Archive: 4 posts

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Well here we go. A wonderful interview with SalieriAAX all about his upcoming level, Cell 13. 1. First of all, where did the idea for this level come from? The level kind of arose out of several different ideas merging together. If you've played my last level, 'Crisis in Camelot', you'll probably have seen that I used a technique to teleport the player back to the beginning that involved killing sackboy and it got me thinking, as I've never been overly keen on enforced sackboy deaths. I thought it might be interesting to put it into a kind of literal context, with the act of sackboy willingly dying to make progress becoming part of a story rather than it being simply a special effect. Another one of my boxes on my 'to do in a level' list that I managed to tick was that I wanted to do a level that had the player being helped along the way by some kind of companion creature. I really loved Ted & Robi but of course I had to do something totally different, and creating an interesting creature that could traverse an enitre level along with sackboy and didn't tear itself apart was potentially impossible. So then I thought 'well, what if the the creature spans the enitre level itself?' Then those ideas kind of neatly combined themselves automatically after I threw in a little bit of inspiration from H P Lovecraft and the Legacy of Kain series' Elder God. 2. What is name of the 'thing'? It's name was known only to its followers, who have long since died out, though it is said to be recorded in an ancient tome whose very existence is merely hearsay. However, it most likely consists of an unpronouncable sequence of consonants and quite a lot of apostrophes. 3. Why did you choose the 'memories' you chose? Well, the principal consideration was that they had to be levels that most people will have played - if the player didn't recognize them as another level, then they would just come across as a bizarrely random and disjointed gameplay segment. Then, just as important really, I wanted them to be fairly 'dark'. Not necessarily in just in mood, but they also needed to not jar with the colour scheme of the level too much. 4. What is your favourite part of the level? I'd say I'm most peased with the kind of semi-cinematic sequences after the first two memories. I've had a lot of trouble with irrationally rotating pistons working on the sequence after the second flashback, but it's sort of there now - that's the one bit I'm really still working on. 5. How long did it take to make the level? Hmmm, good question. I started a little while before I finished Crisis in Camelot, so I would say it's probably taken about 6 weeks. That's not really a very representative total as I finished roughly 2/3 of it in the first week or so, and then I slowed down significantly. It feels like I've been making it for ever. I've been working on another level at the same time, something really quite simple and basic but possibly a bit of a crowd-pleaser (I'm quite cheap, really) which I'm also over half way through. 6. A few days ago I saw a video showing the mechanics of Colossal Calamity. How does this level's mechanics compare? Oh, they're completely different, thank goodness. Actually, that's slightly unkind to Colossal Calamity - I do sort of feel that each subsequent level I make is slightly less ambitious than my last, because I know my limits and want to save myself hassle, but it seems a little bit lame that my old levels are more 'epic' feeling. I think what this has most in common with Colossal Calamity is the music changing, as the music changes quite a lot in Cell 13 too. What's different is that Cell 13 is very linear and segmented, so you can do the mechanics for one section, get them all working just right, and then move on to the next and expect only to have to replace a few pistons when they inexplicably twist. In Colossal Calamity, everything was like one continuous sequence, so I kind of had to have every single bit of logic in my head as I was working on it so that I could make sure everything was interacting correctly and identify where problems were when something went wrong. That was extremely confusing, especially when I wasn't very familiar with the game mechanics and logic then. In Cell 13 I sort of avoided most of those problems. I still get angry with pistons, though, obviously. I have started working on giant walking creatures again, though... 7. You recently got Creator Spotlighted. How do you feel about that? Well, I'm very much of two minds when it comes to things like that, and indeed this interview. On the one hand, I am, like most people, massively vain and a closet shameless self-promoter. However, I can also be patholigically modest at times and always feel rather uncomfortable getting involved in anything that looks a bit self-assured. Luckily something like a creator spotlight or this interview allows me to talk about stuff that I find interesting, while someone else promotes my image. It's wonderful, really, so thanks! 8. And finally, when can we expect to see the level online? Probably Wednesday at this rate, but we'll see, I'm not at all sure. Thank you very much for that interview S! I (and probably a lot the community) look forward to your upcoming levels! Ah. You thought it was over didn't you. Well you were wrong. Here, why not have a little look at Cell 13 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeNy-bX89jw

2010-11-22 20:52:00 Author: CheezeBo Posts: 832

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Hey, great job with the video, CheezeBo. It looks pretty dramatic - much more so than the level really is I think that's as good a case as any that what LBP really needs is more epic music. Thanks for asking me to be interviewed! ^_^

2010-11-22 21:38:00 Author: SalieriAAX Posts: 421

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Hey, great job with the video, CheezeBo. Thanks S! what LBP really needs is more epic music. Definetly. Maybe there should be an Epic Music Level Pack XD Thanks for asking me to be interviewed! ^_^ No problem. ^_^ CheezeBo

2010-11-23 07:45:00 Author: CheezeBo Posts: 832

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Great interview! I cannot wait to be able to play the actual level Salieri.

2010-11-26 21:17:00 Author: PygmyOwl Posts: 1316

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