A1: Feedback In-Class Activity

For this assignment, we paired up with one of our peers to workshop our games. We're at the point now where our white boxes have a few playable challenges and some art assets, so it was a good place to bounce ideas off of another person. Here's what we talked about!

We discussed what changes I made to the design since my last post and why:

Since I created my white box, my entire narrative concept for my game has changed. I had wanted to call this game "Mellow Meadow" and have it be themed around fighting evil plants to turn them good. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble finding free assets that fit that theme. I decided to abandon the concept to work with what was actually available to me. I did find some nice plant assets that inspired me, but I decided to build the walls of my maze out of castle materials instead of hedges. I've always like medieval themed games, and castles do look good with shrubbery. I allowed the assets I was finding change my ideas for the narrative.

As far as coding goes, I made the red dots collectables and the yellow dots keys. The blue doors can only be opened now if the player has a key, and each key can only be used once. I also took away the jumping ability because the player was able to go over some parts of the maze.

I explained what I want the end product to be - what features I'm still adding/changing:

Right now, I am thinking the player will have to find a certain number of collectables and keys to reach the end goal in the center of the maze. My current story idea is this: The end goal is a Princess. She leaves you love notes with keys attached hidden throughout the maze. You have to follow a trail of roses she has left behind to help you find her. When you get to the middle of the maze, you discover one final note informing you that "Your Princess is in another castle." Presumably, she's been stolen away by some nefarious figure. 

Here's the feedback I got from my classmate:

The maze was much easier to navigate now that it has art assets and collectables to guide the way. The level might be better if the maze was harder, but another option is to give the player a time limit. Maybe they have to reach the end goal in a certain amount of time. Time keeps running out, and the collectables add seconds to the clock. 

I really like this idea.

Overall, I thought this exercise was really helpful. I feel like I have a better understanding of what does and doesn't work about my level in its current state. I also have a clearer idea of how the final product with look.