So,
How do you guys usually go about making a level?
Do you get an idea for a theme, and make the gameplay fit that? Or the other way round?
What inspires you to keep going with the level?
What do you do to get inspired, if you're in a slump?
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So,
How do you guys usually go about making a level?
Do you get an idea for a theme, and make the gameplay fit that? Or the other way round?
What inspires you to keep going with the level?
What do you do to get inspired, if you're in a slump?
This comes up often, but I never get tired of talking about it! :D
I'm currently on hiatus from LBP2. Not due to lack of inspiration, but I do really enjoy what being away from the game does for my creativity. When I come back I'll have one strong level structure in my mind, maybe half a dozen other lesser ideas, some sketches on paper, and a lot of confidence that I'm ready to throw myself into create mode for a month or more. If successful, I'll piggyback on the good feelings of achieving one strong level and create a second or third with NO plans, just fiddling around and seeing where things go. I've done this a few times. Two months in the game, three months away, sort of thing.
Everything is an inspiration. The way that train doors open can sometimes send me on a self-hypnotized journey. I imagine the logic involved in recreating a moving subway train with doors that open and close. I wonder what sort of fun level I might build with that if I made it. I get sidetracked thinking about entertainment that has featured trains, rollercoasters, flying cars, then and then like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon I'm thinking about something else entirely... maybe a sci-fi movie... and go on another journey dreaming up LBP2 levels for THAT.
Without a plan, coming back from hiatus I've had a few false starts. Create mode CAN be daunting. And I've learned that when I am inspired to create, the worst thing I can do is play other people's levels. I instantly dilute my ambition with the instant gratification of seeing other people's completed ideas. It's crummy advice to tell people not to play other levels -- the whole community is about sharing! -- but in my case, I have to be careful. I can't start a session by jumping into a level. It's gotta be straight to create mode, splurge the creativity out in some way or another, save it. THEN go have fun in other levels.
I usually listen to an awesome song and start building while listening to it. It usually sets the theme for me. If I can, I try to see if I can recreate it on LBP, even though I suck entirely at making music. That's how inspired I am.
I mostly came up with a theme of sorts first... nothing that locked me down too much, but take Space Escape. I had no story or anything else. My theme if anything was simply "space" or futuristic looking stuff.
Basically when the MGS DLC came out, I got fascinated by all those gun turrets they had. I took them apart and worked on a bunch of ideas to make them look cooler and explode when finally shot at enough times because I didn't want to use anything made by Mm. I wanted my own!! :)
I ended up with that huge turret that you find midway through the level in Space Escape I. Some considered it a boss of sorts. lol Well.. I had no idea what to do with it, but for some reason I got curious what it would be like to make a hallway in a space ship. So I ended up with that section just before the turret and then made the door so when you opened, you were confronted with the turret. Wow.. I had a section and it was quite fun!! ..but the silly thing was I had no idea how to get past that turret even after blowing it up as you really couldn't walk through it as it was and I thought going over it would be more fun! Worse was why is a turret that I originally thought would be cool on the outside of a ship on the inside?!
At times I had thought the opening of the level would be you came in from another ship and shot that up to land and gain access for some good or evil reason. Well... I really liked what I had created and looked really cool, so I ended up creating backwards to see how I got there. lol ...in fact since I blew the whole opening scene by using it elsewhere, I decided that maybe you were in stasis and when you awoke, you had no idea where you were and discovered you were on some horrible ship that collected your ship as scrap. ..and once awake made feel you were simply a pest and should be exterminated as such. ...but why?
So I devised a series of pest control systems of sorts, hall monitors, bug zappers and even a nasty trip down a conveyor that took all the chopped up space scrap and converted it to raw materials for some unknown reason.
..and if you have played the level, you would see I finally figured out a way over the dead turret. That took awhile before that wacky idea came around. ;)
So you see.. sometimes you just start with a small or large thing that interests you and then figure out where it fits. The story might launch itself on its own. ..just have fun!
To me interesting artistic characters matter most. So I first go create a epic character that I will personally enjoy a lot, which will end up being a awesome sackbot in my level. then I create a back story to them. Little later I'll create the basic world's theme concepts that the character will be in. after that I create the overall story plot for the level. Then once I do all of that I start creating very fun & interesting gameplay concepts that i don't see done much. And after that well... I just try to make it all work out. C: ...There are some other factors too which I didn't say but you got my overall point. *mew
PS: But you know what really matters most? EVERYTHING. IMHO absolutely everything matters in a cool game. So don't overlook anything if you want your level to have all your love put into it & be truly great.
I normally start with a 'feeling' or an 'experience'. I try to recreate those giddy feelings I get from playing with other toys or video games.
The best example of this is what I'm currently putting together -
Y'know those small plastic toy train tracks you get? The box normally comes with straights, 90 degree corners, junctions and whatever, and you then get to put the network of rails together? I used to have loads of fun with that stuff as a kid. Not just putting the track together, but also watching 3 or 4 trains all ride around the same network at the same time. The head-on collisions, the near-misses, the chases, it was all so much fun to watch it unfold and try to prevent it.
My current level tries to acheive the exact same feeling, as players ride around the increasingly complex rail networks, controlling the junctions, T-boning enemy trains and trying to blow them up.
