Week 3 - Exploring the Mechanics and Systems

This week I focused on testing all that we have as much as possible with the aim of ending the gameplay design phase. I didn’t achieve that but got close enough.  

While testing how the mechanics and systems feel working together I felt I needed a new level to test if everything works on a longer level. Thus, I spent a day and a half designing a new level that was longer and used both enemy types. After playing at this level I came to the realization that the game still missed some components to feel complete. Also, some of the design decisions I tested like preventing the player from dropping from any height ended up being something that will need to be changed next week. Right now it is too annoying  having to jump to fall from small heights, like from a stair step.

Another issue I had was brought to light by my mentor. There are some places on the map where I could guide the player better. I need to keep this in mind more in the future.

Next week I will start working on the final level of the game. I chose to do this because it allows me to design a level that uses all the mechanics the player will learn. This way I can finally finish the gameplay design phase and enter feature freeze.