CAGD 270 - Level Design
Level Design
February 12, 2020
D&D Map Version One Feedback
As I was creating my first D&D map, I tried to focus on how to teach the player the mechanics of the game. It was intended to be fairly easy and mostly linear. There was some very minor exploration in my level that came into play, but for the most part, went as expected. To start off with, the first thing I taught the players, was the escape mechanic, by placing them inside of a locked cell, they were forced to roll to get out. Then they were immediately faced by a goblin facing the other way, this goblin's stats were fairly low in order to teach the player how to fight, but also not put their lives in danger. Right after the goblin is a 6ft pit that the players must jump over. If the player does not successfully jump over the pit, then they fall into the basement, under the previous floor.
Thankfully, one of my players did fall and were forced to interact with the basement, otherwise, it would have been entirely optional. Upon entering the basement, they realized it was completely dark and it had to be lit up using a spell. After lighting up the area they found yet another enemy. I wasn't sure about this one since it felt a little like I was punishing them for just not rolling high enough. I ended up leaving it in as a decently weak enemy though. After the basement comes the second floor.
This is where things started to fall apart. The level itself was designed fine for what it was, but the enemies were intended to be of a mild difficulty. It turned out that though a combination of oversight, and bad luck, they actually felt more like a mid-level boss. It took much longer to complete this fight than I intended and almost killed the party off multiple times. It took a while, but they were finally defeated, and the players got to experience the last bit of the optional exploration there is in my level, by looking through the left and right rooms. The left room was already open and revealed an already looted armory, this was intended to get the players to want to explore more, and find themselves at the door to the right, see it's locked, and use the 'escape' skill they learned earlier in to open the door and be rewarded with a knife, +2 to attack rolls. Technically the ruleset didn't say I could give players items, but I couldn't think of a reason to explore if not for an item. After this, there was only the final floor left to deal with.
From the get-go, I felt like the final floor was underwhelming since this is where the 'boss' is supposed to be. It's really just a glorified big room. I considered making the room dark to get the players to use the skill they learned earlier in the basement, or to have pits they could jump over to attack at a range, but no matter what it just felt arbitrary. Like I was just putting it in to say I did, not to mention it would add unnecessary and almost downright unfair mechanics to the fight. This brings me to my final oversight of the dungeon, the boss was even more powerful than the two goblins that came before him. No matter what he almost never took damage, almost always dealt it, and had far too much health. In fact, this fight was taking so long that I just called it, we moved on to the next dungeon.
February 12, 2020
D&D Map Version One Feedback
As I was creating my first D&D map, I tried to focus on how to teach the player the mechanics of the game. It was intended to be fairly easy and mostly linear. There was some very minor exploration in my level that came into play, but for the most part, went as expected. To start off with, the first thing I taught the players, was the escape mechanic, by placing them inside of a locked cell, they were forced to roll to get out. Then they were immediately faced by a goblin facing the other way, this goblin's stats were fairly low in order to teach the player how to fight, but also not put their lives in danger. Right after the goblin is a 6ft pit that the players must jump over. If the player does not successfully jump over the pit, then they fall into the basement, under the previous floor. 
Thankfully, one of my players did fall and were forced to interact with the basement, otherwise, it would have been entirely optional. Upon entering the basement, they realized it was completely dark and it had to be lit up using a spell. After lighting up the area they found yet another enemy. I wasn't sure about this one since it felt a little like I was punishing them for just not rolling high enough. I ended up leaving it in as a decently weak enemy though. After the basement comes the second floor. 
