Archive: 46 posts

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I dont like to have a blog for the reason I have the chance to forget about them, thats why I am creating this thread. Intro I mentioned something in another thread.. In two months you can easily finish and complete 4-6 thermo maxxed out levels thoughSome people where amazed by this, or just couldnt believe it. Also a lot of people that have seen my Sack 4 level had a hard time believing it took me a little less than two weeks to finish. (I took a few days off, helped adi with a new level and made some new psn/lbp friends with whom I have played several levels/showcased our levels to eachother.) The release of "In pursuit of the meddling magpie" and the tutorials resulted in a lot of pm's and psn-mails asking me for help, guidance and some even asked me to create their levels. O_o About me (to shorten thread, ill spoiler it) Even when I was 6 years old I was allready drawing/writing down games and idea's for games.. I grew up with the pongstation, then nes, atari, sega, snes, Jaguar, n64, dreamcast, ps1, ps2, gamecube, pc, xbox360, Wii and ps3 (dont have to mention the handhelds do I?) So yea.. they have been my biggest influence probably in how my mind works. If there was an editor for the game, I used it. I created community levels for: Tenchu 2, Unreal Tournament, Unreal Tournament 2004, N+, Trials HD, And have worked on, but never finished some various snes games trough romhacking. Eventually I had an internship at "Khaeon/spellborn" for about a year. they where working on a massive MMorpg that could have easily beaten WoW, But due to problems I wont mention here, the company got bankrupt. Here are some images of my work in that game: (All was designed by a concept artist, in this case I allready had a mockup to work with) http://www.doupe.cz/Files/Obrazky/art2/s/spellborne/prev/spellborn_03.jpg http://spellborn.acclaim.com/images/pic-638.jpg Now due to my arms being Fubar due to 10 years of constantly using the pc, I am glad I can still use my thumbs, and occasionally use the keyboard. (I use speechrecognition & Wacom from time to time). I still got a lot of experience, so why not share it with you guys. Lets finish a level in three weeks or faster! *puts on fake teacher glasses* To make this "Guide" as global as possible, I will focuss on the average original lbp level. 1.1 Creating a new level - Week 1 This first week will be all about working out concepts, getting idea's, inspiration etc. 1.1.1 day 1. The beginning. This first week can be really handy as it only used your mind, and maybe a piece of paper and a pen to work out idea's, concepts etc. You can start with this when you are working on the final tweaks on your prev. created level or when real life takes up most of your time. You might spend a few hours in the editor for props/objects/characters, but nothing that will take up all of your time. First and utmost important for creating a level is to have an idea of what you want to create in the first place. Is it a platformer? a puzzle? a rocket cheetah on safari trough the dutch streets of Amsterdam? so lets make a small list. 1. Purpose. 2. Gameplay. 3. Theme. 4. Requirements. 1.1.1.1 Purpose What kind of level do you want to create? a co-op level? a story based adventure? or just an oldskool platformer.. decisions, decisions, decisions.. Eventually you have to make them. If you know what kind of level you want to make, you can allready discard certain elements. You can also start with another kind of idea.. If you want to create and island, your main purpose can be an island, preferable nice looking and gameplay-oozing, unless you want to make a holiday island.. then you might create a free-roam experience or make it a race around the island. Its all up to you. 1.1.1.2 Gameplay To say it short, What kind of gameplay do you want? Is it all hard jumps, want a puzzle where you have to get a key out of the maze to open its gates? do you want a shooter? something more storybased? Is it challenge based? or a free roam level where the player just can relax en enjoy the scenery. Again.. decisions, decisions, decisions. 1.1.1.3 Theme Do you want your level to take place in a castle? an underwater cave? or at the local race tracks? Sometimes you can also force a theme upon yourself. For Sack 4 I knew I wanted to do a mountain.. But just a mountain might have been dull for my sack stories, so I went for a "Mangrove Mountain" A mangrove is a in-river forest, and a mountain is obviously up in the sky. But still visually you can get a mangrove, somewhere up a mountain. 