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Author | Topic: What makes a great level........?
dhama Member Posts: 1518 From:Tibet Registered: Apr 2001 | posted 04-19-2002 01:55 PM This is what I think makes a great level... 1) It has to be compelling, able to draw the player into the scenerio. 2) It has to surprise the player, no one likes to see the same things over and over. 3) The gameplay needs to be only just difficult enough so the player always succeeds, but in the same token it can't be too easy or the player will go and do something else instead; like fall asleep 4) The scenerio can be a real place or a fictional place but if it is a real place, it has to look the part. If it's a fictional place, then it should be as outrageous and original as possible (Psiko's level is a good example of this) 5) Lara has to be given something interesting to do, just flicking umpteen switches does nothing for anybody. So, can anybody think of any more? ------------------ IP: Logged
The Cowboy Member Posts: 75 From:Scotland Registered: Feb 2002 | posted 04-19-2002 02:07 PM I think new baddies in a level, or baddies that fit in with the level, and good lighting are also important. IP: Logged
eTux Member Posts: 864 From:Valmiera, Latvia Registered: Jan 2002 | posted 04-19-2002 02:17 PM The creator must have talent IP: Logged
ObsessiveAttitude Member Posts: 52 From:Kitchener, ON, Canada Registered: Apr 2002 | posted 04-19-2002 02:47 PM I think it has to have scenery change... in cant just be all the same. and she needs to be searching for something interesting... not just any old boring artifact... it has to be an intriguing artifact. IP: Logged
Chronicles2 Member Posts: 190 From:a boring town- nothing happens, in the best state in the us! MASS RULES!!! Registered: Mar 2002 | posted 04-19-2002 03:02 PM New objects and textures always help, no one wants to say: oh i remember this same puzzle from ______ of TR_, then they can easily beat it. , and they get bored easily. Make your level interesting, and use great audio to spice it up, especially if you are recreating a real place, the background music should go along with the level. ------------------ Creator of professional levels (: jokami63@aol.com now working on TR: Exotic Locations IP: Logged
LarzBritsh Member Posts: 85 From:LA, CA, USA Registered: Apr 2002 | posted 04-19-2002 03:41 PM I don't mind repetitiveness I like playing any kind of level that is large, with big areas to explore. I don't like ting corridors and small rooms. I loved Last Crusade and Black Palace because the levels were expansive and huge. Tomb Raider is more than just tombs. IP: Logged
G.Croft Member Posts: 138 From:Stockholm, Sweden Registered: May 2001 | posted 04-19-2002 11:05 PM Me too, I like looong games, short levels feel so abrupt. A long level(s) with a STORYLINE and a MISSION. Good music can be really cool, but isnīt necessary. IP: Logged
psiko Member Posts: 1058 From:unconsciousness Registered: Mar 2001 | posted 04-20-2002 07:44 AM Gameplay and puzzles: don't position the artefacts just for be taken. If it is an ancient artefact it is normal the ancient civilization positioned it there but it is normal even that that civilization wants to protect it! so don't use the boring "find an artefact on the ground, use it to open the door in the next location"... an artefact could mean something special for that civilization! Remeber that when you want to create a "monumental" location, it is easy to build it "simmetrical". When you want to create "dynamic" locations, build them anti-simmetrical, expecially too high from a part, too large from the other part, in order you destroy the simmetry but respect the "balance". Cameras and Audios: try to use flyby cameras the less as possible. At least I try this. For many reasons. The use of the FB cams is often to show you the location exactly when you came into it... It is "normal" as the level designer sometimes likes what he did build, so he wants to give you a landscape view of that location with a flybycam sequence. Well, I find this can be differently used. First of all, sometimes the location could be not that "wonderful", and sometimes the audio is NOT timed with the lenght of the sequence! and sometimes neither aimed to the "mood"... My solution (and my own opinion) is to search for audios on the internet or create them by yourself, or, use the ones provided with the TRLE which are a "little bit longer" than the flybycam sequence... after the audio is finished, if the cams still fly, it gives the player a sort of "anguish" for the silence and the fact you cannot use Lara... I used a "silent" flyby cam sequence in the COTW, but that is exactly to solve the puzzle! Infact, if you don't press the "look button" to stop it, you won't have time enough to finish the timed run... Another use for the flyby cam is to help players to find their way with a sort of "path" which is showed by the sequence itself... Enemies and objects: it is normal that enemies must fit the story... finding a new enemy just around the corner or behind a column makes me to ask "what is he doing here?"... so I will suggest to put your enemies to protect an artefact like if it is on guard, or, if you want to fight at any cost with many enemies, try to find or invent a new way to face them... example: in one of my levels I put an enemy while monkeyswinging, but that was a "face to face" fighting even if lara and the enemy were to far one each other... that was because Lara was up above a column, so completely "naked" to him... but if she crawled repeatedly just to distract the enemy, she could fire without being fired and without losing health... Searching for things like this are even "psiko"logically (LOL) interesting to tell the story to the players... Textures and lights: it is sure that "repeating" is not that beautiful, and I had several discussions about the "customizations". If you don't want to "customize" make a nice use of what you have... (those are always MY OWN suggestions). For example, I like coloured lights, but I often use this kind of method: two lights completely different and a shodow in the middle... this gives the locations a "3D" look which I love. Then I try to find different ways for the illuminations. It could be normal to make clear ambients for the outsides and dark ambients for the insides. Instead, I did build until now dark places (not black, I like light and illumination) for the outsides, but very illuminated places for the insides!!... in this way you have the "pychological" sensation to go inside "something already explored" like if someone is near to you and is going to fire you... Surely, it is my own way to suggest how to project ("find a common point and destroy it"), but I like to deny myself too IP: Logged
just/n Member Posts: 161 From:CT, USA Registered: Jan 2002 | posted 04-20-2002 06:33 PM Nostalgia!!! I love levels with nostalgia, but it's not necessary A good level has great architecture, and minimum stretched or skewed textures. It doesn't have to have the best textures, but a good variety. The architecture is more important to me. Puzzles should be original, but I never mind puzzles from TR1, so long as they are replicated well or with something unique (something I'm horrable at ) I, like many, don't like repetitive switches, but I do love puzzles involving them. As for puzzle items, I could care less if they are custom or from TR1-5, it all depends on how they are used, and how many of them are used. Just with basic objects, you don't need custom objects to make a great level, look at "Ceremony" from Recon Labs III Personally, I think the best levels are only mildly difficult, something with a good amount of exploration, similar to Lost Valley from TR1 IP: Logged

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