Devlog for Team Quest v0.99

Overview

This 2D platformer game is developed as a college project in three weeks. When I conceptualize this game at the beginning, I want make a game with multiple characters and each has different abilities, so I can experiment more platformer game mechanics in this project. In the first week of the development, I drew few characters and decided the art style of this game. Most of the characters are drew in 16x16, so they look not bad and I don’t need to spend too many time on making animation. I also made a script to let player switch characters. The script was buggy at first and cost me 1-2 hours to debug, but finally it worked pretty well and became the core mechanic of this game.

Then in the second week I start to build my levels. I personally like metroidvania level designs so I don’t want to make my level all linear. In my levels make different routes for players to explore. There is one more obvious way to pass through the level and sideways to explore. I also use coins to guide the player into these routes. The level design is also followed the difficulty curves that player will overcome some challenges, find a new character, and use its power to overcome new challenges. I put many(9!) characters in this game to make it fun for all the process. Some characters even able to inverse the gravity or slower the time, so at the late part game player can explore the whole world. I also take some time to make the game more stable and “safer” for players, so they will not accidentally break it. I gave every level a ceiling and took some time to learn tile map collider, so players will not stuck in it when they switch characters. I also spend a lot of time to design abilities for each characters to make them fun and have some special controls. For example the archer can hold a button to draw the bow and release the button to shoot. I also made levels to fit this abilities, so they won’t be useless. Each level also has a theme, like exploring a cave or climbing a mountain, so different levels feel really different.

Playtesting Feedback

Playtesters cannot find out that they can hold button to hold the shield.

Some player think that the second level is too hard, but another playtester feel that this game need more challenges.

Playtesters get themselves stuck on spikes sometimes.

The controlling feels not very well but still ok.

Playtesters are not likely to lost in a level because they are hinted by coins.

The difficulty of the first level is pretty good. The second level is too hard for some players and may need more adjustment. The third level fees too easy, maybe because it isn’t completed.

The monster may need an animation frame to tell the player before they attack. Also they need more feedbacks when player attack them.

From the platest result, I find that players are not likely to find that they can hold the button to constant hold the shield but more likely to find out that they can use the shield to counter. I didn’t find a good way to teach that so I put instructions on a sign, hope it works. Also the gravity scale may need to be adjusted according to the playtests. Currently they make players fall too slow and feel weird. I find that in the last week, but adjust the mass and gravity scales meaning that I also have to adjust level designs. I don’t have time to do it in this project and may improve this in later updates.