Posted March 28, 2023 by BlackRaven9120
This week we worked on even more prototyping to decide on what the gameplay would look like in the end. We still had unanswered questions, such as what the right camera position would be or even whether to downscale our game to full 2D.
Hopefully, after this week our visions will be a lot clearer and we can delve into production.
Since the main aspect of our game will be the dynamic and constantly moving environment, a good level design was important even for a prototype to prove our game could be fun. For this we used a sideview of what will eventually become the leg of our giant robot and placed our different types of platforms along it to create a simple but cohesive small level cutout. The platforms and their placement needed to work together well enough to be able to demonstrate the core gameplay, and to make the experience as enjoyable as possible.
we first set out to create a rough level in 2D , simply placing the prefabs we had made in a more strucutred way thinking more about it as an actual level (or part of one) then just a demo space to show off the mechanics form the player and the different platforms. this later got adapted and converted into the 3D version aswel making this almost a rough first draft
with the slight shift to a more full 2D perspective the controls could be changed to be more intuitive. now both the movement and the dashing direction are controlled by the same stick, pointing up will now let you dash up HURAAAY. on top of that we also are now able to assign the face buttons to all the actions to have it be more intuitive as well. functionally the actions you can do are the same but the controls feel more natural now in 2D
After the primary design of the level was finished, we made a 3D version of the level. In comparison to the 2D version, allowed the player to move towards the robot and walk on some of the parts.
In addition to creating a 3D version of the level, we also spent time experimenting with various camera settings in our prototype. Our goal was to address the issues with the 3D gameplay and find the best camera angle and position for players. Through our experimentation, we were able to test different camera settings and observe how they impacted the player's ability to interact with the environment and each other. We considered factors such as the distance from the player character, angle of rotation and even tried split screen.
Of course, all these features had to be put to the test for us to be able to decide what to go for.
We playtested the level amongst each other, and even got test audiences to try and give us feedback on the prototypes. Initially we tested out the first prototypes and pointed out some issues and bugs to fix, and then we had a second round of testing with people from outside our team to try and determine which was better - 2D or 3D platforming?
Here are their opinions and our main takeaway from it:
PLAYTEST DATA
PLAYER 1
PLAYER 2
PLAYER 3
PLAYER 4
PLAYER 5
PLAYER 6
PLAYER 7
PLAYER 8
PLAYER 9
PLAYER 10
PLAYER 11
TAKEAWAYS
Most of the players prefer the normal camera angle over the 30-degree angle in the 3D mode, though quite a bit of players prefer the split screen. Split screen makes it feel more like a race to them, however they would still like an indicator of where the other player is on the map since you lose a bit of the PVP element in split screen. Two players suggested making it a dynamic split screen like the LEGO games, where you would not have a split screen when close together but you would have a split screen when further apart. Most players do wonder why it is 3D, they see no added value to the game. They said, quote: ‘The 3D makes it something a bit different, but why?’ A lot of them preferred the 2D version because the depth perception was better in that one. One player suggested following the players in the Z-axis like in Mario Honeybloom Galaxy, that way, if you do want to portray something in the Z-axis you can, but the game can stay 2D overall. In regards to the player mechanics, most people felt like the cooldown on the grabbing button needed to be slightly lower and that the double jump needed more feedback to actually feel like a double jump. One even found that extra mechanics needed to be added to the level, like lave going up as if there were a timer, not only racing against each other but also against time itself.
From our own, and outsiders' opinions the movement along the 3 different axes felt unwieldy because of the depth in the Z direction, and also the camera movement that still needed some work. However, the 3D gameplay allowed for more freedom and consequentially seemed to feel more fun than just moving in two directions.