1.1.1.4 Requirements What kind of stuff will the level require? If you want puzzles, you are gonna need puzzles, if you want races, what kind of vehicle would you want to use/create? if you want a storybased level, you might want to come up with some characters for this story. If its a island you are focussing on, you might want to create some palmtree's, maybe some plants/rocks to use under water, if your island has a vulcano, you might consider a cool rope bridge from one top to another.. just think of some stuff you want in your level. Does it need a giant cut-scene where a giant monster rises and grabs the bridge you are on? That would require a lot of logic, are you up for that task? 1.1.1.5 Comment on checklist The order of this list is not important yet, all you need are the essentials. Also make sure everything on the list fits with the rest of whats on your list. Sure, an underwater vulcano can work, but LBP doesnt allow for fire underwater (unless you want it all to be candle flames.. and that might look really really bad), same for a vulcanic glacier. But a burning forest, a underwater cave, a sunken city.. it all could work really well. Though, I love out of the box thinking, so if you can make a visually believable vulcano glacier, go for it! Also, if you really want to finish a level in three weeks you might have to consider not using some stuff unless you are more experienced or are up for a challenge! 1.1.2 Day 2, lets get some idea's and lets be inspired! You had a whole day to think about the checklist, You might have gotten a few idea's on what you want to do with your level. Lets take "theme" from the checklist first, you can start with any of the questions on the checklist, but I often start with theme. 1.1.2.1 Theme - decision Okay lets choose a theme. Are you ready? 3.. 2.. 1.. A gloomy forest with one or two caves! 1.1.2.2 Getting inspired Now we have made our decision, we should get inspired. Here are some good ways to get inspired: (random order) 1. Watch the "Earth" documentaries, they show some of the most wicked landscapes on earth, You not only get inspired.. you will love earth a little more as well. 2. googley googeley googidy google! Lets google some forest and cave pictures: http://www.wildasia.org/images/380/DB_DeerCave.jpg http://i.d.com.com/i/dl/media/dlimage/18/61/85/186185_large.jpeg http://www.gigem.ru/post/gigem_gloomyforest700.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3513835206_b8fed6b903.jpg http://www.4x4offroads.com/image-files/ice-caves-049.jpg http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/0f/75/89/cave-formation-mammoth.jpg Now note, these where all on the first page of google images when searching for gloomy forest, and cave. As you can see, one of the images is from a random game, and what can be more inspiring than an old 2d games like sonic, Mario, zelda, skullmonkey's etc etc?. 3. Play LBP levels, other games!! The more games you play the more you will get an understanding of what makes a good game, and what does not. That is why often the older gamers will say that the old 8/16 bit mario/sonic/zelda etc where better.. we have been in the scene much longer than you youngsters so we obviously have a better understanding on what makes a great game and why we often hate the newest versions of those games. But since this is very opinion-focussed lets not go there. 4. Watch movies/series Fantasy movies, sci fi movies, Anime, animations (pixar etc) will all help you expand your creativity or at least get inspired by them, even the cartoon your kids are watching (if you are a parent) can inspire you, may it be the style or a game element it had. 5. Read books Reading a book might sound old fashioned and even grumpy, but nothing works better on your brain than a good book, may it be a fantasy title, may it be a roman or a thriller.. Books will allow the reader to create the world inside the book.. inside ones mind. 1.1.2.3 thats it for today For today that might be it, Keep images that inspire you in a folder for later use (on your harddrive). See if you have the time to rent/buy the earth docu's, watch your favorite movies ( i dont think chickflicks will result in good levels though ) and play some lbp levels/other games. 1.1.3 Day 3 - so.. now that you are inspired.. There are more decisions to make, for this tutorial I will be focussing on a gloomy forest with a few caves to change up the scenery. We have googled some images of caves and forests and maybe had some time to play a few games/watch some movies/played lbp levels. We need to know what we need to build. 1.1.3.1 Objects we might need to create: A forest will need at least the following things: tree's, Branches, Bushes. maybe a bomb that looks like a flower (flowerbomb from zelda) A cave might need the following: Stalagmites, stalagtites, rocks, roots (from the forest upstairs) Because the scenery is "gloomy" we might also need the following things: Lights, bats, dead tree's, spiders, tree stumps. 