Game Design: Platformer Level

For Game Design we had to plan out the tutorial level of a platformer. For mine, I went with a game with a more rougelike feel too it that includes a time control mechanic. In order to get past the traps/obsticles of the level, you must slow down time with the right timing in order to pass through safely.

heres a drawn map, as well as a vector based one.

Now, the level must be completable in 4 minutes or less and be new player friendly along with that. For that reason, I have to limit the amount of challenges as well as how slow I go about introducing them. For example, i'd like to introduce the time control from the very beginning, however I must introduce the moving platforms and spikes before hand, otherwise i'll be showing too much at once or too many new things before a new player would be ready. The same idea goes for combining the challenges; Where as i'd like to take the fast moving platforms and combine it with projectiles and falling spikes, I can't do that because no player would be able to complete the challenge under 4 minutes while still being a new player.

Hopefully with this, i've found a nice balance between difficulty and time.

In terms of a story, imagine a man who simply wakes up in a testing chamber for a time control device (think portal). Obviously his goal is to simply escape, but the testing chamber's goal is to just use this test subject to his full potential. As of now, no one lives there. Think minimalistic archetexture in a prestine state.