Work on a larger campaign. User created content is fun, and level editors can be fun, but the ratio of people who use it for good is way too little compared to the people who use it to just spam things or do nonsense. If you are trying to tell a story, no matter how big or small, work on it as hard as you can. It should always be the centerpiece of your work, the community should come second and should be dessert, the main campaign/story should always be the appetizer and the main course. Sadly this is something of a lost idea in games, so many games these days are multiplayer first, single player craftsmanship later.
Work work work
William Good
@TheBoob
Age 41, Male
Boulder Co.
Denver, Co.
Joined on 4/12/02
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Fuck story, a game is about the game. The puzzles are what made the game fun. User created content, as long as its organized in many different ways (best, hardest, most original, new, etc) and can be user rated it will be awesome. There were some online games where all I did was play the user content because of how creative some of it got.
But of course, the users need good examples, and that's where you come in <3
I think with games like time fcuk a level editor and portal are a must. The game by itself is only about a half hour to an hour but with the portal and level editor I've spent hours playing it...
I think it really depends on the game.
instead of making a level editor take that time and make a game that doesnt suck
Im pretty sure all games i make are gunna suck pretty hard, but ill try harder
Instead of making a level editor you should add hentai. Time Fukc hentai. Lots of it.
There are two different sides to that.
Spending more time on the regular levels will exite the gamers with some more amazingly created levels. Spending time on a level editor will give gamers unlimited levels, some good, some bad. Personally I'd say keep the level editor, as long as maps can still be shared online.
personally, making a map in level editor has been too much of effort and time consuming for me :p
Although I enjoy playing on other people's custom maps, I would recommend you to focus on developing the "main stream" of your games (e.g. the campaign, storyline, etc.)
thank you for working and producing great games!
I think the level editor was a great part of time fcuk, also teh story mode. I really don't think you should pay less atention to one of them. the only problem with the user made lvls is that most of them didn't make much sense or weren't that fun to play, but that would be users fault. But when I saw ther was a level editor I thought "wooow, supercoooool" . So I liked the level editor and it think that for a 2d plataformer it really adds up extra coolness. I don't know what you're planning for your next game, so the level editor vs campaign mode really depends on the game's features and style. the level editor would work better if you added some tips or mini tutorial on level making, so the users didn't make too crappy levels, maybe? Great game time fcuk, and great game will be your next one i'm sure.
look, Ive been playing an unknown campaign and have found lots of user created levels that are great really fun to play, so the pointing system works really well, I think the user made levels really add to the game. Also if you make a level editor, wouldn't it be easier for yourself to make levels? I don't really know cause i'm a begginer programmer, but I know that some game-programmer teams actually program an editor and then create the game using that editor. Don't know if it would work in the case of making short independent games, but if you do a level editor for making te game your self you could the let the option for the users to use the editor themselves, right? btw whoe was in charge of the graphic part of time fcuk? the graphic style was an atractive part of the game. I saw the screenshot on newgrounds front page and clicked it right away. Is your next project taking the same line of graphic style or what are you planning? (if you want to tell) The dont really knowing what was going on during the game was another cool thing, and the way the character changed during the campaign (steven growing from his head-neck and then leaving) was cool. I think that kind of touches and little details added a lot to the game, so I would say that the priority order should be:
1-easy and original gameplay
2-cool graphics and ambientation, giving the right athmosphere thing
3-story and storytelling
4-level editor/minimal character customization, cool little details and touches
5-sound and music, must keep the atmosphere of the game and not be annoying after too little time
being 1 the most important.
I wrote that priority list based on my experience playing time fcuk, being those the things that kept me playing and stuff..
(if you don't understand something in my comment it might be cause English is not my language)
bye
You have a few good points, but one thing i wanted to clarify:
I do make a level editor for all games i make (or most likly will for all games in the future) but the level editor that we made all the campain levels of timefuck with was REALLY ghetto. i only revamped it later in the design process for users because i knew we were adding it as part of the game.
I think releasing level editors to the public in games helps build up communities around games. If you think about some of the games you pay for on the market, the ones that are moddable always have a large community following. Neverwinter Nights was made 8 years ago and came with the very power Aurora Toolset and the NWScript language, which allowed unparalelled customisation of the game and as such sold millions of copies and 8 years later, still has many 1000s playing on custom servers.
