Process Work
Research
The research phase consisted of playing through several levels in Portal 2 to get a hands on experience as to how the game teaches and tests players with various mechanics. Following this going through the wiki on Portal 2 for in depth breakdowns on every mechanic in the game and assessing which could be paired for my level.
Design
Teach, Test and Challenge was the core method I kept in mind when designing this level. The intention was that players have already played through some of the base levels and had a handle on how the game typically ran.
I designed so the golden path was easy to follow with the end in sight almost every step of the way.
Gray-Box Prototype
When constructing the gray box map I ensured that teach, test and challenge remained at the forefront of my design.
For teach I first allowed the players to see and easily interact with the mechanic. Test I produced a slightly less obvious approach to the same mechanics and for challenge I gave the player mixed mechanics that players would need to combine to solve the final puzzle.
Playtesting
Two iterations of playtesting were ran to determine if the teach, test and challenge method was apparent.
During the playtest I conducted live questioning as well as a form feedback and made adjustments and refinements based on the results.
Map Overview
Here you can see a detailed overview of the Portal 2 map from the back view. The golden path always the most obvious and player directed to ensure that players can always orient themselves towards the end goal.
