Professional shooter level formats

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:51 pm

Hi, I noticed people have cracked the level format in games like Metroid and Mega Man-- has anyone done this with an old shooter? I'd be curious to see how they organized the level data (even studying a good home port should work), and maybe they'd have some clever tricks we could learn from.

oNyx · Post by **oNyx** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:48 pm

Levels are just flat rolled out triggers... this enemy here... moving over there and its usually coupled with the scrolling position. Pretty straightforward stuff.

Whats interesting, however, are the level editors. How they are integrated, how the workflow looks like... that kind of thing. Thats the part which actually makes a big difference. With a streamlined workflow (high turn-over rate) you can create better levels in less time (and its actually even lots of fun).

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:36 pm

oNyx wrote:Levels are just flat rolled out triggers... this enemy here... moving over there and its usually coupled with the scrolling position. Pretty straightforward stuff.

Whats interesting, however, are the level editors. How they are integrated, how the workflow looks like... that kind of thing. Thats the part which actually makes a big difference. With a streamlined workflow (high turn-over rate) you can create better levels in less time (and its actually even lots of fun).

Yeah I know what you mean, but what about something like formation generators, tile-based commands and even possibly tile-based enemy placement (with generators and coupled with delays, this could be almost seamless).. Are you certain they don't vary in this fashion?