This is my first knytt stories level...

I've started to make a level, and since this is my first one, I'd like some help on what you guys would like in it...

Well, I like the "classic" level designs most. Some different sceneries (mountains, caves, maybe underwater, forests,...) combined with the one simple principle: With item X it is possible to reach area A - there I can find item Y with which I can finally step in area B, and so on... Plus some riddles, some tricky passages and hidden screens. Yeah, this is what I like...

There's a good chance that this isn't news to you, but I feel like saying this:

Knytt Stories is about art (and by that I don't mean that it has to be pretty). Art isn't about pleasing other people, it's about expressing yourself, by whatever means you want to use. Don't as us what we like, make what you love, and you can bet that whatever comes out will make you happy.

I'm not saying you should do everything by yourself, the forum is here to help you with more specific technical problems, everything else is very subjective and you should just follow your instincts.

First, you should make sure you know your way around the editor, but leave the more complicated stuff for later (flags, shifts, etc). That is, of course, if you don't know these things already. You can count on the forum to help you with this.

Now, when making your level, think about what you're good at, and try to transport that in to a level. Some people are very good at making music, and they create a level where the music adds a lot to the feel of each screen. Others are good at drawing, and use that in the tilesets and backgrounds. People who are good ad photography use that in the backgrounds and tilesets also. Some people just like to tell a good story.

If you think about your level in this way, I'm sure you'll come up with something on your own, that would be 100 times better than if you just followed someone else's tastes.

Raicuparta said it QUITE well.  I suppose I'll just add to what he said/paraphrase.  I wouldn't call Knytt Stories an "art game," but instead, a medium for art.  It's similar to a canvas. It doesn't mean it has to beautiful--heck, it doesn't even have to have any semblance of "meaning" whatsoever.  
Allow me to organize each primary element of a Knytt Story:

Each of the following four elements are almost unavoidable in Knytt Stories, and you won't find many levels that cut them out completely.

Level Design:  While this might not always be a primary concern (a very simple, linear level design can go a LONG way if the other elements are covered well enough), it is generally what drives the challenge of a level, and, no matter how you split it, the level design of every single level out there (save for perhaps a very select few) is entirely unique as a whole.  This might not be what defines your level, but it's easily one of your greatest tools in making it your own (and really, it's the only one you absolutely cannot avoid doing yourself, unless of course you have others doing the level design).

Visuals:  Backgrounds and tilesets excel in setting the tone for your level.  They also can be a big element in your level design;  I'm currently working on a small level in which fog is used to obscure objects and parts of the level.  Custom tilesets and backgrounds are generally always accepted, if not encouraged, here.  We like new stuff!

Sound:  Also generally extremely important in setting the tone for your level.  I myself prefer to create my own music to throw into my levels, and, though this mostly wasn't the case for Will's Grand Scheme (my first KS level), it still included only music that wasn't a part of Nifflas' stock set.  I'm a sound person, so I know I personally enjoy hearing music outside of the stock set, but... well, it's still pretty good music, anyway.  Regardless, if I hear custom music that I like, I'll generally be hooked.  Now that I think of it, though, sound, too, can be a major player in level design, with the use of sound cues and the like.

Story:  Well, it is called Knytt Stories, is it not?  Story has the largest scale for being unique, as you can go from having an incredibly elaborate story to having absolutely no story at all.  Still, it will usually rely on the two prior elements to really engage the "reader."


But, in general, if you express yourself and put it out there, someone's bound to like it.  The more polished or unique it is, the more people's attentions you're likely to garner.