Great build coming together, nice to play different iterations of previous levels so that's good to see the main levels starting to take shape and hold their own. Have we found the fun with this? I think there's moments where its not a million miles off target and generally its not a bad little experience to be had so well done with this.
I think one of the primary things that's noticeable about this build is the work submitted by different level designer has def formed a product feel and cohesion. What is noticeable through playing is the harder iterations of the levels still feel 'quite hard' in comparison.
What I do like is the power ups. In a well balanced game you would introduce those individually in a level prior to mixing them up in one scene. So with this in mind I would like to play those levels.
I really want the green powerup to really utilize the metrics of space whilst the blue needs to really push that 'speedy' feel. I'm seeing moments of experience in other scenes that suggest you get the ability but I'm not playing enough content to really demonstrate the best setup throughout an entire level.
With the powerups themselves, I think there's an added components that would bring more value (audio/VFX) that could push the player feel more as right now the juice could be a lot more flavorsome.
Turrets!!
Ok, theres some good turrets in here and I like the way they work with some of the designed flow. It does it somewhat overwhelming in the harder levels.
Breakable floors! I like them, would like to see them appear more often as they can give an extra level of depth to the overall experience.
The door problem.
Ok, I like the doors and I love the replay options to build a faster route through progress on collecting the elements in the scene. Theres still a slight disconnect between knowing how many I have and which doors I can unlock which means the intermediate feedback isn't inherently connecting. Is there a way of 'turning the door on' visually in combination of having the right amount of collectibles currently picked up? That might help with maybe (color/lighting/VFX/audio) What you want to do is keep the players focus on the path and then feedback in other ways to communicate the progression.
I would love to be able to play a level that shrinks in space. So the player starts on the outside and then you have centric sections of space leading to a door in the middle of the room. Use the gated door system. Use Blue Pill on outside and maybe green pill in the middle?
Anyway, is there enough content? Is this the best levels you can build? Do you want to build more levels? Can you build more levels?
Right now, the game has a feel and has a core gameplay experience that really just needs now more ideas. I would not focus on harder difficulty if I was you right now. Get some more 'fun' setups to pad out the content a little more, if possible!
Anything else?
Yeah, on getting hitting sometimes the camera glitches and is somewhat of a gamebreaker in breaking my immersion.
Yes, I can still band my head on things but if Im honest with you its no where near as bad as it has been.
Frnt end is pretty basic, please give the build a 'lick of paint' and smarten up the user flow.
Few more audio updates? Feels quite quiet in places.
Exiting a level isnt very exciting.
Loading screens between levels would be nice to help frame it all together.
Do you have a final screen to thank the player for playing the demo? Might be a nice slide to add.
* Ideas seem to be coming together, but far too slowly! There's a lot of minor awkwardness in the jumps, and the difficulty curve is ... well, not a curve, anyway. Easy and impossible.
* Focus on metrics, geometry and flow. Try and minimise the clumsiness of trying to get into doorways and corridors, reduce the chance of the player bashing their head on things - and with each adjustment, ask yourself if this is a new rule that should be recorded in the Design Site so other people don't have to figure it out for themselves!
Level 4
* Some nice ideas here, but it all feels a little bit awkward!
* The first section works nicely when you know what to do - especially when you hit the top two collectibles in a smooth arc coming out of the second crouch-jump area - but the actual crouch-jumps feel like they're not consistently spaced. I can make both jumps from the same spot, and in each case it seems impossible to do in a nice, smooth, fluid motion.
* I can also collect the top two collectibles by climbing the ledges on the right-hand side. Since the leap from the second crouch-jump area on the left is so smooth, wouldn't it be better to adjust the right-hand ledges and force the player onto that other path?
* In the second section, check the metrics on the jump to the ledge at the very top - I over-shot a couple times and bashed my head, it felt clumsy
* Am I supposed to crouch-jump for the collectible at the bottom, in the middle? Again, I was able to go up under the block to the right of it, so you might want to work on forcing the player into the right path.
*The bottom right section is all out of line with the metrics - far too easy to overshoot the platform and fall.
* Overall I can see what you're trying to achieve, and it's good, but it feels like you need to iterate quite a bit to get there!
Level 5
* Starting moving left out of the gate always feels weird ...
