Opdracht 5

For the homework of the sixth lesson, me and my partner (Chrit) will be giving feedback on the Tomb Raider level of Ruben and Paul.




For their level and application, they had a very easy-going legend and look. Generally, there is nothing to criticize them on, but a few things are questionable:
Some of the ledges are laid out in a way that you could simply go straight up, making their placements redundant. Most notable at the last series of ledges.
The lever isn't very visible. However, it is painfully obvious where you have to do next (the level is fairly short and things stand out a lot).

Things they did really well included the movable stairs (not only that they are movable, but also the direction), the color coding (bright but easy on the eye, stand out really well within the level) and the destination of the boulder. Moving on, the gameplay narrative shows the earlier mentioned point: the intended flow of the level is not only very linear and short, but there aren't many derivations too.
  The options are restricted to 'will I take the left or the right bridge?', after which the only option is to move the stairs and moving on: even if you do notice the ledges behind the waterfall, there's nothing you can do with them anyway and the boulder will put the focus on the secret later in the game anyway. 
There is an option to shoot the rope first (as was written on the blog), but it is a very minor thing and most people would probably do the shooting later due to the shock of falling down (getting a better view first).  The level would be great for beginning players as an introduction to mechanics. Otherwise, the level is rather bland even though most utilities are used, since they feel more like they are used for the sake of being used (very tutorial-ish).
The flow is very clear and the player is given a lot of opportunities to rest up and look ahead, which shows in the human instincts chart. This meshes really well with the earlier mentioned points and shows more of the intent. It would have been nice if the creators mentioned the intent behind the level, as it seems a very straight-forward, bland and overly safe level for people that are more experienced bar combat, shows pretty much every action the player can take. Either way the design is good and the flow is very clear.