RED_NOVA'S PROFILE

unity... Who let you off the tracks? Uh... I mean... I'm always grateful for your willingness to help out!

Shigeru Miyamoto has gone on record saying that, when he designed the original Mario Bros. game, he designed level 1-2 FIRST, then all the way to the end. Afterwards, and ONLY afterwards, he designed level 1-1. That's a really interesting philosophy. And that statement alone made me realize all the things I did wrong with my game's first dungeon.

A first level is supposed to be the level that hooks the player in. What makes it interesting to them. Starting the development of the first level when you don't have a clear design in mind for the entire game can certainly be disastrous for the entire project. It's supposed to give the player an idea of what the game is gonna be like.

So I ask you: What's your philosophy on the first level? Do you start developing at a demo stage? Or do you start from the beginning of the game and work your way forward? Is your first level there for story purposes and less about gameplay? Or vice versa? What are some examples of good first levels? Bad first levels? Do you like first levels that go right into the action, or do you like taking times to establish story and characters before the fighting heats up?

author=emmych
Legend of the Dragoon, for the first time! Oh my goooood it is fucking hilarious. I am having such a good time. <3 I tried to play it ages back, but I didn't get very far since HEY playing it on a crappy laptop was pttthhhhbbbt.

(Also Dart/Lavitz 5ever I will ship it to death so romantic so beautiful their love is eternal mwah mwah mwah)

I just started playing that yesterday. I love this game!

But I recently picked up Spec Ops: the Line. I got it because everyone has been saying it's different from other military shooters in all the right places.

... They were right. Dear god, they were right...

Sorry, I should have been more clear in my last post.

A lot of the people I talked to that hated SA 1 & 2 didn't play them first. The younger generation, you could call them. The ones that just missed the Dreamcast and Gamecube eras or grew up with different systems. So Sonic 06 was their first Sonic game. Naturally, they hated it (Except for all the younger GreatRedSpirits out there that enjoyed it!).

Fast forward years later, when SA 1 & 2 were released in HD. Those kids played them and, since they had Sonic 06 to compare to, didn't like them because they only reminded them of that terrible game.

That's terrible logic, and I'm not trying to defend it, but that's the reasoning behind such mentality that I've seen.

I'm a Sonic fanboy. So I'm probably too biased to see it but... People thought Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 were bad? Those are my two favorite Sonic games! Sure, there was the occasional glitch, but I never encountered as many as others who call it a glitch-fest. They certainly contained a lot more content and variety than most modern Sonic games.

And I do admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Shadow the Hedgehog. However, I loved what they tried to do with the game, and I really wish they'd give it another shot.

I also enjoyed Resident Evil 6. Maybe I'm just a Resident Evil fanboy too...