Yep, I was gonna get around to that. I know the in-and-outs of the level designer, my problem is making environments engaging, like poster #2 mentioned. Any advice?
Try to use all three background layers. For example, play Gaia, one of Nifflas' games, or my own
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Play the game from a designer's standpoint. "What do I like about this screen? Is it the clever use of objects? Or the illusion of perspective? Or maybe it's just the intricate patterns in the ground?" But remember not to steal the idea totally. You only want to take the basic premise. Like, if I was going to copy Super Mario Bros., I wouldn't take it's turtle-like enemies or unique floating blocks everyone seems to be using these days, but just the core: pits, jumping to and from platforms, and jumping on enemies to vanquish them. But also know when it's a really bare-bones concept, like putting the top of the water one tile lower on an island in the water (attached, "water"). Then it's okay because it's not really specific. A good idea to know when to steal is to ask yourself, "Would this be the kind of thing someone would copyright?"
Also, use all your resources. They add something new to see and they can even be used to overcome layering issues, like if you need an extra layer, make a single-frame CO of it and put it atop the tile. Take this screen from a level I'm sort of working on a semi-wheneverIfeellikeit basis (attached, "layers"). The game's transitioning from an area with a light background to a dark background. In the tileset for the darker area, there's a semi-transparent gray tile that I used to transition backgrounds slowly rather than abruptly. True, I didn't need it, but I didn't like how it looked without it. (I'll bring this up later, too.) Well, layer 0 was devoted to the background (I used tiles from the lighter area's tileset because the background for the whole place was rather specific), layer 1 was devoted to the dark area's gray transition pieces, and layer 2 was devoted to some pipes in the background. The rest of the dark area has grass on it, yet I don't have another background layer for it. How do I solve this problem? Let's play "Professor Pumpkinbot and the Curious Level Editor." How can I fix this?
I could use custom objects of the grass or, since the pipes are of the same color, a custom object of the pipe. But that would require removing the pipes, putting the grass in, and having a rather large CO (or two because KS can't handle really large COs) with an odd shape, which would require putting in additional information in the .ini. Not to mention you'd have to know how to make a CO, which not everyone knows how.
Alternatively, you could make a background. Right-click all the layers except layer 0, take a screenshot, crop it, rename it "gradient1", and put it in the corresponding folder.
Another thing to keep in mind is there's rarely such a thing someone could describe as "overdoing it". I have yet to see a game that's overdone something (save for "Teenhmifnoeafgil" and "DEtM", but they're special cases, due to the premise behind them). This may not necessarily be the case, though, because if it looks over-the-top, it's usually glaring and easy to spot that it's an eyesore.
And when doing anything at all,
try to definitely do NOT do what's already been done a hundred times before, especially if it's been done well. I have rarely seen a game where the music was default KS music and I absolutely LOVED the game. Same goes for tilesets. Please please
please don't use "Not Quote Dr. Cliche's Underwater Lab" or any variant of "Flower Garden." They've been used more than any other tileset in the default library! Same goes for the music. I can see why people don't try to use new music, though. It's hard to find music that's totally free to use and not everybody's a natural born musician. But, if you Google "cc license music" or "creative commons music", you're bound to find a site. Don't bug other people into making a song just for your game, though. It usually works out in the following way.
Hey, maestro42! Wanna make me some music? It's gotta be like this: [stuff, stuff, blah lah blah] {He's a nice guy, he'll probably do it!}
{Wha? Music doesn't grow on trees, I can't just make something spontaneously! But I can't just turn him down!} Sure, dude.
LATER...
Hey, maestro42, how's the song coming along?
{Bah, he didn't forget? D:} Oh, well, it's taking a while. I've been busy and [excuse].
Oh...Forget it, then... {*is sad*}
Sorry, dude... {*is also sad*}
In the end, both people leave disheartened. So please try Google-ing. And make
abso-freakin'-lutely sure that the game is under a CC license that says you can use it in your game. If it doesn't say "yes" or "no", don't use it. Or ask the author and
save that message.One last thing. (Woez, this is long. "tldr" much, huh?) If it looks or works wrong, change it. The first Madden game had a huge problem: this was the early '90s. The game systems couldn't handle that many complex sprites at a time. The programmers no doubt wanted to quit and say, "You're crazy, Richard Hilleman!" But Hilleman said, "Think harder, programmers! What could we do?" After [insert long time frame here] of slaving over a hot keyboard, they came up with a solution that I don't quite remember offhand, but this was the start of many more immensely popular games to go.
This may be an extreme case, though, so weigh how difficult it would be to fix it over how ugly or inconvenient it would be. Most people say if it's really really easy to fix, do it. But I'd raise the bar. If it's really tough to do, think about doing it later when you're more inspired. That's what I do. But there is one thing that is my downfall. When I'm trying to fix a particularly tough situation, sometimes my brain kicks in and says, "Hey, you know, you don't
have to do this. It works okay, right?" Then I crumple it up and toss it into the Recycling Bin.
Do. Not. Do. This. Just think about the task at hand, nothing else. Not even The Game (shit).
Hmm...I'm gonna post this elsewhere, too. :>