Let's Discuss How do players make such complicated yet interesting levels

I'm nowhere near as sophisticated in my designs as @gmacpro. He's got this crazy ability to fit 3 or 4 steps into spaces where I can only make 1 or 2 at most. That being said, most of the stuff we use comes from the Tutorials page: https://mekoramaforum.com/media/categories/tutorials.2/
I also research the Game Behaviours forum here: https://mekoramaforum.com/forums/behaviours/
And when all else fails, I just put together interesting moves I've seen in other people's levels. I welcome and encourage you to do the same.

 

Making levels comes easy but each level must (IMO) have an idea or substance behind it. For example, I can throw a bunch of blocks down and make a path but if there isn't a point to the level then it has no meaning to me. @Don G Rowe says mine are more sophisticated than his but his have (generally speaking) a well develop and eye pleasing design to them. I've started to attempt this but as @Don G Rowe already indicated, having good design means a much larger level or wasted blocks. I have a level coming out shortly, where I'm going to post the level with design and I'm also going to post the prototype (the baseline of the level - how I created it). You'll see the level became much larger than the original so design comes at a cost.

I've mentioned this before on how I make levels. As I think of an idea, I create that one move which isn't a level. I repeat this and I may have 5 to 10 moves. Incorporating them together can be tricky as you want them to look cohesive and not separate. I do like making levels that reuse paths as it makes for a challenging creation plus good game play.

@ADM - you mentioned "so fast". Previously, I was creating levels and after the testing period of about a week, I'd post one level. So one level a week but I had over 10 levels waiting to be posted. So now I'm uploading 1 every 2 days to get them out there but since I started posting them, I've created 6 more so the cycle never ends. I'll not be making any more levels until I get back from our Mexico vacation coming soon.

Hopefully that gives you some insight.

Cheers

Gordon

 

I completely agree with @gmacpro that having even the most basic plan/idea of what you want to accomplish is critical to good level making. It doesn't have to be specific, it might be something like:

"I want to make a level where B has to knock down three balls in a specific order to reach the win." You'd be surprised how many options you have to consider and account for just to turn this seemingly simple statement into a working level.

 

Good question. I have found that i receive more accolades when my level has game play, is eye pleasing, and is either in honor of a "noun" or makes political humor. Fun game huh!

 

Really nice thread. May I join?
I liked gmac's and Don's approach. I'm sometimes tempted to imitate their styles and figure out a formula, but I found out you can't teach how to make a good level. It always comes from experience and constructive feedback from other authors and players.

Yeah, sometimes I played a level too hard that the steps sink into my subconscious that I was able to "copy" those moves/steps unconsciously.

True. As a beginner, there's no other way to learn that this is true than playing/making levels.

 

I like to learn what an individual piece can do when applied to a number of different contacts. Too bad i waited till just recently to look deeper at the sliders rail/ no rail and boundary relationship.

 

@ADM and @Don G Rowe – I've posted the level that I mentioned above. The prototype is in the comments and you'll see a significant difference between the two.

 

The prototype could have two purposes as the game play would be the same between the 2. The intention was to show how nicer design increases the size of a level and therefore making the level much larger than it could be. If a player wants to play the prototype, go ahead as it's easier IMO.

 

Get some skills for us , thanks