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supadorf24

Member

Joined: 2015-02-26

Posts: 2,675

Ideas for the Level Builder Out of Ideas (Complete with Pictures!)

This is not a "How to Make a Level" guide. This is exactly what you'd expect from a guide called, "Ideas for the Level Builder Out of Ideas". In this guide, I will give you advice on what to do when you're out of ideas while creating a level, or, more accurately, challenges. In my opinion, art is a visual theme for your level, while the challenges within said art are what really define your level. If you don't know what to draw, this isn't the topic for you. If you already have a theme for your level, and you have (or haven't) started the challenge-creating process, then you've come to the right place, my friend. So, without further ado, let us begin.

Play your minis/challenges often to test for decreases in quality. If you're playing through your level, and you think it's fun, good. Even so, you might come across several needles in the haystack such as these:

and/or

What kind of challenge is that? It's not a challenge. What you've done is unknowingly (or maybe knowingly) created what is known as "fluff". Intentional or not, fluff is what we call things that are simply done to lengthen something without really adding depth, whether that be an unnecessary paragraph in an essay for school or a challenge that you've made in EE. Say, for instance, you've made a generic 100 adjective minis level (you know, the ones that currently plague the EE lobby). You're on your 99th mini. Well, you've come this far. You add some easy mini such as the ones in the pictures above. Congratulations, that's fluff. ANYWAY, when you start noticing fluff in your level, that's when you know that you've started running out of ideas.

Using this formula is a great way to make original minis even when you're out of ideas. Any problems, comments, criticism, praise, and/or suggestions? That's why this is a forum. Post away.
So, now if you've recognized that you're running out of ideas, we can move on . . .

Oh noes, den! What do I do? When I run out of ideas, I have a very basic formula for getting the ideas flowing again. There are two types of challenges/minis. There are ones such as the minis I've shown above, where the goal is to either get over a wall or to get through a gap. The other kind of challenge (and the one that I most commonly use) is the speed-based mini. Here is a quick example I threw together of a speed-based mini:

The goal of a speed-based mini is to break through a wall of gravity arrows that are pushing against you. To make a basic template for a speed-based mini, simply make a wall of grav-arrows pointing in the opposite direction of the direction the player is supposed to be heading in.

Don't worry; this template can be changed later on as you build your challenge. After all, that's why it's only template. Even once I've created one of these templates, I usually still don't know how I want my challenge to turn out. This is where the experimenting portion of level design comes in. If you still don't have some brilliant idea, just place gravity arrows of different directions in different places, and test the result to see if it's possible, and most importantly, fun

D-rock2308

Guest

Re: Ideas for the Level Builder Out of Ideas (Complete with Pictures!)

Oh please don't encourage box minis with your pics.
And add more templates, makes sense.

Greenzoid2

Guest

Re: Ideas for the Level Builder Out of Ideas (Complete with Pictures!)

I see where this is going, and it's usually what I do when I run out of ideas. I place some random arrows and just evolve from there, changing certain aspects until I get an outcome that I like.

supadorf24

Member

Joined: 2015-02-26

Posts: 2,675

Re: Ideas for the Level Builder Out of Ideas (Complete with Pictures!)

Oh please don't encourage box minis with your pics.
And add more templates, makes sense.

Those are just examples. I'll add some non-box mini examples later. For the record, I'm against box minis.

JadElClemens

Member

From: Colorado, USA

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 4,559

Re: Ideas for the Level Builder Out of Ideas (Complete with Pictures!)

I just draw the wall for the mini (curved, generally, since I never do box minis if I'm building) and keep the shape of the walls, but just add arrows and extra blocks if needed. I'll change the walls if necesarry... but my minis always turn out super easy for some reason.

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I hate tall signatures.

Chimi

Guest

Re: Ideas for the Level Builder Out of Ideas (Complete with Pictures!)

I'm all for box minis if the level has decent art and the box minis art integrated into it.

Jojomanjo

Guest

Re: Ideas for the Level Builder Out of Ideas (Complete with Pictures!)

You need hook jumps.