A survey for people who make levels

[DimensionWarped]

I'm doing some data mining in case you can't tell. I'll be running this questionnaire beside the more generic one.

1. Rank these level design interfaces from best to worst:

a) Multimedia Fusion 2

Game Maker

c) Son-ed 2

d) Construct

e) Torque 2D

f) RPG Maker

*omit any that you aren't familiar with

2. Has any unlisted level editor stuck out in your head? If so, name it.

3. What's your approach to the initial phase of level creation? Can you think of any tools that could help you organize that process?

4. What is the most painful part of building a level in the editor of your choice?

5. Can you think of any hypothetical tools that could fix that?

6. Any other tools that you can think of that you feel would make a level editor great?

7. How do you feel about the tile based approach to level design? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

[FanGameRevolver]

1. Only ever used game maker's... and I love it, even when dealing with 3D. (Where I see a 2D top down thing without depth)

2. Little big planet's, which I really cant stand.

3. Probably just laying out the tiles and looking at what looks nice.

4. Objects that will generate other objects, such as something that spawns enemies or a platform.

5: being able to see a preview of the objects action in the room editor (bit of a stretch though)

6: Being able to zoom in and out. I hate how game maker lacks this.

7. Its a big pain. Just make solid object out of the smaller tiles. Going back over the whole level takes way to much time.

[Password]

1. Rank these level design interfaces from best to worst:

a) Multimedia Fusion 2

Game Maker

c) Son-ed 2

d) Construct

e) Torque 2D

f) RPG Maker

1) Construct/MMF2 (Tie)

2) Game Maker

3) RPG Maker

4) Torque 2D

5) Son-ed 2

*omit any that you aren't familiar with

2. Has any unlisted level editor stuck out in your head? If so, name it.

Not really. :3

3. What's your approach to the initial phase of level creation? Can you think of any tools that could help you organize that process?

Mah pencil and some paper. I also look at popular fanmade and "real" games for design ideas.

4. What is the most painful part of building a level in the editor of your choice?

MMF2 - I would guess it is dragging and dropping everything without a proper grid (like Game Maker's) I know MMF2 has a grid, but who uses that?

Also, deleting everything off the frame without messing up any events. That's SO annoying. :X

5. Can you think of any hypothetical tools that could fix that?

Grid system. 32x32, 64x64, 8x8, 16x16, etc

6. Any other tools that you can think of that you feel would make a level editor great?

Easy access, organized groups of objects, fast and convenient, and able to change menus and stuff quickly. Also, I love MMF2's zooms. I can easily see the whole dang layout.

ALSO, when it comes to moving platforms, I would LOVE to see its path range first (eg Brawl's level creator platforms, they show you the path)

7. How do you feel about the tile based approach to level design? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

I really like it :3. Some strengths are being more organized, possibly faster building, and some weaknesses would probably be if you wanted something positioned in an exact spot, you would have to alter it, and also possibly not being able to overlap objects quickly (like in Game Maker, you would have to lock an object to make sure you wouldn't replace it)

[OverbounD]

2. Has any unlisted level editor stuck out in your head? If so, name it.

No

3. What's your approach to the initial phase of level creation? Can you think of any tools that could help you organize that process?

Graph paper then I build the level, works really well.

4. What is the most painful part of building a level in the editor of your choice?

The way you select objects or tiles is through a classic start menu style system. Where you have branching paths and if you accidentally click off all the time. If you right click an object it deletes it I find myself accidentally doing that a lot. Maybe some sort of tile removal tool could be used instead.

5. Can you think of any hypothetical tools that could fix that?

Objects are probably the most commonly used element in the room editor I see no reason why they shouldn't have a tool bar rather than a menu. That or you should be able to drag objects into the room right of the navigation frame. I know that would save me a lot of time. Another nice feature would be able to select and move a tile with and arrow bad and like password said zoom in would be very helpful.

6. Any other tools that you can think of that you feel would make a level editor great?

No, but I think I've described my ideal tool here.

7. How do you feel about the tile based approach to level design? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

The tile system in Game Maker is nice because you can turn off and on layers. Tiles also separate from the objects so you can change graphics without changing the level layout. I also like the grid system that's used.

[DimensionWarped]

1. Rank these level design interfaces from best to worst:

a) Multimedia Fusion 2

Game Maker

c) Son-ed 2

d) Construct

e) Torque 2D

f) RPG Maker

1) Construct/MMF2 (Tie)

2) Game Maker

3) RPG Maker

4) Torque 2D

5) Son-ed 2

*omit any that you aren't familiar with

You've used all of them? Really?

@Overbound: Please stick to the survey if you don't mind.

[OverbounD]

I rearranged my comments for you DW. Game Maker is the only thing I have much experience with.

