White Box and first round of play-tests:
From the original Top-Down Layout - I did not change much in terms of structure placement from the original sketch of the top-down layout. I wanted to keep the maze very complex and confusing for the player. I did however add enemy placement, security camera placement, possible decoration/hiding spot locations, locked doors, a key, the goal, and the escape. These are all visualized in the whitebox with the enemies being red cubes(they may have a patrol route and may chase the player, I have not fully decided yet), security cameras being a red rectangle, to include their cone of vision, decoration/hiding spot locations being blue cylinders, key a gold capsule, documents a gold cube, locked doors being walls that are black and grey, and the escape being green. I started by not having too many obstacles for where the player starts, but rather, more things to look at and maybe one or two obstacles to ease them into what is happening. As the player progresses however, it will become much more difficult with cameras and guards that could be around any corner. The objects are scaled up in size as to be more clear in the screenshots. Here are screenshots taken before my first play-tests:
Top-down perspective:
View into one of the hallways:
Feedback from first round of play-tests - I compiled a list of what my play-testers said, everything they thought was good, what they hated, and what they would do differently. These were my results:
- Too big in terms of wall size: This is a very fair point. I had an idea in my head for what I was going to do later with it being so large, but the players just felt tiny, and I felt that while watching, the character is not meant to be so small. Some recommendations were to scale the walls down, and tighten some of the corridors.
- Easy to get lost: Some players thought this was good as it made for a good maze, some players could not complete the level as they kept getting turned around. A recommendation was to add landmarks so players know were they have been, and I think I will implement this when moving out of the whiteboxing phase and adding art assets.
- More lose conditions: Players liked the security cameras and guards, but they wanted a little more variety. Some ideas were to add other patients that could give away your position or maybe if you ran too much and made too much noise in a short period of time you would get detected. I think these are all great ideas.
- More collectibles: Players wanted more things to pick up around the map, maybe a little reward for going into a room that they know they did not need to go in to. A reason for further exploration. I think this was a good idea as well.
After Revisions:
Top-down perspective:
View into one of the hallways:
Reasons for Revisions - A note, I added a purple cube to represent where the player starts in the level. Now as far as major revisions, starting with point one from the play-tests results, I scaled the map down so the player did not feel so small. I also added in a new collectible, those being the orange spheres. These will be more documentation into the character's backstory for the players that like to know why they are there.
Things I did not change right now and why - As far as players getting lost, I think it will help a lot once I add in art assets. With that I will do new play-tests, and if the players are still getting frustratingly lost, I will go back to the drawing board and make the layout easier, or add signs for direction. Also, more lose conditions is something I would like to implement, but I would like to mess around with it as I get into the actual coding of the game, then I think I can make some cool mechanics the player will enjoy.
Final Thoughts - Generally I would like to implement most of the ideas from my play-tests and I think that the play-tests went very well and I am excited to do more as my game progresses. I think play-testing is very crucial and can help in the creative process of making the game and ironing things out that I can not see myself.
