Learning Level Design.

[DaBoss]

Dear Players,

As you may know of me as Jigga as a player with crappy history and I would like to state that in the aspect of making me a better player and not just a player who "revives servers that should be dead" I've decided to take on a development field which is level designing and I would like your honest feedback as I am trying to help rebuild my reputation with you fellow Graalians and have a cleanstart as I know i've lead bad patterns in the past and I want to end that all now. I will post two pictures one of my inside level and one of my outside level below and would like your input on what is needed and what you think.







Thank You,
Jigga

[Imperialistic]

Hi,

You really shouldn't make your levels so predictable, not so much as a bad thing but you're using certain tiles repetitively.


Outside:
-Tables are obnoxious and they don't make sense
-Should use more imagination with them and make them Graal-realistic

-Stone Path doesn't have much design to it
-Use a better design to give it some tang and there is so many tile errors

-Spamming the window tiles
-Don't use the window tiles so much


Inside:
-Stairs/Crates/WhateverTheyAre don't make any sense.
-Make them Graal-realistic and a better sense of design in it

-The level shape & size is not right.
-I believe the level is too small for all the stuff you want in it

-Floor is just bland
-Don't be afraid to add more then one design , the floor is a big part in levels (imo)

The levels are decent but they crave more detail and design to them.

[DaBoss]

Thank you Imp,

I will do my best to improve and your advice is greatly appreciated!

[tempandrew]

The outside level is boring. Aside from the fact that I absolutely hate this tileset, You put little detail into it, and your stone path looks iffy. Doesn't seem to make much sense. If you're going to have a sheet of pavement in front of a house, It's not so recommended that you make a path within the pavement, because it looks weird, however if you want to go with that, I would make it straight.

A lot of new LATs have this crazy fascination with thinking 'chaotic is good', when it's not. The aim in LATing is making sense; and a lot of LATs don't do that. Before you place something in a level, think for a second, 'does this make sense in this specific location'. Don't put a fence in the middle of no where, fences are used to keep people in or out of an area. Don't place tall grass in the middle of a town where people will be walking, it should be in forests and 'backalley' areas, places people don't normally go, and where nobody is concerned with keeping the grass neat. Weeds and bushes tend to grow near each other, don't randomly dot them, put them in little tufts or patches. When making dirt paths, don't make them perfectly straight, but don't make them going in every which way either. It looks good to have it be a little random, but at a certain point, LATs make it look so out of order that when you look at it you have to stop and think "why are people walking here so often that the grass died?"



As for your attempts at regaining a 'positive reputation' around Graal, as much as you're on my list of people who should be permanently banned, I have to commend you for trying to correct yourself and enter society as a normal person that can actually be accepted. I believe in second chances, but boy, do you need to work on this one.

[racycle]

Looks good , not a bad start. I dont like the rockpath infront of the house , i cant see why anyone would have a path like that there. other then that theres a few errors in the cliffs and the watertiles were repeated makign a grid.

as for the inside , only thing is the crates on the wall, theres fine but try moving them down a tile and putting them more ontop of each over.

not a bad start :P

[DaBoss]

Originally Posted by tempandrew

The outside level is boring. Aside from the fact that I absolutely hate this tileset, You put little detail into it, and your stone path looks iffy. Doesn't seem to make much sense. If you're going to have a sheet of pavement in front of a house, It's not so recommended that you make a path within the pavement, because it looks weird, however if you want to go with that, I would make it straight.

A lot of new LATs have this crazy fascination with thinking 'chaotic is good', when it's not. The aim in LATing is making sense; and a lot of LATs don't do that. Before you place something in a level, think for a second, 'does this make sense in this specific location'. Don't put a fence in the middle of no where, fences are used to keep people in or out of an area. Don't place tall grass in the middle of a town where people will be walking, it should be in forests and 'backalley' areas, places people don't normally go, and where nobody is concerned with keeping the grass neat. Weeds and bushes tend to grow near each other, don't randomly dot them, put them in little tufts or patches. When making dirt paths, don't make them perfectly straight, but don't make them going in every which way either. It looks good to have it be a little random, but at a certain point, LATs make it look so out of order that when you look at it you have to stop and think "why are people walking here so often that the grass died?"



As for your attempts at regaining a 'positive reputation' around Graal, as much as you're on my list of people who should be permanently banned, I have to commend you for trying to correct yourself and enter society as a normal person that can actually be accepted. I believe in second chances, but boy, do you need to work on this one.

Thanks alot, I will and better my levels and repost for a second input from you, and for the rep part thanks. I just want a second chance to better myself.

[DrakilorP2P]

I like them.

I don't have much comment on the outside level, except that it looks like it's hard to leave because there are blocking things all around.

The inside level is straightforward in a good way. I think the floor could work better if it was monotone instead of having a complicated pattern.

[LordSquirt]

I think the levels are pretty good for a beginner.

PS: Who made your tileset? I like it

[DaBoss]

Originally Posted by DrakilorP2P

I like them.

I don't have much comment on the outside level, except that it looks like it's hard to leave because there are blocking things all around.

The inside level is straightforward in a good way. I think the floor could work better if it was monotone instead of having a complicated pattern.

Thank you for the input as the outside is simply a level made for people to fish for like a fishing quest...and for the inside thank you so much =]

[racycle]

the grass was edited from dustys tileset he released in free forums


along with the trees, the walls were on the same tileset and its where I got my color pallet for the wood on the walls,stone path was on free tiles forum i just darkened, along with the tables , unless i missed somethign the rest was done by me

[DaBoss]

Yeah those tiles are great to use for levels..give the levels some sexyness lol.

[Matt]

Pretty good level for not being very experienced with level making. I'd have to agree with Imp's advice also.

[DaBoss]

Yeah thanks..I will do it and repost a better version.

[Matt]

Look forward to it.

[DaBoss]

Alright thank you.