MegaMan Level v2

What went right?

For the most part, the path was clear to the playtesters. The first half of the level had only one path to choose, so it makes sense why it wasn’t so confusing.

Players liked the visual design of the level. I scanned through all of the possible backgrounds, tilesets, and enemies before creating the level, so that it would look more like a jungle. Turns out the waterfall background fits really nicely with the jungle backgrounds. After I figured that out, I decided to make a huge waterfall drop in the middle of the level. The enemies were not much of an issue. I did not overload rooms with enemies like last level, and there was a fair mix of platforming as well.

One playtester mentioned it felt more like a metroid game rather than a megaman level, since you are gaining platforming abilities which are required to progress. I have not played that many megaman games (I think I played the first one a couple of years ago), and I have played a lot of metroidvanias, which may be related to why he felt that way. Another playtester mentioned because of the buttons required to open doors and the requirement of backtracking, the level felt less linear (which he liked but caused confusion during the second half).

The waterfall.

What went wrong?

The end of the cave where you get the oil ability has an undefeatable enemy. He’s meant to be more of an obstacle. One playtester, however, spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to beat him. He did not realize he was supposed to go back to the waterfall area once he got that item. I had to tell him what to do. (That was the only time he needed directions).

The oil ability was useless to a lot of players. This may not be a bad thing exactly, but a majority of players questioned why the oil ability was added. (“Was there a purpose?”) My intention was to give players the opportunity to slide around levels. Not only can you get around the level faster, but it’s also fun to slide around. I feel like that is a good enough of a reason to add the ability, but after hearing this comment from nearly every player I’ve concluded that might not be the case.

One playtester mistakenly took a cracked part of a bridge for a secret. They jumped down the bridge and died. This was far from a checkpoint, so it didn’t feel so good. There were many required pit-falls in the game, so it makes sense that at least one player would do this. I wanted varying levels of challenge for each room, and I wanted to minimize the amount of ‘corridors,’ since that’s boring.

The cracked bridge one player mistook for a secret.

How to improve next time?

Path Specific:

• I should make it more obvious to the player that they should backtrack to the waterfall area. I could add arrows. I could also make every enemy defeatable somehow.
• I should make it obvious the player is supposed to fall down the waterfall. Most playtesters seemed afraid to go down it and die (sort of a leap of faith thing), when it was really the correct path. Again, I could add arrows.
• Fix the cracked bridge area. I still want the bridge to be cracked, but I could make the danger more obvious.

Abilities:

• I did not realize you can use the oil ability to make megaman jump higher. Next time, I'll make the player forced to use the oil ability by creating large walls only jumpable with it.
• Make more use of the arrow ability by creating more walls, and use less ladders.

The end.