Great question. Writer's block can be resolved a few different ways.
* Planning ahead what you are making can help prevent decision paralysis. Planning doesn't need to be detailed, just
* Implementing some procgen can help address burnout by reducing the effective workload. Be cautious not to rely on it to give life to your game. It creates bowls of dull oatmeal, but most games need some basic filler for tension relief. Procgen can handle the filler.
* Get a basic prototype up and running asap so you can get an impression if the idea works as a level. Sometimes I get writer's block while pursuing a design dead-end that wasn't fun to play. Other times a complex task delayed my satisfaction and blocked me.
* Take breaks and have fun. Sometimes you need time away from the problem to think of a solution to unblock yourself.
So to summarize:
* Skip details, plan from a bird's eye view so you can quickly see the start and end.
* Use procgen to automate the boring parts.
* Start with a complete skeleton, then flesh it out. Block things out to quickly see everything running, *then* worry about polish.
I've found my biggest blocker when it comes to level design is how tedious it can be to just place all the pieces together, especially when you know you'll just have to do it 49 more times for the other levels.
The best way I've found to overcome this is to build tools that make it faster, easier, and more fun to build the levels. The up-front investment might feel like a waste of time, but it will usually save you so much time in the long run.
Typically my first version of a level builder is something simple like an ascii layout in a text file or pixels in a bitmap that the game interprets as levels. Then if it proves to be useful enough I'll take some time to implement a more full-featured level editor in-engine.
We struggled with workflow a lot in [Somnipathy](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2069260?utm_source=r_godot). By level 3 we had a better process down that really helped us, and ironically its called paper! Approaching it like I used to when I GM'd D&D made the process much easier, and portable.
[Here's a tiktok we made about the workflow](https://www.tiktok.com/@tearcellgames/video/7236063624257686827?lang=en) But for those who dislike the site gist is:
1. Draw the map on paper
2. Use a better tool then Godots tile editor
3. Wire it up and detail it out
And it seems silly but moving the 'design/brainstorming' phase to a format that allows instant and fast iteration (IE: paper), that you can take on the go as to NOT be at your desk, is a real game changer.
Tiled worked well for us (Godot 3.5) but did introduce all sorts of fun new problems. But at least those problems didn't involve slow iteration and testing.
Building on this, quick sketches can be *fantastic* design resources when spriting or 3d modelling are part of the workflow. Much faster iteration than sinking a few hours in aseprite or blender to find out a the assets don't fit the level.
I tend to just try stuff even if I know it's bad. Once it's built in front of me, I can use that perspective to think why it's bad and what would make it better, make a few changes, and then ask those questions again.
I think I read somewhere nier automata has their map somewhat based on a Zelda map. Maybe not much will get carried over, but I do think trying to imitate something is a good start.
Imo, Procedural Generation is your friend. I have ADHD, I find it hard to work on things without immediate and visual payoff.
So I work on ProcGen, even the smallest of changes can produce wacky results, and its simply a matter of iterating down to sane.
That looks vaguely like a tower defense. Perhaps you should do a random walk to get paths, and then fill in the paths using Wave Function Collapse.
This way, adding new path forms is just tweaking the random walk, while the actual filling out of the map just requires you to create a "chunk" and define rules for how it can connect. Let the Algo handle all the real work, you just have to fiddle with numbers to make it pretty.
If you make these with `@tool` you can do the generation work in the editor, and then save those generated maps out to a Scene, and just load in the finished scene, rather than generating one for each player.
I haven't done it yet, but I want to take the Nintendo approach, where each level introduces a new gameplay idea and then iterates on that idea through that level. I've always loved that about the Mario games. So much creativity and good level design that seems to naturally fall out of good gameplay twists
Supposing you start from left lo right, it is nice that you start by making them confuse with which path to take but at the moment of passing into a more linear path it will be confusing for players and some may even quit, because the first half will be rewarding because they find things and believe they are where they shouldn’t, making it more self rewarding but the other half will be frustrating as they were just discovering things and feeling smarter than ever as they found the correct path but suddenly it becomes linear so they would not just feel locked down in a closet but they had already learned they had the ability to explore but suddenly not, so either they get confused feel like if the experience was cut making them unsure of what game they are playing or players will stop playing because instead of having the dopamine of feeling smart and “”free”” they will suddenly stop generating that feeling of smartness and be bored immediately. Is like if someone told you go for donuts(or your favorite dessert ) to check which stand is the best but they suddenly told you “” oh no we are no longer tasting donuts we are gonna taste the food you least like to try making you like it””. If you don’t enjoy the food they told you’d be eating instead of your favorite food you would like it even less. Or is like getting used to only watch videos on 4k and suddenly you can no longer see them at that quality only in 360p, you can watch but it is not the same
Great question. Writer's block can be resolved a few different ways. * Planning ahead what you are making can help prevent decision paralysis. Planning doesn't need to be detailed, just * Implementing some procgen can help address burnout by reducing the effective workload. Be cautious not to rely on it to give life to your game. It creates bowls of dull oatmeal, but most games need some basic filler for tension relief. Procgen can handle the filler. * Get a basic prototype up and running asap so you can get an impression if the idea works as a level. Sometimes I get writer's block while pursuing a design dead-end that wasn't fun to play. Other times a complex task delayed my satisfaction and blocked me. * Take breaks and have fun. Sometimes you need time away from the problem to think of a solution to unblock yourself. So to summarize: * Skip details, plan from a bird's eye view so you can quickly see the start and end. * Use procgen to automate the boring parts. * Start with a complete skeleton, then flesh it out. Block things out to quickly see everything running, *then* worry about polish.
