Level Design - Super Meat Boy

Level Design

Super Meat Boy

Level 1

This Super Meat Boy level was created to be a medium-hard difficulty rating that requires the player to pace themselves correctly and make precise jumps over saws and off of walls to reach the finish.

The level begins by forcing the player to run straight ahead as jumping leads them into the corner saw. From there they must work their way down by jumping between both walls.

The bottom section leads three standard saw jumps, followed by a long corridor with a saw at the end to punish people rushing the level as a badly timed jump causes them to hit the ceiling and go into the saw.

In the final part of the level the player must perform wall jumps to each vertical section of the right wall. The object details in this area help point the player in the right direction, while the saw on the left wall is large enough so that the player will instantly know they cannot jump around it. The area around the wall jumping was designed to allow the player to fail the jump and land safely instead of punishing them instantly. While it still requires them to complete the section, it removes the frustration of performing the easier areas repeatedly. 

The last step is to perform a long horizontal leap to reach Bandage Girl, which the sloped ceiling assists with.

In previous iterations of the level the final jump was hindered by a vertical block in the ceiling. This required the player to perform a more precise jump that could only be found by trial and error. As this was the last part of the level I decided that it was needlessly punishing while also hindering the flow of the level.

Overall I believe the level is a success but could be improved by editing the level to increase or decrease the difficulty. As it stands it is in the middle ground, with difficult jumps but a large amount of safety nets to keep the player alive after mistakes.