How to Build a Level: Concept Series

[exfret]

I have decided that it would be in my interest to create a new series of levels. I'm not really thinking of making a story line, but each level will demonstrate an interesting concept (hopefully it's interesting) in Velocity Raptor level making. I will try to make the levels short and relatively easy, and I hope you all like them!

[exfret]

Want a wall that a bullet'll pass through? Want your players to have to deal with the challenge of not touching the walls? Do you want walls that take up only a line instead of a whole block? Well, then the Garage-Wall may be for you! Bullets pass through it, it's as compact as a line so that it'll never take up a whole block's space (meaning you can have more compact levels), and it kills VP on impact! Here's a demonstration:

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[Garage Walls, [o,o,o,w,w,w,w,w,x,x,o,o,o,o,o;o,o,o,w,w,w,w,w,w,o,o,o,o,o,o;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,b3-2.3000000000000003-5;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,f-15-15;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,s,o,o,o,o;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,t-10-0,o,o,o,o,o,o;f-15-30,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,s,o,o,o;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,s,o,o,o;g2-0.01-0-0.6,g2-0.01-1-1.6,g1-0.01-2.3-0,g1-0.01-0-3,g2-0.01-0-5,g2-0.01-2-5,g2-0.01-4-5,g2-0.01-6-5,g2-0.01-8-5,g2-0.01-13-5,g2-0.01-11-5,g1-0.01-11-5,g1-0.01-1.2-5,g1-0.01-3-7,g1-0.01-5-5,g1-0.01-7-7,g1-0.01-6.6-0,g1-0.01-6.6-2,g1-0.01-9-3,g1-0.01-9-0,g2-0.01-11-2.6,g2-0.01-12-0.6,g1-0.01-12.2-3,g1-0.01-12.2-1,g2-0.01-9-6.6,c-1-10-0;]]

[exfret]

A simple design: Simply place down key blocks (or, optionally, lock blocks) for blocky walls that will allow bullets to pass right through! Here's a demonstration:

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[Key and Lock Walls, [o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,x;x,x,x,k-580,k-580,k-580,k-585,k-590,k-595,k-605,k-610,k-610,k-610,o,x;x,f-1-27,o,b4-2.3000000000000003-3.5,o,b4-2.3000000000000003-2,o,b4-2.3000000000000003-3,o,b4-2.3000000000000003-4,o,b4-2.3000000000000003-5,o,o,x;b1-2.7-16,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,g,o,o,x;x,o,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,o,o,x;x,o,w,s,s,w,w,s,w,w,g,g,x,o,x;x,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,x,o,x;x,o,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,x,x,s,s,s,x;x,w,o,s,s,s,w,w,s,o,o,k-450,o,o,o;c-1-12-2,c-1-12-5;]]

[exfret]

Here's a very interesting way to create a nice, safe, snug snow wall. It doesn't come without it's glitches, though... Watch out for the bullets from the cannon in the top right corner, and try to see the invisible barriers between the snow blocks and the locks and between the snow blocks and the trapdoors! Also, if you didn't quite get all the uses of lock walls, there's another demonstration of them in this level. Here's the code:

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[Snow Block Walls, [o,o,o,o,f-100-27,g,b1-2.7-10,o,s,s,s,s,s,g,b3-1.8-5;b1-2.7-10,g,o,s,o,b3-2.7-10,b1-2.7-10,o,s,t-10-6,t-10-6,g,o,g,b3-1.8-10;b1-2.7-10,g,o,s,o,b3-2.7-5,b1-2.7-5,o,s,t-10-6,o,o,o,g,b3-1.8-10;b1-2.7-10,g,o,s,o,b3-2.7-10,b1-2.7-10,o,s,g,o,g,o,g,b3-1.8-10;b1-2.7-10,g,o,s,o,b3-2.7-10,b1-2.7-10,o,s,o,o,g,o,g,b3-1.8-10;b1-2.7-10,g,o,s,s,s,s,s,s,o,g,g,o,g,b3-1.8-10;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,g,g;k-600,g,k-500,g,g,g,g,g,g,g,g,g,g,g,g;g,g,g,b4-1.8-10,b4-1.8-10,b4-1.8-5,b4-1.8-10,b4-1.8-10,b4-1.8-10,b4-1.8-10,b4-1.8-10,b4-1.8-10,g,g,o;g2-0.01-0-0.6,g2-0.01-1-0.6,g2-0.01-4-4.6,g2-0.01-6-4.6;]]

[testtubegames]