* Very easy to miss the 2nd collectible, which leaves you unable to open the trapdoor for the 3rd one
* Lots of turrets pointed directly at me as I move through doorways? Seems cruel!
* Not spotting any poor adherence to metrics, but generally just no space to breathe. Couldn't progress past the left-most section before giving up! :(
* I like the inward-spiralling golden path, and there's some nice ideas here, but you just need to give the player that little bit more space to think and plan.
Level 6
* Conversely to the previous two, this was the easiest level yet
* Some nice touches - I like the path that takes you round, up and back down again, but it doesn't feel like you're doing all you can to push the player into that direction
* The jumping in the bottom-left corner feels completely out of line with the metrics - the height of that short corridor is way lower than the arc of my jump, making it really hard to land in the doorway - and the nearby cannon is almost unavoidable as a result
* The trapdoor at the top could be nice, but then I ended up having to go left and backtrack to get to the door. Might be better if they player is always forced around to the left.
We are sorry to hear that, since our intentions were to make you smile instead. Could you elaborate on what made you cry specifically, so we can improve the game?
* Power-up placeholder pickup images need some indication of the power-up's effect showing before I collect them
* Intermediary doors need better feedback. I can help you fix that up (though it's the same logic I showed you before with the actual door)
* Overall it feels like you're onto something fun here, but it still lacks the charm of the example level from Block B. Don't overcomplicate things - a lot of what you have right now could be split up and cut back on to make a smoother set of levels. Don't be afraid of reusing ideas here and there.
Wesley
* Open level environment loses a lot of the charm of the previous block's work
* There's some nice ideas going on in here, but it feels very "thrown together" - there's a repeated challenge in using the crouch-jump, but I'm not getting a sense of a pattern, since the challenge of the crouch-jump stays the same all the time. If you're aiming for "climbing / climbing with a gun / climbing with many guns" then maybe reconsider the width of each section so they're a little more similar?
* You need to be careful with where and when and how you use your power-ups! Once I'd collected the green jumpy power-up it threw the metrics off for the lower platforms, so when I fell back down it felt horrible to climb back up.
* The (8) horizontal door seems odd - why make me do that awkward jump once? Is this just so I don't have to do it again if I fall?
* Overall, well short of 3 minutes of play ... feels like you're likely to be doing more than one level per student on this project.
Matteo
* The criss-cross player path is very nicely done, but if you die 1/2 way through then you get a situation where the path to the left is open, but the player actually has to go all the way around to the right again to get the power up. You could fix this by putting a second power-up in the bottom left area.
* The path around on top of the gun felt really unfair - it felt like you walked me into the gun. I didn't spot the short-cut right away, but it felt good when I did. Maybe recess the gun into the wall so I have a little more chance?
Melina
* I think the right-hand drop to the floor should maybe be behind a door?
* Drop down through the guns feels terribly unfair! There's little control the player has over the timing. The spot could work well if you can test the crap out of the timing and shuffle the guns around so the player ought to sail through it with a straight drop.
1st impressions leads me to believe that this landing page needs a bit more professional attention to bring it up to the standard of what's to be expected. The same could be done in the build. Its little things like this which with a bit more care and attention and get you noticed a little more because underneath all of this there's the potential to curate content that will be more memorable.
Ok, I need to talk about this 1st, that green power up, that was FUN! No idea what it actually did but it felt good! So, this is interesting because now you have a dynamic that the entire level needs to be built around and as level designers you need to tap into deeper investigations to see what cool spaces facilitate that movement and momentum.
Secondly, this green power up felt like I should be invulnerable to the same colored projectiles, noticed there's different ones in the scene but there felt like a need to fly through the bad stuff when I was green. So can you look into getting some dependency for the player to utilize the skill and power to expand on the depth of what the feature could possibly do?
The choice of collectables, they need to move. They feel so static that I think there's more challenge to be had that would give you an interesting set of parameters that a Level Designer could have alot of fun with where they can be positioned to really tempt the players movements. Give items basic movement paths so that the timing of where they move accentuates the combined decision a player makes at attempting to grab them.
