CAGD 270
Unity 3D Maze 2 Feedback, 5/8/18
Top View
Unfortunately, as with my previous playtest, I wound up working so long into the class that I had very few people see my game, only reaching two playtesters this time. One of them really liked how the level opened up into the wider area beyond the first narrow passageway, then found a crack in the wall I hadn't noticed in the lower boundary wall and wound up falling off the level. The other spent a long time navigating the empty space found below the roots so I increased the goal size by several fold, color-coded the roots by required and optional path by applying different shades of brown and widened the center 'rock' so it reached two of the edges thereby greatly decreasing the amount of time needed to identify the path back up if you fall off.
The robots for this 3D jungle level were interesting to work with and I am definitely considering equipping them with camouflage and pools of shadow to 'hide' in to up the stealth aspect of the game. Given that the robots are patrol-based with no active way to sense movement, I'm not sure how to apply stealth mechanics to the player's experience beyond, well, tall grass with an invisible 'crouch' wall above and robots flying a very short distance above that...
The robots for this 3D jungle level were interesting to work with and I am definitely considering equipping them with camouflage and pools of shadow to 'hide' in to up the stealth aspect of the game. Given that the robots are patrol-based with no active way to sense movement, I'm not sure how to apply stealth mechanics to the player's experience beyond, well, tall grass with an invisible 'crouch' wall above and robots flying a very short distance above that...
Unity 3D Maze 1 Feedback, 4/26/18
GameMaker Easy Maze 2 Feedback, 4/10/18
Minor changes for second round of playtests
As my feedback from last time was pretty short on needed changes, I mainly added two coins to the lower left corner to emphasize it as a path and made the ending goal visible on top of the grey floor tile. In my first run the end goal was two spaces along the fenceline but making the end goal visible had me deciding to center a single one fully on the tile. Given more energy and forethought I would've ensured that the end goal appeared to be between the floor tile and the fenceline rather than overlapping both...
Okay, there
Following that thought, I went back and made a quick edit to the sprite. Not an exact match to where the original's lines 'should' be visible, but close enough as this is after the day's last playtest. If I wanted to refine this further I'd shift the grey tile down from the fence's layer in Photoshop and sandwich the end goal object properly between their z- values.
Today's feedback was mixed. One liked that the goal was visible early so they could circle around and collect more coins while another thought it defeated the purpose of the level being a 'maze'. One person felt the river ending at a building was poor level design, which is fair as I could've made a bridge for players to cross and extended the river through the level. Most liked the coin positions, although adding more might have been nice, while one person felt that they were too close to the edges of the level.
At least one person in the class had the really cool idea of submitting an annotated map to their blog showing off the critical path with a red line. As my floorplan is open with two or three paths to circle through I am not going to attempt that, which does give some credence to the feedback of this not being maze-like enough for the requested assignment. I believe the technical term is a labyrinth given that all paths eventually flow through?
GameMaker Easy Maze Feedback, 3/29/18
For this project we were asked to sketch a design for a maze using the provided Town From A Western assets and then implement it in GameMaker 1.4. The construction phase was pretty straightforward for me as I had used the program before, although I did put the start and end squares in the foreground so they were covering the player and only managed to notice and fix the start square before the playtest started.
Disconcertingly, I received the most consistent praise for starting the level in Full Screen, as many of my fellow students had missed out on ALT-ENTER as an option, rather than anything to do with the map itself...
The level definitely succeeded as being 'town-like' to the playtesters, although more of them would have appreciated a clearer path of coins to follow. One player felt it failed as a maze due to it's openness. The most remarked on flaw was that I had 'hidden' the glowing rectangle that normally marked the exit point under a grey stone floor tile and several players activated it unintentionally.
Disconcertingly, I received the most consistent praise for starting the level in Full Screen, as many of my fellow students had missed out on ALT-ENTER as an option, rather than anything to do with the map itself...
The level definitely succeeded as being 'town-like' to the playtesters, although more of them would have appreciated a clearer path of coins to follow. One player felt it failed as a maze due to it's openness. The most remarked on flaw was that I had 'hidden' the glowing rectangle that normally marked the exit point under a grey stone floor tile and several players activated it unintentionally.
