Sonic's White Glove Diaries -

Updated and maintained by Johnny 'Sonikku' Wallbank and A.J Freda

Monday 1st November 1999

Level design

 First, I'd like to clear something up - I (Sonikku) am not dead. AJ Freda
made it sound like that on the main page a few days ago, nor is he in charge
of STJr now, however, he is tending to the page while I'm moving house.

 Meanwhile, here's how we made the SRB2 levels!

 First, pick an editor! I use WADAuthor, but AJ prefers DCK. Either way, it
doesn't make much difference - DCK has a bit more support for add-ons, but
WADAuthor allows you to quickly make various features.

 Levels are made up of sectors, which form your rooms, platforms, laser
floor, Crusher o' Doom 2000, etc. , using the level editors you can add
water, change floor / ceiling height, change textures (if it'll look like a
rock, metal, grass...) and so on.

 But there's no point in having a nicely done level without any objects!
You do need at least one object - a single player start - Without this you
CANNOT run the level.
 Of course, this would lead to a very boring level, so add some badniks,
rings and whatever else you like and place them where you like. Aerial
badniks should be placed on higher ground, where they can ambush Sonic, for
example.

 At this stage you can finish off and end it at the at, or - better still,
go back and add decorations and fine-tune your levels! Did you have any bugs
in the levels? What about multi-player mode... after you set off that trap,
will everyone be able to make it through?

 There are, inevitably errors to sort out. If you forget to add a texture
to a wall, it can give you a 'Hall of mirrors' effect, while this is good
for comical effect, it looks a bit ugly.

 Other errors include objects inside objects, where enemies can get trapped
inside other enemies and be stuck (again, good for comic effect), crushers
can be set off in different sectors, and a whole bunch of other bugs that
are guaranteed to annoy!

 Next time: WADever.