With Time FCUK, you made a game and took it to a new level by hosting a portal to view the levels. As such as I have becoming back to the game again and again, making many new levels. I'd only have played the game once if it had a great story and no customisation, yet I have played Tim FCUK on nearly 30 different occassions.
Truth be told, you will need to decide yourself if you want your game to have a community and perhaps a lower overall score on Newgrounds. Or if you want a game with a brilliant story that would gain higher marks. I don't think we'll be able to decide this for you, it's down to what you want to get out of your game being showcased to the playing public.
If you do make a game with a portal like Time FCUK, it would be important to perhaps expand the top lists or make more lists for the levels. I have made 22 levels so far, but only 5 of those have ever been listed, when they drop off the list they'll be forgotten unless we get lucky enough for our levels to be showcased repeatedly on the unknown campaign.
With player generated levels that are viewable, the authors of the games can find the best levels easily and ask for the talented users to develop levels for their new games beforehand, increasing the enjoyment of the game at release.
As a side note, sorry for spamming up your top levels lists with my Cheetega levels, they are great though!
Level editors are obviously a great idea, as is the ability to sort through them by rating, but the majority of the user-created levels are either too hard, too easy or seem to be created merely for visual purposes as opposed to a challenge. It is very hard to find the real gems, even among those on the 'most awesome' list.
I'm not a developer or programmer of any kind so I'm sure how the idea would work but have you considered making a level editor with its own mini-storyline?
I think the level editor/sharing levels thing is a wonderful concept, and doesn't it ask you for confirmation of deletion? XD but if you dont want to spend time on it, its fine, its just that custom levels add heavily to the awesomeness of games!
Yo, watup, Boob.
In my opinion, a level editor gives more replay value to a game, and lets the game be more accessible. So, if your next game is an arcade-type-game, or if you just want people to play your game forever, then you should totally stick with the level editor.
But, if you're shooting for a platformer/adventure game, then you should leave out the level editor, cause that would just ruin the whole experience. For these types of games, I think you should try and make the campaign as close to perfect as possible, to leave a lasting impression, if that makes any sense.
But if you can figure out a way to make an epic campaign, AND a kickass level editor, then you my friend, (if we are friends :D) would have one hell of a game.
Hmmm, i guess we can be friends, but its a tuff call really!
I am sorta struggeling with this for the next game. cause my next game is more of a full world adventure, but i am building it with a level editor as we speak, the real question is weather people will want to build their own FULL levels. Ima keep playing with it, and hopefully come up with a good solution.
better campaign
The only reason I keep playing is because I can go and do Explore Campaign
It gives a new challenge each time. Keep it.
Level editors are good, but as a tack-on. Take Spore. (somone else made this point also) The creators focused so much on editing interfaces and user created content that the game sucked. If just putting in a code system instead of level sharing is a lot esier, go with that. Tine Fcuk had a decent story, but maybe egt some more featues 4 the sequel(?) Very good on the level editing system. One of the best ive seen.
I beat Time Fcuk a few weeks ago, but still come back almost daily to play the user-created levels. It adds a lot of replay value to the game, and gives users a chance to be really creative. Keep up the great work!
Apparently Time Kfuc's on at the eurogamer expo! Its a small world...
Well I will respond to your question honestly. I personally don't enjoy too much the whole level-editor thing, but that's just my taste. I do know that it took you a lot of effort and time to make it, so I'll just say cheers to that, but it's not what I personally enjoy more.
I deeply enjoyed the storyline, the "mystery" of the whole game, it kept me going on and on, I finished it because of the story and wanting to know how will it end.
Anyways...I hope this helps and I can't wait to play your next game.
Archawn
I think you should make a better story, and not work on any level editor. As I was playing it, most of the user-created levels were crap.
TheBoob
Well i think this is an intersting point, and it deffinatly plays twords my question.
I feel we gave the community the tools to make fun levels, some people use those tools, and made kick ass levels, some made... well... some made crap...
But it definatly begs the question, splitting up the crap and the good, is it worth it?