Spin Doctor: Harland's Death Animation

Okay. So this is my first animation, ever. It's not the best in the world but here it is. It's the death animation for Harland... Took me ages to get his hands right, as they were rotated the wrong way and just his arms just looked very odd. So he was meant to hit his knees first and then fall over, with the backpack "crushing" him (definitely broke his neck there)...I tried to make it look as "natural" as possible, but I still believe he kind of looks like a retarded bouncing snake once he hits the floor. But hey, first animation, and I'm not much of a Games Artist either.. I hope it will contribute to the game, either way. 

                                                            Spritesheet below:

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Spin Doctor: Playthrough of Levels: Room 5

Having played through Room 5 I found a few flaws that need to be fixed:


1. Harland may hit the moving wheel when he jumps to grab the robe, unless the wheel is slow enough to do this.
2. Rope has to be lower/longer.Harland will possibly hit the wheel regardless of how he jumps and lets go off the rope. Wheel trap could be changed so it moves horizontally instead of vertically up and down, so the player has to time it to avoid bumping into the trap as they swing and let go off the rope, instead of bumping into it no matter what they do.
3. Near "4" the moving saw wheel moving above the platform, before they jump onto the very long platform in the middle of the room, is nowhere close to where Harland would stand, therefore not serving as a challenge. Saw should be moved closer, or be replaced by another trap entirely.
4. Near "6" a platform is blocking the ladder, the only way to get around it is to jump through the saw to the left, which would kill you. The removal of this ladder would solve the problem...
5. Near "6" again, having retraced the steps, the platform is no longer there, which will remove the platform needed in order to jump to the ladder above.
6. Near "9" the rotating platform has no use in being rotatable.

That was all the flaws in the level, one seems to break the level. I followed the walkthrough of the level I was provided with, but it missed bits where you are meant to explore other areas of the level that have no use using the walkthrough. I guess it is an optional thing due to there being collectibles and nothing but collectibles in this area, and it requires you to backtrace to the point you originally were in order to get to the exit door, so I will leave that untouched for now, unless anyone has any particular input on this issue.


                                                                    WIP ROOM 5

Spin Doctor: Playthrough of Levels: Room 4

I have just played through room number 4, of the 5 rotating rooms I need to play through. It seems this whole level was made based on a mechanic we decided not to use; the ability to climb ropes. That is my biggest concern about this level, since it's next to impossible to play through properly. I found a couple other flaws here and there that would break the level as well, here goes:

1. A cosmetic issue but none the less an issue during my playthrough. The size of the door was much bigger (taller) in scale compared to platforms and stairs, etc. I made a paper-Harland that would fit the stairs and platforms, as the scale of the door can be changed easily without affecting gameplay.

- Solution: Scale down the door, solve any problems with Harland being too big for the level, etc.

2. One of the biggest issues in this level, is that the platform to the left of the stairs can be jumped onto (via rotation) and the player can easily drop down to the platform below (where the arrow points in the photo with the notes I have made) and exit the level...

- Solution: Well, this is obviously not working so I suggest putting spikes onto this platform and change the level at the end so the player doesn't have to retrace their steps back onto this platform. Unfortunately this will no longer work as it is, but it can still remain there, as it needs to shoot out fire, perhaps if the player tries to stand on it, the mechanism where the fire comes out, will constantly be lethal/hot? 

3. Between the platform near the stairs and the platform that resembles a big block of stairs, has quite a distance between with them without the use of steam boots. The rope could be too far away from Harland so it'd be best to make sure the rope was closer to the other platform so Harland can swing onto the other, since at the moment it is closer to the end of the platform.

- Solution: Just make sure the rope is closer to the starting platform, for easy access.




4. This issue is similar to issue number 3, as this specific platform I spoke of above, serves as a platform later in the level as well, this is only a minor issue, though. The walkthrough says one must rotate mid-air after jumping off this platform, this does no longer work, as you must be either running or stand still on a platform in order to rotate, mid-air rotation does not work. This is only relevant to the end of the walkthrough, and as this platform would already break the level, this part is no longer necessary, but I thought I'd bring it up any way, as it was a flaw that I discovered while playing through this level.