Tiered D&D Map Feedback, 3/8/18
Layout of Advanced Dungeon, Last of three tiered sessions for players that day
Modified Scenario:
- Descend into the alien base to take out the central pillar transmitting energy to surface troops
Once the first wired-into-wall cyborg guard was dead and the item stash free, I provided the players with a two-person horizontal-moving hoverboard and a portable two-way portal with an entrance that could be picked up and carried around and an adjustable exit point that was line of sight in range. They quickly hopped on the hoverboard and moved south over the chasms worn by the underground river rather than trying to face the second guard around the corner. I described some shiny item at the bottom of the central gap, which they discussed and decided to pass up for the moment rather than using their mobility items to retrieve. Had they descended they would've found that the river had a hidden tunnel connected to the dam keeping the boss area from being flooded - a dam that they could have blown up from either side if they returned with explosives.
After I gave them a short description of the endgame and the two other main paths to the boss (stairs that blocked line of sight and a viewing cliff that they could have teleported down from) they described the level as being very linear with good sidepaths, an obvious critical path and good distribution of checkpoints.
Simple D&D Map Feedback II, 2/20/18
Layout of Second Draft
Modified Scenario:
Critters:
Hazards:
- Descend into the canyon to destroy the vines that have taken over this trade route.
Critters:
- 6 Dire Golden Hamsters (1,2,0) 3 HP – Speed 3 squares/turn Will attack players and Bridge Pylons. Easily outrun.
- 1 Leaf Spitter Boss (1,4,2) 8 HP – Speed 0 squares/turn Carnivorous plant capable of shooting one 'spear' a round. (Range of Sight - Can only attack / be attacked by Players/Critters on the Bridge and in the Canyon's Base). Defense reduced to 2 if attacked from adjacent square.
Hazards:
- 1 Bridge (0,1,0) 15 HP – Speed 0 squares/turn If bridge is reduced to 0 HP it collapses. Anyone on it is dumped to the lower level, where they must defend against a 'fall' damage attack, power 3. Also 'attacks' those Jumping off it to the level below.
- Spiked Vines (3,1,0) 1 HP – Speed and Range of 0 Can only attack players standing on it, only on the first turn they enter the square. Vulnerable to normal attacks. Will die en masse if their parent plant is killed.
- Darkened Stairs (0,X,0) X HP Players trying to descend more than one square a turn without a light source present must defend against a 'fall' damage attack, power 1.
I was able to playtest this game with Sam B. (Mage) and Jorge C. (Ranger). Based on feedback from last map I started off with half the hamsters on the other side of the bridge at one health and shaded in the squares one in from the cliff edges in order to represent line of sight to and from the Boss. As the level was balanced for ranged combat, I suggested that Rangers be picked over Warriors.
I believe that, with the new monster placement, the Ranger was sufficiently damaged enough to need to stop and heal (although I may be thinking of another playtest). Due to my being late to class and the necessary dungeon construction from another player's backpack and map having been stolen the night before, I decided to call time when the Boss was at six of eight hit points, the Mage was at two of five and the Ranger was in decent shape.
As the vines were simply ignored last playtest in favor of the one open spot I had somehow managed to leave, I switched them out for l-shaped pieces of paper covering about four squares a piece. Four wound up being destroyed at range even though only one was strictly necessary to free up a square next to the Boss.
The hamsters seemed more effective this time and were able to attack pylons on both sides of the bridge as the players crossed. That said, the bridge was still in zero danger of falling, as it only suffered from one successful attack despite the multiple attempts. Thanks in part to ranged attacks from the Boss, only one of the six managed to survive long enough to fail at following the players down the stairs.
I believe the scenario was improved since the first playtest... It certainty felt smoother on my end, although I regret not spending more time on describing the locations and theme. However we somehow managed to avoid doing a proper Q&A session as a group for any of the games we played that day so I'm left without much direct feedback other than a muttered 'Cool' from the special effect of the vines being swept off the board as I narrated the Boss' death.
... Ah! I just remembered that I had wanted to teach players the Escape skill using the spiked vines entangling them but direct contact with the vines never came up in play across the playtests and therefore was something I probably wouldn't have remembered to implement if it had happened. In an extended teaching scenario I think I would have the plants roots' entangle the players as they descend the darkened hallway.
Simple D&D Map Feedback I, 2/13/18
Layout of First Draft
Modified Scenario:
Critters:
Hazards:
- Descend into the canyon to destroy the vines that have taken over this trade route.
Critters:
- 6 Dire Golden Hamsters (1,2,0) 3 HP – Speed 3 squares/turn Will attack players and Bridge Pylons. Easily outrun.
- 1 Leaf Spitter Boss (1,4,2) 8 HP – Speed 0 squares/turn Carnivorous plant capable of shooting one 'spear' a round. (Range of Sight - Can only attack / be attacked by Players/Critters on the Bridge and in the Canyon's Base).
