Western Level #2

A lot of the playtesters liked how short and simple my maze is. They also loved how the coins felt rewarding this time and how it was not bunched together. Most of them loved the theme of my level which takes place in a western town. Some playtesters also took notice of how I used the grass to lead the players toward the goal and different paths. One of them took notice of how I used the line of grass to indicate that the player could move into that certain path. 

Most of the players did not like how the assets did not line up with the squares especially the grass. Some of them also did not like the rigid grass path that I laid out for them. They feel that it is too distracting for the player and unpleasant to the eye. There is also one coin placement that threw everyone off in my level. I placed a coin on one of the roofs of the houses to indicate that the area is climbable and there is a hidden path to it. Most of the players did not like that idea because then after they crossed the secret path they assume that they could climb any roof which they could not. There were also the walk-able wagons that players did not like. They felt that it would make sense if the wagon was not covered. There was one player that had difficulty getting through the one tiled corridor that I laid out for the players as a secret path. 

Some players also found that there are some areas that should have a blocker but does not. One player pointed out that I should have less of a variety of borders and should stick to at least a few. He also pointed out that the grass border used in the top right of my map should be less interesting than the main area so the players won’t feel the urge to go there. I plan to fix the alignment of the background and the foreground. I also plan to fix the blockers of the map and add less of a variety to the borders. 

I plan to remove that odd coin placement that I added to the map and I’m planning of making the secret path horizontal so players could have a much easier time getting through the area. I also plan to fix the grassy path by making it more pleasant to the eye. I plan to put another asset of grass so it could indicate to the player that they are getting closer to the end goal. The players did feel that they had an easy time going through the level. Some of them felt that they were just strolling through a western town while the other felt that the dead ends were not too punishing. 

The collecting of the coins felt rewarding to the players and they felt that they just had to follow the coins to reach their goal. The players felt that the dead ends were not punishing which made the map feel like one big circulation. One review that I found interesting from one of the players is that he felt that the circulation element was like the figure eight. 

Most of the playtesters felt that they looped around a lot and the coins is their guide to the end goal. The players knew where they were supposed to go because of the grass path that I laid out for them and the building structures where the color of the markets indicated to the players that they were heading into the right direction.