tips & hints

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onlainari
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tips & hints

Post by onlainari »

Collection of essential and not so essential tips to new and old players.


* when u do a level pack, u do give numbers to levfiles, DO so too on level names. Include the number of the level in the level title. There are massive number of level packs out there, u download one,check it out,hoyl a level and make a record, u forgot what number the level was and u have to hassle thru websites or stuff to get the number so u can save the rec as pleased.

+ levels that are not named at all "unnamed" are totally boring imo :I


* If you want to get into the scene more, connect to channel #across in ircnet . The 2nd best way to be up to date is moposite/mopolauta. For some people these are all enough. But to jump really into it, u need to visit bunch of websites and go #across daily.


(i wanted to tell about this level title thing because i see ppl making levelpacks without the numbers in titles and it pissed me off so i made this topic...there are some similar topics i guess tho)
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Re: tips & hints

Post by TheSmoker »

onlainari wrote: * when u do a level pack, u do give numbers to levfiles, DO so too on level names. Include the number of the level in the level title. There are massive number of level packs out there, u download one,check it out,hoyl a level and make a record, u forgot what number the level was and u have to hassle thru websites or stuff to get the number so u can save the rec as pleased.
Totally agree with that. I hate to have to remember to remember the number of the level I'm going to play.
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Re: tips & hints

Post by petsen »

TheSmoker wrote:
onlainari wrote: * when u do a level pack, u do give numbers to levfiles, DO so too on level names. Include the number of the level in the level title. There are massive number of level packs out there, u download one,check it out,hoyl a level and make a record, u forgot what number the level was and u have to hassle thru websites or stuff to get the number so u can save the rec as pleased.
Totally agree with that. I hate to have to remember to remember the number of the level I'm going to play.
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Re: tips & hints

Post by Antz »

onlainari wrote:* when u do a level pack, u do give numbers to levfiles, DO so too on level names. Include the number of the level in the level title. There are massive number of level packs out there, u download one,check it out,hoyl a level and make a record, u forgot what number the level was and u have to hassle thru websites or stuff to get the number so u can save the rec as pleased.
THAT IS SO TRUE!!! damn hcot levels there's 8x of them and god damnit no # i can never remember which level is which number.
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Post by WkE »

once i hoyled a level (without a number), but i dDID remember the number... maybe #8 or something. anyway, i got a really great run and a fucking good PR, so i saved : "xxxx08". after a while i played in #7, but i didn't bother to remember the number of it, so i saved xxxx08 :cry:
so i lost my holy rec.
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Post by MagnusB »

Very true onla. And another thing. When you start naming your levels (the file names), always include at least 3 number spots. E.g, magbxxx.lev. You'll regret it if you don't when you find yourself making level 100.
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Post by Flyrre »

MagnusB wrote:Very true onla. And another thing. When you start naming your levels (the file names), always include at least 3 number spots. E.g, magbxxx.lev. You'll regret it if you don't when you find yourself making level 100.
Haha, why not 4 x's? I mean, it would be quite anoying when you find your self making level 1000 :twisted:
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Post by MagnusB »

Ante wrote:Haha, why not 4 x's? I mean, it would be quite anoying when you find your self making level 1000 :twisted:
MagnusB wrote:at least 3 number spots
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Post by MP »

Yeh like TL and tipu. Both had four numbers in their lev names and even made a use of it ...oh great levs they were, not
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Post by Antz »

yep that's a handy trick i use it myself too.
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Post by magicman »

me too :) damn sometimes the world is big! ;*
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Post by Juble »

Make Level Pack containing only quality levels not crappy n00b level packs :roll:
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Post by sonic_fruit »

Juble wrote:Make Level Pack containing only quality levels not crappy n00b level packs :roll:
so can we assume here that any level you don't like is considered crappy?
remember, design is subjective.
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Post by jcl »

BarTek: I think its much easier to save a different version of the level where you move the start position. Well mayb not, im not a good designer anyways...
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Post by SveinR »

jcl wrote:BarTek: I think its much easier to save a different version of the level where you move the start position.
If you then find something you want to fix, you will have to fix it in both levs, the one with the good start position and the other one. It will be more cumbersome.
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Post by Antz »

yeah and in the end you've got 5 different levels with 5 different settings and then you can't copy the stuff to the original level anyway and you regret not just setting an apple to start location
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Post by psy »

My site might be offline forever so here are my quite old levdesign tips:

Here are some basic tips to get you started in level designing. My goal here is, that every starting designer would read this, and avoid the usual mistakes. I've made levels for quite some time so I know some things, made a lot of mistakes and learned. You don't have to take the same route.

