Yorpius II level design

Discussion and analysis of graphics, story, levels, and so on.
EricMushroomWilson
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Post by EricMushroomWilson »

Never should have made this crap in the first place..
I disagree. It's a good thing you made it because some people have enjoyed playing it.

I don't think the people in this thread are trying to say that the level are bad. I thought it was more about level design theory/analysis and such.
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XkyRauh
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Post by XkyRauh »

KeenRush muttered:
Never should have made this crap in the first place..
Hey, that's not true--this isn't crap at all. It's the community's first mod, and it's got a cute tileset. :) Don't be so hard on yourself!
EricMushroomWilson said:
I don't think the people in this thread are trying to say that the level are bad. I thought it was more about level design theory/analysis and such.
Exactly. Usually when we talk about level design, it's all theoretical--this thread gave us a chance to talk specifics. :)
KeenRush
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Post by KeenRush »

EricMushroomWilson wrote:I don't think the people in this thread are trying to say that the level are bad. I thought it was more about level design theory/analysis and such.
Yeah, I know, I'm just gaaaaarged today.

Either the way, I still don't think much when building levels. :)
EricMushroomWilson
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Post by EricMushroomWilson »

Well, neither do I, really. It's a bit hard to keep all the theory stuff in mind when actually making levels...
Stealthy71088
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Post by Stealthy71088 »

Keenrush, you made the first Commander Keen mod in existance. When you made that mod, there wasn't any "design theory." Oh granted, we had level packs, but I don't think anyone ever thought much about how most of those levels were designed. You set the precedent for the rest of us, and a pretty good precedent at that. You didn't have anyone to follow.

Being the first mod, you inspired the rest of us. Many of us probably wouldn't have made our mods if you hadn't made Yorpius II to begin with. I can say that I myself was inspired by your mod.

Keep in mind that Level design theory is exactly that. Theory. While we can break down a given level and give it's strengths and weaknesses, we can never say for fact how a level should be designed. Theory shouldn't always be followed. We express ourselves through our mods; it's a language to us. It's like writing.

Mark Twain wrote a book called the Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. Critics have said it was a horrible book- it didn't stay true to the facts, and it didn't have Twain's usual personality. It wasn't a brillant work of literature. But that wasn't why Twain wrote the book. There were a number of reasons, but one of the main ones was that he wrote the book as a testament of love for his daughter, with Joan of Arc symbolizing her.
He didn't focus on writing theory, he focused on writing for his daughter because he loved her. That's a famous writer!

It's fun to think about theory just because it's there. I like the logic involved, trying to figure out a player's mindset when playing a level, trying to see what's a real challenge for the player, and the general efficiency of the level. If any of us were to really sit down and think this stuff out before we made a given level, we would never get to making the level. I can tell you right now, that if we were to break down Keen Universe, we would find much worse stuff than anything we could find in Yorpius II.

When we're asking you if you would like your commentary on the level, we don't necessarily mean theory. If you want to talk about your thoughts on theory if you had any when you made the mod, go ahead. Personally, I'm more interested in seeing your thoughts, what you had in mind when you were making your level. Did you know what you wanted to do, or did it just come out that way? Are there certain levels you liked over other levels? What was your intention behind such and such? That sort of thing.
Benvolio
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Post by Benvolio »

Wise words, Stealthy, though I may point out that when I first modded, the only mods i'd played were KeenX, KeenY, and when I bought Keen, I played Norp the Yorp 2. I didn't actually know of the existence of Yorphius at the time!! Anyway, Yorphius has an advantage, from a level reviewer's point of view, as its levels are "short and sweet", and "level theory" can be obtained from each one, whereas, in a mod wiht bigger levels (e.g. my mods) they're probably too incoherent to review.
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