Game Design Level Analysis

For Game Design we were given the task of playing a game level and mapping out that level. The true focus of this assignment was to focus on how to level uses barriers and obstacles to barricade and guide the player, and how level designers barricade areas off in general. I used Metroid Prime's map and explored to find the doors and barricades. Displayed is part of Tallon Overworld, one of the maps in Prime.

Metroid Prime is the first of the Prime Trilogy. It takes place on Tallon IV. The Chozo race was wiped out by a meteor that crashed into the planet. The objective of the game is to stop the Space Pirates and stop the spreading of Phazon. In this game there are different suits and forms (ex gravity suit) that the player can use. In Metroid Prime, there are many Blue (Normal) Doors. You can open these doors with any weapon. White Doors can be opened with the Ice Beam weapon, Red Doors with the Plasma Beam, and Missile Doors which are destroyed by the Missile Launcher. There are also some doors that can only be accessed in Morph ball form. 

Blue Door

White Door

Morph Ball Form

Samus scans things with her suit to figure out what they are before attacking them.

The levels are connected by elevators.

You need the correct beam to open each door. Although it is an action game, there are many puzzles along the way. You must collect power ups along the game to access areas that were barricaded off before.

Gravity Suit's primary function is to negate extreme gravitational effects around its wearer, such as zero gravity in space.

Samus's Gravity Suit