For this final project, we were assigned with making a harder difficulty stealth level with an alien theme, utilizing new mechanics and assets given to us, as well as free reign on whether or not we want to add more scripts or programming. Now, after looking over the assets that were given to me, I thought that it could be decent, but I wanted to do something more and have texture and more immersive elements, and that's where my terrain came in.
I've experimented with Unity a little while ago back in high school, and I liked how easily the terrain was able to be used and sculpted, and how nice it could look with texture and other environmental elements, so I utilized it for this level. Many of my playtesters really liked this aspect, and they felt it made it very unique and different from the many other maps being provided in the class. I utilized the different trees and other elements provided within the standard assets to add onto the existing assets given to me, and I felt it made a good combination and flow.
The first part of my level was pretty self-explanatory: a simple jump to the other platform before walking up to the next part. Most playtesters were able to easily complete this, but some of the playtesters suggested that I use some sort of compositional element or prop that stands out to help lead them to the first hill since the first hill to get up is a bit hard to make out from the other terrain around it. Also, they felt that the jump could be tweaked just a tad bit since they felt that if you don't get the jump timing right at the edge of the plank, you would fall down most of the time, which could be very frustrating for some.
The next part of my level heavily utilized the stealth mechanics and the enemy "aliens", and when designing this area, I designed it in a way where if the player was in their line of sight, they would lose, so that is what I based the design around. Unfortunately, that wasn't how it worked, so most of the playtesters were able to walk right through the area without being touched by any of the robots. They felt that this area should be a lot more challenging than it is as of now, but they felt it was a good concept.
The third obstacle of the level was a jumping puzzle, with many different planks connecting different small islands, with the width of them decreasing and the presence of jumps being part of some of them. My playtesters felt this was a well designed area, with it being a good challenge while also not being hard enough to be frustrating or annoying. However, one playtester pointed out to me (I was experimenting with different lighting levels and such during the day) that the shadow coming from the tree on the other side makes it near impossible to see the last jump, making it very frustrating to get through. I have already made adjustments to that front. Some playtesters also suggested adding a tad more difficulty to it, so I will be doing that as well.
Finally, we have the fourth obstacle, and this had to be my playtesters' favorite mechanic and challenge in this level. There is a locked gate that you have to get through and the only way to get to the other side is by getting over the fence. There are two different boxes, one small and one big, as well as a medium-sized box within the side area, being guarded by a few robots and some jump puzzles.
What made the playtesters like this puzzle so much was because it utilized box physics as a way to solve the puzzle. You have to push the box between the small and big boxes by the gate to make a way up and over, and they felt it was one of the most unique and creative mechanics they had seen out of most of the maps provided that day. They also felt the difficulty was good as you also needed to avoid robots while pushing the box. One playtester also pointed out just how perfect the placement of the box was. When you walk up to the gate initially, you see the pink box with the pink arrow pointing to the spot it needs to go. As soon as you turn around, you are able to see that pink box on top of the building in the small side area, easily being able to grab the players' attention and lead them exactly where they needed to go, which I felt was awesome since I never had the original intention of doing that when designing. After hopping over the fence, the game ends there.
Overall as of now, many of my playtesters felt this was a good level, and they felt it was a good start to something more. I plan on utilizing more terrain and areas, as well as tweaking and polishing existing areas to make it feel well-made and fleshed out.
