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Right click and save target as. Otherwise it loads as a blank screen.

Level design is never really something a lot of us think about. Adventure Games don't spring to mind quickly when somebody mentions level design; it's usually something you'd associate with long loading times or Quake... or both. But in reality, levels are the world in which the player interacts, so pretty much every game is built on levels.

We rarely consider level design when building adventure games, or at least I know I rarely do. This is a very interesting read, and it's written by Steven Chen (Double Fine Productions) and Duncan Brown (LucasArts). It may not appeal to everybody here, but as a (not very good) artist, I find it pretty fascinating. Download the Word File Here. (Right click and save as)

Here are some juicy extracts:

Building materials, or texture in the case of games, lend a great deal of character to a space. Brick adds warmth, stone is cold, and white walls clinical. The first rule is to keep it simple. Try limiting yourself to three materials. One for the floor, ceiling and walls or even simpler. The architecture should be background and not draw attention away from gameplay with dazzling textures. Add detail with trim like wainscoting and mullions, but keep them in a consistent material. Avoid mismatching construction types, the weaker, lighter materials should always go on top.

Light is the most effective way to dramatize and enliven a space. You can improve a corridor simply by adding skylights or backlighting...

In an architecture studio you are asked what the concept for your design is. They are asking what the big organizing idea or ‘parti’/ spatial idea behind your project is. Organizing ideas and types are often tied to specific programs like schools or hospitals or structural types like brick arches or gothic vaults. In games the player isn’t going to get a chance to ask you that question so you better make it clear what you concept or idea is. When designing game levels you might want to be think about some these types to reinforce the idea of feeling of space that game narrative might involve. If you have a story idea about some huge corrupt corporation trying to take over the world with cyborgs (an often used and hackneyed story line) then it might help to go look at what some of the great corporate headquarter buildings look like; how does a corporation express it’s power in the world by building architecture?

I don't think so. Perhaps something ambient for one of the caves. It's the progromming thats screwing everything up. And I'm screwing up the programming. Oh woe, woe, for it is an endless loop.

I like! The buildings are very, VERY um, bulbous. But I like it! Nice graphics, nice plot. Nice intro! Only thing is the writing is a little bright and hard to read. Perhaps you could outline it or something.

There was once this game called Magic Carpet, which I hated beyond anything else I have ever hated, that had a sterograph mode, but to me it just looked like static or a TV without a signal. That game was stupid and dumb. I much prefer Tintin. Tintin doesn't have stereographs or anything.

There was this awesome picture of a cat or something that I found, that wasn't really a hidden picture so much as that when you concentrated just right.... it became 3D. That was awesome.

Very nice!

I also use RPG2003... or whatever the new one is called. I loveeee it. Anyway, You could either make the sprites slightly smaller so that the sword fits... or perhaps when he slashes, have him lean back/bend his knees so that there is more room for the sword in front of him. I've only messed around vaguely with the new battle system in the new RPGMaker release, so I'm not exactly sure how you would solve this problem.

EIT: Here we go. Sorry, I did this quickly so it's stiff and lacks movement and detail and actually, it's crap. But you get the idea. Hopefully.


In the first frame he's standing. In the second frame he's got the sword raised above his head behind his back. This'll give you more room. In the third frame he's bent down to strike, and in the last frame I gave up.

EDIT2: Wait... wait... I was wrong.. in the 3rd frame, he's dumping a load.

Hey! Well BR is gonna be finished by Saturday. Or at least, ready for full testing by Saturday. So, I need all the kicking I can get. It's mid-term break and it's all too easy to lie back and relax instead of working. Which brings me to this: The List of Stuff I have One Week to Do:

1 Science Careers Project   (8 pages)
2. 8 A4 Page Book Reports   (16 Pages in Total)
2. 200 Page Books to Read to Do the Reports on. (Fuckload of reading)
1. Religion Project (STUPID Catholic School)   (8 pages)
1. Medium Length Video Game   (Bitchload of work)
1. Career Guidance Project  (I don't even know what I'm supposed to do)
   Total Workload: Shitloads.

