It has happened to most of us - you spend months slaving away at D3Edit building what you consider to be "The Ultimate Level". Custom textures, custom ships, a few outrageous new weapons, grand architecture so cool that you feel a real place should be modelled after it! After spending days checking every detail and double-checking them, you package it up and send it to the level sites for all the world to enjoy.

The excitement mounts as you wait as long as you possibly can before checking online to see how many servers are running your newly released masterpiece. You don't see your level being played..."Oh well it'll take a day or two to catch on probably...". Wrong. After days of searching, your level is nowhere to be found. Maybe you saw a server running it for a moment, at least you think you did. But other than that, your level seems to have been ignored by the masses. Your level has been sucked into the Black Hole of Levels, never to be seen or played by anyone. All of that hard work for nothing...now THAT's a sad story my friend.

So why does this great level go unplayed while other levels that look as if they were slapped together in one evening are listed on a dozen different servers? What exactly is this new level missing? What is it about this other shabby looking level that makes it so popular on PXO, or HEAT, or the MS Zone? Why doesn't anyone play my level?!?!?!

I don't know exactly, sorry. But I do have plenty of ideas and suggestions that will give your level a fighting chance at immortality in the gaming community.

Layout and Balance
Most of the layout info discussed is relevant to anarchy levels in particular. The design layout is the most important factor in building a level. If your rooms and tunnels are too small or too big, or if the layout of the rooms isn't done in such a way to promote an even "flow" through the level, no amount of cool weapons, lighting or fancy architecture can save it. At the same time, a perfectly laid out level will suffer from poor lighting, bad weapons balance, or ugly texturing. But adding or removing weapons, or changing a few lights or textures is much easier than enlarging all the rooms in a level. You MUST have a well thought out layout for the level to have a chance at being playable, fun, and therefore, successful.

So what constitutes a good level layout? I was afraid you'd ask that, it's a tough question. One way to find the answer is to examine some of the most popular levels and try and figure out what makes them tick.

For Descent 3, some of the levels that have stood the test of time online are, Burning Indika 3, Pyroglyphic, the levels in the Fury set (released by Outrage), Skybox, and even my own Earthshaker 2001 has as many as six servers going at a time (and as few as one or two :). What is it about these levels that make them so popular?

The Donut Theory
Examining the first 3 mentioned above...Burning Indika 3, Pyroglyphic, and the levels in the Fury set reveals an interesting discovery (especially the Fury levels). It is my belief that, what I call the "Donut" design, is responsible in large part for the playability and fun factor in some of these levels. Not to say that the levels look like giant donuts, but think about this...in the Fury set, Levels 1, 3, and 5 all have a central battle room, and an outlying series of passages that circle it. Pyroglyphic is somewhat similar (though more elaborate and less symetrical) in that there are a series of passages that more or less surround a central area or two. Burning Indika is a little less "Donut-ish" also, though it too may fit into this theory somewhat. I mean no offense when I refer to a level as a Donut, as none of these levels are that simple! Any level that loosely fits the following description will fit into my Donut Theory heh.

The Donut Theory™ - a level with a central battle area(s) that is more or less surrounded by a simple to somewhat complex series of smaller passages. Taurus, level 5 of Outrage's Fury series, is a prime example (right). The redish central area has a simple ring of tunnels encircling it.

Now, I'm not a psychologist so I can't say exactly why this theory works (if it truly does). I can guess though :)

• It is easy to get from one side of the level to the other, via the central hub area.
• Players can travel in more than 1 direction and still reach the same destination (around the outer "circle"). Navigating takes less thought, in fact you can turn the same direction all the way around the mine...more brainpower can be applied to actual fighting.
• Level is easy to memorize - you're never far from the main area.
• The action is faster because the level is more compact. Compare how long it takes to get across Fury level #5 (Taurus) with the amount of time it takes to get across level #2 (Halfpipe), which is a long straight level. Getting to the action is quicker in a level like Taurus, which really is shaped like a donut :)
• Appeals to both dogfighters and tunnel rats.

The donut is one personal theory I have about level designs. Of course there are other popular levels out there as well that don't fit this design. But the donut just seemed so obvious to me that I thought it deserved its own section here.

Beyond The Donut
So okay, donuts may or may not be a good idea for anarchy levels. However, we don't want all our levels to remind us of the local donut shop! So what else can we do to make our level playable and interesting enough to keep people coming back for more?

Let's stay on the subject of layout. Most of us are familiar with Pyroglyphic, by Skyrat. A great level. Beautiful custom textures and perfect lighting give the level a great "mood". But there are other levels that look just as good, or even better perhaps (I won't mention these levels or say anything negative about ANY level in this article) but they are not played. It is not looks alone that make a level great. Burning Indika 3 uses a mixture of non-custom textures, D2 style architecture, not much in the way of eyecandy, yet it is perhaps the most played multiplayer level on PXO! So what do Pyroglyphic and Burning Indika have in common that make them so damned popular?!

The levels are compact and a player can travel quickly from one area to another...the action is fast because of this. There is more than one way in and out of every room, and usually more. There are places where a player can duck around a corner during a battle and quickly come up behind the enemy. If you see a player turn a corner, he/she may be retreating, or he may be taking an alternate route to circle in behind you. You never know just which way to look.

The tunnels are big enough to fight in, but small enough so that frag missiles and concussion weapons will be effective and may be difficult to avoid. It is often easier to hit a player with lasers in a tunnel, especially in an online game, because players have less free space in which to dodge. Sometimes I just spray my quads down a hall knowing that at least some of the shots will hit their target. Dog fighting in a big room or outdoors on a slow connection can be near impossible. A lot of players on analog modems stick to tunnels for this reason. Very small areas can give the player a claustrophobic feeling, plus sometimes the walls are so close that you can't easily see the way out.

The open areas of these levels are big enough for dogfighting, but not so big that it's difficult for players to hit each other. Having both dogfighting areas as well as tunnels in your level will attract both styles of players. Keeping the polycount low while maintaining some impressive architecture is very possible. It is much nicer playing a well built level that is also pleasing to the eye.

Aesthetics
The way a level looks can affect its playability. Using texture/lighting combinations that make it difficult to see other ships, or that is just plain hard on the eyes, will detract seriously from the level. Using a lot of flashing lights, animated textures, or light so bright that Ray Charles would have to squint, should be avoided. This isn't to say you shouldn't have these things in your level, just don't overdo it...pilots can get fatigued faster by too much eyecandy.

The right texture/lighting combination will be much easier on the eyes, player ships will be easier to see (if desired), and people will like you a lot more :) One way to keep things under control is to texture your level as if it were a real place. You wouldn't go to some industrial facility and see walls with green flashing lights, a yellow ceiling, blue stripes on the floor, and other gaudy stuff. It would probably be rather dull with plain, metallic textures and fairly bland coloring. But then you may be thinking of a different industrial facility than I am :). Be creative of course...this IS a game after all!