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What Do You Not Want In The Levels You Play.

General discussion about Atmosphir.
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RetroBandit
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What Do You Not Want In The Levels You Play.

Post by RetroBandit »

Tell me so they won't happen, at least in my future levels.

I'll start with one thing I hate.

When lives are left at three without any extra lives and it is really easy to die and there is no reason why I shouldn't get at least five lives.
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Phantomboy
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Post by Phantomboy »

I suppose I agree with that in some sense, I feel it is a little silly to have the default allotted lives if it isn't a in mind in the construction of the gameplay of a level.. It is equally as silly to give 99 lives, rather than just infinite-- but that is really nit picky.

Somethings which generally hurt my enjoyment of a level are spamming of enemies, incredibly strong bouncing flowers or pad, with very unclear intended destinations. Also, whilst story is great-- I really really appreciate when level designers break up large blocks of text across multiple info-stickers with something between. It spaces out the monotony of extremely long text.
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Post by Baufritz »

Phantomboy wrote: Some things which generally hurt my enjoyment of a level are spamming of enemies, incredibly strong bouncing flowers or pad, with very unclear intended destinations.

This just ruins a level. Every block/prop/enemy you put in your level should have a clear purpose and do what it's intended to do very reliably.
Also, if the environment (including, but not limited to skybox and music) doesn't fit, it doesn't matter how good the gameplay is, it'll always lose to a level that maybe has a little less gameplay, but is designed with an environment that just works.
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papaya
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Post by papaya »

puzzles involving moving a box

enemies also are only good in at most pairs.
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Post by Baufritz »

papaya wrote:puzzles involving moving a box
They can be quite fun though if planned out well.
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

I don't really inherently dislike anything in a level, since everything in design mode can be done well or poorly, but extensive use of ledge-hanging doesn't sit too well with me.
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Post by papaya »

Baufritz wrote:They can be quite fun though if planned out well.

physics in this game is so god-awful that unless the puzzle is 'move box in a straight line then jump on it' it becomes more frustrating than anything.
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Post by Phantomboy »

I agree that too complex of turns and rotations becomes frustrating quickly, but I think so long as the player is slicing at something with their weapon and the level is paced where the vast majority isn't hampered by the "box-babysitting" then it is alright :)
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Post by matthewbny »

any levels made by the newer creators
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Post by Baufritz »

matthewbny wrote:any levels made by the newer creators
I wouldn't go that far, if the level looks good, then I'll play it.
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Post by matthewbny »

Baufritz wrote:I wouldn't go that far, if the level looks good, then I'll play it.
True, but looks good =/= is good. Gameplay is everything -- there's a bug that allows users to upload levels without Finish Flags, and I've replicated it before (though I'm not sure how to replicate it again, might have to go digging in the bugs subforum). If I see an extremely open world, and no Finish Flag or clear set of directions at the beginning or every now and then, I'm out. There's no reward for finishing a level besides the satisfaction that you did, so why should I continue?

Although poorly designed, I do find some of the spam races fun (where you drag a block, prop, floor, or copy and paste it without any variation from one point to another) and/or give an insanely large amount of powerups, such as running faster and jumping higher, usually through powerups.
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Post by papaya »

but to dismiss every new designer just because they're new is really, really bad
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Post by Baufritz »

papaya wrote:but to dismiss every new designer just because they're new is really, really bad
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