Game Balancing - Milestone 1
MONTH 3: GAME BALANCING
MILESTONE 1 - LEVEL DESIGN ITERATION
Much of the first week of this Milestone consisted of play testing and bug fixing the Tutorial Level created last month. The majority of bugs were cosmetic in nature, such as certain SoundFXs/Music Loops weren’t coming through correctly. So scripts had to be altered, triggers re-positioned and the Music/SoundFX’s had to be edited so that a more seamless loop was created. Other bugs were outlying case scenarios that the Player could exploit and trigger events out-of-order, breaking the linear tutorial I designed. These issues were addressed and refined so that the Player couldn’t deviate from the intended design.
After implementing all those fixes, testing, and re-testing again—we were satisfied with the results and I proceeded to move onto refining and iterating upon my group mate’s levels. Starting with the Earth Dungeon, I describe below the steps I took in taking the initial block out of my teammate’s level and flushing it out with the look it has now.
This was the first time diving into another individual’s work and running my own iterations on it while still keeping true to the person’s initial intended design. I felt this was a great challenge and something I would be exposed to again and again in a professional setting, so I was excited to get started!
First, I played through the level as much as I could to put myself in the same head space as my colleague. Running through the play area again and again, I started to build a mental picture over what the design of the level was and furthermore, where I can take it without deviating far from the original design.
Player being introduced to how to use the Projectile ability.
I made a lot of mental notes on what I thought the initial design of the level lacked. I found it didn’t incorporate the Dash mechanic at all, which was a must-have to keep the Player aware that this mechanic exists and to continue using it as part of their strategy either moving throughout the game, or combating enemies.
We also decided as a team that this “Earth Dungeon” level will be the next level the Player will enter after the Tutorial level. This meant that we had to incorporate a brief setup/tutorial that instructs the Player how to Summon elements and use their Alternate Attack/Projectile ability. I found a nice way to blend this in with the narrative so the Player felt a sense of progression, as well as to feel like they weren’t being led with so much hand-holding throughout the game.
Player’s first Boss encounter with the Earth Elemental.
Player discovering how to use the elemental gems they collect from bosses and how they allow them to shoot different types of projectiles.
Player learning how to summon elements by selecting an elemental gem and are low on HP.
After adding gaps to the level that the Player needs to dash across, I found it appropriate to include a piece of narrative that would introduce and immediately allow the Player to practice how to fire projectiles at enemies using the staff. This tied into the narrative of the game by activating a gem on the staff that now appears under the user’s Health and Mana Bar. I chose not to bring too much attention to this yet during this sequence, because I wanted the Player to simply fire projectiles at the enemies across the gap to understand the newly introduced mechanic. The UI element is explained further toward the end of the level when the Player defeats their first Boss and unlocks another Gem.
After the Player defeats the boss and collects the Earth Gem, another narrative plays out to guide the player’s attention to the UI elements of the newly added gems, instructing the Player on how to choose between them using the Mouse Scroll Wheel. The Player has a moment to test this if they choose to before the magic barrier disappears allowing the Player to proceed to the end of the level.
At the exit portal, we have another piece of narrative that teaches the Player one final thing: how to summon elements. This gives the Player the chance to learn about how their health, the cool down timer and gems all work together to allow them to summon powerful entities to dispatch enemies. From this point of the game, the stage is officially set with a sense of progression that they Player can gauge. Hopefully understanding that the more gems and Boss enemies they defeat, the closer they are to completing the game.
KEY THINGS I WORKED ON THIS MILESTONE:
Rigorous play testing and bug fixing on the Tutorial Level
Iterating upon the design of the Earth Dungeon level with art assets, lighting, SoundFXs and Music
Scripted and designed additional setups that teach the Player how to use Projectiles and Summon abilities
Added enemy spawners throughout the level to refine pacing so the Player consistently is required to do something.
Balanced the Health and Damage values of the enemies so the Player is met with a fair challenge during this early dungeon
Added setups for the player to have to utilize their Dash mechanic
Ran numerous play tests in the Earth Dungeon and identified case scenarios where the Player can break certain setups. Added fixes to those exploits so the Player cannot skip ahead or out smart our design