2D Mega Man Level 2 Feedback

Level: Forest Cavern

Play Testers: 

• Marcus (Classmate)
• Hudson (Classmate)
• Micha (Classmate)

What went right?

  So what went right from my level from all the three playtesters that tested my level was that most of the item placements were good except for energy power ups. The checkpoints were also good as they stated that for each section of my level it was quite necessary to put a checkpoint in that specific location giving a since of achievement and relief. Mostly from all playtesters stated that the enemy placement and movement are good. The difficult of the enemies were good to defeat and the relation with health power ups help balance the difficulty. The last thing that went well is that the path of the level was understandable to the player.

What went wrong?

    What went wrong during this play test was mostly with certain aspects of the level. There is a certain part of my level wear after you complete the fireball platforming section there will be a section were a bunch of spikes will descend downward but you will have to get yourself on top of platforms.  Most players did not know those spikes were actually spikes. They thought they were actually part of the background and that confuse players into thinking that it was OK to head in that direction. The other thing that went not as intended was that energy power ups were not placed very well well as to a beginning player they didn’t understand the concept of energy power ups. That is another problem that happened in my level which is I did not emphasize the change in weaponry very well. when people got their weapons and use up all the energy they forget to recharge the energy of the specific type of weapon that needs it. The other thing that many players have questioned is that the level could be a bit longer in the end since that section is not really as long as the other sections.

How might you improve your level next time?

    How I can improve this level in the future is to consider placing the energy power ups in a different location or in a pocket area where players can get them. This will help players understand it’s like oh I’m out of energy here’s an area where I could get energy so I could head into that area and get some energy for my weapon rather than killing the enemy in front of the power up and accidentally picking it up without having to think. The other thing I can do is immerse the gameplay into which players have to use the weapons efficiently and making the players understand how to recharge energy per weapon. The other thing I can do now is edit certain game assets to which the players can identify if the asset is harmful or not. The final thing I would change is extending the level a bit so players have a bit more of a challenge

Were the challenges presented appropriate to the skill level of the player? / How was the overall flow?

    According to this level they were making the difficulty should range in between easy mode. I believe that according to all these play tests that the skill level of the player correlates with the challenge of the level. The reason being is that players can understand how certain game mechanics work however there is a problem with the weaponry which I stated on how to fix that I need to make them understand how to work additional weapons. 

Was the critical path obvious? / Was it obvious where players were supposed to go?

    The critical path of the level was obvious. players did understand where to go most of the time in the beginning of the level as I seen it look like players got confused a little bit of going to the left or to the right and they should go to the right but I guess I could fix that by creating some sort of imagery to identify that that’s where I will go.