I didn't realize the creator was posting in the thread. Silly me for not at least skimming more before posting.
To clarify, I don't think there's anything wrong with what I've seen, but as much as I like Metroid games, I don't even like all the ones Nintendo themselves have made.
It's a hard genre to get right, because I lose interest if I get lost for too long, but I also lose interest if I feel so guided that I don't feel like I'm actually exploring. And as much as I attribute the good ones to quality level design, I'm also aware that part of it may be dumb luck, where I stumble into the right path in games with really obtuse design or get frustrated with things an idiot could navigate.
Level design is so important, and it's not something that can be domonstrated on a Kickstarter page as easily as art or music or tone.
This is true. My goal with the level design is to make the primary path, where you must go, laid out logically. Where does it feel like you should be headed? It's a hard thing to get right, but it's important to me to lead the player by getting his attention through subtle environmental cues and engaging him to be proactive, but proactive in a way that leasd him in the right direction.
in addition, there's other stuff you can find just by running around and checking everything. There's not the appearance of "just one path" in this game, you're frequently faced with many ways to go, as you'd expect in this sort of game. The purpose is to attempt to design the main pathway in a way that seems intuitive.
I'm well aware there's a big x-factor here and it can be hard to dissect scientifically. Games where you can potentially get lost or potentially fail may not be for everyone. That said, I'm trying to keep any real ball bustingly hard stuff off to the side as optional, with the required content being challenging but fair and doable.
How do you KNOW if the thing that just kicked your ass is "optional"? I guess you don't know with absolute certainty, but if something is utterly kicking your ass and you're a decent gamer, it'll be a fair assumption that you can go another way and avoid it, or come back later, or whatever. Dark Souls taught me that the graveyard is the wrong way to go at the beginning, not with a quest marker or a fairy guide, but because the skeletons kicked the shit out of me.
