Checkpoint 2 - Basic level blocking + More movement

Basic level blocking and more movement

The first level of Overdrive will begin with a tutorial before moving into what will be the easiest level. First, I thought about the basic gameplay components and how to introduce them one by one in a way that is not difficult to perform but the player can ideally only progress by correctly performing the actions. Here are the dot points I started with before designing the partially-complete level from the level blocking peer review.

• Start by running
• Smallest jump up ledge (by tapping jump)
• Tallest jump up ledge (must hold jump)
• Platforming requiring double jump
• Segment that requires wall jumps
• Jump across platforms and avoid falling
• Chain wall jumps and platforming together
• Introduce the grappling swing

Grappling swing

The final point on this list is a new feature added at this checkpoint where the player can press the grapple input to swing from solid surfaces in an arc. Currently it always fires upwards at 45 degrees in the direction of player input (or direction of player movement if there is no input).

I had plans originally to only allow the grappling hook to land on specific highlighted ceilings similar to Speedrunners but while testing the feature I found it fun to try and find any surface where grappling would speed up the player (gif below) and decided to just let the player grapple from anywhere for now.

A downside of this however is that highlighted ceilings can act as a guide to help a player know when to swing rather than just assuming the player will make use of the feature when I intend for them to.

Feedback

The only feedback from this peer review that I can work on is shown below where a segment of the level is visually misleading. It appears that you can take a lower path and a higher path to the left here. If a player tries to take the lower path they’ll find there is a wall that should have been visible the whole time.

To avoid design flaws like this I'll just need to be more conscious of how the level is framed in situations when the camera zooms out to a stationary position.

Updated version: