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TimeSplitters 2 has got a great feature in it. I doubt many people have used it, and even fewer got to grips with some of the complicated and confusing aspects, but the option to make your own multiplayer levels is brilliant. I’ve made levels so reminiscent of games like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark that they’d be indistinguishable, were it not for the lack of specialised scenery. It’s great fun making your own levels, because you can make them how YOU want them. Naturally, the game already features a host of brilliant multiplayer levels, but it’s even better playing your own specially created version of your house, workplace or school. Heh heh. Deathmatch at school :-D.
Does it really take so much as to include a ‘create a level’ option in a game. I’m sure it does involve taking limiting factors into consideration, and having to introduce boundaries and a friendly interface, but would it take so much effort? Considering the extra gameplay the mode in TimeSplitters 2 has offered me, because I actually learnt and tried the game’s options, it would have been worth the extra effort. But how many games have we seen featuring these modes? They usually come as an afterthough, or as a special extra mode to change the game in a sequel.
I could list a few examples – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – onwards featured level editors, all of which were good because, despite being objective-less and rather restricted, it was still a level in its own right. You could do everything in the levels you made that you could do in pre-made levels. I played just as many multiplayer games, such as Horse, on my own levels, because I could make them to suit a combo, or perhaps so that my equally adept chum could benefit from tricky set pieces.
I think this sort of customisation in games is great. I don’t think the game should revolve around it in any sense, because it requires too much work. The game ‘RPG maker’, which I doubt came out in this country, but was in America, was terrible. It wasn’t because it did anything wrong, but because the main game’s premise was to make an RPG. If you wanted to make a 100 hour epic, you had to spend twice as long laying out the scenery, monster parameters and entering each individual letter of text – a sickening task. Obviously, there was the major flaw of playing it – you don’t want to play your own RPG because it removes the storyline, which is half the fun.
Consequently, including a create-a-level mode in games has to be well thought out. It shouldn’t take too long for the player to make a level, but the options don’t have to be so versatile. To the average player, they aren’t going to spend their days creating labyrinthine deathtraps, and nor are they going to mind particularly if you can’t customise every single detail. I sure as hell would be content with a mode like in Excitebike 64, where you only had about 20 different tiles available to you, creating a rather restricted indoor arena. Foreign objects, ones which you only see once, aren’t the priority of level-creation modes. The objective is to let you create a small, fun level which focuses on the aspects of the game you love. You aren’t going to include funboxes in Tony Hawk’s 3 if you never use them, and likewise it’s unlikely that you’ll want a complex slalom course in a game you’re pants at.
I think that in the long run, these kinds of modes are well worth it. Imagine the likes of Gran Turismo, Burnout 2 or Crash Team Racing, where you can make your own tracks. You could tailor them to your skill level, make every corner in the perfect place to create that ultimate, constant powersliding track. It would be brilliant. And so would it be brilliant if you could make – however simple they may be – levels in Rez, and you customise the beats and music in every single enemy and level. Even that thought makes me drool.
Naturally, it wouldn’t be suited to certain genres of game – Final Fantasy wouldn’t have a particularly absorbing create-a-level mode, and nor would Tekken or Crash Bandicoot. However, racing games, on-rails shooting games and extreme-sports games would be really, really good with these modes. I am seeing them appear more often in games, which is a very good sign. But obviously I’d like to see them appear a lot, lot more. I’m just eagerly awaiting the release of Gran Turismo 4, when I can create my own tracks, and finally dispel the boredom of constantly racing the same slow cars on the same boring tracks. Long live creativity – it’s the way to the future.
Does it really take so much as to include a ‘create a level’ option in a game. I’m sure it does involve taking limiting factors into consideration, and having to introduce boundaries and a friendly interface, but would it take so much effort? Considering the extra gameplay the mode in TimeSplitters 2 has offered me, because I actually learnt and tried the game’s options, it would have been worth the extra effort. But how many games have we seen featuring these modes? They usually come as an afterthough, or as a special extra mode to change the game in a sequel.
I could list a few examples – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – onwards featured level editors, all of which were good because, despite being objective-less and rather restricted, it was still a level in its own right. You could do everything in the levels you made that you could do in pre-made levels. I played just as many multiplayer games, such as Horse, on my own levels, because I could make them to suit a combo, or perhaps so that my equally adept chum could benefit from tricky set pieces.
I think this sort of customisation in games is great. I don’t think the game should revolve around it in any sense, because it requires too much work. The game ‘RPG maker’, which I doubt came out in this country, but was in America, was terrible. It wasn’t because it did anything wrong, but because the main game’s premise was to make an RPG. If you wanted to make a 100 hour epic, you had to spend twice as long laying out the scenery, monster parameters and entering each individual letter of text – a sickening task. Obviously, there was the major flaw of playing it – you don’t want to play your own RPG because it removes the storyline, which is half the fun.
Consequently, including a create-a-level mode in games has to be well thought out. It shouldn’t take too long for the player to make a level, but the options don’t have to be so versatile. To the average player, they aren’t going to spend their days creating labyrinthine deathtraps, and nor are they going to mind particularly if you can’t customise every single detail. I sure as hell would be content with a mode like in Excitebike 64, where you only had about 20 different tiles available to you, creating a rather restricted indoor arena. Foreign objects, ones which you only see once, aren’t the priority of level-creation modes. The objective is to let you create a small, fun level which focuses on the aspects of the game you love. You aren’t going to include funboxes in Tony Hawk’s 3 if you never use them, and likewise it’s unlikely that you’ll want a complex slalom course in a game you’re pants at.
I think that in the long run, these kinds of modes are well worth it. Imagine the likes of Gran Turismo, Burnout 2 or Crash Team Racing, where you can make your own tracks. You could tailor them to your skill level, make every corner in the perfect place to create that ultimate, constant powersliding track. It would be brilliant. And so would it be brilliant if you could make – however simple they may be – levels in Rez, and you customise the beats and music in every single enemy and level. Even that thought makes me drool.
Naturally, it wouldn’t be suited to certain genres of game – Final Fantasy wouldn’t have a particularly absorbing create-a-level mode, and nor would Tekken or Crash Bandicoot. However, racing games, on-rails shooting games and extreme-sports games would be really, really good with these modes. I am seeing them appear more often in games, which is a very good sign. But obviously I’d like to see them appear a lot, lot more. I’m just eagerly awaiting the release of Gran Turismo 4, when I can create my own tracks, and finally dispel the boredom of constantly racing the same slow cars on the same boring tracks. Long live creativity – it’s the way to the future.
Heh, thanks guys. Mucho appreciated. As a point of interest, has anybody gotten seriously into designing levels and such for Neverwinter Nights? Because I had a little go, and it is really really fun. Easy to make, and count towards your characters exp and stuff. Brilliant.
How it should be :-).
How it should be :-).
I find there isn't enough memory space for the maps on Timesplitters 2. The first map I made would have been brilliant but it had to be about half teh size of the grand ideas in my head. I made an excellent one yesterday, but as always seems to be the trouble, I had no room left to put enough wepons, start points etc.
Yes, build level editors into games, but more than that, give us options to change the time or ref options on sports games, change the weather, lighting and seriousness on racing games etc.
Some of this gets done already, of course, but there could be much, much more improvement.
Oh, and nice post!
Some of this gets done already, of course, but there could be much, much more improvement.
Oh, and nice post!
Well done on the GAD win! Well deserved. :)
Well done on your GAD.
I think all games that have included a custom level creator have been sucessful. The first I remember was micro machines 2(I think it was 2) on the mega drive. Oh the fun I had!
I think all games that have included a custom level creator have been sucessful. The first I remember was micro machines 2(I think it was 2) on the mega drive. Oh the fun I had!
Heh heh. That's the great thing about PC games - they almost all have tools to make levels now. Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, CS, all the great games have them.
On a lighter note - does anybody remember the old PC game 'Stuntz'? It was unbelivably awesome - you created your own tracks, including loop the loops, corkscrews, and tonnes of strange but brilliant track designs, with dirt, tarmac and ice. Great game, and one of the first which got me into customisable levels :D:D:D.
On a lighter note - does anybody remember the old PC game 'Stuntz'? It was unbelivably awesome - you created your own tracks, including loop the loops, corkscrews, and tonnes of strange but brilliant track designs, with dirt, tarmac and ice. Great game, and one of the first which got me into customisable levels :D:D:D.
I should be getting TimeSplitters 2 soon, so I'll be able to see what this is really like.
But I loved the idea of it in games like THPS3, Excitebike 64, and even the PC's Motocross Madness.
For an RPG/Platform game this just wouldn't work as-well.
But they definitley need to include them in future games, like Mario Kart and First-Person Shooter, that allow you to go head-to-head with your mates in your own world.
It would be great to be able to play a game like CounterStrike on-line on a map of your own School, but there are rules against that now that mean it's illegal now or something after previous incidents in the past.
Shame, really.
But I loved the idea of it in games like THPS3, Excitebike 64, and even the PC's Motocross Madness.
For an RPG/Platform game this just wouldn't work as-well.
But they definitley need to include them in future games, like Mario Kart and First-Person Shooter, that allow you to go head-to-head with your mates in your own world.
It would be great to be able to play a game like CounterStrike on-line on a map of your own School, but there are rules against that now that mean it's illegal now or something after previous incidents in the past.
Shame, really.
Mario Kart...... wow..., loopdaloops and corkscrews as well as sneaky hairpins surrounded in water, come on Nintendo1 You can do it!
TimeSplitters 2 has got a great feature in it. I doubt many people have used it, and even fewer got to grips with some of the complicated and confusing aspects, but the option to make your own multiplayer levels is brilliant. I’ve made levels so reminiscent of games like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark that they’d be indistinguishable, were it not for the lack of specialised scenery. It’s great fun making your own levels, because you can make them how YOU want them. Naturally, the game already features a host of brilliant multiplayer levels, but it’s even better playing your own specially created version of your house, workplace or school. Heh heh. Deathmatch at school :-D.
Does it really take so much as to include a ‘create a level’ option in a game. I’m sure it does involve taking limiting factors into consideration, and having to introduce boundaries and a friendly interface, but would it take so much effort? Considering the extra gameplay the mode in TimeSplitters 2 has offered me, because I actually learnt and tried the game’s options, it would have been worth the extra effort. But how many games have we seen featuring these modes? They usually come as an afterthough, or as a special extra mode to change the game in a sequel.
I could list a few examples – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – onwards featured level editors, all of which were good because, despite being objective-less and rather restricted, it was still a level in its own right. You could do everything in the levels you made that you could do in pre-made levels. I played just as many multiplayer games, such as Horse, on my own levels, because I could make them to suit a combo, or perhaps so that my equally adept chum could benefit from tricky set pieces.
I think this sort of customisation in games is great. I don’t think the game should revolve around it in any sense, because it requires too much work. The game ‘RPG maker’, which I doubt came out in this country, but was in America, was terrible. It wasn’t because it did anything wrong, but because the main game’s premise was to make an RPG. If you wanted to make a 100 hour epic, you had to spend twice as long laying out the scenery, monster parameters and entering each individual letter of text – a sickening task. Obviously, there was the major flaw of playing it – you don’t want to play your own RPG because it removes the storyline, which is half the fun.
Consequently, including a create-a-level mode in games has to be well thought out. It shouldn’t take too long for the player to make a level, but the options don’t have to be so versatile. To the average player, they aren’t going to spend their days creating labyrinthine deathtraps, and nor are they going to mind particularly if you can’t customise every single detail. I sure as hell would be content with a mode like in Excitebike 64, where you only had about 20 different tiles available to you, creating a rather restricted indoor arena. Foreign objects, ones which you only see once, aren’t the priority of level-creation modes. The objective is to let you create a small, fun level which focuses on the aspects of the game you love. You aren’t going to include funboxes in Tony Hawk’s 3 if you never use them, and likewise it’s unlikely that you’ll want a complex slalom course in a game you’re pants at.
