First level

Hey guys, i've been thinking about designing a Ks level.
I have never made a level and i'm asking for some newbie-tips
(i kind of know my way around in the editor)

First question is the most important one: What kind of level do you want to make? Challenge/Environmental/Puzzle/maze/etc...

After you know what you want, then the environment itself comes into play. Like the tilesets you're going to use. If you're not good at designing them yourself, you need to see what environments are available and if that will get you with what you want to make. Because if not, getting these will take the most of your time.

Then you need to think of what you want for a story line (even if its a simple and short one, its better than to not have one at all. For an example, see the beginning of The Explore Challenge. Simple story, but it does add to the value of the level)

Once you're ready to build your level, make sure that you only build small portions at a time, and test them thoughtfully. Once you have it right, think if switching environment will work. If so, do. That'll keep the player refreshed and play your level longer.

Okay
How much time does it usually take to create a small level, with The default tilesets?a

It all depends on how serious you are (and how well you can design levels)

You should take atleast 2 days with about 4 hours each days to design a 10 screen level.

But don't take time into consideration. Just start and try to make the best level possible.

8 hours for 10 screens? Without shifts? I'm not so sure about that... I guess it depends on the person, though.

Depends on how noobish the person is.

Edit: I mean.. 8 hours? 10 screens?! That's 0.8 hours each screen and that's 48 minutes or something.
Now I spend, like, 3 minutes max on a screen and my levlels are way superior than most other levels in every possible way.

8 hours for 10 screens? Without shifts? I'm not so sure about that... I guess it depends on the person, though.

When you want to make really well desinged level, you need lots of time.
I spend many time on my last level.

I'm going to repeat what I said in some other thread a few months ago: laying out screens in the KS editor is trivial, it takes very little time.  The majority of time spent on a level is the time spent with custom content - drawing tilesets, composing music, and so on.

If you're making a level with only default content, then you can probably push out 100 screens in a day.  I wouldn't even bother to look at such a level myself, though - after playing dozens of levels with no custom content, I'm pretty much sick of them, and I am pretty sure that most other KS "veterans" feel the same way.  (I do recommend that you stick to default content for your first level, just so you can learn how the editor works, but there's honestly very little purpose in making more than a couple levels with no custom content.  This is assuming that you're making a "normal" level as opposed to something like Too Much Soda or Don't Eat the Mushroom.)

Well... I'm not using any custom content, but it still takes me a lot of time to build a screen. I rarely manage more than 3-6 screens per day. Mind you, I'm not spending all day on those 3-6 screens; I do have other things to do, too. But even on days when I have loads of spare time, I don't manage more than such a small number, because I get these kind of... mini burn-outs. I can spend a lot of time thinking about, and experimenting to see - for instance - where *exactly* an element like a tree or a plant will look best. There are even screens that, despite spending crazy amounts of time on them, I'm still not happy with.

So, I'd say, how long it will take you to build a screen depends a lot on your method of work and your aesthetic preferences and so on. I'd say my average is half an hour per screen, which explains why on most days I don't even build as many as three screens.

I also often go back to already finished screens to improve them, later.

Oh, and also: I'm by no means a real veteran, but I have played several hundred levels and I, for one, feel no dislike of the standard tilesets yet. Now, maybe that dislike is going to kick in for me later, but maybe it's also something of a matter of different aesthetic philosophies. I believe you can make something good and worthwhile from simple and/or well-known materials just as well as from elaborate and original/surprising materials. So, I'd say, if you'd like to use an 'old' tileset (or even many of them) - if you really like it and feel inspired by it: use it! :-)

I don't manage more than such a small number, because I get these kind of... mini burn-outs. I can spend a lot of time thinking about, and experimenting to see - for instance - where *exactly* an element like a tree or a plant will look best. There are even screens that, despite spending crazy amounts of time on them, I'm still not happy with.

That can definitely happen; I didn't really take that possibility into account.  Also, if you're using any tilesets by a certain author...you're pretty lucky to finish a screen in less than an hour.

I spend 3-5 minutes on the *first draft* of a screen, and of course, some screens are just tunnels or arbitrary connectors, but most of my screens go through several iterations of design, as I find ways to improve things, make sure the proportions of everything are pleasing (sort of a feng-shui of tile placement if you will), and playtest the level over and over again to make sure it's enjoyable to walk/dodge/crawl/explore through.

If you stare at a screen long enough you will find ways to improve, such as "what if I move those mid-ground tiles back to layer 1, and use layer 2 to create lighing effects" and such...

I also think, if you are using other people's tilesets, you have to go the extra mile to make your level stand out, which is probably what I'm talking about here. This is why I end up modifying the tilesets slightly, to add little details here and there as I think of them.