Planning Stage
After playing around with the Cave Runner kit to get familiar with its mechanics, I sketched out my own layout for a level focusing on incorporating multiple pathways and interactables to reward the player.
Metroidvania Initial Sketch:
Macro Map
I started off with a Macro Map showcasing the rooms and overall layout of my level. Here I focused on incorporating multiple pathways and areas the player could explore keeping in mind possible interactibles and enemies to add later.
Micro Map
After the macro map, I added more details to create a micro map showcasing the various platforms, enemies, interactables, and obstacles I planned to incorporate into my level.
Collisions & Set Up
Once the sketches were done, I used them to guide my process as I set up the collision tiles in Construct 3 along with the collectibles, enemies, and obstacles. The collisions overview below looks slightly different from the sketches, however, as I incorporated some feedback I received through playtesting.
Map Feedback:
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Make it a bit less linear
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Focus on hidden paths and making those more purposeful
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Make the ending less linear
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Add more openings to the mines
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Plan out the objects and how they can be picked up
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More motion to the leftttt for sure
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Player can go to end easily and not go anywhere else so place things strategically to where they have to explore the other areas
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Think about backtracking and it opening up much more to the player
Close ups:
Sunrise Mountains (Start)
Catacombs
The Mines
Abandoned Laboratory
Alien Quarters
Finale
Finishing Touches
Dressing the Level:
Once my collisions & setup were finalized, I moved on to dressing the collisions with the kit's tilemap.
Overview
Close ups:
Sunrise Mountains (Start)
The Mines
Catacombs
Abandoned Laboratory
Alien Quarters
Finale
Final Metroidvania Gameplay
After this process, I found that the planning stage for Metroidvania games is extremely important and, if it is done right, saves a lot of time. I am very happy with how this turned out and learned a lot from this process. In my level, I tried to incorporate a big exploration aspect by adding a variety of paths the player can take and necessary back-tracking for specific items like the lava boots and high jump boots. I incorporated big areas with multiple paths to create a maze, such as in the catacombs and the finale, which also includes a boss enemy to end in a rewarding and challenging way. I also focused on a story with the placement of my dressing and backgrounds, giving each section a different purpose, for it to be less confusing for the player to traverse through. Overall, my level is meant to encourage exploration and keep the player engaged with good flow from a constant buildup of different obstacles.
Final In Game Snaps
