EPTThe last levels will be grinding. We won't see anything huge.
We will try to see what how is the progress of the player implemented in the level.
We start with level 7.
1. We just fell, we though we were dead but hey back to square one, bottom of the dungeon. We notice a new kind of potion.
2. Straight away, strong guards, slicers. This level keeps the player very busy. The game make it clear you are not going to climb back up as fast as you did the first time.
3. Back to the first room, We drink the potion and the music is somewhat "floaty". Does it help to make the leap of faith.
4. Access to the final door, an easy super health potion.
Now, the level didn't really help the Prince, he wants to get out, up, and levels 7 and 8 keep having him going deeper.
Level 8
1. Cut Scene with something special!! Princess talking to mouse.
2. Start the level with one of the toughest guards.
3. The player arrives quickly to the final door, again with the trigger in the same room, as the distance will be quite big to reach it.
4. A long road, with few guards, slicers and grid race challenge. We are at the heart of it, one of the hardest level of the game. Those race challenges are essential to create a feeling of failure at the end of this level.
5. The trapped prince. Deus Ex Machina. We hope you understand the Mouse Clue!! I sure as hell didn't when I was 8. A friend had to tell me at school, I still wouldn't believe it. Is it bad game design or great game story telling? Build the expectation, never trap totally the player, give him clues, yet, it is a bit of an anti-pattern.
These levels are fillers, in the good meaning of the word. These are the meat of the game, the real challenge, no pity on the player anymore. Now this time, passing levels and getting out of the dungeon means something!
Now since the design analysis was a bit boring this time. Let's have a quick look at the 60 minutes given to the player. The first thing that is important to note is that the first time player, probably, doesn't know how many levels there was (Jordan Mechner initially intended to build 50 levels like in Load Runner). Now, even if each level is quick, if you are having troubles in level 8 and you have 30 min left and keep dying, you will start to worry about the time when you reach 15 minutes.
The other thing that was revolutionary at that time was to let go of lives. This strange patterns that gave a limited amount of tries to succeed. Here the time replace this in a very clever way, you may fail a various amount of time, in various places but you have a real limit, a challenge that feels real. A pressure that you are reminded every time you start a level.
A final note today about the higher amount of guards is very well linked to the players progress, he should by now master sword fighting and now killing shitload of guard make him feel like a hero. The player can now handle the trouble.
Now that we also know enough about the story and the structure. I leave you with a bit of homework and see how PoP relates to the Hero's journey. Not every part is present and what can we learn from the absence of those part and that's great. Does the prince experience a refusal to the hero's call at any point? I can't think about anything, maybe the first prison room? A little far fetch... If noone does this analysis, I'll go through it in the next post, going through only level design has it's limits.
