Email Rehash

So this is pretty much what I sent in the email earlier this week, but hopefully a little bit clearer. As you can tell from the playtests, one of the concerns raised was that the game was a little confusing and hard to know what to do. The simplest and most efficient solution would be to create instructions that are given to the player beforehand. Next is just even simpler levels with easier to reach goals, though in my playtests with the initial levels that I thought were really simple, one of the testers said it was a bit boring and should have at least one trap/explosion effect in it and the other still found it difficult to understand what was happening. The following is some of the proposed solutions we came up with in class:



The really simple level in which the corresponding mechanic is obviously revealed, in this image jumping or double-jumping












A collectible having an one-time additional function in the early levels that literally spells out what needs to be done























The gradual change from colored to blank levels so that the player is first given visual cues as to what to do and also given the idea that the game will move to a complete blank level

If not too difficult, it might be best to implement all of the above situations and playtest those during the next round so we can see which one is best from the player's perspective

Also, some ideas for the visual goal of the levels that were come up with is moving from canvas to canvas in the level. We could even have it where the starting canvas is actually a screenshot of the previous level, though at the scale it's at it probably wouldn't be noticeable, and a blank canvas representing the next level, or other art/paint tools like brushes or palettes (Ted, this is what that thing is called that isn't an easel :D )