Journal Entry 3

Date: 16.4.-17.4.

Activity: Incorporating feedback to earlier build of Project B, putting finishing touches on it.

Notes: In the playtesting, it became obvious even without the playtesters complaining that the puzzle was very difficult to understand and took a long time to complete. The main reason was that the boxes had to be pushed a long distance and the part of the level was large in comparison to the player's range of vision, so it was difficult to try out the puzzle mechanics (too little immediate feedback) and imagine the whole puzzle without having seen it in the editor view.

Also, the sky section was difficult due to frequent falls putting players at the start of the zone over and over.

The changes I made:

Eliminated one of the floating islands in the puzzle area, and made  the player and the boxes start one island below. 

The walking distances in the puzzle have been shortened, and one "hill" between groups of pressure plates present in the original design has been eliminated.

The mountain blocking off the right of the starting area has been made more steep  to make clear the level ends there.

The moving clouds's hitboxes have been enlarged, and the sprites rotated so that they align with each other better.

The shooting targets in the sky no longer turn off on the player's death.

All lives are now restored when passing through a checkpoint (previously, they were only restored when respawning on a checkpoint).

Added fireworks to the end of the level.

Added signs throughout the levels explaining controls and hinting at what the player should do when it's not obvious.

Invested hours: 3:00

Outcome: Uploaded final build of Project B.