Level Blocking Devlog

The issues with single player and two player level blocking are the same as they use identical levels.

Early testing complimented the movement system. Though the signs that will show the controls and the hint system are not yet in the levels, early testers were able to gather what the controls were through the level design. The first tester had not been explained to that wall climbing and looping were features of Red’s Daring Rescue but learnt this through testing. 

With the move to custom art for the platforms the automatic colliders did not allow climbing easily; so instead box colliders have had to be used. This also solves an issue that arose from the use of custom art where the edge of the platforms was calculated further out from where the sprite ended. Unfortunately, it has caused an issue where some spots the player looks like they’re behind the platforms. This is much less noticeable than the extended edges issue though. 

This picture is from before the change to custom box colliders.

This picture is from after the change.

Early feedback and observations of testing has revealed some locations where the vertical looping is an issue and can result in the player morphing into the ground. This will require a slight rework of the layout of the, for now, three specific jumps that are causing the issue.

A picture of the player being stuck in the ground from the vertical looping. The player is barely on screen where the red arrow is pointing.

The rest of the jumps and puzzles are working as intended and are just brain teasing enough as to provide some challenge. 

Currently there is also the issue where some sections allow infinite looping fairly easily. This will be fixed when the feature of respawning when the player travels to fast, mentioned in the previous devlog, is implemented. The respawn points will be at the beginning of each section with one section being a series of jumps and/or puzzles that have the same movement solution.

The last issue raised from play testing is that the start of level one does not provide a clear indication of which way to move. Heading the wrong way results in player being permanently lost off the edge of the screen as there is no horizontal looping.

This is a picture of the beginning of level 1. To the left is the wrong way and results in the player falling past the vertical looping boundary as they are already off the screen horizontally and to the right is the correct way.

This will need to be fixed by a wall to block it off or an area which pushes the player back towards the level. On top of this there will have to be a clear indicator of the correct direction to head. 

  There are currently no ways to skip sections or easily complete them in ways that aren’t intentional that have been brought up in testing. Further testing of the level blocking will continue as the development of Red’s Daring Rescue continues though