Well, first I talk to people and get ideas and such using my (url="http://"http://24.81.41.18/~aaron/iBook.jpg")iBook(/url). I use iChat on OS 10.2.1. Then I work on my (url="http://"http://24.81.41.18/~aaron/iMac.jpg")iMac(/url) to make the actual levels. I use MASCOT MSIE on OS 9.2.2. Testing is also done on my iMac. Then I stuff it, and send it back to my iBook, where it is e-mailed off to whoever.

(url="http://"http://24.81.41.18/~aaron/desktop.jpg")My whole desk with all my stuff on it.(/url) (note the whiteboard...you can't really see it but it is covered in XR stuff...I'll give a cookie to a person who can tell me the date written on it.)

How do you make levels?

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Key Part in the making of Xichra's Revenge.
--- (url="http://"http://www.ferazelhosting.net")www.ferazelhosting.net(/url)

(This message has been edited by ferazel_09 (edited 12-15-2002).)

Quote

Originally posted by ferazel_09:
**Well, first I talk to people and get ideas and such using my iBook. I use iChat on OS 10.2.1. Then I work on my iMac to make the actual levels. I use MASCOT MSIE on OS 9.2.2. Testing is also done on my iMac. Then I stuff it, and send it back to my iBook, where it is e-mailed off to whoever.

My whole desk with all my stuff on it. (note the whiteboard...you can't really see it but it is covered in XR stuff...I'll give a cookie to a person who can tell me the date written on it.)

How do you make levels?

**

The neatness of your desk disturbs me. That, and the kitten wall calendar.

Here's the general path I take. When the Ferazel bug bites, I ask myself: what hasn't been done yet? How do I confuse people using the resources I have? How do I combine puzzling and pain? When I have a general idea of what could receive the Mean Bastard approval, I doodle. On math homework, recycling paper, college apps, you name it. When something decent comes up, I copy it onto a full-page rendition. It's then transferred into pixmap format, and...now you know.

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Some time past the 20th square, 18 and 16 shall align, and the shift shall come. (11.14)
(url="http://"http://www.foxchange.com/~spamguy/aim/profile.html")What Makes spamguy Tick(/url) -- frequently updated

I like to make up the story first. The theme of the levels I want to make. Then I plan the overall layout, how many levels what form they are going to take.
Then I try to get them into Photoshop. If you do a two layer map you can put in the background tiles by transfering them from the foreground and then tidying them up. Then I do the foregrounds, so that all the boring bits are done before I start putting in the puzzles and sprites.
Of course there are changes, and occasionally you have to totally scrap a level because it doesn't work, but on the whole I find it easier that way.
If I don't know what a level is going to do before I start I might as well not start because it will go through so many changes and like as not get scrapped in the end anyway.

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Liz the Wiz

I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.

(This message has been edited by lizwiz (edited 12-16-2002).)

My level design process is pretty simple. I start by just thinking about mean tricks and traps, then when I get a cool idea (like spamguy) I draw it out full-size on a piece of paper.

You can see an example of what my drawn-out levels look like (url="http://"http://xr.ferazel.net/images/level.jpg")here(/url). I use some of ferazel's super "Level Paper". It's great!

Then I copy the FG map into my graphics program - Adobe PhotoDeluxe - and from there I copy it into MASCOT. Then I just have to stick in sprites, crunch tiles and Xichrons.

Heh, and spamguy, is (url="http://"http://xr.ferazel.net/images/desk.jpg")this(/url) desk better? I don't like my desk. But I can't see how neat ferazel's is because the picture isn't loading (Netscape just sits there saying it's trying to connect to the server).

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Key Part in the making of (url="http://"http://xr.ferazel.net")Xichra's Revenge(/url).

My desk is not neat. And spamguy, that calendar is from 1999. I can't understand how you noticed it though.

Anyway-- the picture might not load. It's hosted on iridium's iMac, which he turns off sometimes.

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Key Part in the making of Xichra's Revenge.
---
www.ferazelhosting.net

Quote

Originally posted by MDWGMalc:
**
Heh, and spamguy, is this desk better?
**

Attaboy.

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Some time past the 20th square, 18 and 16 shall align, and the shift shall come. (11.14)
(url="http://"http://www.foxchange.com/~spamguy/aim/profile.html")What Makes spamguy Tick(/url) -- frequently updated

As rebuttal:

(url="http://"http://www.foxchange.com/~spamguy/pictures/desk1.JPG")Desk Pic 1(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.foxchange.com/~spamguy/pictures/desk2.JPG")Desk Pic 2(/url)

Commentary on Desk 1

• The sheet behind the computer is dramatised sheet music. Play it and die.
• The computer is a Sage iMac, which is > j00.
• The purple box next to the computer is the carton to the 2003 Monty Python calendar, which lies under it.
• 2 day old Vanilla Coke bottle.
• On the wall hangs a tiny mirror; Mozart's head sits staring into it. Very meaningful.
• Bonus question: find Beethoven's head!

