Guidelines for creating a good level

[HammerBroTime]

You should usually base around a combo of 1-3 or so enemies, depending on the level theme. Try and not use more than 5 unless the level theme needs more then that.

Usually in levels I don't put more of 4 enemies, but I don't count Koopa and Goombas because they aren't so "themed" (they can be everywhere XD)

[Void007]

Exept underwater levels of course. Would be weird to see a koopa strollin his way on the ocean floor.

[littledavidcampbell]

43.now sit down, kickback,and enjoy your levels.(including with mutiplayer)

[Void007]

43.now sit down, kickback,and enjoy your levels.(including with mutiplayer)

You forgot "And make sure the level works just fine and like you imagined it.."

[littledavidcampbell]

that to.

[joietyfull64]

44. Don't forget that level designing is harder than it looks. It's not just setting tiles around. Every tile is planned and have a function in the level. The simpler the level looks the better it can be.

[1up2275]

45. Don't/RARELY use unused sprites, they make the level look bad/tacky (like putting a gigantic arrow in the center of a pipe. It makes the pipe entrance look too... Obvious), and weird.
46. Make sure the sprites LOOK RIGHT. Like, if you end a piece of land without an edge, or there/s no actual floor, just the fill, it doesn't look very professional.

[HammerBroTime]

47: Test it! oh man, when you finished it, just test, test, TEST! There will be always the small (or big) glitch that will ruin your level, or the koopa not correctly placed that will look weird ... So just test when you finish a level (and a tileset too, but I don't want to go off-topic)

[unlimitedyoshi]

Where are 1-7?

[Void007]

A user that posted them got banned and thus the post containing 1-7 was deleted..

[joietyfull64]

A user that posted them got banned and thus the post containing 1-7 was deleted..

REally?

PS: little advice: I meant with 44. that what is meant in 46. (I think that people can use these beta arrows also in front of pipes. I did it in only in one level but the colour and the position fits quite good to the theme/atmosphere there (is better for dark levels).)

[Godson777]

These are good guidelines, but there is one thing missing...

48: Make sure your level is "beatable". While testing your level, make sure it's possible to beat it, you can't have your level so hard, that it becomes "unbeatable"

[Wye]

49. There's not just ennemies !!!
To make a good level, don't just put a lot of ennemies ! Try to invent some new things that doesn't exist in the original game, like some structure with the tileset. The events are really cool to use, you can get inspiration from the Training level, there's some good ideas in it ! And be creative ! Reggie let's you do more things than in the original game, there's a lot of "unused" things in the game, you can test these things and see if it's good to place in a level. And do not be shy or affraid to put some new textures in the Textures folder or to try some new logo or things like that. If, like me, you work on a new game like the soooooooo good "Another Super Mario Bros. Wii" of Skawo, try to modify the game as much as possible, not just the levels !!!

[littledavidcampbell]

50 think before you create.

[joietyfull64]

50 think before you create.

My thoughts .

[littledavidcampbell]

51. HAVE A BIG IMAGINATION.

[JasonP27]

52. f you place a pipe on top of Layer 2 terrain (with the invisible solid-on-top tiles), the player will be able to jump up on the terrain, but hit their head when jumping directly underneath the pipe. This is obviously because the pipe is on Layer 1. It's ok if you put it up pretty high where the likelyhood that the player will jump there is low. If you place an entrance on the pipe you need to make the pipe tall enough so that Mario doesn't glitch on the Layer 2 terrain below the pipe while entering or exiting the pipe.

[snuggles08]

Wow, an intelligent post on rvlution.net which wasn't created by a Newer Team member. That's something I didn't expect.


19. Tower tiles. These are a pain to work with (I just had to fix one of skawo's levels due to this problem). Avoid repeating the same block too much. Don't overlap them, because it looks awful. And don't cut off a block -- if you use one that's bigger than one tile, make sure ALL its tiles are visible! Example screenshot: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4558613/towertile_example.png

i don't really agree with that

[joietyfull64]

But I can only agree... (because I think otherwise it looks awful and very unprofessional).

[1up2275]

Well, sometimes you can overlap tower tiles. Like when you place one of the big slopes in a tower, there are some single blocks in there that you can replace or put another sprite in it's place.

Also: 53. - Whenever you use the path option (nodes, I think they're called?), ALWAYS be sure that it WORKS RIGHT. I once made one of those ice trains things you see in world 3-Castle , and it took me FOREVER before it finally worked right. The same applies for ice flows, generators, platforms, etc.