Whilst I'm enjoying the turrets I'm not finding a good balance between setups and the space the level designers are choosing to use. Content should have room to breathe whilst setting rules and guides for best practices must be investigated to ultimately present a more researched archetype that's ideally used throughout.
Final thoughts, there's a good game feel here, with the right direction I think with a few smart moves and some further investigation into 'best practices for building a level' there could be an interesting game here. But you need to bring that love, its blood, sweat and tears to make half decent gameplay so lets see what focus and direction the team takes moving forward.
Suggestion: You need to establish where the player is at the start of the level, highlight the player or work out some other way of bringing attention to the players origin. There is a reason why other games to it. Its an indicator to me that you need more playtesting and be a bit more objective about what it is you are making.
One thing that does bother me, does the crouch actually add anything of value to the game? If it doesn't, ditch it you game is nice and simple without it.
Why is it medical mayhem? Is it just because your main character is pill shaped?
Wesley, your gym level's floor is very dark. Melina, I had fun playing your level, it was very clearly laid out.
Again, play test - the turrets shape language get lose because you are using flick screen so work on that. Also to underline this use distinctive SPFX and vary the SFX, consider an ambient loop.
Looking forward to playing the next build - remember to review and iterate.
Only things that really jumped out at me that's worth mentioning here as feedback;
Key/Door feature needs more clarity and character on the collection of the last key
Speed pickup needs a bigger/better change to the character: sparkly trail? Change the colour of the capsule?
Camera shake is a bit much with the turrets ... nice, but can get distracting.
Needs some more SFX here and there
Overall, I'm legitimately blown away by how expressive you made that tiny red and white capsule. The combined level is really fun to zip through, and I had a genuine connection to the character. If the Design Site shows a good solid understanding of how this experience comes together, this could be a lovely little project.
Wesley's Gym: Bold choice on camera. Acceptable to use a fixed-scene, but will expect work to be put into life and vibrancy and juiciness of this.
Nice work on the turrets. Be sure to experiment with aiming and homing variables. Homing is a bit slow right now based on character, but will expect both to change in the coming weeks. Off to a very impressive start here!
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This was a very fun game. It was really challenging but it never felt unfair. Great job. Keep it up!
Hey Team Medical Mayhem!
Great build coming together, nice to play different iterations of previous levels so that's good to see the main levels starting to take shape and hold their own. Have we found the fun with this? I think there's moments where its not a million miles off target and generally its not a bad little experience to be had so well done with this.
I think one of the primary things that's noticeable about this build is the work submitted by different level designer has def formed a product feel and cohesion. What is noticeable through playing is the harder iterations of the levels still feel 'quite hard' in comparison.
What I do like is the power ups. In a well balanced game you would introduce those individually in a level prior to mixing them up in one scene. So with this in mind I would like to play those levels.
I really want the green powerup to really utilize the metrics of space whilst the blue needs to really push that 'speedy' feel. I'm seeing moments of experience in other scenes that suggest you get the ability but I'm not playing enough content to really demonstrate the best setup throughout an entire level.
With the powerups themselves, I think there's an added components that would bring more value (audio/VFX) that could push the player feel more as right now the juice could be a lot more flavorsome.
Turrets!!
Ok, theres some good turrets in here and I like the way they work with some of the designed flow. It does it somewhat overwhelming in the harder levels.
Breakable floors! I like them, would like to see them appear more often as they can give an extra level of depth to the overall experience.
The door problem.
Ok, I like the doors and I love the replay options to build a faster route through progress on collecting the elements in the scene. Theres still a slight disconnect between knowing how many I have and which doors I can unlock which means the intermediate feedback isn't inherently connecting. Is there a way of 'turning the door on' visually in combination of having the right amount of collectibles currently picked up? That might help with maybe (color/lighting/VFX/audio) What you want to do is keep the players focus on the path and then feedback in other ways to communicate the progression.
I would love to be able to play a level that shrinks in space. So the player starts on the outside and then you have centric sections of space leading to a door in the middle of the room. Use the gated door system. Use Blue Pill on outside and maybe green pill in the middle?
Anyway, is there enough content? Is this the best levels you can build? Do you want to build more levels? Can you build more levels?
Right now, the game has a feel and has a core gameplay experience that really just needs now more ideas. I would not focus on harder difficulty if I was you right now. Get some more 'fun' setups to pad out the content a little more, if possible!