The most important thing to do is playtesting. Play the level many times, see if you can do something better, then change it and play again and again, however, do not go too far with fine-tuning or the level will be too "polished" and there are no obstacles left to hoyl. I've made this mistake many times. Try to get a good balance; make it ergonomic and fun to play but still hard to drive perfectly.

Be original. Many levdesigners have their "trademark" styles and tricks, you can try to make your own too. However, re-inventing the wheel is pointless, that's why you should play as many levels as possible to get inspiration.

Detailed backgrounds give headache to some players (including myself), so if you definitely want to use such ugly thing as brick as your background, at least use mask so it won't move like backgrounds (and others can turn pictures off). But I really recommend using sky bg, cos the other choices in default lgr are just too confusing for serious hoyling. If you're using some other lgr, the basic idea is to get enough contrast between the back- and foregrounds. You must also choose a background where you can see your bike's wheels clearly.

Did you know that there are many players that hate gravity? If you really have to use gravity food, you should put an arrow polygon or something to show which gravity it'll switch on. Avoid messy places with many different gravity apples. A little use of gravity won't ruin a level, just keep it small enough and don't play around with it.

When adding new polygons, like uphills and so on, add them to the main polygon. If you don't, the wheels'll stuck or disturb playing in many other ways.

You might want people to find your levels tempting? In Elma, you can drive a few times to the top list. Some people feel like they just have to break them. In Across, you can add "Under xx sec"-text.

Don't block your vision with pictures. Using pictures right will make the level look very good without disturbing the play. Some ppl hide small polygons behind pictures to get the picture work like a polygon. Just remember to make the lines fat enough so ppl with low detail (no pictures) can see them too. In general the idea is good if you want to make some C64 Kickstart-like trial levs, though many players are just bored with a million 45 degree polygon levels...

Always name your level. "I made a best time in unnamed", not so nice, eh? Try to invent different level names. "Too Eazy" or anything that's related to the difficulty is pretty dull. "This is my first level" or "This level was made by psy" are also as good as "Unnamed". I'm sure you'll come up with something original. I like absurd titles but thats just my opinion.

In my opinion the suitable length for a hoylable level is 30-80 seconds. Shorter than 30 secs often get boring pretty fast and longer than 80 secs are a bit too much for a compo. If you prefer relaxing cruise levels, 2-3 mins is probably a good length. Longer than that are a pain really.

When you start playing, you might think that big downhills, big loops and speed is cool. Too bad that hardly no one thinks so after a few months of playing. So, you really should play the game for a few months first, then make the levels.

When you think you're out of ideas, stop the level there. Don't try to make it longer with slaloms or loops or whatever boring stuff.

Make interesting starts. Falling down for 10 secs isn't interesting, neither is plane ground. Put something there. When someone plays a levpack, they use aprox. 2 seconds per track. If there's nothing in the start, ESC, next...

Do not use invisible polygons as 'help' for big jumps etc. They always mess up the drive. People might try to make over with some spin, and the result is hitting their head in an invisible polygon. Without it they would've made it. They'll be frustrated enough to switch to the next level.

When publishing levels, make sure you've moved the start back to it's own place. This may sound stupid, but a lot of ppl are forgetting this sometimes.

Food object is meant to use in places you want the player to go, so he cant use a shortcut etc. Do not use them if you really don't have to. And place them in such places the player won't drive through them. Same goes for killers, you can block some passages if you want but dont overuse it.

Please spare us from your "cool" autolevs. It should be a game, not a movie.


I wonder if anyone read that :S
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Post by bob »

steal anything you can from anyone you can
steal recs and copy them or just make them yours
steal styles of editing and lev making
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Post by Kopaka »

sonic_fruit wrote:i did :)
Me 2

But their weren't really anything I didn't knew. It's tips for new designers.
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psy
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Post by psy »

Kopaka wrote:But their weren't really anything I didn't knew.
No offence, but judging by your pipe lom you could read that part about backgrounds again :wink:
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Post by MagnusB »

psy wrote:My site might be offline forever
Noooo, don't say that! [/off-topic]
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Post by Kopaka »

psy wrote:
Kopaka wrote:But their weren't really anything I didn't knew.
No offence, but judging by your pipe lom you could read that part about backgrounds again :wink:
hmm, maybe I should add this to what I said:

...but I don't agree it all of it.
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