PVP Fight 1

Welcome one and all to the wonderful realm of the Angry Game Dev Girl's blog which today will be reviewing my dear friend Chrystal's 1st Portal 2 level (WHOOOOOOH). Chrystal's blog can be found here if you so choose to take a look at it, CLICK HERE. Well enough random chit chit ON TO THE REVIEWING!!!

First I'd like to start with some Pro's of Chrystal's level I really like:

Pros

Chrystal's level is a reasonable size, it's not too big or too small, and isn't overly complicated with multiple rooms or sections nor is it overly complecated with traps or obstacles. In fact all the traps and obstacles have their own space and are not overshadowed by one another.  The clear connection lines help dictact and direct the direction of the level and do not confuse the player by overlapping the lines. The exit is clearly visible and not hidden in some secluded or hidden in a remote areas on the map, which helps  give players a clear direction and end goal. Every button and switch has a clear purpose and doesn't activate multiple aspects which can create confusion and make players lose direction. 

 

The level is clearly set up in a linear way, meaning players do not have to double back and repeatedly go back and forth through areas. This prevents players from getting confused or lose their place in the level, like many of the more complicated levels cause when players lose track of where they are and their objective in large mulch-directional levels. Even with it's smaller size, and more simplistic design, the level still presents a good amount of difficulty and challenge for more novice player without being too hard or overly complicated.

 
Next I'm going to focus on a few things I was 100% on board with or didn't like about the level:

Cons

Now Chrystal's level in my opinion is really well made however there are a few issues I have with it specifically the pit trap where the first cube spawns in, if a player falls into the this pit before they are able to look around the map properly it is very difficult to get out of, which I feel was a poor design choice especially be cause an essential cube spawns in the pit. This could be easily fixed by place more accessible portable panels on the ceiling in line with the pit.

 My next issue with Chrystal's level is although it's a good design, it is slightly too simple and easy to beat for more advanced place, who can easily figure out how to be the level and how to avoid many of Chrystal's obstacles. In fact I was completely able to skip almost every one of Chrystal's obstacles with clearly placed portals, actually it took me less than a minute to see a quick way to fly through the level only having to deal with 2 of her obstacles. In the images below you can see just a few of the ways I slipped right past Chrystal's obstacles with complete easy.

 Now my final issue with Chrystal's level was the cubes and the weighted and cube buttons they activated, there about 4 buttons and three cubes, obviously you are meant to reuse the first cube from the first on the last button however I didn't even need to use the first button, meaning it was kinda a waste of space. All of this skipping obstacles and threw the level could have been avoid have Chrystal been more strategic with the placement of portable panels. Below are a few more pictures showing how I bypassed most of her obstacles and barriers:

 While giving the player freedom to choose how they want to play the level is a good thing and in my opinion a good design aspect of the level, if it means that players completely bypass your mechanics and aspects of your level maybe reducing the number of ways players can hack through the level would be an important thing to look at and think about before creating another level. In addition,  have a lot of poeple playtest through the level to see if they find anything you overlooked while making it. They can give you good suggestions on what worked and what didn't which is critical in creating game levels.

 
Now my thoughts overall on Chrystal's level:
 
Personally I thought Chrystal's more simplistic approach to creating her level was a great choice for her 1st Portal 2. I can clearly see for the way she designed that she has a good understanding of how the level editor tools work and has a good grasp of many game design concepts we covered in class. Her level spacing was well thought out and the level wasn't cluttered with tons of buttons, traps, cubes and obstacles that may end up confusing players. Although there a few things I wasn't found of in the level overall Chrystal's Portal 2 level was well designed and fun to play. It offered a bit of challenge without being boring or too difficult. I feel like there are a few areas to improve on like the placement of portable surfaces but other than that I enjoyed the level and I think it was a good design. If you are interested  in playing her level, here is the link to the level available on Steam: CLICK HERE!