Anything else?
Yeah, on getting hitting sometimes the camera glitches and is somewhat of a gamebreaker in breaking my immersion.
Yes, I can still band my head on things but if Im honest with you its no where near as bad as it has been.
Frnt end is pretty basic, please give the build a 'lick of paint' and smarten up the user flow.
Few more audio updates? Feels quite quiet in places.
Exiting a level isnt very exciting.
Loading screens between levels would be nice to help frame it all together.
Do you have a final screen to thank the player for playing the demo? Might be a nice slide to add.
General
* Still lacking key audio placeholders!
* Ideas seem to be coming together, but far too slowly! There's a lot of minor awkwardness in the jumps, and the difficulty curve is ... well, not a curve, anyway. Easy and impossible.
* Focus on metrics, geometry and flow. Try and minimise the clumsiness of trying to get into doorways and corridors, reduce the chance of the player bashing their head on things - and with each adjustment, ask yourself if this is a new rule that should be recorded in the Design Site so other people don't have to figure it out for themselves!
Level 4
* Some nice ideas here, but it all feels a little bit awkward!
* The first section works nicely when you know what to do - especially when you hit the top two collectibles in a smooth arc coming out of the second crouch-jump area - but the actual crouch-jumps feel like they're not consistently spaced. I can make both jumps from the same spot, and in each case it seems impossible to do in a nice, smooth, fluid motion.
* I can also collect the top two collectibles by climbing the ledges on the right-hand side. Since the leap from the second crouch-jump area on the left is so smooth, wouldn't it be better to adjust the right-hand ledges and force the player onto that other path?
* In the second section, check the metrics on the jump to the ledge at the very top - I over-shot a couple times and bashed my head, it felt clumsy
* Am I supposed to crouch-jump for the collectible at the bottom, in the middle? Again, I was able to go up under the block to the right of it, so you might want to work on forcing the player into the right path.
*The bottom right section is all out of line with the metrics - far too easy to overshoot the platform and fall.
* Overall I can see what you're trying to achieve, and it's good, but it feels like you need to iterate quite a bit to get there!
Level 5
* Starting moving left out of the gate always feels weird ...
* Very easy to miss the 2nd collectible, which leaves you unable to open the trapdoor for the 3rd one
* Lots of turrets pointed directly at me as I move through doorways? Seems cruel!
* Not spotting any poor adherence to metrics, but generally just no space to breathe. Couldn't progress past the left-most section before giving up! :(
* I like the inward-spiralling golden path, and there's some nice ideas here, but you just need to give the player that little bit more space to think and plan.
Level 6
* Conversely to the previous two, this was the easiest level yet
* Some nice touches - I like the path that takes you round, up and back down again, but it doesn't feel like you're doing all you can to push the player into that direction
* The jumping in the bottom-left corner feels completely out of line with the metrics - the height of that short corridor is way lower than the arc of my jump, making it really hard to land in the doorway - and the nearby cannon is almost unavoidable as a result
* The trapdoor at the top could be nice, but then I ended up having to go left and backtrack to get to the door. Might be better if they player is always forced around to the left.
This game makes me cry :(
Thank you for your feedback Googlywaa!
We are sorry to hear that, since our intentions were to make you smile instead. Could you elaborate on what made you cry specifically, so we can improve the game?
* Menu needs some loving
* At least can we have a placeholder jump sound?
* Power-up placeholder pickup images need some indication of the power-up's effect showing before I collect them
* Intermediary doors need better feedback. I can help you fix that up (though it's the same logic I showed you before with the actual door)
* Overall it feels like you're onto something fun here, but it still lacks the charm of the example level from Block B. Don't overcomplicate things - a lot of what you have right now could be split up and cut back on to make a smoother set of levels. Don't be afraid of reusing ideas here and there.
Wesley
* Open level environment loses a lot of the charm of the previous block's work
* There's some nice ideas going on in here, but it feels very "thrown together" - there's a repeated challenge in using the crouch-jump, but I'm not getting a sense of a pattern, since the challenge of the crouch-jump stays the same all the time. If you're aiming for "climbing / climbing with a gun / climbing with many guns" then maybe reconsider the width of each section so they're a little more similar?
