That kick map in Austin finally made me question my whole process

I've been building my indie game for about 2 months and kept hitting the same wall with level pacing. Last week I showed a build to a friend and he said 'why does every level feel like a hallway with a scripted event?' That hit me because I realized I was designing levels around story beats instead of player curiosity. I started sketching a simple kick map with just spaces and player flow, no walls or art, and suddenly I saw where I was forcing linear pathing. Has anyone else had to trash their whole design approach after one honest playtest comment?

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1 Comment

carr.blake1d ago

Ugh, I mean, is it really that deep? You got one comment from a friend and now you're throwing out your whole process? Two months of work and one "hallway" comment sends you to kick maps and flow charts. Maybe the problem is just that you haven't made enough levels yet, not that your brain is broken. Like, I get the kick map thing, it sounds like a fun exercise, but I wouldn't call it trashing anything. You probably just needed a fresh way to look at stuff. I'd say keep the story beats, just maybe put a fork in the road every now and then.