Dylan spent a few hours making this, and I even
beta-tested this map before he submitted it to be judged by the Gamedevia lord
a few month back. He got perfect, so let’s see what a perfect map is made out
of!
My method is analysis the game based on the rubric on
blackboard, and then I’ll add my own requirement. What I’d like to see changed
in a sequel.
All first paragraphs in each section were written before I
played the level. This is so Dylan knows where I’m coming from and to let him fully
understand my criticism.
Rubric:
Play Time
So creating these maps myself, I felt this was the
hardest thing to get right and yet essentially the only thing you need to do. To
achieve perfect in here, you need a first completer to achieve a run of 5-10
min. Though this would be my second time theoretically, I noticed some drastic
changes from the beta.
I completed it in 10 minutes 31.6 seconds. However I can
easily claim that to “Player skill” or the otherwise lack of it. Though it is over 10 minutes, I’m going to
assume the range is 5:00 – 10:59.
5/5 on time, but only just.
Puzzle Complexity
Now to judge the complexity of the puzzle I feel is up in
the air a bit and has a little wiggle room. Some people consider first
person mazes to be easy, others, not so much. However to get a perfect score
via the rubric you require to use a variety of mechanics in a mentally stimulating
and satisfying way. From what I call the
ball mechanic was very cool.
This map would have been a lot more complex if there weren’t
any antlines from your buttons. Though I feel none of them could have been removed
without just adding frustration-based complexity. I do enjoy how you had a tiny
bit of everything, and it was more satisfying than it should have been with the
ball rolling after completing a step.
5/5 on complexity. Did what was needed, and did it well.
Puzzle Solvability
This is more reliant on your opinion of complexity, where
in reality the solvability and complexity go hand-in-hand. The puzzle doesn’t stimulate
if I can’t yield a conclusion. Although unless you consider frustrating stimulation
in a “satisfying” way
Although I felt that the step progression to get the ball
from one end to the other was fairly easy, for the length you were aiming for (a
five minute play time), I slipped up more than once, and I’d classify that as
an achieved challenge-to-solve level. The only notable complex part for me was
seeing the cube receptacle parallel to the upper-cube dispenser.
5/5. I was tempted to give this a 4.5, as half the level
was fairly easy to solve. Then I realized he made his own tiny difficulty curve
in this 10 min map, and that’s a feat on its own.
Use of Logic Gates
This is the easiest way to get marks for this, as by what
the rubric means by “logic gates” is a use of single/multiple input to be
changed to a different output. To get
perfect on this however requires multiple gates to be used and for them to complement
the puzzle.
As I predicted; every step along the balls route required
some form of logic gate. The final step required a semi-advance one. None were
useless, which is good to see.
5/5. I don’t know what else I could have asked for.
My Rubric Additions:
Use of Portals
It’s to my understanding that portal levels require an assortment
of, well, portals. At least that’s my
opinion. 0) no portals used, 1) there are two white walls, 2) portals are used
once in the completion of the puzzle, 3) portals are used a few times in the
completion of the puzzle, 4) portals are used a few times in the completion of
the puzzle, player & cubes 5) portals are used frequently in the completion
of the puzzle, player & cubes
3/5. There were two instances of portals being used in
that entire puzzle
Aesthetic touches
Though this is at no means as important as all the
others, it needs to be addressed. Portal
is a very gray game in general, however the way the level is laid out should be
appealing to the eye to avoid unnecessary confusion. Out of 2: 0) confusing to
look at 1) comprehendible, 2) layout is traversable and easily memorized.
1/2. The map’s layout is good, but needs more lighting to
be perfect.
Final Thoughts
What I’d like to
see in a Sequel
I feel the mechanic of using the ball through the tube is
a very neat idea. A new map that consists of your ball coming back, however
maybe allow you to interact with the ball, or have it dance around on Ariel
Faith Plates. Definitely add more portals to your portal level. Though I understand
a 5 min puzzle that involves all that was required and to actually have interesting
portal-play is a bit excessive. It would be the only improvement to this map.
Total score 24/27 = 89%
Until next time,
Jordon
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