* You need to be careful with where and when and how you use your power-ups! Once I'd collected the green jumpy power-up it threw the metrics off for the lower platforms, so when I fell back down it felt horrible to climb back up.
* The (8) horizontal door seems odd - why make me do that awkward jump once? Is this just so I don't have to do it again if I fall?
* Overall, well short of 3 minutes of play ... feels like you're likely to be doing more than one level per student on this project.
Matteo
* The criss-cross player path is very nicely done, but if you die 1/2 way through then you get a situation where the path to the left is open, but the player actually has to go all the way around to the right again to get the power up. You could fix this by putting a second power-up in the bottom left area.
* The path around on top of the gun felt really unfair - it felt like you walked me into the gun. I didn't spot the short-cut right away, but it felt good when I did. Maybe recess the gun into the wall so I have a little more chance?
Melina
* I think the right-hand drop to the floor should maybe be behind a door?
* Drop down through the guns feels terribly unfair! There's little control the player has over the timing. The spot could work well if you can test the crap out of the timing and shuffle the guns around so the player ought to sail through it with a straight drop.
Thanks for the build,
1st impressions leads me to believe that this landing page needs a bit more professional attention to bring it up to the standard of what's to be expected. The same could be done in the build. Its little things like this which with a bit more care and attention and get you noticed a little more because underneath all of this there's the potential to curate content that will be more memorable.
Ok, I need to talk about this 1st, that green power up, that was FUN! No idea what it actually did but it felt good! So, this is interesting because now you have a dynamic that the entire level needs to be built around and as level designers you need to tap into deeper investigations to see what cool spaces facilitate that movement and momentum.
Secondly, this green power up felt like I should be invulnerable to the same colored projectiles, noticed there's different ones in the scene but there felt like a need to fly through the bad stuff when I was green. So can you look into getting some dependency for the player to utilize the skill and power to expand on the depth of what the feature could possibly do?
The choice of collectables, they need to move. They feel so static that I think there's more challenge to be had that would give you an interesting set of parameters that a Level Designer could have alot of fun with where they can be positioned to really tempt the players movements. Give items basic movement paths so that the timing of where they move accentuates the combined decision a player makes at attempting to grab them.
Whilst I'm enjoying the turrets I'm not finding a good balance between setups and the space the level designers are choosing to use. Content should have room to breathe whilst setting rules and guides for best practices must be investigated to ultimately present a more researched archetype that's ideally used throughout.
Final thoughts, there's a good game feel here, with the right direction I think with a few smart moves and some further investigation into 'best practices for building a level' there could be an interesting game here. But you need to bring that love, its blood, sweat and tears to make half decent gameplay so lets see what focus and direction the team takes moving forward.
Suggestion: You need to establish where the player is at the start of the level, highlight the player or work out some other way of bringing attention to the players origin. There is a reason why other games to it. Its an indicator to me that you need more playtesting and be a bit more objective about what it is you are making.
One thing that does bother me, does the crouch actually add anything of value to the game? If it doesn't, ditch it you game is nice and simple without it.
Why is it medical mayhem? Is it just because your main character is pill shaped?
Wesley, your gym level's floor is very dark. Melina, I had fun playing your level, it was very clearly laid out.
Again, play test - the turrets shape language get lose because you are using flick screen so work on that. Also to underline this use distinctive SPFX and vary the SFX, consider an ambient loop.
Looking forward to playing the next build - remember to review and iterate.
No Devlog for your final build?
Only things that really jumped out at me that's worth mentioning here as feedback;
Overall, I'm legitimately blown away by how expressive you made that tiny red and white capsule. The combined level is really fun to zip through, and I had a genuine connection to the character. If the Design Site shows a good solid understanding of how this experience comes together, this could be a lovely little project.
1st Build Feedback (no Devlog?):
Dennis's Gym: No work done?
Tomas's Gym: No work done?
Wesley's Gym: Bold choice on camera. Acceptable to use a fixed-scene, but will expect work to be put into life and vibrancy and juiciness of this.
Nice work on the turrets. Be sure to experiment with aiming and homing variables. Homing is a bit slow right now based on character, but will expect both to change in the coming weeks. Off to a very impressive start here!