Dromed Central

Beginner

Basic Tips for Dromed
AUTHOR: macros56
1.) Don't think that using more than one texture together will be ugly. Try it anyway. Vary the rotations, shapes, and sizes.

2.) Whenever you create a new room or hallway in your level, until you are done designing the interior, encase the room in an area bush and click on "Me Only". This allows you to portalize extremely fast, and focus only on the room.

3.) Whenever designing a new room, keep the game in Quick Lighting and Light_Bright. You cannot change the orientation of textures UNLESS you are IN light_bright mode.

4.) Try varying the shape of your rooms. Don't use only flat ceiling, flat floors, and square rooms. Try rooms that have arches, with pyramid roofs, and perhaps indentations or rises in the floor. Make rooms with more than one floor and use a balcony perhaps, or a winding staircase.

5.) Try to make your rooms flow from one to the next - a bad idea is to create a level as you go. Draw a basic outline on paper first. Envision how you would want to get from one area to another if it was a real house or building.

6.) Draw your room on paper first. Many times as you are designing a room, you'll find that your idea can be further enhanced as you put the brushes in.

7.) Don't ever copy a room from another level or fan mission. Instead, focus on the features and try to work from those. See how the designer created their columns and make even nicer ones. Look at how they made their arches, or created that wonderful staircase. See how they handled lighting, and try to emulate, not plagurize.

8.) Try to design areas to your level that allow the user to get through easily (for those who don't want too much of a challenge), but leave the option to take the harder path. Never focus on one method.

9.) Don't worry about making sure the room has all of the loot or furniture before you move on - you'll most likely be changing it in the future anyway. Just put in the basics (lights, and sometimes a bit of furniture, but don't consider it done).

10.) Create your starting location marker early and move it into each room as you are creating it to test it in Game Mode. Nothing would make you feel worse than having to move through your entire level over and over again to test minor changes.

11.) Bugs: If you are getting the Polyhedron didn't cross plane or similiar errors there can be at least two reasons: 1 - One of your brushes is not aligned to the grid properly or 2 - the room is corrupted. I've had that happen.

12.) If you portalized in Raycast or Objcast and you are finding your room has shadows that are just plain lines or extra light where it shouldn't be, then one or more of your brushes are not conncting. Check to see if your columns (the most causes) are not properly connected to both the floor and their respective parts. Also, if you are creating a staircase, make sure all of the steps are touching each other. Keep your grid on 12 and make sure everything is aligned. Never use more than one grid number in a level, you'll just really piss yourself off.

13.) Light Color - use it! For instance, in Pressing Matters, the level takes place at night in a large mansion with plently of windows. I put OmniLightPoints in each window with a LightColor of .6 , .85 and I get a dark blue light. Hue - color with values from .0 - .1 (such as blue is .5 - 6, and green is .6 - .7) and saturation is how much white light to have in the light. Best values is .65 - .85. For wall lights in a victorian settings, try .10 , .75.

14.) GO ALL OUT!!! Don't leave out a good feature or nice look to a room to save yourself time! The end user won't care that you were tired! They want the best looking level with the greatest story - stick with it! I hope you find some of the tips and ideas useful.