Kilan Larsen
Mega Man - Desert Wasteland
Good Design vs Bad Design
After watching 8 different play-testers try out my introductory Mega Man level, I have a pretty good idea about where things went wrong, and where they went right. I'll be breaking down sections of the level where I received noteworthy compliments or criticism.
Good Design: Level start and enemy introduction
Right away, the player is placed on the left hand side out of danger, with a ladder placed to the right. This indicates that in order to progress, players should move to the right and up ladders. In addition, the player can play around with the controls without fear of being hurt, and can observe the cowboy enemy (Colton) shooting bullets to the left. It's a very simple but effective layout that indicates to the player exactly what they need to do.
Once the player kills the Colton and progresses to the right, they will see a hole with quicksand and a Twin Roader enemy, which immediately moves into the quicksand and dies. This shows the player that the Twin Roaders move in a straight line towards you, and that the quicksand is dangerous without ever putting the player in danger themselves.
Bad Design: Surprise enemies & pickup placement
In this section, the player must jump down and over the quicksand, timing their jump to avoid the Colton's bullets. However, a Twin Roader waits just beyond sight and will catch them by surprise. If they jump over it, it will turn around and likely hit you on its way back. This relies purely on the reaction timing of the player, and can feel unfair.
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Additionally, the health pickup can be reached simply by jumping. I had intended players to slide through the gap from right to left and climb up the ladder, which is a bit more challenging. This would give the player a better sense of accomplishment for getting the pickup.
To fix this section, I will move the quicksand to the right, and place the Twin Roader on the left side where the Colton is. This will allow the player to see both enemies before jumping, and plan accordingly. I'll also move the health pickup 1 block up so that players can't jump up to it normally.
Good Design: Multiple ways to tackle a situation
In a few different parts of the map, I designed the layout in a way which allows players to address a problem using multiple approaches. In the situation shown here, players will first see the Twin Roader and must decide to get on the ground to kill it, or jump on the floating platform to avoid it. Once they make a choice, the flying enemy (Katonbyon) appears and the players can make 1 of 4 different choices to avoid getting hit by its bomb drop attack:
1 - Stop moving and let the bomb fall short
2 - Move under the platform to block the bomb
3 - Shoot it from the platform
4 - Jump over it
This shows that you can derive engaging and interesting player decisions from very simple (but well designed) linear level design.
Bad Design: Un-teaching the player
Up to this point in the level, I had taught the player a few things including:
- Quicksand is dangerous, avoid it
- Fans can pull you into bad stuff
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Then in this section I require the player to willingly step into the quicksand and NOT jump because of the spikes, and if they do that they will get pulled by the fan into safety (relatively speaking). This is basically asking players to do the opposite of what I've taught them, and every player I saw froze up a bit and was very unwilling to move forward in this area.
To fix this I am planning to remove the spikes entirely, and provide a center platform in the quicksand and some jumping room. This will better maintain the integrity of the rules I've already taught.
Good Design: Optional mini-boss challenge
The enemy in this area is called Ben K, and he can be really tough for more inexperienced players to Mega Man. Rather than forcing players to 'git gud', I placed a ladder going down right in front of him in order to skip the fight altogether. However if you do fight him, you are rewarded with a health pickup and a small shortcut to the next part of the level. I also placed spikes above him so he can't be jumped over. I found that players responded to this very well, and each person handled the situation according to their skill level.
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By having a tough enemy as well as a route around him, I allowed for players to feel appropriately challenged and rewarded, no matter their skill level.
Bad Design: Difficult 'easy' route, unfair spikes
If a player decides to avoid the fight with Ben K, they will find themselves here. Almost every player saw the layout of the room, said "oh hell no", and proceeded back up the ladder to fight the mini-boss even if they were not prepared for it. This room is meant to be an easier alternative to the mini-boss, and for players to perceive it as more difficult defeats the purpose entirely.
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The main reason players see this room as difficult is the fan and floor spikes on the bottom, which offers very little jumping room and a quick death upon failure.
To prevent scaring off players from this room, I will be removing the floor spikes in favor of quicksand. I may also expand the space and add an enemy to make the area more fair but also maintain a level of difficulty.
Overall, I think my players had a lot of fun and the level design is solid, but it can be even better with some minor adjustments and fixes. Despite the mostly linear layout of the level, many players complemented that they felt like they had a lot of choices which tells me I've done a good job at creating an engaging environment!