Gnort first level design philosophy

This prototype for the first level is where I really tried to incorporate some meaningful design into one of my games. This post will cover some of the things I did to design the game and why I thought they would work.

Separate level areas: In order to change up the pace of the game and keep it fresh, I created the level to have 6 different areas, each offering a unique challenge different from the last. The starting forest area was created to get the player used to the movement and jumping mechanics of the game and introduce both enemy types throughout the level. It was not designed to be particularly challenging. The second tall forested area was designed to make the most out of the new shadow form mechanic that the player got. It is impossible to get through the area without using your new shadow ability. The third cave area was an attempt to force the player into a more closed off area in contradiction to the open area the player was used to. This was done to change the pacing of the game and increase the challenge of the level so far. The fourth flower area was created to introduce some verticality to the level and it introduces the crumbling platforms which would be important for the player to understand later on in the boss fight. The fifth mushroom area was created to change things up a bit with a new bouncing mechanic acting on the player. Lastly, the sixth final boss fight area was created to offer a final challenge to the end of the level to give a sense of accomplishment to the player. 

Using collectibles to guide to player: In different parts of the game, it may be hard to find the right path to progress in the level. To remedy this, I used the gems to help guide the player down the path they needed to go down. This is seen at the entrance of the cave area. Another use of the games was to incentivize the player to check out secret areas. This is seen in the starting area, where there is a platform with gems on it that leads to a chest with a reward. The player cannot reach the platform without going back to it after they have gotten the shadow form spell. 

The boss fight: The boss fight was probably the most technically complicated part of the entire level, but I thought it came out very well. The boss fight is designed with moving platforms that spawn at random intervals at three different heights. It spawns the lowest platforms at the highest rate, the middle platforms at the middling rate, and the highest platforms at the lowest rate. This is done because it is easiest to deal damage to the boss on the highest platform, thus allowing for their to be greater challenge and more incentive to reach that platform. Furthermore, the boss is most likely to shoot his their gas cloud near the highest platform, thus creating a risk/reward scenario. 

There were many more design choices that I made, but I thought it would be fun to share some of the ones above. If you made it this far in the dev log, thank you for playing the game and reading! If there is anything design wise you could offer some perspective on, please do not hesitate to leave a comment on this post, or the game itself.