Level design is one of those things that the layman tends not to appreciate, isn't it? I mean, when you play a platformer, for instance, you're usually not thinking about how thoughtfully the medley of blocks that you're jumping on were placed because you're too busy trying to jump on the blocks. Level design is a tenet of game design that should really be more appreciated, and games like ReLevelEd are just the way to make that happen.
ReLevelEd is the kind of game I like to call a "reverse platformer." That's a platform game wherein you do not control the character, rather you control the platforms. See also, Penguin Panic (sort of). It's a decent concept, but it can be really frustrating when done poorly, see also every tower defense game ever made. Whether or not the character dies is what determines whether or not you win, so not being able to keep the character from suiciding can be incredibly frustrating. That's why escort quests are so hated among gamers today. In order for a reverse platformer to be successful, therefore, you have to be able to manipulate the pace of the character in some way, otherwise it feels less like you're playing the game and more like the game is playing you, if you catch my drift.
ReLevelEd pulls that off rather well. If the character is about to fall into some spikes, you can trap it by surrounding it with blocks, leaving you to go to work without fear of the character forgetting that pointy things are not good things to cannonball into. The only problem is that if even a little bit of the character makes it across one block, placing a block in their path won't have any effect, leaving the character to just ghost through the halting block and into a spike pit.
I think where ReLevelEd fails most is in 2 areas: conveyance and iteration time. I'd been playing for far too long before I realized how to delete blocks, meaning if I accidentally placed a block in the wrong place, I'd just have to watch as the character flies into a depth charge. Similarly, at one point I thought the game was simply broken because I couldn't get the character to clear a jump that was a bit too long. Then I realized that you could change the intensity of the effect a certain block has by using the mousewheel. I only learned that by playing the tutorial, so if that weren't there, I'd have ragequit way earlier than I did.
the real reason I quit was because of the iteration time. This is a game where you will die a lot...rather, the little red man who thinks spike balls are comfy will die a lot. There are checkpoints, but they aren't nearly close enough together. Sometimes, you will have to clear 3 separate distinguishable areas before you get to the next checkpoint. This kind of design would be fine if the game were about reflexes rather than problem solving, but if I already demonstrated that I know which blocks go where, having to demonstrate that again is just frustrating. And when people get frustrated, they make careless errors, for which there is no room in ReLevelEd.
Now, as frustrating as this game is, as I said earlier, it does make the player gain a bit of appreciation for level design, especially when they go into the level editor and try to create their own levels, quickly realizing how much skill it takes to design levels that are even functional, much less as gargantuan and varied as the ones this game's developers made.
All in all, this game is definitely appreciable, but not all too fun. It's the same feeling one gets from watching one of those preposterously complex and artsy movies like Memento. You can see how much skill, thought, and effort went into the production of the project, but so much flies over your head and keeping up with it is so exhausting that you just want to give up, turn off your brain, and play Saint's Row. In fact, Imma go do that.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay safe.
Links
StUpiDly stYlIzeD: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=481
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