DnD Map 2 version 2 Tiered Feedback

Warren Rose II

CAGD 270, 3/21/17

DnD Map 2 version 2 Tiered Feedback, Playthrough on 3/9/17

Annotated Version of Map

1. Action

I sat down with my assigned players for a quick run through of the Basic Difficulty level.  Unfortunately we waited too long for their third to show up and for me to refamiliarize myself with the system so less than fifteen minutes of the assigned twenty were spent on gameplay.  The level consisted of the players sneaking into an alien complex where a ship they wanted to steal has been parked.  The first room was an armory containing a basic floating alien, a cloning chamber acting as checkpoint and chests containing a ranged weapon and a levitation item to take the sting out of electrified floors.

The next room contained a stationary boss protected by an electric field that when defeated dropped a sufficiently advanced lockpick, as well as a more advanced enemy poised to drop on people getting too close to a chest with a medkit.  Two enemies guarded the switches meant to disable the electric field.  A locked door blocked off the level exit as well as a final basic enemy and a rechargeable shield for the players.  We called it time and I narrated the challenges for the rest of the level in the middle of the boss fight.

2. Feedback

The description of the enemies was well received, including a six-legged scythe rat, floating eyeball aliens and an cybernetic/organic computer made of several of them "welded" together.  Unfortunately I set the area of effect for the electrified floors too small and provided a ranged weapon too early so the players were able to defeat the boss handily without even being fried once by stepping in the wrong spot.  If I were to run through it again then the entire room would be electrified in a north half/south half fashion with the levers controlling that portion of the field so melee combatants would only have to turn off one to approach and ranged combatants would not have a safe place to stand.

The jump scare of the scythe rat falling from the air vents failed to materialize because of the lack of time, which is a shame as the players seemed to like the idea when it was described, especially as it, unlike the floating aliens, would have been affected by the electrified floor.

My ranged weapon was vastly overpowered outside of my area as it scaled to player level and should have had a set cap.  The rest of my items seemed generally useless outside of my section, other than perhaps the rechargeable shield.

Having the (puzzle) boss in the middle of the second room was something I chose to save on time, but it was seen by the players as a poor choice as they would rather have it be stretched out.  Balancing act, I guess.

3.  Design Team Process

The process was abbreviated due to my two partners only being assigned after the mass return from the GDC, but I found it satisfactory overall.  After asking for the introductory level  or the intermediate and being assigned the former I described it as leading to a spaceship for the players to steal as one of the neighboring teams had used a spaceship level to great success the previous session and they and the teacher approved of us adapting the general idea.  My partners decided to tackle the spaceship between them.

I drew sketches of several alien types that were voted on in favor of the floating eyeball aliens for my section, but I feel we failed to set a consistent population of aliens and general tone/aesthetics across the levels.  We exchanged email addresses in hope of setting a cohesive tone and exchanging updates on any changes to our levels, but this was not used.  I was really impressed with the level of detail my partners put into their maps.

Pros

Good concepts

Basic enemies seemed difficulty appropriate

Obvious level flow

Electric floor trap balanced by protective item

Cons

Electric floors should have been tweaked through playtesting

Items needed balancing and redistribution

Poor time management

Puzzle Boss in second room felt too close to the entrance