Peer to review: Niels de Jong
Practicumpartner: Merle Delen
Core mechanics (in order of importance):
Climbing: is a big part of the level, it is used to reach new heights and is essential for finishing the puzzle (one of the "Keys"/artefacts is hidden on a high pillar.
Jumping: is not used very often in the level, only as an extra device for completing the climbing puzzle
Shooting: Is only used in the short segment where eagles attack you. It is not particularly meaningful, but is more of a change of pace.
Interaction-loop
Choice Frequency- moderate
Choice Quality- low
Goals Clarity- high
Goals Frequency- high
Goals Quality- moderate
Action Clarity- moderate
Action Frequency- high
Action Quality- moderate
User Experience ‘Guidelines’
• The ‘Fun Factor’I think this would be a fun level, there are lots of things in the level that change up the pace and the mechanics used in the game are used in many creative ways.
• Player Ergonomics (quality of player experience, no learning by death & frustration)
If the player takes his time to look around before jumping to certain death, the player can discover most of the actions necessary for winning by just looking around. If the player is impatient however, it is very possible to die on the same jump several times. Most dangerous things get announced before they become dangerous, so it is always possible to prepare for dangerous activities.
• Level Flow (keep moving...or the opposite!)
Yes, you do keep moving, but it's a difficult obstacle course so you won't be going very fast. The road is rather linear though, so you don't need to take a lot of time to think about your next step.
• Rhythm (roller coaster or else...)
There are many things in this level to change up the pace, such as the sudden lava river and the eagles. It's not a roller coaster, but it the rythm graph is certainly not a "straight line".
• Difficulty (let players win, not the designer)
Since the level is rather linear and the challenges are not all that difficult (cross the rope, climb the tower, kill the eagles are all not really a testament to the players skill), the level does not score all that high on this point.
• Wow Factor (memorable moments)
This point has pretty much the same elements as the "Rythm" part - the surprises are the most memorable in this level, especially the sudden lava at the beginning of the level.
• Hooks (to let your level ‘pop’)
These also consist mostly of the nice change-ups in the pace of the level and the long balancing-parcour run in the middle part.
Ten principles of good level design:
• Good level design is fun to navigate:
The level has backup paths for when the player makes mistakes, the path itself uses a lot of mechanics and really empowers their use to go through them, so the level is fun to navigate. However the path is quite linear, so it might nog have a very high replayability factor to it.
• Good level design does not rely on words to tell the story:
The level design somewhat lacks in this section, the xplicit story is definetly there, however the implicent and emergent story are quite limited, the player is not free to choose the order or path he takes (as this is linear) and the event have to be completed in a certain way, for example you have to kill the birds, you cant choose to spare them.
• Good level design tells the player what to do, but not how to do it:The level has backup paths for when the player makes mistakes, the path itself uses a lot of mechanics and really empowers their use to go through them, so the level is fun to navigate. However the path is quite linear, so it might nog have a very high replayability factor to it.
• Good level design does not rely on words to tell the story:
The level design somewhat lacks in this section, the xplicit story is definetly there, however the implicent and emergent story are quite limited, the player is not free to choose the order or path he takes (as this is linear) and the event have to be completed in a certain way, for example you have to kill the birds, you cant choose to spare them.
The level design does this in a good way, the player is shown certain goals to achieve/ require, and there are specific paths to find that lead you there, but the game does not show you these paths on it's own and does not tell you how to go through them either, that's for the player to find and figure out.
• Good level design constantly teaches the player something new:
The level design is made around using previously mastered mechanics, so it does not really introduce anything new here, it does introduce several different scenarios for different mechanics, but not specifically any increase/ change within the mechanic's puzzles themselves.
• Good level design is surprising:
The level design makes use of a lot of changes in pace and environment for example enemies appear after quiet paces, the level adds urgency by flooding the room with lava. So it does make use of this.
• Good level design empowers the player:
The level design definetly makes use of this, the palyer fights of enemies, destroys parts of the environment and navigates over and through normally impossible paths, which are all scenarios that help in empowering the player.
• Good level design allows the player to control the difficulty:
The level design is a linear path throughout the level, and although it has a single point in the beginning where failure/ taking a wrong route is forgiven, the rest of the level does not have this and is linear (no branching paths of varying difficulties or anything).
• Good level design is efficient:
The level design is fairly efficient, it does use a lot of differenct slightly varying forms of the same thing, but these could all be made in modular fashions (the pillars could be cloned, aswell as the lava platforms, the eagles, the ropes, etc.).
• Good level design creates emotion:
The level design is focused around creating tension and urgency, making the player feel like they need to escape quickly (after having stolen a treasure), which is properly shown through the design by making the player be chased by enemies for having taking their treasure, the room filling with lava to really force the player to make a quick escape. So the design is really centered around bringing forth this emotion of being an explorer and stealing the ancient treasure of some old civilization, which is exactly what they were going for.
• Good level design is driven by your game’s mechanics:
This is definetly the case, all the puzzles and problem in the design are focused around using your specific and different mechanics to solve them, and really figuring out which mechanic to use in what way for each of them, going through a lot/ the most of the mechanics the player has available.
The level design makes use of a lot of changes in pace and environment for example enemies appear after quiet paces, the level adds urgency by flooding the room with lava. So it does make use of this.
• Good level design empowers the player:
The level design definetly makes use of this, the palyer fights of enemies, destroys parts of the environment and navigates over and through normally impossible paths, which are all scenarios that help in empowering the player.
• Good level design allows the player to control the difficulty:
The level design is a linear path throughout the level, and although it has a single point in the beginning where failure/ taking a wrong route is forgiven, the rest of the level does not have this and is linear (no branching paths of varying difficulties or anything).
• Good level design is efficient:
The level design is fairly efficient, it does use a lot of differenct slightly varying forms of the same thing, but these could all be made in modular fashions (the pillars could be cloned, aswell as the lava platforms, the eagles, the ropes, etc.).
• Good level design creates emotion:
The level design is focused around creating tension and urgency, making the player feel like they need to escape quickly (after having stolen a treasure), which is properly shown through the design by making the player be chased by enemies for having taking their treasure, the room filling with lava to really force the player to make a quick escape. So the design is really centered around bringing forth this emotion of being an explorer and stealing the ancient treasure of some old civilization, which is exactly what they were going for.
• Good level design is driven by your game’s mechanics:
This is definetly the case, all the puzzles and problem in the design are focused around using your specific and different mechanics to solve them, and really figuring out which mechanic to use in what way for each of them, going through a lot/ the most of the mechanics the player has available.
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