifted around one block at a time. Enemies increased in number, increased in difficulty, positioned differently until something finally clicked. Fun ...