1.1.3.2 Enviromental platforming. Sometimes an enviroment can come with its own obstacles, Lets take the gloomy forest/caves as an example. What kind of obstacles/platforms can come with a (gloomy) forest: 1. Dead tree's could break, they could be turned into alternative bridges. 2. Jumping from branch to branch, maybe the tree's are in some sort of swamp and sackboy cant touch the floor. 3. You could use hanging vines to cross swamps/get higher/lower. 4 we could turn the tree-stumps into jump-pads, this will not only look good, the player will visually recognise a stump as a jumping platform that is actually part of the enviroment. 5. we could use the flowerbomb to blow up dead tree's blocking the way. What kind of obstacles can come with a cave: 1. Falling rocks, 2. Gaps in the floor where sack has to swing over/jump over. 3. maybe use those tree-roots for swinging. 4. If there is a blockage with some roots sticking out, pulling those roots might result in a collapse of the blockage. 5. Somewhat over the top, but still an idea you could try out: Sackboy has to put rocks on a basket of roots making the tree in the forest part lower itself to proceed. 6. Use the flower bombs to blow up obstacles. So, thats eleven idea's in eleven minutes, but there is more. If we also consider using some creatures like the bat/spider/snake they could also be part of the platforming or puzzles. What can we do with these creatures: 1. Let sackboy jump from bat to bat to cross a swamp. 2. have a species of bats that are grabable and lets you fly across/up/down 3. Looking back at my "Sack, the legendary" level two, I used spiders and spider-egg-sacks as platforming elements like having a grabable spider to swing about. 4. have spider-egg-sacks with some wires as webbing to swing about some more. 5. have big spider legs with gas/needles as a dangerous obstacle. 6. have snakes that charge at sackboy when he gets to close. etc etc. 1.1.3.3 Summary day three Looking back at day three, we should be proud of ourselves. We came up with and written down many objects we can/could use in our gloomy forest/cave, But not only that! Looking at the checklist: 1. Purpose. 2. Gameplay. 3. Theme. 4. Requirements. Because we worked with theme as a start, and thought of what kind of stuff we might need for our level we also thought of what we might need to build for our level (Requirements) And we also came up with some nice platforming/puzzle-ish idea's!! (Gameplay) So all of a sudden we did not only work on one element on this checklist, but three! So, enjoy the rest of your day! you have deserved it! 1.1.4 Day 4 The purpose of life.. or.. at least your level! While we have thought about the theme, and with that.. gameplay and requirements.. We need a purpose for this level. 1.1.4.1 Standard purposes. The standard purposes are obviously something like: "Fun to play" "Not so hard that people will quit playing" "Must have a "red line" that takes the player trough the level. Eventually it can all be braught back into this basic assumption: "to make pushing buttons fun" 1.1.4.2 Some idea's. Maybe there is an evil bat terrorizing the naburing village. A haunted mansion your "friends" dared you to spend the night. Maybe because it is night.. the main road to your house is blocked off.. and you need to go trough the forest.. But even without a story, some levels are fun enough to play trough without a single speech bubble being activated. Now I came up with these as fast as I am writing them down, Sometimes you can get a massively good idea trying to come up with things quick.. Sometimes it just hits you on a wednesday evening when you are half-asleep. (in the latter case, write those idea's down instantly!! you might forget about em in the morning) 1.1.4.3 decisions. (again) As I dont want this tutorial to get to complicated I want to keep logic at a minimum, I dont want big cut-scenes or a really intense story.. I just want a fun level getting from A to B. For that reason, lets go for the "Main road is blocked off during the night, need to go trough forest" This "purpose" is very easy to implement into the rest of whats on our checklist. Mind you though, in the enviroment artist's life.. he often just get a purpose..(thats based around the main story) and if he is lucky a concept artist.. and off he goes. "Go build us a level young pada-Enviroment-artist-wan" Counting today, you have had 4 days to come up with "Theme", "Requirements", "Purpose" and "Gameplay" So.. we are going to need a basic floorplan. Lets keep this for tomorrow as we have time enough. (but.. try keeping it in the back of your head.. draw/write down small idea's if you got them)