- Solution: No solution needed, as it was already solved in issue #3, this platform will no longer be accessable by Harland, and will only serve as a fire mechanism platform of sorts. 


5. THE biggest issue of the entire level: at the time this level was made, one could climb up ropes, this no longer works, and as this was the whole mechanic of the level, it is broken. Leaving it as it is will do no use as there is no way this level can work with the kind of rope that is in it, since it cannot be climbed.

Solution: You could keep the spirit of the level intact, and include ropes, but keep in mind that they cannot be climbed up. The type of rope has to be changed into a regular one, and the platforms have to be amended accordingly, to make it work. 




So other than these 5 issues, the level was fine as it was, it made sense, it just didn't work because it is no longer possible to do the things required in the walkthrough.

Spin Doctor: Playthrough of Levels: Room 3

Room 3 (Rotating Room) Playthrough:

Level had a few flaws that I found solutions to, but I think the level overall could need some improvement as it is a little bit too straight-forward and easy to do. In total I found 4 flaws and 1 improvement.

Problem 1. Platform is too low, which would cause Harland to hit his head on the platform above.

- Solution: Lower the platform, to make space for Harland.

Problem 2. This isn't a flaw, but a minor improvement of the level: I suggest the 4th platform in the level to be rotatable, otherwise it will be a little bit clunky to get onto the next platform.

- Solution: Transform the normal platform to a rotating platform device, for a smoother playthrough.

Problem 3. This flaw was found near the end of the level. Harland would hit his head on the roof of the platform above, in the process of jumping onto the next and last platform before the exit. Said last platform is not needed either, as the player can rotate anti-clockwise and jump straight down near the exit. Sidenote: The spikes near the exit have too much room between them and the player could therefore cheat easily here and there is no challenge whatsoever.


- Solution: Put spikes closer together for more of a challenge, alternatively just add another more challenging obstacle here. Remove the platform closest to the exit as it is unnecessary. This could also prevent the player from rotating the room and jump straight down to the exit.


OLD PAPER BASED LEVEL AND UNFINISHED NEW PAPER BASED LEVEL:

WIP PAPER BASED LEVEL (ROOM 3)

1. Platform has been lowered so Harland can fit.

2. Regular platform has been changed into a rotating one. To prevent Harland from hitting his head on the spikes above when jumping down to the next platform, the player has to walk across it and just fall down onto the next platform instead of jumping down.

? = In progress

New finished version of this paper based level will be updated later.

Spin Doctor: Playthrough of Levels: Room 2

Yeah, it's been nearly a week now since I posted, it's been a busy week, I apologise.

Anyway, going straight to the point of this blogpost: after playing through this level (rotating room 2) I came to the following conclusion:

Firstly, I am unsure about this particular issue; near the vents at the beginning of the level. Harland could easily fit through the corridor, so all is well, but could he stand inbetween vents as they moved? My Paper-Harland just about didn't fit, unless he moved dangerously close to the previous trap and even then chances are he'd die very easily unless Harland lost a little weight.... Ha.

So my personal suggestion is to make more space for Harland, in the case that I amend it so the player is actually meant to run through the entire vent corridor, horizontally, avoiding the traps if they move accordingly, which I will have to discuss with the maker of the level. The walkthrough claims you have to rotate and drop down vertically, while avoiding them, but it doesn't really provide a challenge if all you do is fall (and this brings up the question: what about fall damage? Maybe if the player tries to rotate and fall down through the vents, he would die from fall damage, if not already from the vents?), and unless the vents move at the same speed, you wouldn't make it very far. I think the level would be more fun if you had to avoid them manually, although you lose a little bit of rotation doing this. For now, I will leave the corridor as it is. This leads me to the next potentional flaw of the level:

Between 6 and 5 the player is required to rotate standing at 6, and fall down to the platform near 5. Unless you can rotate mid-air, this is not possible and the player would drop down onto the platform near 3, unless the actual route here is to rotate, standing vertically near 6, rotating anti-clockwise, landing upside down near 4, rotating again and again until they are upside down above the scanner, and a last rotation that will make them drop onto the long platform near 5. This particular route works, as I found out during my playthrough, so for now I will disregard this as a gameplay issue, presuming the maker of the level intended for this to be the route.

