Are you working on a longterm project?

Isn't this topic about how to work on a longterm project, not which level is going badly?

So... here's a thread to commiserate about longterm projects, and the frustrations that come with them. ;-)

I just thought that meant talk about how your project is going.

Are you serious? I have that level. You finished it. Unless this is some complex in-joke between level designers that just went way over my head...

It was "finished" at one point, but so many people felt it was too much like a demo so I decided to expand it.

Well I liked it. It was fun. But if you intend to make it better, I look forward to that.

All the big levels I work on I don't finnish, after a while on working on it (like a day) I think I have come to the point I have screwed it up so I don't touch it ever again. Like that level I said would be the best ever, that horror house level, that other horror level, that underwater level, that level with drawn gradients instead of tilesets, that lunatic level with nifflas tilesets, that other lunatic level, that maze level and oh so many other levels I can't think of right now.

All the big levels I work on I don't finnish, after a while on working on it (like a day) I think I have come to the point I have screwed it up so I don't touch it ever again. Like that level I said would be the best ever, that horror house level, that other horror level, that underwater level, that level with drawn gradients instead of tilesets, that lunatic level with nifflas tilesets, that other lunatic level, that maze level and oh so many other levels I can't think of right now.

Have you tried alternating/cycling? Seriously - I'm a bit like that when I'm writing, and I found it helped if I just sort of... cycled through my various projects. Get stuck on project A, pull project B from the drawer and see if you can work on that instead for a while; get stuck on B, and try C for a bit; get stuck on C and return to A. Rinse and repeat. Some blockages remain, but a surprising number of them seem to dissolve with time, just by putting a project in the - virtual - drawer for a few weeks or months and then looking at it with fresh eyes.

I'd love to see more levels from you.

ETA: I do something similar with my big level, incidentally. I can't really cycle *between* projects there, but I do alternate between building several very different areas, so I never get bored/burnt-out on any of them.

Isn't this topic about how to work on a long-term project, not which level is going badly?

Well, commiserate means to express sympathy for... so this thread exists as a conversation between users making large KS projects... and what unique parts of your level make it so difficult to create, etc. etc.




Ugh, BSoaKFF... my KS pride and joy... I've been working on it since November 15th, 2008. It isn't so much making the level for me, it's trying to find the time to do so. I have tons of ideas, the talent and resources to create everything graphics wise, a team to help make extra content while I work, and I have more than enough motivation to finish it. I just don't have the time... The duplication of all the information between screens used to be a terrifying aspect before Xoft updated KSLC, which I will forever be thankful for.

Well if people still remember me im working on a project called "An Empty Corridor" it just started as something to muck around with but then i realised i could go a bit further with it. What i wanted to achieve was a sense of being alone. Of course the problem was too many ideas but none in concret. I sort of overcome this problem by laying out a path by putting one block on screens of where juni will go to show how many screens i might take up. Of course it may seem wierd but i prefer my ideas to stay in my head then on paper, i like them to grow or shrink in my head then i will put them into my level. But now ive got something else to worry about. Im a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to editing and i keep going back onto previous screens to make them look slightly better. (just recently i re-did a whole section because i didnt like the kind of pipes i was using). Also achieving to make the user whos playing my level slightly sad or alone or some other feeling is quite hard.

What keeps me going? I actualy have no idea. The sense of accomplishment maybe? I dunno. all i know is that i had to put down a due date (10/10/2010) or i would have kept going forever, so this year im really buckling down and getting this level finished...

You may also notice that i have another project called "Scavenger" well soon as Empty Corridor is finished, im starting on that. why?  because i said i was going to make a series and i am, they each might be quite short but im gonna do it. also i guess i find editing or level creating relaxing in a way...

Also JC i simply admire you for sticking with your project, your patience is absoultly amazing (also thanking you for making that bunker tileset a while back, its been put to good use  )

Interesting thread. I must say, my longeterm project, Non Serviam, is ALL completely off the top of my head and 'improvised', although I tend to get a lot of ideas when I'm drifting off to sleep, or just daydreaming. Funnily enough, I'm able to hold every last idea in my head, including the logistics and time-variant path-changing (i.e. switches, powerups allowing you to reach different screens, and what routes are available to the player at any stage in the game) to prevent sequence-breaking and the like. If something interests me, I have an almost photographic memory.

As such, apart from the major block I got about 2 or 1.5 years ago, when I simply couldn't bear to LOOK at NS in the editor, everything goes perfectly smoothly and just falls into place, and I always have an idea of what to create, or jobs to do, during my editing sessions.

My next project, which will be all content created by me (including music), will be a lot smaller, and more organized.

Sendy,

Its not a surprise that you can hold the thoughts in your head. I'm very sure many people can do it. Are you aware though, that if you keep ideas in your head it will have either of the following concequences: either you try so hard to remember them that it slows you down and make you loose focus of the project, or you'll eventually forget about one or two of the ideas.

As my long post explains, its better to write them down, so you can forget. Doing so will give you the ability to use your brain that previously was holding these memories constantly fresh to help you out designing your level.

I'm not contesting that the approach you outlined isn't probably better, simply that I haven't felt the need to do *any* planning on paper for Non Serviam (other than keeping a list of the flags and what I used them for) - for better or for worse. When I release NS you will be able to see what is possible without planning - which I think will be a curiosity in it's self.

Don't feel offended. Its just a tip for you.

*steals fence from Noah*

Noah fence taken!

Okay. That was a pretty good pun.

I am working on a long term project right now, but you can't know about it.. yet. So I'll just talk about one of my older long terms.

Back when we had the old-old forum (before the crash) I was trying to make a WaDF KS level. I managed to get a fairways through it: up to Utopioca Minor. Then I started having trouble. The problem was, the default WaDF conversions just didn't have enough stuff in them to make an accurate conversion. It was then that I realized I should've made all the graphics ahead of time. The tilesets that came with the game just weren't enough to work with. I ended up abandoning the project. I believe I also posted it on the forum, but no one took up my offer to continue it.

that level with drawn gradients instead of tilesets

Is that the one I made music for? I really want to see that level finished!

Oh, arrgh.

For a while now I've been mostly working on completing already started areas, but I'm approaching the end of many of these, and also, I have to think about connecting areas... so I needed to find some new area designs. Which is fun, except... there's too many possibilities! ;-)

Over the past two days, I've experimented with a very basic tileset. Take a look at the map below - the areas I'm talking about are marked - to see the extent of my experimentation.

The marked areas and their meanings:

1.) the original screen built with the tileset I was planning to experiment with
2.) that screen, combined with 28 different varieties of decoration (from 24 other tilesets)
3.) one of those decorated screens, combined with sixteen different backgrounds
4.) another of those screens, combined with seventeen different backgrounds (need I mention that I could do that background changing game with any out of the 28 decorated screen variants?)
5.) two screens that use other tilesets not just for decoration but also for structural elements

And I'm still nowhere *near* deciding which out of these I'm going to base the next area on. Arrrgh!

Oh, and I've also gone back to change several older screens I wasn't quite happy with, recently, with the result that I'm now a lot happier with them, but of course, the level doesn't *grow* much if I keep doing stuff like that. Plus, I'm probably going to replace one entire area - although I rather like its look. But I've found another look that makes more sense, in context, and as that is an area that has a particular function, I should go with the look that makes more sense.

Now, *this* is why my level is such an extremely longterm project...