GAME - WORLD - LEVEL
Starting off with the first level of the first game! I'm excluding the tutorial level because that isn't easily replayable like the rest of the levels of Overcooked.
I've split this level into three main areas (as shown below). A red area, a blue area and a pink area. The red and blue areas are both places that (in a two player game) the two players mainly reside in, one in each. The pink zone is an area that both players often use.
The recipe in this level is pretty simple. Onion Soup! Get 3 onions, chop each of them, put them in the pot and wait for them to cook, put them on a plate and serve them.
The areas for these activities alternate between the zones. The Blue zone player gets the onions and cooks them. The Red zone player chops the onions and plates/serves them. The Pink zone acts as the connection point between the zones, how the players pass ingredients and finished dishes between them.
This level is mostly pretty easy, it has a nice rhythmn and it's strategy is a simple back and forth. There is one thing that throws off the rhythmn and adds a little twist to the level. Washing the plates. Dirty plates show up in the red zone a little while after a dish has been delivered. So who washes the dishes? The Red zone player has to either take the dirty dishes there themself, or place it in the pink zone, but they have to chop the onions. The Blue zone player has a lot less of an active role, but can't immediately access the plates, and might have to stop washing partway through to take the soup off the stove. It can really depend on the situation, and at times it could be beneficial for either player to do it. But that's probably the most dynamic the strategies for this level get.
The only other thing I have to say that interests me about this level is the decision to not have the tables span across the whole pink zone, and separate the zones entirely. It sacrifices a bit of the structure from the level to allow for players to switch zones to help either side. This is a good decision imo. I think the structure is a lot more integral for a tutorial level to help people get the basic rhythmn of the game before introducing a little element of chaos in. But this is the first level, not the tutorial, and the first level's job is to take another step forward from the tutorial. It still needs to be simple, yeah, but it also needs to move forward, and help the player keep learning and improving.
Overall, this is a simple level, but still well-designed and enjoyable in its own right! It shows how good a first level can be.