This is where things started to fall apart. The level itself was designed fine for what it was, but the enemies were intended to be of a mild difficulty. It turned out that though a combination of oversight, and bad luck, they actually felt more like a mid-level boss. It took much longer to complete this fight than I intended and almost killed the party off multiple times. It took a while, but they were finally defeated, and the players got to experience the last bit of the optional exploration there is in my level, by looking through the left and right rooms. The left room was already open and revealed an already looted armory, this was intended to get the players to want to explore more, and find themselves at the door to the right, see it's locked, and use the 'escape' skill they learned earlier in to open the door and be rewarded with a knife, +2 to attack rolls. Technically the ruleset didn't say I could give players items, but I couldn't think of a reason to explore if not for an item. After this, there was only the final floor left to deal with. From the get-go, I felt like the final floor was underwhelming since this is where the 'boss' is supposed to be. It's really just a glorified big room. I considered making the room dark to get the players to use the skill they learned earlier in the basement, or to have pits they could jump over to attack at a range, but no matter what it just felt arbitrary. Like I was just putting it in to say I did, not to mention it would add unnecessary and almost downright unfair mechanics to the fight. This brings me to my final oversight of the dungeon, the boss was even more powerful than the two goblins that came before him. No matter what he almost never took damage, almost always dealt it, and had far too much health. In fact, this fight was taking so long that I just called it, we moved on to the next dungeon.
In the future, I would like to try and incorporate more taught lessons into my levels. It felt a little silly to introduce the jump mechanic and light spell, for a single room. The issue was that I couldn't think of anywhere else to put them that felt natural. Like I said earlier, it would have felt unfair to have those mechanics in the middle of a fight, but it also just didn't fit in anywhere else. It's not like I'm trying to make a platformer D&D level. However, after thinking about it, I believe a very optional pit to jump over in the boss room that would allow the player to fight at a long-range (given they have the ability to do so), would have given reason to learning it in the first place, but also made the fight a bit easier on the player by making sure they aren't getting one-hit KO'd every turn. Although for the light spell I just really can't think of a way to utilize it in any meaningful way to the gameplay.
So first things first, the basement. I didn't think much about it in my first run-through of the game since the players just did what I had intended and moved on. Perhaps I should have seen that as an issue rather than a success though, and that it was too straightforward. However this time around, when my players found themselves in what I described to be the pitch-black darkness, they just kinda, 'moved around' towards the staircase that brought them back up. They ran into the enemy I placed there but even I knew it was just annoying. I need to find a way to add meaning to this section of my level.
Next up is the First Floor, where the players spawn. In every way I intended for this floor to be purely tutorial. Everything from picking the lock on their cell, to opening the doorway to the next staircase, was meant to just teach the player. However, after having tested this out once again, I've realized that this is where the big issue of my map starts. It's completely linear. I'll have to find some way to let the players explore and find their own path that doesn't feel like they're watching a movie. What I'm considering right now is adding a second staircase in this same room that leads to a whole new room, where I specifically intice the players to move around that room. Honestly, I'm not sure if that's enough though. At best it'll change my level from linear to semi-linear, and at worst it'll be an easy spotted forced addition to my map.
February 18, 2020
D&D Map Version Two
with Ryan LaMont, and Tyler
As the name probably implies, D&D Map Version Two is all about taking the first edition of my map and improving it based on the feedback of my players. Well, the biggest issue my players said they had with my first map was that the mechanics they learned in-game were mostly only used once. For instance, using the light spell was only used in the basement. In my second playthrough, my players didn't even opt to use it then. Then there's also the escape mechanic, which was intended to reward players for 'exploring' later on, but it turns out it's a whole lot less fun to just look at three doors in a single room than I thought it would be.
So first things first, the basement. I didn't think much about it in my first run-through of the game since the players just did what I had intended and moved on. Perhaps I should have seen that as an issue rather than a success though, and that it was too straightforward. However this time around, when my players found themselves in what I described to be the pitch-black darkness, they just kinda, 'moved around' towards the staircase that brought them back up. They ran into the enemy I placed there but even I knew it was just annoying. I need to find a way to add meaning to this section of my level.
