Ok, so now you have a well laid out level, it is lit and textured just how you want it, no one has complained of seizures from looking at any crazy texturing for extended periods. What else?

One cool thing about game editing is that you have the freedom to do almost anything you want to the game. You can make stronger, or even totally custom, weapons. You can create your own robots and player ships! You can script your own custom events, such as a switch that fills a room with fire to fry opponents with. Your first impulse may be to use this god-like power and develop the biggest bomb, the fastest ship, and the most scripts that you can. Before making any changes, however, there are a few things you should consider.

Don't be different just for the sake of being different. People don't necessarily like change. Only add severe customizations if you think it will truly add to the gaming experience. Make sure you think through your ideas for custom ships and weapons very carefully. You don't want to create a ship that is so fast that the other two or three ships don't stand a chance against it. And, if it's too different than what people are used to flying, they may not bother to learn it. Especially since the ship is only available in ONE LEVEL, yours! Including a custom ship may or may not help a level's success. People like their favorite ship to remain unchanged for the most part..."Hey, why is my Phoenix so slow?!"

The same goes with weapons. I've seen some pretty crazy weapons that people have come up with. Some of them have a lot of promise, others are either grossly overpowered, or just silly. I remember testing an Impact Mortar that bounced forever until someone finally hit it (I promised Starkiller I wouldn't say publically that it was his, so I won't).

Speaking of "SK", the Earthshaker Missile that we developed seems to be holding its popularity, or at least the level that it's in. This weapon succeeded for some unique reasons. The main reason is that a lot of players remember the Earthshaker from Descent 2. The Shaker levels were very popular online, especially on high ping connections since accuracy is not as big a factor with these missiles...dodging them is the name of the game. A lot of people missed the Shakers...anyone who redesigned them well for D3 would be looking at a possible success. But if they were done poorly, they would have failed miserably. Having a website like GameEdit to promote it didn't hurt the Shaker either.

Through a lot of testing and troubleshooting we were able to come up with a passable design. There are a few small "problems" with the missile, but overall it is well balanced for all three ships. Each ships missile capacity was altered to compensate for the speed and strength of each ship. The slowest ship has the highest shaker capacity, while the fastest ship carries only two shakes. Players can succeed in any of the ships.

The level itself is not perfect...there are a few misaligned textures and some other things I forgot to fix. I did, however, stick to my principles on texturing and lighting...smooth textures that make a nice backdrop on which to see your opponent, lighting that is not too bright and not too dark, though there is a wide variety of illumination throughout the level. There is a mix of room sizes and designs...a few hiding spots, wide tunnels, narrow tunnels. It's interesting to see how certain players hang around a particular area in the level, depending on their style of play.

One well thought out custom weapon can make a level succeed...15 flashy but hastily designed and unbalanced ones can ruin it. Think your ideas through very carefully.

Promoting Your Level
So now you have the perfect anarchy level built...a few well thought out custom weapons, a nice compact level that looks like a pro built it. There's no way this will fail, right? Well...

In order for people to play your level, they need to know that it exists. The first obvious thing to do is to submit it to all the level archives you can think of. Some will report your new level on their news page, others will just add it to their archives without a mention at all. This will get you some publicity, but probably not enough. If you want your level to be popular, you need to do a little more self promotion.

One great way to promote your level is to announce it when it is nearly complete. Let people know ahead of time that your awesome new creation will be finished soon. You want people to already know of your level before it's even released. The more people see and hear about it, the more they will recognize it and be interested when it is finished. Just don't overdo it.

You can start your own small website or "Project Page" that features screenshots and descriptions of your level. It's a good idea to wait until your level is almost complete before starting your promotional "campaign". People will get sick of hearing "coming soon..." after awhile. Send out press releases to the gaming sites (like GameEdit.com), perhaps linking them to your site to see screenshots of your soon to be released work. If you don't have a site, send pictures to any sites that will post them with their news.

Go to the bulletin boards and post news of your upcoming level, with links to screenshots. You may get some valuable advice from people that way as well. When you are ready to beta test it, invite all of your buddies to join in, and their buddies. You will get useful advice and criticism, plus a little more promotion for the level.

Finally, this may be the most important way to promote your level. When it is close to the release date of your level, try to arrange time on a good dedicated server or two. It is critical that your level is seen hosted on the server list so that people can simply join in and autodownload the level, even if they've never heard of it. Try to arrange as much time with a server as you can. If people see your level hosted on a popular server, they may figure "well if server xxx is hosting the level it must be pretty good". DwnUndr was kind enough to host Earthshaker 2001 for a week or two. By the time he removed it, other servers had caught on and were hosting it. If it wasn't for his server the level may have died...I can't stress enough how important a dedicated server is for a levels' success. The server admins are the gods of online play, especially for D3...kiss their asses appropriately. Most of the ones I know are very cool people.

Ready...?
Ok here's the checklist:

• Level layout is great and fun, texturing and lighting are perfectly balanced. A pro would be jealous.
• Custom weapons are well thought out, not overdone, and add something to the game.
• Custom ships are well modelled and textured, and are balanced with each other.
• I have a website, and all the news sites and webboards know I'm comin'!
• I have a fast dedicated server that is willing to host my level for a week.

I am ready to release my level! Is there anything else I should do first?

If you want to get picky, here are a few other ideas:

• Release your level on or near a weekend. Not everyone is like you and plays D3 every single day. Many people have their free time on the weekends and that's when they play, and search the sites for news and new levels (I have stats to prove this). If your level is on top of all the lists on Saturday, chances are more people will see it. If you release a level on a Monday, by the time Saturday comes around, you may have already been bumped off the "new releases" list.
• Make sure it is finished. There is nothing more irritating than having to download new versions of the same level every few weeks. Try and avoid version 1.1, 1.2 updates etc. , just build a new level instead :)
• Be nice to the level archive people (like me :). Most of us want all the news we can get. Instead of emailing us with "Here's my new level, it kix ass...post it.", try giving some details in your letter and text file as to what makes your level great. If you have a custom weapon, describe the thought behind the weapon and explain why you think people should try it. If you can do that then chances are you have a good weapon. When people have to sift through hundreds, or even thousands of levels, any information you can provide will make their decision easier.
• Call your grandmother, you know she'd like to hear from you.

Good Luck
Even the best level can get ignored and lost in a game level graveyard. Luck plays a part in this as well. If you cover all possibilities though, it will have a real chance of reaching that ultimate goal of game level immortality. If it doesn't quite make it, don't get too frustrated. Learn from any criticisms you receive and build another one. I don't know what else to add. The end.