The most recent project that I did was a 2D level for a little game that someone made. This isn't an official game, just something to test my skills, and to allow me to learn level design for 2D levels. The basic goal of the game is to get to the end of the level, and you can collect coins along the way. The game is supposed to be western themed, where you play as a turtle. With the way initial map is laid out, other people created the map diagonally, because that's where the squares are facing, but with the way the control works, it's very janky, or broken (by design) so when I made my map, I did it in diamond formation. In the end we used Gamemaker to playtest the levels.
There are many things that went right with my level. The first thing is the way it's facing, other people created the map facing diagonally because that's how the squares are faced, I was different. With the way the controls are, levels that were diagonal were weird because you had to push down, then left, then down, then left, I however made mine face downwards, with the diamond, and not the square. because of this the controls were a little bit less awkward to use. Another thing that went right was the simplicity of the level. The level is supposed to be easy, so I made it easy, so that people were able to get to the other side without to much hassle.
Obviously though, there were things that went wrong as well. First of all, the size of it, it was to short, People were able to get to the end within a minute. Another issue was that it was to linear, there weren't really a lot of paths that you could go on, just the one path, and a dead end, other than that, you can't really go anywhere. The last issue was the assets that I used. As you can see on the map, I used a lot of the same assets over and over, so it looked very dull, also I created a green lush environment, when the theme is western. I also didn't use to many assets outside of the area, it was all mostly just the plain background, which made some players felt like this was a dream sequence.
There are multiple things I would do to fix my level. First of all, I would use different types of assets in the map, to make it look different, and to create a more western vibe. I would also use less rocks, and more buildings in the environment, so it looks like an actual city, instead of a weird looking path. Then I would use the assets outside of the scenery, that way there is stuff outside of the level instead of just a gray background. The last thing I would do is create another path in the level. I would have start from the left side of the beginning area, and have it lead to the middle spire, that way people don't really know where they are, and could get lost.
This experience has been an amazing one for me, I loved the DnD stuff I did earlier, so this juts took the cake. I liked hearing the feedback, even though they were 99% the same, and learning stuff about my level that I didn't even think off. I learned a lot about level design as well, like how difficult, and sometimes tedious it actually is, but I still enjoyed it all the way. Let's hope the next level is better than this one.
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