Next up is the First Floor, where the players spawn. In every way I intended for this floor to be purely tutorial. Everything from picking the lock on their cell, to opening the doorway to the next staircase, was meant to just teach the player. However, after having tested this out once again, I've realized that this is where the big issue of my map starts. It's completely linear. I'll have to find some way to let the players explore and find their own path that doesn't feel like they're watching a movie. What I'm considering right now is adding a second staircase in this same room that leads to a whole new room, where I specifically intice the players to move around that room. Honestly, I'm not sure if that's enough though. At best it'll change my level from linear to semi-linear, and at worst it'll be an easy spotted forced addition to my map.
The second floor was the floor I was honestly the proudest of in the change from version one to version two. You see in my previous run, the players got wiped out by the boss on the final floor, so my intention was to try and find a way to teach the players a combat strategy to fight that boss. I decided I would add pillars to my level as a means of giving the players a defensive barrier between them and those who wish to harm them. I figured the easiest way to teach the player about it would be to show them an enemy doing it. I actually got the idea from somebody else's level when I played it. So on this level, there are two enemies, both long-range, both trying to hide behind these pillars and take shots at the players. During actual gameplay, this is where my inexperience as a DM came out the most, since one of my players just insisted on knocking down the pillars, and the other got knocked out before the first enemy even died. I guess I should be thankful the warrior class has so much defense, otherwise they would have been wiped here.
The boss floor had also changed a good between each version one and version two. I tried adding more to the room in order to give the players a larger advantage in the fight. Now keep in mind, that on version one of my game, even with a plus two to attack due to the item I gave them, got wiped. So I also lowered the bosses stats for the final fight. Well go figure, the dice favored my players this time around and they killed the boss in two hits. So I guess next time around I'm going to buff the boss again and hope that it somehow ends up balanced.
The required theme was a prison break, and in my level, the players already started out in a cell. At first, this was as a teaching mechanic for the escape mechanic, however, that was taken out with the new ruleset, so rather than redesigning my level, I leaned into a running gag that for some reason everybody that played my level wanted to break down the doors. A slight explanation of how rickety the hinges look and both of my players immediately knew what to do. Throughout the entire level, I also added a good few chests for the player to obtain items from. Right outside the opening cells, there were two chests. The first chest had 'Boots o' Jumpin'' to allow one player to jump across the gap, and the other had a 'Rod of Divinity' which adds half of the player's magic stat to all attack rolls. On the other end of the gap was a sort of drawbridge that one player could lower for the other once they got over. Of course, though, the intention was for the player to fall into the pit. However, once they get up the pit, they are met with two staircases.
The pit mostly had the quality of life changes. In my previous version, a player was confused about exactly what was supposed to be dark in this room. So I added a bit of indication of what was visible. I also two more chests inside of this room. All of the chests from this point on are more or less just stat boosts or health potions. So I'm not going to mention what was in them, just the intention of putting that chest there. For instance, the chest in this room is not only something the player is naturally drawn to but is also the only thing in the room that is lit up. This was meant to get the player over there, and trigger and enemy standing by the stairs. This, in turn, would lead the player back to where the enemy initially came from, to discover the stairs. There was also a chest is the other far corner of this room, but that didn't have any specific intention.
Once the players work their way up from the basement, they will find themselves at two staircases. Each staircase takes the player to a different room. At first, I played with the idea of whatever staircase the player didn't choose would be destroyed and they would be happy with the knowledge that they made a choice. However, if I were playing this level rather than designing it, my first thought would be that there each staircase takes you to the same room and a staircase breaking is a gimmick to make me feel like I've made a choice. So I opted out of that idea and actually linked the two rooms together. Anyway, the first room has not changed much since the second iteration. A key was added to the door rather than having to use the escape mechanic. The room on the left is where the staircase that links together the second and third floor where.