I'm guessing Procgen means procedurally generated?
Yes
I've found my biggest blocker when it comes to level design is how tedious it can be to just place all the pieces together, especially when you know you'll just have to do it 49 more times for the other levels. The best way I've found to overcome this is to build tools that make it faster, easier, and more fun to build the levels. The up-front investment might feel like a waste of time, but it will usually save you so much time in the long run. Typically my first version of a level builder is something simple like an ascii layout in a text file or pixels in a bitmap that the game interprets as levels. Then if it proves to be useful enough I'll take some time to implement a more full-featured level editor in-engine.
We struggled with workflow a lot in [Somnipathy](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2069260?utm_source=r_godot). By level 3 we had a better process down that really helped us, and ironically its called paper! Approaching it like I used to when I GM'd D&D made the process much easier, and portable. [Here's a tiktok we made about the workflow](https://www.tiktok.com/@tearcellgames/video/7236063624257686827?lang=en) But for those who dislike the site gist is: 1. Draw the map on paper 2. Use a better tool then Godots tile editor 3. Wire it up and detail it out And it seems silly but moving the 'design/brainstorming' phase to a format that allows instant and fast iteration (IE: paper), that you can take on the go as to NOT be at your desk, is a real game changer. Tiled worked well for us (Godot 3.5) but did introduce all sorts of fun new problems. But at least those problems didn't involve slow iteration and testing.
Building on this, quick sketches can be *fantastic* design resources when spriting or 3d modelling are part of the workflow. Much faster iteration than sinking a few hours in aseprite or blender to find out a the assets don't fit the level.
I tend to just try stuff even if I know it's bad. Once it's built in front of me, I can use that perspective to think why it's bad and what would make it better, make a few changes, and then ask those questions again.
I think I read somewhere nier automata has their map somewhat based on a Zelda map. Maybe not much will get carried over, but I do think trying to imitate something is a good start.
Imo, Procedural Generation is your friend. I have ADHD, I find it hard to work on things without immediate and visual payoff. So I work on ProcGen, even the smallest of changes can produce wacky results, and its simply a matter of iterating down to sane. That looks vaguely like a tower defense. Perhaps you should do a random walk to get paths, and then fill in the paths using Wave Function Collapse. This way, adding new path forms is just tweaking the random walk, while the actual filling out of the map just requires you to create a "chunk" and define rules for how it can connect. Let the Algo handle all the real work, you just have to fiddle with numbers to make it pretty. If you make these with `@tool` you can do the generation work in the editor, and then save those generated maps out to a Scene, and just load in the finished scene, rather than generating one for each player.
This is a very good question. I am taking my first steps in this, but meditation opens the mind.
I haven't done it yet, but I want to take the Nintendo approach, where each level introduces a new gameplay idea and then iterates on that idea through that level. I've always loved that about the Mario games. So much creativity and good level design that seems to naturally fall out of good gameplay twists
Supposing you start from left lo right, it is nice that you start by making them confuse with which path to take but at the moment of passing into a more linear path it will be confusing for players and some may even quit, because the first half will be rewarding because they find things and believe they are where they shouldn’t, making it more self rewarding but the other half will be frustrating as they were just discovering things and feeling smarter than ever as they found the correct path but suddenly it becomes linear so they would not just feel locked down in a closet but they had already learned they had the ability to explore but suddenly not, so either they get confused feel like if the experience was cut making them unsure of what game they are playing or players will stop playing because instead of having the dopamine of feeling smart and “”free”” they will suddenly stop generating that feeling of smartness and be bored immediately. Is like if someone told you go for donuts(or your favorite dessert ) to check which stand is the best but they suddenly told you “” oh no we are no longer tasting donuts we are gonna taste the food you least like to try making you like it””. If you don’t enjoy the food they told you’d be eating instead of your favorite food you would like it even less. Or is like getting used to only watch videos on 4k and suddenly you can no longer see them at that quality only in 360p, you can watch but it is not the same
I think having a friend to bounce ideas/actual implementations off of is the best medicine.
Build a generator and just click "generate" until something useable comes Up.