Let's keep going deeper in the level design of Prince Of Persia and how it tell a hidden story. Level 5 is an excellent example of that.
Level 5
1. The first thing to mention on this play through would be after the first guard. You enter a room with a pressure plate on the right, at the limit of the room, really wants to make sure you go right.
2. Just like in level 4, an easy to find super potion challenge, just a bit harder now with 2 slicer. The grid slams, the game really want to make sure you go through this. Bam, the ghost steals your reward. No, that thing that happened in the previous level is getting a meaning. Shadow is mean!!
4. we arrive in the top floor over the starting room. Now you can see how high you are but there is a design clue that tells you that it might be safe to let yourself down. That grid must be on the same level as a floor, still a little leap of faith we just have to accept that. This is a unspoken rule that the game should be very careful not to break
5. And the level is complete. We don't get to see the exploration part, and the sword fighting of our host player was horrible, we can see guards are slightly harder and that they constitute the major part of the level challenge.
In conclusion, the higher you get, the less you have random spikes coming from the floor. We are getting into living quarters, also a good reason for more guards. The only traps were there to protect a precious potion. This was short so let's go to level 6 right away.
Level 6
1. A very different style of level, spikes on the floor. Each room have these very deep holes on the floor.
2. The fat guard, he is good at blocking your attacks.
3. The second last room is empty, but hey! what do we have, it's the first time we see outside. A nice clear night sky with bright stars! We are making real progress!!
4. Oh no, Shadowman! Little sound effect, what does he want now, again so early in the level!!
5. What he is there to do is obvious but still the game makes it clear you have no choice, you know all the mechanics and you know the game is somewhat fair. So you make the jump and fall to Level 7, back to the dungeon...
So here ends the second set of 3 levels, giving a good feeling of pacing, these 3 last levels were focused on narratives. Building expectations and breaking them, without breaking the fairness of the game (except for the super potion of level 5). The difficulty of the levels were quite easy, they gave some space for exploration, almost like the game wants you to enjoy the palace and hate the dungeon.
Haha, dem memories Funny how I remember well these levels, the fat guard was so strong haha... But the hardest guard was for me the first one at the level 8, I don't know if he's really stronger or if it's just coincidence... But he really gave me hard time back then, everytime.
It's true that the level design was excellent. And you made me want to play it again .
I remember Prince of Persia. It was probably one of the hardest games I've ever played so I gave up on it, I'm glad someone else is going through it for me now . Probably because there were so many directions and hidden places to go that I just got lost and ran out of time
On October 28 2013 01:36 Glioburd wrote: Haha, dem memories Funny how I remember well these levels, the fat guard was so strong haha... But the hardest guard was for me the first one at the level 8, I don't know if he's really stronger or if it's just coincidence... But he really gave me hard time back then, everytime.
It's true that the level design was excellent. And you made me want to play it again .
Great to hear! Yeah that Level 8 guard was really a bitch, but there was the joy of getting him in the spikes. He might have been harder than even Jaffar.
Actually the Level 8 guard made my father stop playing it (I think that's the last non-casual computer game I remember him playing), he was throwing the mouse at the wall!
I played so much this game, each lunch break when I was 8, I had 1 hour at home from school, that left about 30 minute in which I usually would play through. Dem memories indeed.
Thanks guys, I will definitely finish all the levels, they all got something special to notice.
Flashback I got as a present the same XMas I got fury of the furies. It is indeed quite awesome.
I don't think I will do flashback as an analysis.
Maybe some different genre. What come to my mind is a little game called Spaceward ho! It's the spiritual ancestor of master of orion. A 4x (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) game that is very simple and very addictive, to this day.
On October 28 2013 08:05 0x64 wrote: Thanks guys, I will definitely finish all the levels, they all got something special to notice.
Flashback I got as a present the same XMas I got fury of the furies. It is indeed quite awesome.
I don't think I will do flashback as an analysis.
Maybe some different genre. What come to my mind is a little game called Spaceward ho! It's the spiritual ancestor of master of orion. A 4x (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) game that is very simple and very addictive, to this day.
On October 28 2013 08:05 0x64 wrote: Thanks guys, I will definitely finish all the levels, they all got something special to notice.
