Week 7 - Wrapping up the core
This week my objective was to have all levels ready and all of the minimum necessary art done. To achieve this we had to work a bit during the weekend and even then we didn’t manage to make all of the art. Still, we did make most of it and have all of the levels designed and blocked out.
First, I started by making a list of everything that I needed to teach the player. Form this I obtained the following list:
General game controls and concepts
Static enemies and general enemy ideas
Shadows
Looping enemies
Sleepy enemies
Walking enemies
From this list I already have done the tutorial levels for the Sleepy and Walking enemies. This meant I had to make 4 more levels this week. Luckily, this was easier than the previous ones as the concepts being introduced were more simple and had less components. Also, I realized I won’t be able to make the game as expansive and deep as I would like. For this reason I chose to scale the size of the levels down as well as removing the multiple solutions from all the tutorial levels. This arises the issue that the player might get a bit lost when they arrive to the final level. As this is not a blocker, just a bit annoying for the player I chose to let it pass it for now. Also, if I finish the polish early I will do a tutorial and some extra levels that introduce and use this idea.
For the basic tutorial I made a small level that the player can explore in a short time and that has no dangers, just 1 puzzle. As there are no enemies the player can move and test the controls at their hearts content and at the pacing the see fit. There are few objects in the level, each one was added to teach the different kinds of objects and how their characteristics allow for different interactions. Another aspect that is taught is that the player needs to look up in order to solve puzzles.
In the tutorial for the static enemies the player is introduce to thems little by little, just as I did in last weeks tutorial. The 1st encounter just places an enemy in front of the player but can be walked around without any problem. The 2nd encounter Asks the player to hide from the enemy under the table, here the player is asked to use their common knowledge to overcome the encounter. In the 3rd section the player encounters a lock door, reminding the player of what they learned in the previous level. The 4rth and final section presents a small puzzle that requires the player to look around and understand how the static enemies work to solve it.
In the tutorial for the shadows the player starts in a dark room. Here the visibility icon over their heads has changed similarly to when they got under the table. Once they have resigned to walk in front of the enemy they will realize they are not immediately detected and can pass as long as they don’t take too much time. After that they are presented with a more complex puzzle that requires their knowledge from previous levels to overcome. Next they encounter a simple puzzle containing a static enemy and a table. And at the end, they find an encounter that is not hard to figure out but is more tension inducing.
For the looping enemies tutorial I used shadows to introduce them in a safe way. I knew some player will start walking without looking at the enemy more than once which may cause them to fail in a way that feels unfair. By starting in the shadows, even if the player runs into the looping enemy’s field of view they won’t lose, even better, the scare might make them more memorable. The next encounter asks the players to face a similar encounter but this time in the light. The 3rd section is a reminder of the static enemies and the shadows. And the 4th encounter is a harder puzzle in regard to execution and timing.
After this was done I showed my progress to my mentor. In general he liked all of the levels I made this week. His only critique was in regards to the walking enemies tutorial that I didn't last week. He told me that having many ways to solve a puzzle without having taught the player before that they can do that can be confusing and I agree. For this reason I changed the walking enemies tutorial to have only one way to solve the final puzzle.
For the art I manage to create all the necessary things to understand what the player is doing. The game still doesn’t look good but is at least clear to people other than me.
