We're back

This week we worked on even more prototyping to decide on what the gameplay would look like in the end. We still had unanswered questions, such as what the right camera position would be or even whether to downscale our game to full 2D. 

Hopefully, after this week our visions will be a lot clearer and we can delve into production.

The Level Layout

Since the main aspect of our game will be the dynamic and constantly moving environment, a good level design was important even for a prototype to prove our game could be fun. For this we used a sideview of what will eventually become the leg of our giant robot and placed our different types of platforms along it to create a simple but cohesive small level cutout. The platforms and their placement needed to work together well enough to be able to demonstrate the core gameplay, and to make the experience as enjoyable as possible.

The 2D Level Prototype

we first set out to create a rough level in 2D , simply placing the prefabs we had made in a more strucutred way thinking more about it as an actual level (or part of one) then just a demo space to show off the mechanics form the player and the different platforms. this later got adapted and converted into the 3D version aswel making this almost a rough first draft

2D inputs

with the slight shift to a more full 2D perspective the controls could be changed to be more intuitive. now both the movement and the dashing direction are controlled by the same stick, pointing up will now let you dash up HURAAAY. on top of that we also are now able to assign the face buttons to all the actions to have it be more intuitive as well. functionally the actions you can do are the same but the controls feel more natural now in 2D 

The 3D Level Prototype

After the primary design of the level was finished, we made a 3D version of the level. In comparison to the 2D version, allowed the player to move towards the robot and walk on some of the parts.

Different Camera Settings

In addition to creating a 3D version of the level, we also spent time experimenting with various camera settings in our prototype. Our goal was to address the issues with the 3D gameplay and find the best camera angle and position for players. Through our experimentation, we were able to test different camera settings and observe how they impacted the player's ability to interact with the environment and each other. We considered factors such as the distance from the player character, angle of rotation and even tried split screen.

Unreal Engine Physics

An aditional Demo was made in Unreal Engine to try and test the 3D Gameplay with a player-character that had more defined and polished physics and controls, as developing a proper physics-based player character from scratch in Unity proved too difficult to execute in the short period of time for Prototyping.

this was also used to test another form of camera tracking similar to the 2D Build, but still enabling 3d Movement. This demo was unfortunately developed late in the process and so it was unable to be playtested like the other demos.

Playtesting

Of course, all these features had to be put to the test for us to be able to decide what to go for.

We playtested the level amongst each other, and even got test audiences to try and give us feedback on the prototypes. Initially we tested out the first prototypes and pointed out some issues and bugs to fix, and then we had a second round of testing with people from outside our team to try and determine which was better - 2D or 3D platforming? 

Here are their opinions and our main takeaway from it: 

PLAYTEST DATA

PLAYER 1

• Throw is buggy
• Would be nicer if double jump were higher, delay after first jump with double jump
• Zoom out when players are further apart from each other
• Prefers normal angle
• Less engagement with other player in split screen 20degrees, 30degrees split screen more playable but prefers no split screen

PLAYER 2

• Likes the throwing mechanic, but less cooldown would be nice
• Prefers split screen, can't see anything with the rest, focus is more on yourself with split screen

PLAYER 3

• Too open of a playing space, areas where you have to be next to each other would be nice
• 3D feels a bit weird, feels like one can go behind the robot
• Prefers normal camera angle
• Split screen limits environment
• Lava that comes up to make it more thrilling? Something from the ground?
• Likes camera angle in 2D
• Overall prefers 3D normal
• Donkey Kong Barrels mechanic
• Cables to climb up? 

PLAYER 4

• Prefers normal camera angle
• Cannot see each other when falling anymore - Split screen if you fall?

PLAYER 5

• Player feedback when grabbed, didn't know the button did anything
• Everything feels slippery
• Prefers normal camera
• Consider limiting the movement in the air
• Prefers split screen, feels more like a competition
• Distance from the other player as feedback would be nice, in the middle of the screen? Like Mario Cart? Smash bro indicator to keep the throwing of the player a thing
• Prefers 2D, but for a complex robot 3D might be better OR KEEP IT 2D and do a camera shift like in Honey bloom galaxy

PLAYER 6

• Prefers normal camera
• Likes the 3D movement
• Feels more like a race in split screen
• Punishing yourself by going to fast is fun
• Wants to be able to keep track of the other player to easily find them

PLAYER 7

• Gravity is very unwieldy
• Velocity when speeding up doesn't make sense, is way too much
• 3D feels unnecessary, if there was a tunnel or something it would make more sense
• Prefers normal camera angle, the 30degree one feels more disconnected from the player
• When climbing up with the normal camera, it feels like you're revealing stuff, with the 30-degree one, it already shows u the environment which makes it less of an adventure
• Throwing button needs to be more responsive
• Split screen when far apart from each other, converge to one screen when close like LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean to help with fighting each other and to make it feel like a race when far from each other
• Likes split screen
• Prefers the 2D
• Zooming out the camera is not an option to see both players cause then you will be super tiny 

PLAYER 8

• Likes the split screen
• Prefers the 2D
• Normal over 30-degrees 

PLAYER 9

• Shadows are distracting, angle the light differently
• Prefers normal camera angle
• Likes the split screen, better understanding of depth in split screen
• An arrow indicator of where the other player is would be nice
• Likes 2D, the 3D seems a bit unnecessary with the levels and since it breaks the depth perception the 3D is more annoying

PLAYER 10

• Prefers the normal angle over the 30-degree one
• Prefers 2D over 3D
• Depth perception is hard is 3D
• The grabbing mechanic needs a lower cooldown
• It would be nice if the double jump felt like a double jump, like a delay midair before the second jump

PLAYER 11

• Everything feels slippery at this point
• 30-degrees feels a lot more unwieldy 

TAKEAWAYS

Most of the players prefer the normal camera angle over the 30-degree angle in the 3D mode, though quite a bit of players prefer the split screen. Split screen makes it feel more like a race to them, however they would still like an indicator of where the other player is on the map since you lose a bit of the PVP element in split screen. Two players suggested making it a dynamic split screen like the LEGO games, where you would not have a split screen when close together but you would have a split screen when further apart. Most players do wonder why it is 3D, they see no added value to the game. They said, quote: ‘The 3D makes it something a bit different, but why?’ A lot of them preferred the 2D version because the depth perception was better in that one. One player suggested following the players in the Z-axis like in Mario Honeybloom Galaxy, that way, if you do want to portray something in the Z-axis you can, but the game can stay 2D overall. In regards to the player mechanics, most people felt like the cooldown on the grabbing button needed to be slightly lower and that the double jump needed more feedback to actually feel like a double jump. One even found that extra mechanics needed to be added to the level, like lave going up as if there were a timer, not only racing against each other but also against time itself. 

From our own, and outsiders' opinions the movement along the 3 different axes felt unwieldy because of the depth in the Z direction, and also the camera movement that still needed some work. However, the 3D gameplay allowed for more freedom and consequentially seemed to feel more fun than just moving in two directions.