The themes I'll use are normally secondary to the level concept. I'll think of what I want to put together, then apply a theme on top of that. Typically we always portray trains in a dusty western environment, so that's the direction I'm currently heading.
As for what inspires me to keep going, I find it's most interesting to watch the natural progression of the level from day to day.
"Oh, today I had 2 train designs set up, tonight I've got 3 trains and now the first 2 can shoot things. Cool."
I also find music helps. It can't just be something I generally like, though, it must be relevant to the feeling and setting of the level. So, for instance, I'm working on a canyon/desert level about trains, so I'm listening to Rail Canyon and Bullet Station from Sonic Heroes. Nothing is more irritating than when I can't think of any music tracks relevant to what I'm doing.
If I'm in a 'slump', I tend to just not bother putting stuff together, I think it's part of the natural cycle of creating stuff, and instead of forcing yourself to do something you don't really want to, you're better off just playing something else.
I don't make levels.Quote:
Originally Posted by Valeview
I get a theme, and I am so lazy I don't get up and make it. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Valeview
Nothing. I always stop creating after an hour. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Valeview
Eat oreos. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Valeview
I'm pretty unique, in that I start on story and make everything revolve around that. First, a story idea just appears in my head. It could be a terrified maid being pulled around by a vacuum cleaner while Mm employees watch in "horror" (How Mm Got the Idea for the Negativitron), an angry creator putting together a Rube Goldberg just to zap someone he doesn't like (The Deathinator), or a lonely, small sackbot, sent by his sackbot overlords, to infiltrate a rebellious sackthing fortress (SackDroid). It could also just be a joke I thought was funny (Progressive Scary Room, Where's my Rent Money Parody, Spaffy and I Know It etc.) It could also be a combination of these two (Funny Film, Both the LBP in a Completely Different Nutshells).
If I really like the story idea/joke, then I come up with a story, then slap together some visuals. Usually, if the idea is great, then the entire movie writes itself. Rarely I have to actually think "What should come next?". If the level demands more than that, like, say, it needs some gameplay, or perhaps superior visuals, then I end up sludging through it since visual and gameplay ideas come so much harder to me than story ones. That reason is why SackDroid - Part 1 is taking 7 months to make, since if it were just cut-scenes with bland visuals it would have taken about 2 months at most.
In extremely rare cases, levels come from a piece of logic I made. An example is What Happens When Herbert Higginbotham Drinks too much Red Bull. I had made a controlinator that, when overriding a sackbot, would make it look like the sackbot was having a seizure. When the sackbot was dressed like a story character it was hilarious, and when it was wearing the Herbert Higginbotham costume the entire movie was already in my head. Another such case is a Vita level I'm working on, where a special chip I made "remembers" everything a signal does for a few seconds, then plays the remembered signal back. I'm using that to make a level where everything you do in a controlinator is repeated by a sackbot 10 seconds later, and you have to platform without knowing what you're doing.
When I make movies, I like to sit down without disturbance for a while until I get an idea to pop in my mind. Than I take that idea, and make a storyline to revolve around. While I'm thinking up a storyline, I like to throw in dramatic twists and turns to wake up the players. Once I have a solid script and a complete movie, I like to overdo the details at the end ( which isn't a bad thing for movies ) So I can really make a good setting. Add a bit of credits at the end, to make it look professional... End off the movie with a nice, soft fade of darkness and end the movie. THE ENDING OF THE MOVIE IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!! If you have an EXCELLENT movie with a bad ending, it might turn people off and make them change their minds about it.
Ok, platformers... Hmm.... I don't make platformers often, but when I do ( this is not a meme reference lol ) I like to think of a theme like... Forest, Space, Electronic, etc. Once I get my theme, I take my take my entrance, place it in a reasonable area, and starting creating around the checkpoint. Here's a tip for platformer makers. DO NOT THINK!!!!! Keep your brain on the platformer and keep your popit open!!!! If you stop to think and try to go back to it, you'll get one of those lazy creator blocks where you don't want to create for a while. ( it has happened to me a bunch.
Get a good sleep, eat a hardy breakfast, stretch a bit, and your imagination will spill out like Niagra Falls. :) hope it helps
I actully get inspired when I see a level or from a completely different game. Sometimes It just pops into mind.
For me I am a logic freak when it comes to levels. I prefer working with logic to working with materials to be honest. But I still manage to create some great levels. Usually I brainstorm some ideas down in a notebook, then when I have some time I go straight into LBP2 create mode and start building it. I think of things that I like when choosing a theme and what inspires me to keep going on with the level is that I do regular testing even if the level isn't finished so I don't get bored.
I normally only play with LBPV's create mode- but these questions still apply. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Valeview
So...
I usually try to get a vague idea of what I want to do and then I build from there. I can't imagine doing it the other way around.
And the slump....well.....I just play a different video game until I feel like creating again. I get discouraged often- thinking "what's the point of creating a level if no one is really going to play it." but I guess creating is half the fun.........
I've got a nice little plot going that will be spread across multiple levels but I'm yet to figure out how I'll put gameplay elements into them. It'll probably involve some puzzling here and there, some racing...etc.
I just make junk and pretend to know what I'm doing :D
lol... well, you do have to play to your strengths. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mnniska
Go into a space, make stuff, leave. Come back another day, make stuff, leave. Repeat over a veeeeery long time and a level might come out. Or a bunch of nothing that gets deleted.