Hazards:
- 1 Bridge (0,1,0) 20 HP – Speed 0 squares/turn If bridge is reduced to 0 HP it collapses. Anyone on it is dumped to the lower level, where they must defend against a 'fall' damage attack, power 3. Also 'attacks' those Jumping off it to the level below.
- Spiked Vines (3,1,0) 1 HP – Speed and Range of 0 Can only attack players standing on it, only on the first turn they enter the square. Vulnerable to normal attacks. Will die en masse if their parent plant is killed.
- Darkened Stairs (0,X,0) X HP Players trying to descend more than one square a turn without a light source present must defend against a 'fall' damage attack, power 1.
I was able to playtest with a friend, Bryce E. (Ranger), which smoothed things over for the actual walk through in class as well as encouraging me to weaken the enemies' stats as things were taking rather long to play out. He suggested that I start the hamsters in different locations, such as in the canyon so they would demonstrate how the spiked vines worked and that they were enemies of the Boss as well. I chose not to do this for worry of the twenty minute time constraints for the in-class test, but it was good feedback for future projects.
The game in-class with Alex G. (Ranger) and Alicia H. (Mage) and was somewhat enjoyable, although the hamsters were said to be unnecessary. Neither of them picked Ranger initially, one opting for Rogue instead, so I took Jeff Underwood's advice to say that the level would probably be a lot harder without one present, and they changed team composition to match.
The major modification that occurred during play was that I ruled that the plant creature was more vulnerable to attack (Defense of 2) from neighboring squares due to lack of protective canopy. Even so, the plant creature only suffered damage from two attacks out of about a dozen, although those two attacks were enough to kill it. The randomness from pouring a hazard onto a sheet of paper meant that there was a clear space on the north side of the creature for the mage to float to and land without needing to clear the spiked vines first – I had forgotten to make sure every half-inch square of the grid surrounding the Boss was evenly covered with the yellow triangles of paper.
Moving six hamsters at once, with limited AI that had them chewing bridge supports, was complicated, but surprisingly short to execute as the level wrapped well within the twenty-minute time limit. The bridge apparently had too much health as it was not in danger of falling despite the swarm. The players (with help from the Boss' spears) stayed on the bridge and the second cliff long enough to pick off half the hamsters with ranged and magic attacks - rather than simply outrunning them as I expected to happen. I had constructed the map so that the players could descend to the base within five turns if they chose to and this process turned out to take between three and four times as long.
It turned out that the rules were unclear if you could continue to move after attacking at range, meaning the players developed a strategy of sniping the Boss and ducking for cover in the darkened stairway or out of sight at the top of the cliff. Feedback included that it was strange that the Boss' Line of Sight did not include the clifftop and that I should explain it away as some sort of dense canopy. I think I will instead annotate the map that Line of Sight on the Boss also includes the first square inward from the cliff’s border… Maybe adding some sort of slight slope indicator to the map itself?
The major modification that occurred during play was that I ruled that the plant creature was more vulnerable to attack (Defense of 2) from neighboring squares due to lack of protective canopy. Even so, the plant creature only suffered damage from two attacks out of about a dozen, although those two attacks were enough to kill it. The randomness from pouring a hazard onto a sheet of paper meant that there was a clear space on the north side of the creature for the mage to float to and land without needing to clear the spiked vines first – I had forgotten to make sure every half-inch square of the grid surrounding the Boss was evenly covered with the yellow triangles of paper.
Moving six hamsters at once, with limited AI that had them chewing bridge supports, was complicated, but surprisingly short to execute as the level wrapped well within the twenty-minute time limit. The bridge apparently had too much health as it was not in danger of falling despite the swarm. The players (with help from the Boss' spears) stayed on the bridge and the second cliff long enough to pick off half the hamsters with ranged and magic attacks - rather than simply outrunning them as I expected to happen. I had constructed the map so that the players could descend to the base within five turns if they chose to and this process turned out to take between three and four times as long.
It turned out that the rules were unclear if you could continue to move after attacking at range, meaning the players developed a strategy of sniping the Boss and ducking for cover in the darkened stairway or out of sight at the top of the cliff. Feedback included that it was strange that the Boss' Line of Sight did not include the clifftop and that I should explain it away as some sort of dense canopy. I think I will instead annotate the map that Line of Sight on the Boss also includes the first square inward from the cliff’s border… Maybe adding some sort of slight slope indicator to the map itself?
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