Levels

These are some really messy and poorly put together level designs i made in MS paint they are better than nothing though i hope you guys like it.

i drew up a level design for the cake level. not much but hope it helps!

https://servimg.com/view/15565258/2][/url]

This is good.

However, we'll want to focus on our confirmed first level, Sakura High School. Possible level navigation is as follows (anything in [brackets] can be omitted and explained during dialog scenes): [start at music room], [go down the stairs], advance through hallway (walk past classrooms and classroom doors, possible enemy spawn points), pass by some club rooms (including the Jazz club; feel free to get creative as to what sort of traps each club makes as you pass by, but keep in mind we can only have 4 enemy types), and finally, past the Occult Club where you fight a miniboss battle against the two members (yes, at once). After the battle ends, the Occult Club sends them to the Don't Say Lazy world (which is the second level, so don't worry about that yet).

We want about 4 different enemy types (they can just be other high school girls)
Planned minibosses: At the halfway point, Jun (with her butt-slam attack that so many people want); the two occult club members at the end of the level (we've discussed the possibility of them riding a makeshift UFO)


You don't have to confine yourself to these parameters, but keep in mind we don't have enough artists yet to draw dozens of sprites for each enemy or animation you want to add. Be as creative as you want for this level, but keep in mind our current combat system is only a single melee attack and a special attack. Sorry that I'm limiting you guys so much; we can add more as we get more members.

Also: NO BLACK GUYS

I suggest the following method for designing levels:

1. We collectively specify each individual stage in numbers, i.e. we'll say "ok stage one needs to be 5 minutes long, have x number of [enemy type 1], x number of [enemy type 2], etc, x number of [trap difficulty level 1], etc", taking into account where we are in the story as to how difficult the stage should be.
2. A stage designer (we can have different stage designers for each stage, as long as they follow the specs) takes these specifications and combines them with the narrative elements in the stage to write a stage lay-out (possibly with crude illustrations)
3. The artists then take this stage lay-out and create the actual backgrounds, stage-specific enemy animations and trap animations and what have you

What do you guys think?

sounds like a plan but i think it would be easier to let the programmers take care of the time that the stage takes and the number of enemies since there is no easy way to gauge time at the moment

Well more like an indication of the time it'll take to fight through a stage, doesn't have to be spot on. Just something to know what the stage designer is aiming for. The designer can then count the number of enemies and the estimated average time it takes to fight them, plus the total distance to travel through the stage, and come up with a design as close as possible to the specifications.

By the way if I'm not mistaken this is the 100th forum post