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Some time past the 20th square, 18 and 16 shall align, and the shift shall come. (11.14)
(url="http://"http://www.foxchange.com/~spamguy/aim/profile.html")What Makes spamguy Tick(/url) -- frequently updated

I don't make levels. I merely test them.
I don't post pictures of my office. It would scare you too much. Scar you for life. Give you nightmares about going into the working world.
(A place for everything and everything all over the place. I have about 2 sq inches of space for my mouse and everything else has files on it.)

(Actually, if someone could tell me how to post a picture from my digital camera, I would! You'd run screaming into the night.)

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Age and treachery will usually overcome youth and enthusiasm.

Quote

Originally posted by spamguy:
*** Bonus question: find Beethoven's head!
**

On the shelf right next to what appears to be CodeWarrior?

I love Sage iMacs!

Of course... I have a PowerMac G4 (Dual 1 GHz, no less)... but the sage iMacs are prettier! Indigo is my favorite probably.

When I make my levels, I either get an idea of what I'm going to do in my head and then draw it out in a graphics app (Microfrontier's Enhance, usually) or do it right in MASCOT occaisionally with no tilemaps at all. I prefer the second way, because it allows much greater detail and doesn't require that I go through the whole level fixing things... I can do it accurately to the tile the first time around.

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Your pet poodle is flying loop-de-loops over my microchips! The poodle is coming! The poodle is coming! (Don't ask )
(url="http://"http://andyvn.ath.cx/Music.html")Visit my website.(/url) Does my post count confuse you?

Quote

Originally posted by AVN:
**On the shelf right next to what appears to be CodeWarrior?

**

That would actually be a Cliff's Notes of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury , but otherwise, yeah.

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Some time past the 20th square, 18 and 16 shall align, and the shift shall come. (11.14)
(url="http://"http://www.foxchange.com/~spamguy/aim/profile.html")What Makes spamguy Tick(/url) -- frequently updated

Quote

Originally posted by spamguy:
**That would actually be a Cliff's Notes of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury , but otherwise, yeah.

**

Eh, they both have stripes. Whatever.

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Your pet poodle is flying loop-de-loops over my microchips! The poodle is coming! The poodle is coming! (Don't ask )
(url="http://"http://andyvn.ath.cx/Music.html")Visit my website.(/url) Does my post count confuse you?

I've only used a tilemap a couple times and I disliked the results, so now I just hop in and do it all by hand.

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Signature currently in development.

Metropolis! Here, Here! I have that same poster as my OS 9 Background (hardly ever see it now.) Oh, and all you guys are amateurs at desk mess. The key is not leaving your mess on the desk but allowing it to grow like a horrid festering plague and spread to the floor. Maybe I'll post a picture later.

As for my method:
Like any good soulless corporate giant, it's all about the gimmick. I come up with a gimmick then sketch it on anything. Then I pop it into MASCOT, and proceed through the level as the player would, adding sprites, BG Tiles, and correct/smooth/interestize the FG Tiles. Then I get stuck at some point and give up for months. Eventually, I resume and realize that I could have overcome my err in mere hours. Really it comes down to the need to be bitten on the arse by that Ferazel bug that spamguy was speaking of.

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Oh, I'm not handicapped! I'm just lazy! -- Homer
Extemporaneous since November 2, 2000
Download (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/dl-redirect.pl?path=ferazel/addons&file;=Extemporaneous.sit.hqx")Extemporaneous 0.5(/url) for Ferazel's Wand. (260 kb)
Visit the new (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/emudevelopers/ferazel")Extemporaneous Website(/url).

Quote

Originally posted by Emperor Ent:
**Metropolis! Here, Here! I have that same poster as my OS 9 Background (hardly ever see it now.):) Oh, and all you guys are amateurs at desk mess. The key is not leaving your mess on the desk but allowing it to grow like a horrid festering plague and spread to the floor. Maybe I'll post a picture later.

**

I'm not sure whether I should hug you for having superhuman eyesight to notice that or for liking Metropolis.

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Some time past the 20th square, 18 and 16 shall align, and the shift shall come. (11.14)
(url="http://"http://www.foxchange.com/~spamguy/aim/profile.html")What Makes spamguy Tick(/url) -- frequently updated

Quote

Originally posted by spamguy:
**I'm not sure whether I should hug you for having superhuman eyesight to notice that or for liking Metropolis.

**

I'll take a hug for each. Ferazel Boards: the huggiest place around.

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Oh, I'm not handicapped! I'm just lazy! -- Homer
Extemporaneous since November 2, 2000
Download (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/dl-redirect.pl?path=ferazel/addons&file;=Extemporaneous.sit.hqx")Extemporaneous 0.5(/url) for Ferazel's Wand. (260 kb)
Visit the new (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/emudevelopers/ferazel")Extemporaneous Website(/url).