Want a wall that a bullet'll pass through? Want your players to have to deal with the challenge of not touching the walls? Do you want walls that take up only a line instead of a whole block? Well, then the Garage-Wall may be for you! Bullets pass through it, it's as compact as a line so that it'll never take up a whole block's space (meaning you can have more compact levels), and it kills VP on impact! Here's a demonstration:

Code: Select all

[Garage Walls, [o,o,o,w,w,w,w,w,x,x,o,o,o,o,o;o,o,o,w,w,w,w,w,w,o,o,o,o,o,o;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,b3-2.3000000000000003-5;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,f-15-15;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,s,o,o,o,o;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,t-10-0,o,o,o,o,o,o;f-15-30,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,s,o,o,o;o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,s,o,o,o;g2-0.01-0-0.6,g2-0.01-1-1.6,g1-0.01-2.3-0,g1-0.01-0-3,g2-0.01-0-5,g2-0.01-2-5,g2-0.01-4-5,g2-0.01-6-5,g2-0.01-8-5,g2-0.01-13-5,g2-0.01-11-5,g1-0.01-11-5,g1-0.01-1.2-5,g1-0.01-3-7,g1-0.01-5-5,g1-0.01-7-7,g1-0.01-6.6-0,g1-0.01-6.6-2,g1-0.01-9-3,g1-0.01-9-0,g2-0.01-11-2.6,g2-0.01-12-0.6,g1-0.01-12.2-3,g1-0.01-12.2-1,g2-0.01-9-6.6,c-1-10-0;]]

I like your idea here of testing out some level designs. I'm excited to try them out. Right now I got a chance to play through the Garage Walls one. (I assume it is meant to be played in "Normal" mode? -- I had trouble getting through the second bullet-garage bottleneck in "Measured" mode.) That level felt really nice to play through. Tough enough that I died a few times, and long enough that I drove very defensively at the end (can't die now, can't die now!). But not so hard that it stopped being fun. And at the end I had the "YEAH!" moment. Nicely done!

[exfret]

I'm happy to know that I'm designing my levels well. Also, yes, the levels are supposed to be played on normal, like almost all of my levels. I know, I know, it's a game about what happens in measured and seen mode, but when taking on the view of a level-designer and not that of a physicist, it obscures the level design when you add in the confusement of measured or seen mode. So, all of my levels should be played in normal mode unless it's impossible to do so or I note otherwise. Hopefully, I'll be able to make more levels over the weekend.

[exfret]

Here's a level where the cannon targets matter:

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[Mind your Targets, [o,o,x,x,x,f-15-20,x,x,x,o,o,o,o,w,w;b1-2.7-5,o,b3-2.7-5,x,x,o,s,s,b1-2.7-5,o,b3-2.7-5,o,w,w,w;o,o,o,x,b1-2.7-5,o,b3-2.7-5,s,b1-2.7-5,o,b3-2.7-5,o,w,o,w;o,f-15-20,o,x,o,o,o,o,o,o,s,o,o,o,w;o,o,o,x,o,o,x,s,w,o,w,b1-2.7-9,t-10-0,b3-2.7-9,w;x,o,o,x,o,o,x,o,o,w,w,o,o,w,o;x,o,o,x,o,o,x,w,w,w,w,w,o,w,o;b1-2.7-10,o,o,s,o,o,x,w,w,w,w,w,o,o,o;b1-2.7-10,o,o,o,b4-2.7-5,o,x,w,w,w,w,w,w,o,o;c-1-3-6,c-1-4-6,g2-0.8-4-2.6;]]

[exfret]

Watch your step! You might just wander right into some water beneath all that snow!

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[Watch your Step, [o,o,f-1-45,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s;s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s;s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s;s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s;s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s;s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s;s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s;s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s;s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s,s;c-1-1-2,c-1-4-1,c-1-1.9-4,c-1-5-2,c-1-1-5,c-1-1-8,cw-1-9.5-8,c-1-9.9-6,c-1-11-5,cw-1-7.9-2,cw-1-10.1-0.5,cw-1-13.4-1.7,cw-1-13.4-3.6,cw-1-12.4-5.2,cw-1-14.8-6.2,cw-1-12.3-7.6,cw-1-5-8,cw-1-7.3-6.8,c-1-7.9-3.3,cw-1-7.1-5.7,cw-1-4-7.1,cw-1-9.5-2.9,cw-1-12.1-2.5,cw-0.5-10.8-2.8,c-0.9-5.3-3.4,cw-0.9-5.8-4.6,cw-0.9-3.9-5.6,cw-0.4-4-4.6,cw-1-6-0.6;]]