2010-01-26 21:18:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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Added day three. 19 days to go.

2010-01-29 15:39:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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Awesome! Thanks for posting this!

2010-01-29 15:52:00 Author: Frinklebumper Posts: 941

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This is good. Very good.

2010-01-29 17:28:00 Author: Ragfell Posts: 729

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Sorry for the lack of updates, I cannot easily type whole pages without my arms aching. Ill start on day 4 now.

2010-02-03 14:30:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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No problem, don't hurry yourself if you're getting tired!

2010-02-04 05:07:00 Author: RCIX Posts: 250

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nice guide ill be checking this from time to time now

2010-02-04 05:39:00 Author: rseah Posts: 2701

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Nice guide. I'm already great at starting project, but I'd really like to learn how to finish one. Preferably before the end of the month.

2010-02-22 12:02:00 Author: Rogar Posts: 2284

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I know I should write more and more often, but as its slippery outside, and working on three levels (one will be finished in 1.5 week and will be bigger/better than magpie ) Give me some time

2010-02-22 13:03:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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Hey luos, you should mention that your "sack the legendary" series was thouht up and concepted in a dream, you got to skip a few steps because you were already planning ahead while you were sleeping! And you figured out the logic as well, while asleep! lol

2010-02-24 17:10:00 Author: damaz10 Posts: 771

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So, in conclusion, what we have learned from this: How to start your project and how to finish it (within three weeks): Work hard, Don't get distracted by other projects

2010-02-24 17:21:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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Hm. I just noticed this. I find it rather silly to be honest. It really depends on what you are trying to create. Sure, I can start a level and finish it by tomorrow, but it's not going to be very good. I dislike the idea of saying that you can finish any level within a certain time window. I spend a ton of time in create mode, but if I'm going to make a level to the standard at which I currently find myself capable of creating, three weeks is a bit a of a stretch. I quite literally play LBP from noon on Friday until about 8:00 PM on Sunday, with a few hours sprinkled in during the week. That said, I've been working on a level for three weeks already, and I figure I have at least 1-2 weeks to go to get it to the level of polish I know possible (I'm at 80% thermo now). I will have put well over 100 hours into it. For the sake of argument, consider that I only put in 105 hours into the level. Over 21 days, that comes out to 5 hours a day. Every day. Nobody has that much time to commit to LBP. Why, then, all this talk about rushing a level to be done in 3 weeks. What if you don't like part of the level? Would you take two days out of your schedule to scrap an idea, or would you doggedly push onward, following your self-induced timeline? In conclusion, take your time. We will be less amazed by the time it took to max out a level, and more amazed if it's actually good.

2010-02-24 18:15:00 Author: comphermc Posts: 5338

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I think if you wanted to approach a project like a job and had the time to devote, I agree you could do a level in a much shorter time frame. Most of us do it for fun and like in my case, get detracted by other projects that at the time interest me much more. For example, last years Beta. I think that helps though as sometimes those diversions have brought even more ideas to the table once I pick up that project again. My last level took me some 6 months of which I suspect I put around 350+ hours into it as I am intensely methodical as well as some of the concepts took me awhile to perfect to my satisfaction. That means around 2.5 - 3 months including unit testing, QA and bug fix iterations. Not sure why I would want to rush the process, as I don't think had I done it as suggested, it would have turned out nearly as good or fun. Of course as soon as someone wants to pay me for doing this stuff, I am more than willing to adopt a different type of methodology! However to the point of the thread, I think there is some great advice on how to break up tasks and have sort of a designer checklist of sorts. Most when they start creating, don't realize all the extra parts and tasks designing a quality level can take.

2010-02-24 18:34:00 Author: jwwphotos Posts: 11383

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What if you don't like part of the level? Would you take two days out of your schedule to scrap an idea, or would you doggedly push onward, following your self-induced timeline? Looking at my time in the game-industry i sometimes worked on a level for more than three months, Just to find out somebody (gameplay designer.. who was a total n00b btw) wanted something different. In my 3 week guideline, you have two to three days of time to delete/fix whatever you want. Also, in the first few days of week two you would implement all gameplay elements, so if something doesnt work.. you have time enough to change/alter/redo it. For the sake of argument, consider that I only put in 105 hours into the level. Over 21 days, that comes out to 5 hours a day. Every day. Nobody has that much time to commit to LBP. Why, then, all this talk about rushing a level to be done in 3 weeks. 5 hours a day is not 9 hours a day, the minimum expected in the industry when there are no deadlines. 105 hours would mean 11 days for me. Nobody has that much time to commit to LBP. Wrong, I probably spend an average of 10 hours a day in the lbp editor. Not everybody. Again, this timeline isnt from i.e.january the 1st, till 28th of january. But 3 weeks. so if you work on it 1 day a week.. itll turn into 21 weeks. Why, then, all this talk about rushing a level to be done in 3 weeks. because 3 weeks is more than enough to finish an above average level. (workdays, not offdays) In conclusion, take your time. We will be less amazed by the time it took to max out a level, and more amazed if it's actually good. In conclussion, maxxing out a level is the wrong way to go. Making a good level thats solid from begin to end, may the thero be half full, may it be maxxed. Maxxing out a level is not a reason to finish it ot call it done. Making a level look good can take up a day or three. Look at the cc10 entry me and theGide did, that env. design was done in 8 hours. If time is valuable, you want to learn how to speed up every process.. When this tutorial is done (and it might take a while since my arms are permanently FUBAR (Only thing not hurting is moving my thumbs)) I am confident that it could even lessen your time to finish a level from begin to end. That is, if you open your eyes. I think if you wanted to approach a project like a job and had the time to devote, I agree you could do a level in a much shorter time frame. Thats partially my goal, but my main goal is helping people that cannot decide for themselves or need a guideline on how to stay focussed on their level without loosing interest.. or working so long it that they tend to give up before the final product is realized. I hope this makes things clear.

