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[ravuya]

Looking totally awesome.

[Derek]

Very nice, Xion!  It's the top layer, so there can be sky.  Why the hell not?  Also, you don't suck ass.  Don't ever, ever say that again.  And if anyone else says so, they're insta-banned.  The level is looking great!  Keep it up.  We can do touch-up on graphics later to make them more consistent.

[eobet]

Also, to be honest, the graphics doesn't come anywhere near the style of any of the previous mock-ups. 

I already admitted that: I suck ass.

I didn't say it sucked, it's just a totally different style. It's a lot more shaded and low-contrast. Different.

Also, the whole level reminds me of the old Conan: Hall of Volta game for the Atari 8-bit machines (I bet it was availible on Commodore 64 too) and that's a kick-ass game.

Hmm... now that I think of it, the mock-ups from Arne reminds me a lot of The Goonies game the Atari/C64 (even in the artwork).

For those of you involved in this game, I would recommend you to try them. They're years before Rick Dangerous (but contemporary to Impossible Mission, I believe) but contain a lot more interesting and involved puzzles.

EDIT: Screenshots from Goonies and Conan...

[Caio]

Looks very fun indeed, Xion! Now, looking at this, I think I overcrowded my level attempt.

[Zaphos]

Can Guy Balding walk on arbitrarily sloped inclines?  For the house level it would be neat if he could walk on stairs and also perhaps on the roof ...

[Derek]

@eobet: Much, much more constructive post than the one before... thank you!  Being critical is good - the game has to be as good as it can be.  On the other hand, I want to hear proactive commentary that offers solutions with criticism.  And takes into account the work people have put into it.

Xion, I may have a crack at editing your level and coming up with some ideas.  Is that alright?  When I get some free time.

[Xion]

Xion, I may have a crack at editing your level and coming up with some ideas.  Is that alright?  When I get some free time.

Of course.

That looks really cool.

Also, you don't suck ass.  Don't ever, ever say that again.  And if anyone else says so, they're insta-banned.

Lol, I don't really think I suck. I just have to keep my ego in check sometimes. 

[Madgarden]

Ruth... Ruth... Baby Ruth!

Hey you guuuuuuys!

[Inane]

Simple 2bit concept for the temple .


Pretty much, you start at at the bottom right, jump up two platforms, and if you continue climbing you get burninated by the fire head breather dude. Jump onto the platforms on the right and continue ascending, and you hit a dart trap that you need to jump over, then you proceed to climb up the vine, and jump onto the nearby platform where you then get your ass crushed by the thingy that goes up, or you jump on time and hit the side of the temple, and continue climbing until you get the statue, which opens up a door at the bottom of the temple.

Sorry for not making an uber concept, but you know, I'm not really putting much time into it, as I have tons of other obligations I -should- be fulfilling.


Edit: Also, may I recommend making the key level beneath the temple be the interior?

[lowpoly]

that's a pretty cool layout, it just needs a giant ball to chase you down at the end

Adding on to your idea, when you reach the statue at the top possibly the cavern begins to crumble apart and your path down is altered by giant blocks of stone. Would throw a little variation into the level and make you come up with a new path. Is that even possible within the game engine tho or is everything static?

[MattC]

I really like this idea of a different path (essentially a different level) being created by a some means and having to make your way through it again. Maybe have some sections above you that are visible before the change but inaccessible until everything falls or whatever. It's always tempting to see those gems just out of reach.

[Bezzy]

Ah, the metroid method! Yeah, it's a proven approach.

As well as that, I'd also stress to everyone not to make levels too linear, or over-planned in terms of what players need to do. Try not to think in the sense of "You do this, then you have to do this, then you have to do that" etc.

Give people a bit of space for expression, and leave problems open enough that there's not just one solution for every tiny segment. Now, when people say something's feels a bit linear, often the reaction is to say "let's go multipath".

I don't mean "multipath" either - multipath just tends to mean you're overplanning two/3/4 alternate routes, rather than just one.

No. Instead, think of it in terms of "From every point on this level, what are my choices, and which of them are useful/interesting?". So if you place a block, imagine the possible routes from that block - give people an indeterminate amount of ways from A to B, and leave it up to them to create their own. Item/enemy placement is often what makes the individual choices interesting - i.e. I could just run to the exit, but if i take this route past that monster, i could get a gem! Bottle necking should occur, as it gives the player some structure and therefore guidance, and can also form unintersting (but challenging) set pieces.

Just be sure to mix it up, and get a nice balance - you don't want you entire level to be one bottleneck (unless you're going to try and prove the point that bottlenecks can be fun, too).

Very general level design tips. Just saying. _{I'm always just saying.}

[Caio]

You are totally right, Bezzy! Based on that, here's my second attempt:

Level elements:

GB is, obviously, Guy Balding (the starting point).
Vine is a vine that behaves like a ladder. It does not swing.
The floating yellow platforms are branches from huge trees.
Quicksand is... quicksand... or perhaps mud. If the player stands on it, he sinks to death (that sounds hellish, doesn't it?).
Dead tree is a weird, contorted tree trunk in the quicksand. It behaves like a platform,
and so do the other trees (except these may have some leaves and something and stuff).
The player does not die if he falls on the water, not matter if he was more than four tiles above it.
The vine net is like a door. It has to be cut by the player using the
Knife, which is like a key.
The weird leafless branch is a weird leafless branch. It also behaves as a platform.
Goodies are three treasures/game discs/panties/whatever.

Enemies:

The snakes move back and forth to the limits of their platform, and never beyond. The "badger" one (...no, it's a regular snake) (or perhaps it could actually be a badger. That'd be funny ) moves between the two trees, and can climb that one tile high. The snakes can be stunned and rendered harmless for two seconds if GB steps on their heads. When they are stunned, collisions between them and GB are ignored.

The spiders move swiftly in their webs - and never anywhere else -, chasing Balding as they can. The spiders cannot be defeated.

The level:

The level is very simple. Guy Balding moves between branches in order to collect the knife, cut the vine net and leave through the bottom-right corner (perhaps an exit door or something should be added there to make it obvious that there is not exit above the vine net).

To reach the goodies, he has to climb the rightmost vine and then execute two jumps over three-pixels wide gaps. He then walks on the big platform, beyond the screen limits (like in the path to the Super Mario Bros.' warp zones, in the dungeon levels).

The biggest challenges are to confuse and dodge the spiders, which move very quickly, and to make the jumps.

In the background, huge trees should be shown along with the forest, perhaps shadowed by some kind of fog (so the player know which branches are platforms and which are not).

Extra pictures:

Here is a version without the web and here is a version without the text, perhaps for easier visibility.

Edit.: Typos.

[BMcC]

  Awesome awesome awesome! 

Sorry I haven't been posting (in here or on the front page) recently, but it's been a really totally busy week.

I'm gonna take this weekend (or thereabouts) and catch up on all my TIGSourcey stuff, I pwomise.

[Madgarden]

Has anyone mentioned H.E.R.O. as level inspiration yet? (Sorry, haven't been lurking as much as I should of late).