I think that in the long run, these kinds of modes are well worth it. Imagine the likes of Gran Turismo, Burnout 2 or Crash Team Racing, where you can make your own tracks. You could tailor them to your skill level, make every corner in the perfect place to create that ultimate, constant powersliding track. It would be brilliant. And so would it be brilliant if you could make – however simple they may be – levels in Rez, and you customise the beats and music in every single enemy and level. Even that thought makes me drool.
Naturally, it wouldn’t be suited to certain genres of game – Final Fantasy wouldn’t have a particularly absorbing create-a-level mode, and nor would Tekken or Crash Bandicoot. However, racing games, on-rails shooting games and extreme-sports games would be really, really good with these modes. I am seeing them appear more often in games, which is a very good sign. But obviously I’d like to see them appear a lot, lot more. I’m just eagerly awaiting the release of Gran Turismo 4, when I can create my own tracks, and finally dispel the boredom of constantly racing the same slow cars on the same boring tracks. Long live creativity – it’s the way to the future.
Does it really take so much as to include a ‘create a level’ option in a game. I’m sure it does involve taking limiting factors into consideration, and having to introduce boundaries and a friendly interface, but would it take so much effort? Considering the extra gameplay the mode in TimeSplitters 2 has offered me, because I actually learnt and tried the game’s options, it would have been worth the extra effort. But how many games have we seen featuring these modes? They usually come as an afterthough, or as a special extra mode to change the game in a sequel.
I could list a few examples – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – onwards featured level editors, all of which were good because, despite being objective-less and rather restricted, it was still a level in its own right. You could do everything in the levels you made that you could do in pre-made levels. I played just as many multiplayer games, such as Horse, on my own levels, because I could make them to suit a combo, or perhaps so that my equally adept chum could benefit from tricky set pieces.
I think this sort of customisation in games is great. I don’t think the game should revolve around it in any sense, because it requires too much work. The game ‘RPG maker’, which I doubt came out in this country, but was in America, was terrible. It wasn’t because it did anything wrong, but because the main game’s premise was to make an RPG. If you wanted to make a 100 hour epic, you had to spend twice as long laying out the scenery, monster parameters and entering each individual letter of text – a sickening task. Obviously, there was the major flaw of playing it – you don’t want to play your own RPG because it removes the storyline, which is half the fun.
Consequently, including a create-a-level mode in games has to be well thought out. It shouldn’t take too long for the player to make a level, but the options don’t have to be so versatile. To the average player, they aren’t going to spend their days creating labyrinthine deathtraps, and nor are they going to mind particularly if you can’t customise every single detail. I sure as hell would be content with a mode like in Excitebike 64, where you only had about 20 different tiles available to you, creating a rather restricted indoor arena. Foreign objects, ones which you only see once, aren’t the priority of level-creation modes. The objective is to let you create a small, fun level which focuses on the aspects of the game you love. You aren’t going to include funboxes in Tony Hawk’s 3 if you never use them, and likewise it’s unlikely that you’ll want a complex slalom course in a game you’re pants at.
I think that in the long run, these kinds of modes are well worth it. Imagine the likes of Gran Turismo, Burnout 2 or Crash Team Racing, where you can make your own tracks. You could tailor them to your skill level, make every corner in the perfect place to create that ultimate, constant powersliding track. It would be brilliant. And so would it be brilliant if you could make – however simple they may be – levels in Rez, and you customise the beats and music in every single enemy and level. Even that thought makes me drool.
Naturally, it wouldn’t be suited to certain genres of game – Final Fantasy wouldn’t have a particularly absorbing create-a-level mode, and nor would Tekken or Crash Bandicoot. However, racing games, on-rails shooting games and extreme-sports games would be really, really good with these modes. I am seeing them appear more often in games, which is a very good sign. But obviously I’d like to see them appear a lot, lot more. I’m just eagerly awaiting the release of Gran Turismo 4, when I can create my own tracks, and finally dispel the boredom of constantly racing the same slow cars on the same boring tracks. Long live creativity – it’s the way to the future.