Other than that, the playthrough went smoothly, I only had a minor problem with the vents making it too easy, but no issues have to be "solved" for this level, the level works, and that's what matters. I don't intend to make changes as of yet, but I suggest that Harland dies if he tries to fall down through the vents, therefore is forced to run through it horizontally.

An amended paper based plan s not required so I will update the original paper plan I drew, since no visual changes were done, except for potentional fall damage. I may update this later if I can think of an improvement for the level. Any thoughts?

Spin Doctor: Playthrough of Levels: Room 1

I have played through room 1 from the medical zone. I found in total 6 flaws that need to be solved to make the level work, since there is no way to play through it not as it is.


Problem 1. Rotating just once will result in falling and landing onto spikes no matter how you rotate on this platform.

- Solution: Add another platform for support while rotating.


Problem 2. Player can't rotate mid-air, thus this will end in death.

- Solution: Add a rotating platform so the player can reach the ladder without dying.

Problem 3. Insufficient space for Harland. After climbing up the stairs, Harland would hit the spikes above (this happened even when I made sure to rescale Paper-Harland to fit the whole scale of the level. At the smallest possible scale I got to, it still couldn't fit with the environment.

- Solution: Make ladder slightly shorter and lower the platform slightly so Harland can climb up to the platform without hitting the spikes above.


Problem 4. Too far of a distance to jump, especially with no steam-boots in this level.
- Solution: Insert a rope here so the player can swing down onto the platform.

Problem 5. Corridor here is too small. Player will also fall down onto the moving platform when they enter the corridor, which would end in death.

- Solution: Make the entrance to the corridor bigger so Harland can fit through it.


Problem 6. Like mentioned above, corridor is too small for Paper-Harland. There is no way to reach the platform above the moving trap, due to the corridor being too narrow with the scale of the trap, so this would end in the player getting crushed wherever they stand.

- Solution:  I came to the conclusion that one can actually rotate the room and run across the corridor on the opposite side of the other platform that cannot be reached. This would require good timing, so would prove challenging, but I suggest making the distance of the trap's movement slightly shorter as to make it a little easier to escape it, due to the corridor being extremely narrow, this is only fair...




                       ORIGINAL AND FINISHED PAPER BASED LEVEL DESIGNS:

                                                Original to the left, amended one on the right.

  
                                            Close up of the new paper based level.

1. Added a higher platform on the regular platform.

2. A rotating platform that rotates 360 degrees, so the player can fall down onto the platform below with ease.

3. Added a rotating platform here as well, so the ladder is in reach. Player will fall down onto the ladder horizontally and rotate again so they can climb up the ladder vertically.

4. Lowered ladder and platform for space.

5. Added a rope, because of issues with the distance between platforms.

6. Cleared up space to the entrance of the corridor, player will now fall down through the gap and run away from the moving trap. 

Spin Doctor: Preparation for Spin Doctor Paper Playthrough

Time for a new post.... Been a while, I have done a death animation for Harland, which I still need to render and upload on my blog here. But this blog will be about Design; recently, after spring break, we have been working on drawing up and amending level designs, proceeding to play them as paper based level designs using a paper-Harland, basically to find flaws, make sure everything is scaled correctly according to Harland and to improve the levels in general. A few weeks ago we did 3 each, and we chose what levels we wanted to play through ourselves. We have been given a new assignment, and I am doing 5 cross-sections and 5 rooms myself. I have just drawn each and every room and cross-section up, ready for a playthrough. I've used colours to fill in obstacles and objects, to indicate what is a lethal trap and what is an interactive friendly object.For example, green indicates it is a ladder or a rope, whereas red indicates the obstacle/object is a lethal trap of some sort that can kill Harland, which must be avoided. This is mostly done for my own sake, so I have a better understanding of the level while playing. I have drawn up Jonny, Mark and Adams' levels, as seen below:

(P.S. I will be making a twitter, because that's what Game Designers do! I'll be getting a headstart on Year 3 with one, hopefully, since we will be using one, then. Followers are welcome...)

                                                                 CROSS-SECTIONS

                   



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