What to have as secrets?

I have no good idea really, alternate ending maybe but that is still a bit to me.

What do you think makes a good secret?

A secret that is hard to find, but maybe is a really cool, unique area, with cool graphics, and funny dialogue.

You can have different things in a secret, and it doesn't even have to be an ending.

The objective of the secret would be to give the player a little bit of extra and a notice that its a secret.

For instance, if you have a level with difficult jumps, you can put a high jump powerup in a secret area. If the player finds it, the level suddenly becomes alot more easy.

Another idea is to create an image that looks very nice, or even a quote that has a deepfull meaning. If the player finds it, thats his reward.

Also a reference to your friend / someone who helped you with a level is nice

All good suggestions

I think i have an idea, if i can ever finish my level.

Keep the suggestions coming!

Another idea is to create an image that looks very nice, or even a quote that has a deepfull meaning. If the player finds it, thats his reward.

But if the level is too hard, they might be desperate for a way to get through an area, thus making them jump around at the walls.

Quote from: LPChip on July 14, 2009, 19:43:35

Another idea is to create an image that looks very nice, or even a quote that has a deepfull meaning. If the player finds it, thats his reward.

But if the level is too hard, they might be desperate for a way to get through an area, thus making them jump around at the walls.

I'm sorry, but I don't see how that would affect having a secret area get screwed up...

He's just saying that the secret will be more likely to be found, because they will be jumping around searching for it.

an effective secret is one that rewards the player by being discovered - so the secret is so difficult to find that a powerup reward isn't necessary to give the player a sense of satisfaction in the discovery.

and as a side note: if you advertise your level as containing secret areas, they aren't secrets anymore, just areas you do not know the location of.

One word (or two, depending on how you look at it):

Userbar.

That's my preferred reward.

if someone has a userbar that proudly displays they've found a secret it isn't a secret anymore and anyone who has the whim can look in the editor / .ini / worlds folder or copy and paste.

if someone has a userbar that proudly displays they've found a secret it isn't a secret anymore and anyone who has the whim can look in the editor / .ini / worlds folder or copy and paste.

Now that's just plain dishonest. You can't stop people from doing that, so let them do that. But keep a list of people who have PMed you for a userbar, so you can rip anyone else a new one.

you could make an IRC channel and op anyone who you know has found the secret (sorry for stealing/posting your idea, data  )

If you tell them there's a secret, it's still rewarding to find it.
If you look in the editor, you get rewarded, but there's no feeling of accomplishment.

Personally, I just make an area that is obviously NOT part of the level, often quite silly.
Take happyland in FEAR for example. The level is all dark etc, but the secreat area is a big green smily face on a rainbow background.