[Asuma]

1.) Rank best to worst

a) Multimedia Fusion 2

Construct

c) Son-ed 2

d) Game Maker

e) RPG Maker

(I wanted to make GM dead last, but RPGMaker sucks even worse.)

2. Has any unlisted level editor stuck out in your head? If so, name it.

Nope none. Well, there is OpenSonic, but it has a in-game/Son'ed 2/Sonic Project Matrixx style editor.

3. What's your approach to the initial phase of level creation? Can you think of any tools that could help you organize that process? I usually just dive in. I only sketch out my ideas if it's a map for a 3D game, like Half-Life or Unreal 3.

*4. What is the most painful part of building a level in the editor of your choice?

*5. Can you think of any hypothetical tools that could fix that?

6. Any other tools that you can think of that you feel would make a level editor great?

Some type of tile painter/dragger. Or an area where you can drag a box out and have if fill up with the desired tile.

7. How do you feel about the tile based approach to level design? What are its strengths and weaknesses? The strength of a tiled based level editor I'd say is alignment. You can keep things in check and neat. However, if you a tile that not line up in the art with another tile, then it would a pain if you could turn off grid snapping.

[Felik]

2. Has any unlisted level editor stuck out in your head? If so, name it.

nope

3. What's your approach to the initial phase of level creation? Can you think of any tools that could help you organize that process?

Da paper and a pencil. Also first I first think if this a speed level or not. And I am trying to think out all the gimmicks and enemies first.

4. What is the most painful part of building a level in the editor of your choice?

Adding decorations and rings.

*5. Can you think of any hypothetical tools that could fix that?

6. Any other tools that you can think of that you feel would make a level editor great?

Capability to replace all objects of one type with another in the frame editor (just like in event editor)

7. How do you feel about the tile based approach to level design? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

It's strengths is memory saving (both ram and rom)

[Kain]

1. Rank these level design interfaces from best to worst:

Of the two listed I've used, MMF2's level editor is better than Game Maker's, except that what's behind that level editor has silly requirements that keep me from using the level editor efficiently. Game Maker's is just too bare-bones and rigid. It ends up being something that determines the x and y positions of objects and nothing more.

3. What's your approach to the initial phase of level creation?

0. Design layout in image editor

1. Lay out the collision boxes.

2. Place interactive objects and alter instance-specific values (timing things mostly)

3. Test

4. Back to step 0

5. Lay image tiles

Can you think of any tools that could help you organize that process?

Place-by-region (create a line or rectangle of objects), select multiple objects.

4. What is the most painful part of building a level in the editor of your choice?

Collision boxes and tiles. Oh also determining scale can be a bit of a pain in Game Maker, but a simple zoom in/out can fix that.

5. Can you think of any hypothetical tools that could fix that?

Some form of scriptable macro placement which you could run, check for the position of placed certain objects, then tell the editor to place other objects automatically (according to a script)?

6. Any other tools that you can think of that you feel would make a level editor great?

An advanced layer system is a must and shouldn't necessarily be tied to depth (but can be tied to certain values). Perhaps it could work like a modern Image Editor, with a window that controls the visibility of layers and which ones are active and in what ways. For example, you might have the option to dim some layers, or all except some. Layer groups would also help.

A function I've always wanted, but most people probably wouldn't use, is the ability to create drawing procedures specifically for editing purposes. For example, I might have a group of objects that all behave the same way except have a different cone of influence and it'd be nice if I could tell those object to draw that cone straight in the editor (the drawing method for all instances would be the same, but it would read their specific custom-defined variables which would be slightly different). Or perhaps I have an object which has complex geometric drawing methods and still have it drawn in the editor. Perhaps this could be something you could toggle on/of a globally, per-instance and/or per-layer (for speed concerns). These could exist only for the purposes of level editing so could be removed when the game is compiled/whathaveyou. It could even go so far as to make these functions interactive, where you could change the object's settings by dragging a piece it created for those purposes.

It'd be really sweet if you could activate a single object or group of objects to test them out without compiling the whole damn game, but I could see where this might be asking for too much.

When all else fails let the maker do it himself, by having import/export functions levels and objects with a format which is open and fairly easy to work with.

More of a system thing than level editor thing, but setting up a system for making (and drawing) geometric collision structures would be a nice option.

Something that I've seen other editors do and is certainly a plus is have the ability to edit inside the game (i.e. add an object here or there while debugging and have it appear like that in the level).

7. How do you feel about the tile based approach to level design? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

It's by no means necessary for computer games, but having 'objects' which are not as full-functioned (and thus as resource-demanding) as others is certainly a benefit, though I certainly wouldn't force anyone to use this method if their design doesn't call for it.

A bit excessive, I know.