Flashback I got as a present the same XMas I got fury of the furies. It is indeed quite awesome.
I don't think I will do flashback as an analysis.
Maybe some different genre. What come to my mind is a little game called Spaceward ho! It's the spiritual ancestor of master of orion. A 4x (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) game that is very simple and very addictive, to this day.
Flashback is going out on PC (and maybe console) on steam with 2013 graphics so maybe you can try this one ? Flashback was way easier than pop but it was really cool. Flashback with the difficulty of pop exists... Another world... That game is so hard. I never finished it.
I remember playing pop for hours, never passed level 6. Then one day at a friend house i just got through the whole game entirely and finished it. I don't know how, because i replayed this game like two years ago and.. it's so hard. Couldn't pass the fat man
Yeah, sword fighting requires a feeling to the algorithm. I remember that there was this kind of weak spot that if you are close enough, when you block, your counter-attack would almost always go through.
Another World would deserve a technical description, definitely. I fear it is not an ideal game to teach about game design as it is narrative heavy. Actually I saw a long talk of the maker of Another World, and seriously sick the amount of cool programming and production trick were created by that kid in his parents attic... Delphine was a dream publisher. Must find this video again....
I think The Swapper (Steam 2013) could be one game that deserves a Genius in Game Design. I find it important that those games (including The swapper) where created by very young people, with a minimal team. Old game even had strong technical limitation. The resulting game is often a very concentrated gaming experience where the core game mechanics are mastered by the designer and out of simple rules emerge a world of wonder.
The biggest achievement of Prince Of Persia is in my opinion that it is not a puzzle game. The game really make you feel like a Prince escaping from prison and rushing out to save your princess.
On October 28 2013 22:32 0x64 wrote: Yeah, sword fighting requires a feeling to the algorithm. I remember that there was this kind of weak spot that if you are close enough, when you block, your counter-attack would almost always go through.
Another World would deserve a technical description, definitely. I fear it is not an ideal game to teach about game design as it is narrative heavy. Actually I saw a long talk of the maker of Another World, and seriously sick the amount of cool programming and production trick were created by that kid in his parents attic... Delphine was a dream publisher. Must find this video again....
I think The Swapper (Steam 2013) could be one game that deserves a Genius in Game Design. I find it important that those games (including The swapper) where created by very young people, with a minimal team. Old game even had strong technical limitation. The resulting game is often a very concentrated gaming experience where the core game mechanics are mastered by the designer and out of simple rules emerge a world of wonder.
The biggest achievement of Prince Of Persia is in my opinion that it is not a puzzle game. The game really make you feel like a Prince escaping from prison and rushing out to save your princess.
I think you are right. Do you happens to have the link of the another world designer's interview ?
But maybe Flashback and another world are "bad ideas" because they built on prince of persia so i don't know if you can call inovation for gameplay and gamedesign because they are based on pop
On October 28 2013 22:32 0x64 wrote: Yeah, sword fighting requires a feeling to the algorithm. I remember that there was this kind of weak spot that if you are close enough, when you block, your counter-attack would almost always go through.
Another World would deserve a technical description, definitely. I fear it is not an ideal game to teach about game design as it is narrative heavy. Actually I saw a long talk of the maker of Another World, and seriously sick the amount of cool programming and production trick were created by that kid in his parents attic... Delphine was a dream publisher. Must find this video again....
I think The Swapper (Steam 2013) could be one game that deserves a Genius in Game Design. I find it important that those games (including The swapper) where created by very young people, with a minimal team. Old game even had strong technical limitation. The resulting game is often a very concentrated gaming experience where the core game mechanics are mastered by the designer and out of simple rules emerge a world of wonder.
The biggest achievement of Prince Of Persia is in my opinion that it is not a puzzle game. The game really make you feel like a Prince escaping from prison and rushing out to save your princess.
I think you are right. Do you happens to have the link of the another world designer's interview ?
But maybe Flashback and another world are "bad ideas" because they built on prince of persia so i don't know if you can call inovation for gameplay and gamedesign because they are based on pop
Hmm wasn't this
It wasn't this either
This will basically cover the level design and decisions.
EPT
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