Hunting For a Win

Can we put moving platforms in the level?

Yes

Can I just say to everyone that judging the entirety of PQ from one very small and non-revealing piccy is quite silly.

Jul 30, 2010, 2:49am, oakster wrote:Can I just say to everyone that judging the entirety of PQ from one very small and non-revealing piccy is quite silly.

I didn't judged the whole PQ, i just judged the pic's feel. And anyways, my last words were:

Besides that, seems like the patch is gonna be big both in size and in respect.

On a more related note,

How big the level must be?
Should we have something cosidered about the creativity?
Do you want platinum gems to be hard to get or in special locations?

1) Any size you want, just note the par time is up to 2 minutes
2) Recommended to have some creativity, we're not looking for best new creative level of 2010, but at least have something meaningful. Because it's a hunt level, half of the replayability is being hunt mode (aim for top scores), but the level itself needs to provide actual fun in order to fill in both fun factors and replayability. If the level isn't fun or bland, it won't fill up the replayability factor. So these two factors are highest priority, followed by originality/creativity.
3) Whatever you want. I know some are hard, some just randomized and some are in specific locations. There's no requirement for them really. If you don't want to use them at all, by all means do so; won't be penalized.

Gahhh!! Can anyone help me with my Map2Dif problem? I was making a level for this mode called Bounced Up and when I tried converting it, it just has an error. Btw, here's the picture:

I think posting the MAP would be a bit moe useful than posting a picture

If you say so:
www.mediafire.com/?g435d97miv4s8v8

Jul 30, 2010, 9:06am, marble3737 wrote:okay,lol.
i'll get to work right now.

btw,the whole level interior will be with trim (making trim ish fun for meh).
Thanks! Give me the .dif AND .map file in PM.

RM38, please make a separate thread if you need converting support. Let's try to keep this thread on topic

Sent (my entry!)

RM, maybe it has to do with those entities?
Your MP has a problem most likely.
(if those are game item (gem, pu etc) entities remove them and put them in in-game. That should fix)

Btw I did this for you. Download here.

@offline I dont have a MP! Anyways, what changes did you do to it and THANKS!

EDIT: I still CAN'T convert it!

Guys, discuss this in a PM or a different topic. You were told once by PF to do so, I'd recommend you to listen. This is your final warning.

HOPEFULLY the trailer gives everyone what we hope to see in hunt levels; the variety, the simplicity, the fun and of course originality/creativity. Furthermore, some features which you can use. You can also see how advanced we are with the Hunt Mode and what we have for it

We don't accept music files, we got our own

I'm gonna update here some things I would like you all to do/know. These are some really good tips that will help you (and my own sanity):

- I'm usually converting the levels for PQ (.mis only) and playtesting before pushing them to the remainder of the staff to try out and that means I usually send back a PM with a few notes that I'd like that person to improve. Once the improvement comes, I'm replacing the files appropriately. Most of the time I request changes to be done before I even give it to the staff as this increases your level quality for the staff which is bonus points for you.

- Gems. I know, you don't have the hunt mode and therefore can't playtest, but there are plenty of maps seen on YouTube that gives you an idea of what's happening.
--> Add more gems to your map. I'm asking all submitters to resubmit (telling them via PM of course) because there are barely any gems in the maps. 20-30 doesn't cut it, you need a TON.
--> The small map (0:24-0:31 in trailer) has 72 gems, Alex's map (0:38-0:44) has 138 gems and the third map seen in the trailer (0:59-1:07) has 206 gems.
This is how many gems you probably need in your map. Up to now, 20-30 doesn't cut it as a Hunt level. The larger your map, the larger the amount of gems you gotta have.
--> Spawns usually gotta be close together OR spread around like Bowl (in which case gem spawns are all high). I did The Dragon Room for MBO which had ~100 gems too, but all were yellows/blues due to the spreadings. Current maps submitted you get probably 30 points on a bit of a lucky run, that shouldn't be so.
--> Take large maps for example: skate battle royale, promontory and bowl. Gems are at specific spots, but also a bit spread in the areas you can find them. Lots of travel, but easy to get to parts.
--> Take small maps for example: blast club, king of the marble, sprawl. Not a lot to travel so you get there pretty fast BUT you have less gems available as to balance it.
--> Take medium maps such as Marble It Up or Playground. Gems nearly all over the place, but there are massive amounts of things to do and the gems are easy to collect while are spread around with near-even.

- Alignment. I'm usually fine with things, but please align your items, especially the gems, with the interior. The best way to have great alignment in quark/constructor is putting the interior at whole numbers, examples: 0 0 0, 5 3 7, -10 -48 320. This means whenever you align items, they're easier to do and remember.

- Spawns. When you align the EEs, DO NOT ALIGN ON THE INTERIOR. When I convert the .mis directly, I align the spawns to nearest whole number (see above), so having it at -13.32 12.11 5.724 means I align to -13 12 6. Because of that, I took the assumptions the eggs are in the air instead of aligned to interior; this means I have a map I have to fix where all but one spawn are INSIDE the interior or BELOW it. Please put your eggs in the air, as you always spawn in the air. Generally 2-3 units above the surface is good enough.