The gist of this floor is that on the left, is a small prisoner court, where each two by two square is a cell. In the very top-left cell is the only cell with a prisoner. As the players enter the room, the prisoner yells out for help, and the players can choose to interact with him. If they do, he will explain that there should be a key nearby that unlocks his cell and that all of his possessions were taken away. Well, a bit of exploration and the players can find the prisoners key in the top-right room, along with two enemies. In the bottom-right, are his possessions. Now, honestly, I can't really speak to how well balanced or smooth the whole thing is. That's because my players found the chest full of his possessions and despite hearing him call out for help, several times, decided that they didn't want to help the prisoner and left him there.
February 24, 2020
D&D Map Version 3
With Ryan LaMont(Mage), and Tyler(Ranger)
This, is the final version of my D&D map, of course, there's still more to improve, but as for this class, this is it. In my previous iteration, the largest issue was the linearity of it. I, unfortunately, I realized that if I were to fix the issue, I would have to add a good bit to my level. Of course, the third iteration also had a lot of rule changes and required a specific theme. However, I lucked out a bit and didn't need to change my level too much.
The required theme was a prison break, and in my level, the players already started out in a cell. At first, this was as a teaching mechanic for the escape mechanic, however, that was taken out with the new ruleset, so rather than redesigning my level, I leaned into a running gag that for some reason everybody that played my level wanted to break down the doors. A slight explanation of how rickety the hinges look and both of my players immediately knew what to do. Throughout the entire level, I also added a good few chests for the player to obtain items from. Right outside the opening cells, there were two chests. The first chest had 'Boots o' Jumpin'' to allow one player to jump across the gap, and the other had a 'Rod of Divinity' which adds half of the player's magic stat to all attack rolls. On the other end of the gap was a sort of drawbridge that one player could lower for the other once they got over. Of course, though, the intention was for the player to fall into the pit. However, once they get up the pit, they are met with two staircases.
The pit mostly had the quality of life changes. In my previous version, a player was confused about exactly what was supposed to be dark in this room. So I added a bit of indication of what was visible. I also two more chests inside of this room. All of the chests from this point on are more or less just stat boosts or health potions. So I'm not going to mention what was in them, just the intention of putting that chest there. For instance, the chest in this room is not only something the player is naturally drawn to but is also the only thing in the room that is lit up. This was meant to get the player over there, and trigger and enemy standing by the stairs. This, in turn, would lead the player back to where the enemy initially came from, to discover the stairs. There was also a chest is the other far corner of this room, but that didn't have any specific intention. 
Once the players work their way up from the basement, they will find themselves at two staircases. Each staircase takes the player to a different room. At first, I played with the idea of whatever staircase the player didn't choose would be destroyed and they would be happy with the knowledge that they made a choice. However, if I were playing this level rather than designing it, my first thought would be that there each staircase takes you to the same room and a staircase breaking is a gimmick to make me feel like I've made a choice. So I opted out of that idea and actually linked the two rooms together. Anyway, the first room has not changed much since the second iteration. A key was added to the door rather than having to use the escape mechanic. The room on the left is where the staircase that links together the second and third floor where.
The gist of this floor is that on the left, is a small prisoner court, where each two by two square is a cell. In the very top-left cell is the only cell with a prisoner. As the players enter the room, the prisoner yells out for help, and the players can choose to interact with him. If they do, he will explain that there should be a key nearby that unlocks his cell and that all of his possessions were taken away. Well, a bit of exploration and the players can find the prisoners key in the top-right room, along with two enemies. In the bottom-right, are his possessions. Now, honestly, I can't really speak to how well balanced or smooth the whole thing is. That's because my players found the chest full of his possessions and despite hearing him call out for help, several times, decided that they didn't want to help the prisoner and left him there. 
This time around, the boss fight went a little better. In the far corners of the room, next to the chests, there are two long-range enemies. This not only incentivizes the player to move around the room to not only get whatever's in the chest but also to kill the enemy that is bothering them from the opposite side of the room. One player did split up from the other and chase down the chests. This was a major improvement from previous iterations where the boss combat completely devolved to just beat up the big dude.
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