For the last year and a bit, I've been working on a collaborative DROD levelset, similar to the community pack in that it aims to require no previous knowledge of the game, and works its way up from easy to difficult while gradually introducing the game's elements and mechanics. I've also watched DROD forum member Alex Diener (whom I hope to interest in the Lix set when it's ready) play through several other puzzle games on Youtube. All this has made me much more aware than I used to be of the importance of introducing game mechanics.
So, as I'm playing through the community set at the moment to check for any problems with playing the levels in D Lix, I decided to draw up a list, for each skill, of when the skill is first
required by the
main solution of a level. This isn't like the "skills you can't live without" challenge -- for instance, I consider basher required in S2 even though the level is solvable without, simply because the main solution is to use bashers and the level design strongly encourages this.
(S1 is irrelevant as it has so many solutions, we can't know which the player will pick.)
Basher -- S2
Builder -- S3
Blocker, imploder -- S5
Walker, jumper, climber, floater, batter -- S6 (it's good that this level has a low save requirement, considering how much it introduces!)
Digger -- S8
Platformer -- S9 (reinforced immediately by S10, this is good)
Miner -- S15 (reinforced by S16, and S17 is reinforcement of all skills up to this point, excellent)
Runner -- S26
Cuber -- Q9 (a late introduction, but reinforced by Q13 and Q14)
Fling-bomber -- C26
Yeah, about that last one....
I've proposed to Simon that we change S13 "Let's block and blow?" to use a fling-bomber, so the player necessarily observes what it does. Q1 "The Adventure Playground" is a lots-of-skills level that gives them the chance to play around with it.
What about tricks -- are there any tricks that are not introduced well? This is much less clear-cut since it's not clear what constitutes a "trick", or which ones should be introduced.
One that comes to mind: the knockback from fling-bombers resets falling distance, so a faller can survive thanks to a fling-bomber, even if it's directly above her and accelerates her downwards. This counterintuitive trick is required in D12 "Alternative Methods Required" with no previous hints that it's possible -- and it's only the second level (third if we change S13) that requires fling-bombers at all.
Is this a problem? What does anyone else think?