MegaMan Level v1

 

What Went Right?

Players liked the layout of the levels. The level was challenging, but rewards exploration. There were a lot of opportunities to find healing packs. For example, there was a side ladder to the top-left of the mountain. Once you climb it, you’re rewarded with a healing pack, but also information on where the next healing pack is. Every playtester saw it, and used the two healing packs to their advantage.
The level, visually, turned out pretty good. I initially had a hard time finding which tilesets to use to fix a Western theme (the level was very ugly at first), but I got help from another student.

 

What Went Wrong?

The level was too short. The average playtest time was about 4 minutes, and it was supposed to be 10 minutes. This could be easily fixed by simply adding more content.
The path to go was usually obvious except for one part. There was one section which looked like a death pit. Most players accidentally fell down the pit thinking they were going to die, since it was near the beginning of the screen. Near the death pit was a secret area you had to slide through. Some players took that area as the way to go. However, since the secret area led only to a dead end, if they slid to it, they knew that falling down the pit was the correct way to go. Next time, I will make the secret area less obvious, and the right way to go look less like a ‘death pit’. (This can be done by adding ladders to the way down, and moving the pit farther to the right of the screen. Even if the ladder isn’t necessary for the player, it does give them a sense that it’s the right way to go. And for the secret, I will make the sliding-area closer to the right-edge of the screen.)
There wasn’t that much platforming. This was a big problem a lot of players had, and I agree with it. I played a lot of really fun and challenging megaman levels today-- some of which were mostly platforming. I forget that a megaman level contains a mix of fighting and platforming.
Players found that the easiest way to play the level was brute-forcing past the enemies, and abusing the temporary invulnerability you gain from getting hit. On most screens, players would hurl themselves towards an enemy, and-- while invulnerable, walk past the enemy to the next screen. This was not my intention, and it made the level way shorter.
When entering some screens, players would get hit immediately without any opportunity of dodging. This was a problem for two screens. This is an easy fix. For the first screen, I’ll just get rid of one Met Hat (an enemy which hits diagonally) near a ladder. For the other screen, I’ll make the entrance a unit lower, so that the cowboy-looking enemy won’t be able to hit megaman immediately.
Sometimes the camera will follow megaman, which causes enemies to unintentionally respawn. I tried to get rid of camera-following, but I found myself accidentally pressing the button which activates that while making the level. I just need to be more careful with that.
The theme was missed a little bit. I was supposed to make a Western-style level, but some of the enemies I added were not very ‘Western’ such as the big cat/tiger.

Improving...

I intend on adding more platforming to the level, which will make the level longer, and also most diverse in its content (it won’t just be shooting enemies).