Design Problems: Hard Light Bridges
Added 2023-03-21 17:00:01 +0000 UTCThis post was originally going to be a fun mechanic preview like the Toxic Gas post, but it turns out that this mechanic just... isn't that interesting?
When I was working on the Factory level, I was making a bunch of rooms with lasers when I remembered the hard light bridge from Portal 2. With a simple code edit, I was able to get the hard light bridge working, and I made a short room to prove the concept.
The issue is, this is basically the only thing I can do with the hard light bridge in level design. Lasers are interesting because of the restrictions they place on 2D space; they're a line that cannot be passed through. Hard light bridges are functionally the same, except they don't hurt the player. This means that their utility is mostly geared towards creating moving surfaces that can disappear when the beam is blocked.
The reality is that either 1) A normal laser would work in the same situation, or 2) The moving platform can just be extended in place of using the beam.
This hard light bridge (which only serves to block the laser) could be replaced by making the falling block T-shaped.
The mechanic works well in Portal 2 because a hard light bridge can be manipulated by the player. With portals, the hard light bridge expands the player's reach, granting access to new areas. In Soda-Powered Penguin, the player doesn't have any tools to redirect the hard light bridge, so they always have to be attatched to pistons or falling platforms.
I still feel like the mechanic has a lot of potential- this bottlecap room is still definitely interesting. Maybe that potential will be found when combined with another mechanic later on. For now, though, it's a good reminder that I should try more theoretical level design before deciding to implement a new mechanic.
