This post is about my 3D Game Level made in Unity. I had three friends playtest this and give feedback on my game. I will be covering that feedback here aided with screenshots from the game.
Overall the playtest went well. The players all enjoyed the level and said it was relatively fun, but without any of the assets and mostly blank walls they said it was a little boring. That being said, once I add some new assets to decorate this level I think it will be looking much better in time.
This was the first puzzle I had to communicate to the players. It was at the beginning of the level and featured four blue balls on the wall, with a switch underneath and a moving platform. It was a counter system where all switches had to be pressed for the platform to move up, but I had to communicate that through the level. The switch underneath was the first switch to hit for this puzzle, and every player understood that well. I communicated this idea by putting this first switch by the platform, when the players touched that switch, which was all three of them, they found the first bulb would light up. While they didn't always know that the platform would move up after all four was lit up, it was apparent that all four blue orbs needed to be turned green. This puzzle went well and I think I did a good job communicating it's objectives. This puzzle served as one large overarching objective that blocked the player from moving on. So before this challenge was completed, smaller ones had to be done in the process of solving it, then allowing the player to move on.
This was the first problem area for my playtests. This switch was used to activate the moving platform, but many players thought it was a switch that would activate a bulb, which was a problem. This switch should be replaced with a pressure plate, especially because another moving platform on the level was activated using a pressure plate rather than a switch.
Another problem with this area that was quickly apparent was the lack of a delay for the moving platform to begin, I think there should be a delay and the platform should move slower so that the player has more time to react and make a decision. Not a single playtester pressed the switch and instantly knew to step on the platform. This is of course a problem and there should be a pressure plate to help the player know what will happen next and what is expected of them.
There were many enemies on the floor which the players had no trouble fighting. This allowed them to get familiar with the types of enemies they will be fighting. There was also a switch in the middle of this area to be fighting which lit up another blue bulb. This worked great. One part that was difficult for one playtester was the puzzle shown above. There is a sideways pressure plate that can be pressed by jumping off the platform to the right. It is too high to activate by just jumping off the flat floor though. This confused one tester and this will be noted. I think I can add some assets and decoration to make it more obvious that the player can jump off that platform, such as an offshoot platform. Without seeing the pressure plate this platform might seem useless, but in the context of the pressure plate it might seem like the game is suggesting what the player should do.
Here is the view of the player from the top of the platform where the player can jump to hit the plate. A wooden platform perch would be great here.
This was another section, it wasn't difficult at all for testers, but the acid pits underneath did confuse one player into thinking they needed to explore this space. It was more than anything a wasted space and I can probably block it off from allowing players to explore it.
These steps also got some players in trouble, two players fell while trying to traverse this area. Personally I think this was a necessary challenge because the second half of the level is entirely jumping challenges, so I think this serves as a good practice run for what is to come.
Once the player lit up all of the lights, the platform lifts up so they can continue.
One issue as the player continues is this checkpoint ball, I couldn't get it to light up when getting the checkpoint. Either I need to solve this problem, or I should remove the orb entirely as it mainly confused players that walked past it.
The same issue was at this point as well.
This is the final challenge for the level, at the end it says "Level End". We were not told how to end our level so this is what I chose, every player understood it well. In future versions I will likely make a sign that says "Level End" or a trigger that displays the text on the screen for you.
Comments