Level Design World 1

[Germanunkol]

I'm happy with the level design of the first levels, gameplay wise. Every level teaches the player something new, and you get to the more difficult levels quickly. However, I don't really like the look of them yet. And I don't want to re-work them without your consent. What I dislike are two things, mainly: a) There are rough jumps between levels. Take level 1 and level 2, for example: The first level clearly ends inside a village with houses and on a rubble street. The second level - all of a sudden - has a large man-made infrastructure on it which, graphically, doesn't fit with the small village feeling in level 1. Maybe we should try to make "transition areas": level 2 could be extended a little on the left side, where the player starts, to add a bit more "town" there. This wouldn't be much work, wouldn't hurt the gameplay, but would be much nicer to the eye. Also, I think the next level should always start with the ground type the last level ended with. b) The concrete looks very man-made. I like it for structures, but I don't think the ground should be fully concrete as well. Otherwise it makes it look like a modern day city. I think the broken-bridge level looks much nicer than level 2, for example.

So, I propose these "rules" for making levels:

• new level starts with the ground type of the old one
• only man-made structures use the concrete blocks
• if we need to change from small houses to large man-made structures, we do so gradually, and make the large structures look like warehouses, ruins, towers, windmills etc - to make it clear that they are not just rocks that happen to be shaped weirdly.

It's still your game - you decide. This is just a proposition. I suck at coming up with level-ideas. So if you want, you can keep making the levels with just one wall type and I'll add the differetne ground types to them...

[michalove]

All good suggestions. Let's go for it. I will be a challenge, though: Since the ninja is so agile, it is sometimes difficult to force a specific path and block other possible paths. Especially, when there is open sky, sometimes it is difficult to prevent the player from simply jumping over the obstacle. But we should accept the challenge and go for it. This will definitely improve the feel of the game.

Two additional thoughts: Maybe we replace the spikes (with gray background) by spikes with brown background. Or add both. Otherwise, spikes are restricted to concrete structures. (I will take care of this)

And the level "deadly" can simply be "untangled". Instead of going right,left,right, just put everything in one line right,right,right. (I will do it).

Ok, I will prepare more levels and leave the decoration to you.

[Germanunkol]

Sounds good! The problem with jumping over the whole structure is limiting, of course. I think you solved it in some levels by using blocks that "hang" over the edge and go out so far that the player can't wall-jump to the roof. We could expand on this method: If the "entrance hall" of the structure is high enough, the player won't be able to reach the wall. Like this:

[michalove]

I like your changes in the levels 2-4. The only thing I would change: Make the narrow passage at the top of "the tower" wider, such that jumping in is easier.

For your information: From Friday (Dec 20th) I will start my vacation and hopefully have the time to finish the levels before our dealine.

[Germanunkol]

I'll change the passage. I thought it was nice that it's a little difficult, but yes, it's probably too early in the game.

Vacation sounds good! :) Will you only make the levels or is your plan still to put everything into one big tile-sheet?

I think it might still be good to have two style-sheets, one for "objects" and one for "world". This way, it won't get too huge and we can re-use the "object" one for all worlds, but the backgrounds/walls etc will all be in one sheet.

[michalove]

Sorry, I forgot to tell you: I will not make the big tile-sheet, but leave them as they are. The only thing I am going to change, is that it is irrelevant in which layer one puts things. Because from the content it is clear, in which layer the content belongs. I am not sure, when I will do this.

[michalove]

I changed the passage.

[michalove]

I slightly reorganized the levels. Everything is in place now, except level 14. I will hopefully work on this tomorrow.

If you have any comment so far, let me know.

[Germanunkol]

Don't know if you read the comment on the commit - I love the new walkers and their levels. The spawners are a really cool gameplay-feature as well. Well done!

[michalove]

Good to hear that. Thanks.

[michalove]

Level design is almost done. I only have to add better transitions between the levels (after the caves).

[michalove]

Okay, done. I could work on this forever, but we want to finish, so I think we can ship the demo with the levels, as they are.

[Germanunkol]

I'd like to add a few more background elements. Then we can ship. The main reason is that currently, we have about 3 houses overall in the "village" world...

[michalove]

Yes, good. Just close this issue, once you are done.

[Germanunkol]

Done. I have not yet copied them to the demo1 branch. Could you please play through them once?

I'm quite happy with the new house-tiles. Although the new houses might not look quite as nice as the old ones, they're now all different (no more repeating houses) and can be built in all kinds of sizes. Also, they fit with almost all of your background tiles.

Edit: Please feel free to tell me if the levels seem too "full", or if you want more of the concrete-wall back. I find it very hard to judge - so I'd love some feedback, even if it's just "the changes are stupid, let's revert them all." If you like the current level design, let me know, I'll copy them over (or you can do it) and then pack the .love.

[michalove]

Wow. Awesome. The new tiles you made look gorgeous. I like the fence and the smaller details for the garden and also the new houses look cool and very Asian. I found only one spot, where I found it too full: In the garden level between the spikes. I already removed the details there.

In the companion level there was one tile misplaced (removed it).

In the windmill level I changed the look of the roof of the center building. The roof is now in front of the wall (had to draw two more tiles for this).

Besides that: Good work. I am so glad that you are on this project :)