2010-02-25 13:53:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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Just to clarify, is this a guide to completing a level in 210 hours? Or are we looking at 21 work days? I don't believe I would be able to create a level that I would be happy enough with to publish in 21 working days tbh. Whilst I think comphermc's post was a little on the agressive side, I too don't agree with this pushing to get levels done as quickly as you can. Taking the time to take a step back and criticise one's own work is worth more than any amount of organisation and planning you could put in. Think of it like proof reading - it can't be done straight after creating. And as for 1-2 days to create all the gamplay? Sure, if it's just basic / standard or unrefined gameplay you are looking for. I took around 3 weeks to do gameplay refinement on Subterranean Setbacks - all the gameplay was in place and those three weeks were spent simply tuning it. Now I don't mean to attack you or be overly harsh, but in your levels the fact that you produce them quickly shows. If I didn't know the development time, I'd assume you were a pretty decent creator; but knowing the development time, your work looks like a very skilled creator who is rushing and not living up to their full potential and that's a shame. I'd very much like to see what you could produce if you did take your time to pay attention to the smaller details. On topic, the workflow and organisation of this topic will indeed be very useful to many creators that struggle to keep their projects on track, my previous post was purely in jest. I can't see myself using it as, like jww says, this is for funzies. I get to do plenty of in-depth project planning at work thank you very much, but I am interested to see where this goes when you get time to complete it.

2010-02-25 14:23:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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Wrong, I probably spend an average of 10 hours a day in the lbp editor. Not everybody. Ok, not everyone, but my point remains valid. Few beside you have that amount of time to commit to creating. We have lives, and people generally don't spend every last minute of LBP working on a single level. Sure, that may not describe you, but it does describe 99.9% of everyone else. because 3 weeks is more than enough to finish an above average level. (workdays, not offdays). I still don't agree with this. Let it be known that MM spends 10 weeks working on a single level. That's working full time. With pay. Any knowing the ins-and-outs of create better than anyone else. You simply cannot achieve a perfectly polished level in 3 weeks without compromising on something.

2010-02-25 14:56:00 Author: comphermc Posts: 5338

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ive created a competition level to time constraints before and it doesnt work well at all ,theres some nice visuals tho i may have wasted much of the time on that and depending where your talents lie i.e level design, characters, vehicles, logic rtm springs 2 mind lol, it can take 3weeks of fettling just 2 make it all work in sync

2010-02-25 16:26:00 Author: ghostrider135 Posts: 259

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I had typed in a reply but edited it out, I think its a silly tutorial. Who cares how long it takes? Its down to you and time spare + preference to when you think its ready.

