Well, at least no one got mad at me. - Megaman Level 2

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 I assumed it was impossible. Of course, the first playtester managed to sail all the way to the end of the level, making my already anemic content even shorter in length.

The short content was unfortunately all I could manage, I had to focus most of my time on a take home exam for another class, and I had to limit the time spent making my level for two hours. Some ideas from the concept stage didn't make it in since I couldn't find a way to quickly and fairly implement them.

The last few areas of my level really suffered due to this; the first few sections had some cool aesthetic ideas which were pointed out by playtesters. Otherwise, the last section suffers from just not having enough time put into it compared to anything else.

I can't say that I learned much from this exercise since the biggest problem was not being able to devote as much time to it as my last level. I could've figured out what each weapon did if I had the time, I could've fleshed out the last section of the level if I had more time, and I could've did something more than the default level theme if I had time.

For later level design assignments, I will devote more time to them, provided that I don't have three tests due over the course of the weekend that I have to deal with at the same time. In which case I have to reprioritize while still submitting something.

For gamekit lite, I'm planning on doing a more fleshed out concept sketch and spending more time beforehand figuring out the capabilities of everything. Level design fails whenever all aspects of game design aren't considered and understood. This was a contributing factor to my level feeling so anemic and weak, and if I want to make effective levels I need to understand the boundaries and limits of the game through rigorous playtesting.