LEVEL DESIGN
As the player is halfway to the end of the game, I wanted to make him feel like he masters the gameplay but new challenges and enemy awaits.
The platforming/fights ratio is about 50-50 but I aimed to give coherence accordingly with he narrative background and the level art. I designed every room of the level thinking about their function in the lore and the level art available assets.
The first section starts slowly with easy fights. The player can spend some time exploring the offices of the lab to understand the lore. Before heading to the security sector, the player meets a new kind of navigation pattern with the laser curtain.
The second section makes the player facing new kind of situation. First a navigation puzzle based on observation but the framing makes it easier. Then the player has to solve a new kind of puzzle (the laser puzzle) based on mechanics that he should master by now. When he is done, he meets the last kind of enemy in the game, the slayer.
The third section is the core of the level. The rythm is slow paced but tension is high. The player only meets one enemy but the difficulty increases (the enemy comes from behind). The platforming is more challenging, using the new pattern (laser curtain) but this time in deadlier situations. Once he is done, the player is on his way to the last part of the level.
The fourth section is the last one. The framing shows the player the end of the level. On his way, he will face the hardest challenge of the level: a fight with navigation obstacles. Finally, the last room is full of enemies but the player only has to fight them if he misses the platforming or if he wants to find all the collectibles.
The difficulty is medium-easy so the player can practice on the new patterns I designed (these patterns will be trickier in the next levels): the laser curtain and the laser puzzle.
Also I designed the fights to be the result of the player's action and not just random encounters. But I also paid extra attention to the rythm and tried to avoid countless fights with no other purpose but to slow the player's progression down.
COMBAT DESIGN
I chosed to give the player 3 encounters with the new enemy so he can learn how to defeat it. My intention was also to give the player the impression that it might the same monster that keeps following him.
The first encounter
The first time the player meets this enemy, he doesn't know how to defeat it. So I designed a pretty wide arena where he can move around. Doing so, he has the time to read the screen on which IVY gives him a hint to fight in a more effective way.
The second encounter
When the player enters this big room, he understand that he has to find a keycard to open the exit door. Once he find it in an adjacent room, the player is chased by the enemy that he though he killed the first time. The fight is still quite easy but the spawning/trigger system adds more tension.
The third encounter
The third and last encounter is the hardest one and most stressfull one. The player knows that the end of the level is near when he enters this hallway. There are smaller enemies to kill and intermittent lasers to switch off.
But the player can also just run to the exit door avoiding the enemies and the lasers.
Anyway, when the player is about to go through the exit door, he will trigger the slayer spawner. The fight will be way harder if he did not take the time to kill the other enemies or to deactivate the lasers.