2010-02-25 16:49:00 Author: GruntosUK Posts: 1754

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Just to clarify, is this a guide to completing a level in 210 hours? Or are we looking at 21 work days? I don't believe I would be able to create a level that I would be happy enough with to publish in 21 working days tbh.Have you looked at your own logic? Your work does not fit the "average level" tag. I too don't agree with this pushing to get levels done as quickly as you can.You dont have to agree, I am not pushing anybody.. But there are a lot of people in the community that keep asking me (if i could dump my psn mail here, i could easily give you 50 mails about the questions I will asnwer in this "tutorial/guide". That is the main reason I am writing this Tut/guide. I'd very much like to see what you could produce if you did take your time to pay attention to the smaller details.I think the boss in "Sack 5" might please you then, it took me three weeks to get it working, but thats because I have studied your logic a lot the last few weeks, as well as helping Adi on two levels and also helping Gide. Also, Sack 4 is the first one I am visually content with, the three prev. ones where just to re-hone my skills after a year of being afk. I still don't agree with this. Let it be known that MM spends 10 weeks working on a single level. That's working full time. With pay. Any knowing the ins-and-outs of create better than anyone else. You simply cannot achieve a perfectly polished level in 3 weeks without compromising on something.There is a difference, working in a team means lots of discussions, concepts, concept art, concept gameplay, improvements, revisions, redoing and testing over and over, creating new stickers, objects, materials etc etc. But then again, I cannot believe that if you have a whole team.. It takes a team 10 weeks to finish a fully polished lbp level. (I do wonder how their editor works though, If it is more in-depth and has more control.. things might take a lot longer) I know people (proffesionals like Sjoerd de Jong) who can create a fully working, fully visually breath taking 3d level in a few days, even if he needs high poly models and newly scripted scripts. ( here is one part of his tutorials in his book about gameplay and visuals: http://www.hourences.com/book/tutorialssae2.htm ) But then again, look at how long it took to fix the "1.07" bugs. that kinda says enough for me your work looks like a very skilled creator who is rushing and not living up to their full potential and that's a shame.Ok.. I will explain why.. This will open up a little of my dark/depressed side, but this might explain why I am pushing myself to finish the levels I am working on. As you might have allready heard.. My arms are FUBAR (ffed up beyond all recognition) I will probably never be able to get back into the gaming industry unless I can get noticed for my ability to improve concepts/visuals/gameplay and get a more "thinking" job. Last year was a year with a lot of frustration.. I cant do what I love.. Work on games/enviroment design.. Thats the main reason I booted up lbp again after a year of hating it due to 1.07 I have many many gameplay/visual/story designs for various games written down, But the Sack story came to me in a dream (I even dreamt about the logic..) and I was able to create the first level looking almost identical to my dream minus some points I lacked at that point. Having written down this story.. It kept haunting me.. Not being able to do anything with it because of my arms. I have made over 100 decent photo's the last year.. but it did not satisfy me.. I need to create stories.. levels.. enviroments.. So.. When I re-did the Sack levels into a 13 level series... I made a promis to myself.. Finish these 13 levels as fast as I possibly can, get it over with and try to do something with my life.. And thats hard when you cannot use your arms on a regular basis... (The moment I cannot use my thumbs anymore will probably the moment my life has no meaning anymore untill the "WYTISYG" system will be fully functional in applications like 3dsmax/ued/photoshop etc. ("WYTISYG": What you think is what you get) They are working on it... but for all I know it might be 10 more years before it fully functions, let alone implement it in Apps. ) I didnt think Adi would get me so far to be "kind" again against the lbp community, let alone that I wanted to be part of it, and submit/create vid tutorials etc. If it wasnt for adi, I would have finished level 8 a few days ago... But I would not have as much fun working on my levels, let alone fall in love with LBP again. I am doing this for the community as there are people who need/want/could use a guide like this. I did not expect comph his post, because yes it felt agressive and yes that got to me, you would think a moderator would at least think and just stay on the gentle side and thank the poster for his time. to make you understand.. it took me two hours to write this.

2010-02-25 17:43:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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I'm a bit on the fence on this one, but I think the message to take away from this is not so literal as the the thread's title. I think we're all wizened enough to know that time is a personal measure. Three weeks of work for one person is not three weeks of work for another person, for all the reasons that have been discuss in this thread so far. That being said, I do not think this is a silly thread at all. I see a lot of questions being asked by junior and senior members alike on how to make a good level, or how to finish a project that has become stagnant, or where do people go for inspiration. To make a long story short, I think the community at large is very inefficient at creating. We might come up with great product in the end, but more often than not we spend a lot of time getting nowhere. I'm sure most of us would like to expedite our production process, and three weeks is a fantastic sounding timeframe which undoubtedly is the catchphrase for this thread. But the real point of this thread is how to plan, or more specifically, what needs to go into your plan and how to organize that work in order to maximize your efficiency in create mode, so that you don't spend 50 hours creating half a level that you're unsatisfied with before you realize you should just start from scratch. Yes, creating should be fun and not a chore, but I think we would all have more fun if we could get more product for our time. One of the reasons I deliberately avoid doing level series is because the time commitment is so large I worry that I would not be able to finish. Being able to plan things according to a timeline is a huge asset, and like the real development world, sometimes things need do have to get rushed. Thank you Luos for your tutorial, even I learned something by reading this today.

