Week 2 - Core Mechanics and Test Level

This week my aim was to have all the core mechanics working and also to have a level that showed these mechanics working in an engaging way. It doesn’t matter if things are a bit rough as long as I'm able to test if the mechanics work together and check if there is a missing feature.

During the first days of the week I created a test level that presented the player with a puzzle that introduces the mechanics. Also, I tried to guide the player with the object and enemy placement. I made my partner play the game and she had fun, so for the most part I feel I managed to prove I am on the right track.

On the programming part, the programmer implemented all the player mechanics. For the most part, the mechanics work together as I expected. Some aspects like the values of speed and the height of the jump need to be adjusted but I’ll do that next week while my partner works on the other game systems. Also, my partner programmed the first enemy already! This allowed me to add it and start testing it in the level.

This week I also started my weekly meetings with my mentor on Wednesday. He recommended that I work on having all game mechanics defined as soon as possible. He told me that starting to design levels while having so many aspects of the gameplay still in the test phase was a mistake as the levels would have to change as the gameplay changes. Also, he recommended not to start designing the first levels.  For this reason I will have to change my planning a bit. I assumed I would be able to start designing some initial levels that didn’t require all the features.

My only real issue this week was having to redefine all of my planning. Still because it was so early in development it wasn’t that big of an issue.