In my last post I discussed why completely redesigning my single large level to improve optimization wasn’t as disheartening as you might guess. This is because I had already planned on doing a level redesign! In this post I will be taking you through the thought process behind completely redoing Space Capitalism Simulator’s layout.
Originally, I had one extremely large level with 3 primary paths. There were secret rooms, looong halls, and multiple progressions.
Throughout the course of about 10 playtests (new people every time), there was only one person who reached the end. I had expected more dedicated players to go through all three paths without dying. This was achievable, but incredibly arduous. The majority of playtesters were forced to go through the same starting rooms over and over again. This is because I designed it to be a bit like those classic NES games from yesteryear. It might’ve leaned a bit too far towards the “Dark Souls” level of difficulty.
I briefly considered having a lot more paths. Instead of 1 or 3 primary paths, I would’ve wanted ~6 potential paths from the starting room. I envisioned something like this:
Each door would have a different type of requirement to open it. Doors would require you eat x number of cupcakes, touch x number of things, play for X amount of time without dying, etc. This would allow people to play the game how they want to play it. They could focus on a single aspect of the game they found to be enjoyable without forcing them down a certain path.
I really liked this idea and started to pursue it. Unfortunately, I had so many branching paths that I started losing frames as playthroughs became longer.
All of my rooms are pretty modular. This allowed me to try new variations fairly quickly. Ultimately, I found that the best experience for players (and myself as a solo developer) was a linear path. I could more carefully tailor what players saw, how quickly the difficulty ramps up, and stop the amount of work I need to do from compounding. Perhaps the biggest factor in opting for a linear design, was the addition of a story. You can much more easily and precisely lead the player through a story if they’re moving through a linear set of rooms.
The second to last design had a great flow and I kept things similar in the final iteration. I might’ve added and changed a few rooms, but I largely just iterated on a layout a few play testers and myself enjoyed.
I’m happy with the current layout. I’ve been spending most of my time filling out rooms, adding strange new objects, and ruining the lighting. I want to do more playtesting, but that’s tough when you can’t see someone in-person (thanks COVID-19).