2010-02-25 18:20:00 Author: Thegide Posts: 1465

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I have read all the posts that everyone has been saying about their personal preferences on how a level should go about being made. The point that luos is making is that serious planning beforehand is something that many people don't understand when it comes to making a great level. I am one of those people who didn't take the time to think a level through before rushing ahead and going on sheer luck. I think that most people who have posted here get the feeling that there are too many factors to take in to make a really great level in 3 weeks. This tutorial gets you locked and set to get everything down with drawing out a plan that is what the level will eventually turn out to be. By having a strong and concrete blueprint, with all the elements that you want in your level organized, it's very easy to follow that and crank out a level in 3 weeks I believe. I myself found out that planning is crucial and with a level now in the making, it's seems possible that it's gonna be done in a bout 2 weeks, and all I'm doing is making it in LBP, no thinking about whats going in it or how its goin to be layed out This tutorial is just a stepping stone for those who need some help or want to learn how a level can be made easier to go about doing. It's not forcing anything upon anyone, its just providing some friendly help

2010-02-25 18:40:00 Author: damaz10 Posts: 771

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We might come up with great product in the end, but more often than not we spend a lot of time getting nowhere. I go nowhere most of the time, and from 20 instances of going nowhere, find a way to progress.

2010-02-25 19:29:00 Author: GruntosUK Posts: 1754

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(psst... I do find it ironic I can finish a level in 2 weeks, but not this "guide")

2010-03-08 16:19:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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Im jealous that u have the ability to crank out a level like it's nothing

2010-03-08 17:24:00 Author: damaz10 Posts: 771

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(psst... I do find it ironic I can finish a level in 2 weeks, but not this "guide") Heh. We got the Discworld level in return, so can't really complain.

2010-03-08 22:37:00 Author: Rogar Posts: 2284

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Just read this luos and it rules i can't wait for the next parts.

2010-03-10 15:46:00 Author: lbpholic Posts: 1304

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This guide helps! I'm disregarding the timeframe thing entirely but the whole process through which a good creator goes is interesting and possibly very valuable to me. Those criticizing this should probably take a step back and realize that this topic is actually more than just 'MAKE GUD LVL FAST'

2010-03-16 06:16:00 Author: monstahr Posts: 1361

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This is a very good tutorial. I think some people are taking it too literally. The creation process was very helpful. I don't follow it exactly but the basic idea was very useful, and planning a level is never a bad thing. FYI, sometimes having a deadline is a good thing. I've written some of my best work under a deadline, the same can apply to anything creative. There's a strategy in writing where you work quickly and complete the piece, then rest, then go back and edit it to turn it into a masterpiece; again, this can easily apply to LBP, and is very similar to this strategy. I hope this guide keeps getting updated, it's helped me a lot with planning my level. I'm also intersted in seeing how the level turns out if in fact it ends in a finished level by the end of the guide!

2010-06-09 02:33:00 Author: Valente Posts: 1

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Well it hasnt been updated in a long time, Mainly due to my arms and some personal happenings that took a lot of my time. sorry for that.

2010-06-12 14:40:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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Cool tutorial dude this will really help me create my level. Also dude I think you should create a tutorial for lighting, some cool puzzle, gameplay it wound really help me create my level faster

2010-06-12 20:15:00 Author: Arnald23 Posts: 1843

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Yeah, thanks for this, luos. I need this so very bad. I can't think of any ideas whatsoever...

2010-06-13 17:20:00 Author: piggabling Posts: 2979

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This might encourage me to finish a level for once! (I have so many level openings, but ran out of ideas and left them in the dump! ) I'm more into making objects and contraptions (I've been entering NuclearFish's contraption challenges since - and including - the tenth one!) But thanks for a great guide! I'll add the page to bookmarks so I can check back when I start creating!

