Mirror Puzzle Level
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Project Overview
This level was designed for a school project. The class focused on developing students' level design skills. While I never took the project past the prototyping stage, I still learned a lot about how to work under restrictions. With the framework given to me, I decided to try my hand at making puzzles. Of course the gameplay could always use more polishing; however, I'm very proud of the mechanics and level I put together in a short time.
Project Restrictions
This class focused on practicing design while adhering to restrictions. This created some challenges that needed to be overcome.
Short Time Frame:
The most difficult part of working on this project was the time frame it needed to be completed in. I was given one month to brainstorm a level theme, core mechanic, and create it all. I was forced to plan my time wisely to implement the idea, but also conduct playtests and iterate on the design.
Specific Theme, Mood, and Setting:
Every student was given a setting and an emotion the level needed to follow. I got a "Whimsical Cave Dungeon". This unique contradiction threw me off and made it difficult to brainstorm. After a few days of planning, I decided light based puzzles could bring a whimsical feeling into a dark dungeon.
Don't Change the Player:
One major issue with creating a mechanic was that I was not allowed to change code in the player at all. This rule was in place to simulate designing a level for a more finished game where changing player code could have major consequences elsewhere in the project.
Explore the level
Key Takeaways
This level was my first real attempt at designing puzzles. I chose this level concept so I could put my programming skills to the test, and I did just that. I managed to tackle a lot of issues completely on my own. These lessons included: learning/using line-traces for the first time, figuring out how to move, scale, and rotate the light cylinder correctly, and updating the puzzle's state accurately and efficiently.
While the level design came naturally to me, I did encounter a big problem when playtesting. Originally, almost every person that playtested the level said it was too hard. This caused me to take a careful look at each puzzle. A few places, the original prototype had places where it would bait the player into the wrong answer. As I tweaked the puzzles accordingly, I learned a valuable lesson. When designing puzzles, the players expectations should always be met. If the player was battling their expectations with controls, for example, became too difficult due to a lack of focus. After redesigning the level to ensure better teaching in the first room and expected behavior in the second room, the puzzles became challenging instead of frustrating.