So, when I say I need people to constantly bitch at me to get working, I mean I need people to constantly bitch at me to get working.

All I need to do is finish the programming for the puzzles in Cliffville, start the programming of the puzzles in the Foreboding Mountain, and make the ending. Yeah! Er. Well anyway. The beginning is all finished. And if it's not reading in time for the public, there's always, "Too Be Continued!"


Yay!!!!

Well it must be a snake because I distinctly see an S. In fact, I definately see an S shape. Either S, or D.

Does it say Songo?

The letters keep jumping around my head; I feel dyslexic. I am dyslexic in 3D. Perhaps I'm too tired to read these?

I can't see jack shit; I keep steaming up the monitor by breathing on it.

M0ds, I have answered before and I'll answer again.

Oh sure. I tried to make a Loom Sequel, but I couldn't think of the backgrounds. I mean, I had the core, "LOOM SUCKS" embedded into every background image, but I couldn't think of stuff to build AROUND it.

I don't get paid as much as I want to, and I don't work in very good conditions. That doesn't mean I'm not going to DO my work.

Plenty of people I know want to be policemen/women when they're older, simply because, "They get it easy." Basically meaning that they spend all day catching people for minor and petty traffic offences (My aunt got caught for doing 31mph in a 30mph zone, and she was also going down a hill at the time, so keeping at 30 would have been extremely hard)

Also, police in Ireland can get away with many crimes themselves, and can get their friends off the hook. They will not investigate a person if it is beneficial to them (to not investigate). Aye.

I'd like it to be in San Francisco. But I think you all know why

I'd like to say I'm going, but I don't think I'll have the funds for it. Perhaps Mittens 2005... but I will of course be saving like hell anyway. Viva la revo--- mittens!

Poor Rode!!!!

Irish cops are no different. My brother got assaulted EVERY DAY by this kid who lived around the corner, and he started beating him up with hurling sticks and everything, and it wasn't just my brother either. So when about ten residents on our estate reported this kid, we expected Social Services to step in at least... nothing happened. Then, the Dad beat up a nieghbour who went straight to the door to complain, and then he hit my older brother (20) for the exact same thing. Basically, this family beats up anything and everything, and Police and Social Services stay way way away.

Second was one of my work mates. They used to get about 50 people hang around outside their house with flaming sticks and everything, throwing rocks through the window and threatening to kill them. There was some stupid reason for this, but they hadn't really done anything. Every night they'd gather, attacking the house and making threats, and the police? The police said, "They'll probably go away if you ignore them. Give them a week."

Police only work properly on police TV shows.

I think he meant 'your game' in a collective sense, IE., The AGS communitys game.

Make sure you give him a nice answer Mark. It'd never do to be mean.

Now is a good time to mention that one scene in the Morgue in Pukeburg... plugburg... Pleurghburg.... It reminded me of Dreamweb, which was a fantastic game alright. It had a really great atmosphere. For some reason I always think of the view from above as connected with darker atmospheres. Hmmm.

It would certainly be a great idea... plus, you'd only need to animate one walking cycle! Ha!

Jones, eh? That's an unusual name...

I love Adventure Games. I think the main problem with them is puzzle design. The story is all important for adventure games, and nobody wants to be stuck trying to figure out to use the scissors on the portrait and the portrait on the window, at the expense of the story pace. If you're reading a book, you hardly put it down at the most exciting piece.

However, that said, I think the comparisons between games, movies and books are unfair.

It has always seemed to me that reading a book is a lot more personal than watching a movie. You imagine everything the way you want to imagine it and so you feel like you are there with those characters. In movies, you can feel emotions for those characters but it's harder to get as involved in a movie as you can with a book. In adventure games I feel as though I am helping the characters along. For me, it's sort of in the middle, somewhere between movies and books.

I love adventure games.

This is beyond reality, you guys. Give it up already!