- Easter Egg: If you have one in your level, TELL ME POSITION. I had someone telling me it's below a slope and thankfully I caught that the egg was also at the lowest point of all eggs. That means I didn't make a spawn point straight OOB.
I usually convert all eggs in .mis to spawns. Telling me it's at X won't help as I don't check map before I fully convert it to be playable. TELL ME POSITION: 14 15 -34. This way when I hit the egg with that position in the .mis I won't convert it.

- Time limit: larger maps often need more time. Medium maps usually work well with up to 1:45 mins time limit. Making a large map 1:45 or less minutes makes some good variety and replayability
--> Add Time Travels as these increase the playtime/replayability of your level. This may decrease the par time of the level to something like 1:30 mins but these Time Travel send it right back up. Adds to the pathway as well. These do not have to be in the middle of a gem spawn, but not so far away either.

- Choosing which gem color: While red should be your main, a splash of yellow works. Make blues appear too and platinums as well. With a spawn of 11 gems or so I make 5 reds, 3 yellows and then 2 blues OR 1 blue 1 platinum OR 1 platinum 1 red/yellow. This is a nice balance. Not every spawn needs blues or platinums, but having a sudden blue/platinum appear is great.
--> Take friction into account. If you got a friction floor such as ice, gem values usually increase. Say you have 7 gems on ice and 4 on the slopes: 3 of the slope gems are reds, 2 of the ice gems are red, 5 are yellows (all ice, 1 slope). This leaves 1 icy gem, which goes blue. That blue can be in fact on a normal surface in the middle of the ice.
--> Take challenges into account. These usually mean red gems around and some in them, but mostly yellow. Make it balanced.

- Use what you see: the trailer showed SOME of the frictions/hazards we got, so use what you see. If you end up using something that isn't in PQ, this will look bad on your level. If you're using friction, use the friction you can see. We're using MBG/MBP default texs, so you can use these for everything you need.

- Take your time, play around, have a feel. In Hunt mode you want everything accessible and made easy. If you got something hard, make sure the gems are worth the trouble and time taken (blue/platinum). If it's a wide open level, powerups will be of great help, as well as time travels and lots of gems (hundreds). We want to have fun, we want to come back to the level.
--> Decide on your size.
----> Smaller levels doesn't mean just a bunch of platforms thrown together; check the trailer, see how complex yet easy it is. You were shown different map sizes and you were shown how the gems were close together. You got it flowing, you got a clear point of view. These maps usually need additional originality/creativity factors to compensate for their small size/time limit.
----> Larger maps need to be good to roam around, discover and be accessible. Add in a number of challenges, don't leave it open space. Check MBU maps and custom ones (on my YT channel) to see how you can spice up your otherwise wide open map. Don't overdo though. Promontory is a good example of a large open map (slopes are the main challenge).
--> Slopes are recommended. We're not looking for Pablo's smoothing style, but rather normal slopes. Doesn't mean your map has to be filled with them but it adds a good play effect and nothing on your map is even; few maps play on an even playground and still make it fun. See the small level in the trailer, that had plenty of slopes to go back up.

Remember, I always give initial feedback on how you can improve! Chances are these changes will be mostly correct and improve your level. Take these into account, but don't overdo them.

And finally, TAKE YOUR TIME. You have 1.5 months to complete your level and there are several people already working on their maps. Take as much time as you need on your map, but leave enough to get feedback and another week or so to fix. Remember, you can submit as many times as you want, so if you want 10 levels then go for it.

Hey guys, it seems like far away (4 weeks from now), but it's recommended to get your submissions up and running. The main reason is that for many of you school/college starts soon, which means less time to work on your levels. Second reason is that you'd probably want to get feedback on how you may improve your map and then you have to fix it up (if you want) during school period... not the pleasant of sights

Looking forwards your entries!

Finally, i will not update my entry, but i won't give up for next competitions!

You're not going to take Matan's suggestions? That doesn't bode well for your future PQ level building endeavors.

I am in the process of making a massive level that I think would be good for PQ so just for when I build it, where do I submit it?

See first post for all details

Aug 24, 2010, 4:19pm, pablovasquez wrote:You're not going to take Matan's suggestions? That doesn't bode well for your future PQ level building endeavors.


Of course and i'll follow Matan's suggestions but at the next competitions because that level sucks and i can't improve it, so i give up, but i'll try harder on the next competitions!

If your first submission sucked, you can make another one for this competition. That's allowed. Besides, there's no guarantee we'll have another competition.

I don't know if i'll make another entry, because i don't have much ideas!

Can I make two gems in the same place to have a Blue appear there one time, and maybe a Platinum or a Yellow instead the next?

Ye that should be possible, I saw it happen in a multiplayer zenith video, someone who got the last red and instantly got another from a different spawn, just not sure how you should indicate, maybe make them hover over each other

Most likely the two gems would spawn together. Recommended to simply have them near each other.

Oh, gem spawns are randomized and not set then?
Like it chooses a point and then it picks up to X gems in Y range?
Or are gem spawns like grouped together as a definite set

The way Matan's been saying it, it sounds like Hunt is the latter, and it seems MBO works the same way.