2010-06-13 17:48:00 Author: Weretigr Posts: 2105

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I just see this as a work chart, that works for someone, it could help me oranizing my own stuff more efficient. But nothing more. I'm not like: "Ok, I'll have the ideas in the first week and implement them in the second, then troubleshooting, testing, refining and done." I can't but to make it up as it goes, creating a little, seeing what's not working, what's needed, a few days pause for thinking/research and back to create to stumble upon a super easy way to do something I haven'T thought of before. It just flows. Or doesn't :-/

2010-06-14 08:02:00 Author: Xario Posts: 238

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Lol, it takes me around 3 months to finish a level, but I'd like to think my levels are pretty well polished because of the time I put in. If I limited myself to 3 weeks, I'd be embarrassed at the results. Kudos to you though Luos, for your passion and commitment to carry on working in spite of your disability. I've known people who have left behind their productive lives and turned to sponging state benefits because of a wart or an ingrowing toenail, but there you are with your FUBAR arms taking 2 hours to type an ultimately fruitless post on an internet forum. You're clearly a headstrong fighter and not a sniveling little wet-pants who curled up in a corner while fate shat on him, so big respect there.

2010-06-14 09:18:00 Author: Ungreth Posts: 2130

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*bows for Ungreth* Thanks man.

2010-06-16 13:32:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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This looks intersting. I've actually set a timeframe of 5 months for my next project, but that's mostly because I'm planning a large number of setpieces and tons of complex logic, so It's going to take a while. The Crate Escape actually only took me 12 days, but I was working on it for 5-6 hours a day, and I spent another week or so after it was published tweaking it and refining it, so I guess you could say it took me 19 days. Because it was mostly one matierial, I saved time there too, and I had already built a concept model of it, so I had a good idea of where I was going before I started work.

2010-06-20 12:19:00 Author: Cpt_Sainsburys Posts: 187

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Cannot understand the hate on this topic. :| A few points to make: Ultimately I feel it is the familiarity with the LBP editor that defines the time spent in creation mode. Deadlines encourage you to make the hard desisions and further speed up your production time. These kinds of guides are one vital thing missing from the LBP community and should be encouraged and welcomed with open arms. Rock on LD.

2010-06-20 13:31:00 Author: midnight_heist Posts: 2513

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do you, Luos, really follow this plan? If so, thats pretty inspirational ;I

2010-07-18 21:26:00 Author: TehUberZac Posts: 587

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Great Post! I think the problem that i have with creating levels is that I Try to finish the level all in one day and leave it forever. and coming up with new gameplay ideas.

2010-07-19 03:24:00 Author: bob is named bob Posts: 64

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Dam.... if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your arms? You don't have to answer if it's too personal, but I know what's like be forced to stop be able to do certain things due to a disability and yes, it doesn indeed suck. Anyhow, I read your post and I think it's fantastic. I did not take the 3 weeks things literally because even though I do believe this can be done, everyone works at their own pace and sometimes certain contraptions or ideas may really really end up being a lot more complex, challenging and time consuming to actually recreate in game at times and other factors. Nethertheless, this is a great guide and it actually uses some similar methods to what I used in my level "Resident Raytech" The theme helped me come up some of the ideas for example. I really feel like if it's that hard to write for you and it takes you 2 hours to write a few paragraphs, then your your dedication & love to LBP community for you to even want to do this long tutorial should award you a medal. Well done, and keep strong. I don't think I've played any of your levels, but I've heard of you so I will check yuour levels out soon. By the way, if you have the time & your arms get better feel free to check out my level "Resident Raytech" and let me know what you think. I do hope you enjoy it. You can click the link on my signature for pictures and more detail. Thanks.

2010-11-12 01:06:00 Author: LFiers Posts: 161

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Cool and great tutorial! 3 weeks? i make my levels less than it! lol!

2010-11-24 00:53:00 Author: mixinghoney Posts: 21

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Mixed, could you please decrease your fonts to normal size. It looks kinda.. wrong.

2010-11-25 12:42:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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Nice insignt on how to build a level i followed these before i saw them,but nice to be reminded.

2010-11-29 22:11:00 Author: robotixpro Posts: 354

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take it you arent finishing this then?

2010-12-24 18:52:00 Author: Sabooza Posts: 68

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Thanks for posting this! I am going to try this when ever i make my next level.

2010-12-31 03:33:00 Author: goat9797 Posts: 13

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I dont think I will finish this particular thread, but i do have some stuff on paper that would result in a workflow schedule you can actually use in lbp2. Naow, close this thread!

2011-01-03 15:48:00 Author: Luos_83 Posts: 2136

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