80b215 No.14693770
Discuss level designs that seem to speak to you or that particularly catch your interest and sense of wonder/fantasy. Does your favorite level exist? What kind of level would you love to see and in what sort of genre? Here's a couple platformer themes I like or would like to see:
>Giant's house filled with magical items
>Mountainside villages/hanging villages
>Autumn colored/themed areas
>Glowing cave systems
>Halloween themed levels
That farmside hub world from Conker Twelve Tales before it became Bad Fur Day looked like it could've been especially comfy. At least Windy was a decent replacement and was at least somewhat comfy. Cartoon-inspired levels are always fun too.
934daf No.14693821
The giant floating turd mountain in gex 3s western level was odd but a nice addition
611b3c No.14693851
>>14693770
Floating islands.
I fucking loved them in Chrono Trigger, and World of Warcraft. Minecraft could have had them too, if it actually lived up to its potential.
80b215 No.14698348
Come on guys, step it up. There has to be prime comfy material for this thread, either ones exists or based on your tastes. A lot of Banjo-Kazooie levels had really good aesthetics going for them.
97ea2d No.14698606
There's something about baked lighting that I don't think has ever been done well with dynamic lighting yet. It gives off a more otherworldly feel as opposed to just a plain atmospheric or spooky vibe. Conker, or any Rare game really, Doom 64 and Everquest are some pretty stand out examples off the top of my head.
1b898f No.14698662
>>14693851
gravity rush is pretty much this taken to its farthest extent yet. Tail Concerto is also good.
>>14698606
doom 64 has no light map, but thief 1 and 2 are good.
80b215 No.14698758
>>14698606
That and early 3D graphics/pseudo 3D graphics. Never really understood how these sort of graphics worked, but it gives off a very uncanny valley vibe and I'll agree definitely otherworldly.
c40a2e No.14698772
80b215 No.14698813
>>14698772
I swear that stage feels like a fever dream or some sort existence in the void. Vaporwave has given me similar vibes too. Makes me feel unreal at times or disconnected from reality. Is there a way to explain this?
c0607c No.14698830
>>14698813
Yes, depersonalization and ethereal differentialism.
c2f1fc No.14698879
>>14698758
How does it work?
80b215 No.14698894
>>14698830
I'm aware of the terms, but how does it come about, what causes it? And is it similar for everyone else in the same way the uncanny valley is?
To stay slightly on topic, I think a vaporwave inspired level would be insanely comfy. Or anything related to Gondola memes/vibes.
c0607c No.14698931
>>14698894
>What causes it
I read something about Hindu concentration techniques that try and harness it, honestly, you just feel it, like a short burst of a good feel chemical, I'm not going to lie to you and say I know much about it.
afdc93 No.14698991
>>14698606
Unreal is a good example.
a205ab No.14709139
>>14698931
>Hindu concentration techniques
Street Shitting?
e52cdc No.14709206
>>14693770
comfy aesthetics the game
63b044 No.14711277
>>14709139
When they were white.
dbd345 No.14713521
Are Hub Worlds needed in some games? Or is it redundant and tedious compared to a level select or simply moving on to the next stage? I personally enjoy them, even small ones like in Wario World, the game wouldn't feel the same without it. And of course, there's Hub Worlds that pretty much double as a level in itself like Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.
6a7bed No.14713534
>>14693770
>windmill levels
I always felt that Bianco Hills from Mario Sunshine was a really /comfy/ level.
e45a18 No.14713541
>>14711277
The southern Indians were never white, the northern indians are the ones you're thinking of.
c873f3 No.14713575
>>14713521
I like hub worlds a lot. I like them when they feel like a comfy home to return to between levels. I like them a lot when progressing through the game unlocks more areas in the hub world (or when unlocking more areas in the hub world is how you progress through the game), or when hub world areas change after reaching certain points in the game (e.g., empty rooms becoming used, living spaces looking more "lived in", visible damage after a big battle, etc.), since it makes your progress feel a bit more substantial. I really, really like hub worlds when there's hidden secrets and optional bonus activities/levels, especially when the player has access to the same abilities in the hub world as they do in each level.
cf03f2 No.14713601
>>14693770
While the enemy placements are garbage and few, the Hell levels in Doom 3 had great atmosphere. The art style and sound design were awesome. I love Hellscapes, a lot of fun can be had with the idea of a realm that defies logic. One that I would like to see would be a sort of space hell with random Windows 98 buttons and bars in places. I can't describe it, I'd have to draw it or something.
> Waaah Doom 3 too dark I'm a baby
Use a god damn flash light mod or learn to swap between light and gun.
cf03f2 No.14713609
>>14713541
>>14711277
>>14709139
This can only end in the same talking points we come to expect. Politcal talking points. Get ready.
5b7734 No.14713615
>>14713521
When people say they have a problem with hub worlds it tends to only be things like Mario 64 where you're constantly booted back out to it for no good reason.
f619bc No.14713713
>>14713615
sm64 did have a good reason for this, the level needed to be reset and often its conditions altered. Even so, the castle is pretty lacking compared to sunshine or banjo.
f7bedb No.14713745
Beaches, casinos, and big cities. I like levels that make me feel like the world's alive and would go on just fine without me.
9a2cdb No.14713954
>>14713745
What game is the first image?
f7bedb No.14713963
>>14713954
Fanart for Super Mario Galaxy.
aa436a No.14714430
Can't remember examples off the top of my head, but underground caves/mines with cartoonishly large crystals or tiny glints of glittery stones everywhere. Really gives me those otherworldly wonder vibes.
cb535e No.14714516
>>14714430
beetle adventure racing
f7bedb No.14714567
>>14714430
iirc Ys VIII had some caves like that, although not nearly enough.
199d3e No.14714589
>>14714516
>beetle adventure racing
I really wanted to like that game, but even when it came out the shit frame rate always killed it for me. I had tons of fun with Ridge Racer type 4. especially with its weird story/adventure mode stuff. ( I really wish they had done more of that, gave the game tons of replay value for me)
f87ae9 No.14714658
My favorite thing about it is how it turns almost everything around to make it fit the far future theme.
>smoke grenades are digital fragmentation grenades so your view becomes completely pixelated if you get too close
>can use your visor to see where players are hiding
>players can use special equipment to hide themselves from your visor
Killer7 does a fuckton of special stuff with its aesthetics too, along with a few other tidbits that surprised me when I found out. It's one of the only games that does localization effectively instead of ruining it.
d205ce No.14714666
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
>>14714430
I'd like to throw in my two cents and mention the "Sheerdrop Spire" and "Rockshard Rampart" levels of Pandora's Tower.
01379b No.14714910
Sunset backgrounds like these arewhat really speak to me on some level, they're just so comfortable and bring me back to a much comfier time.
f11e66 No.14715159
I love night levels with blue clouds, for some reason.
Plus, the atmosphere of this level is so good. Such comfy music, and has such an adventurous feel. Plus, right after a long and difficult level that potentially seems like the final level, it's revealed that there is a lot more to the story and it's far from over, if you choose to continue on
a10578 No.14717830
I've really been noticing this lately, colors are shit for the most part now. Everything is trying to be gritty and dark. I swear I got high off the vibrant colors shot out by my old CRT.
It's not just video games though, it's everything. The grass, the water, the concrete - everything is dull and faded now. Everything is washed out and gray. Quite a reflection of the current zeitgeist tbh.
I don't even want to be a nostalgia fag
2b776d No.14717842
>>14717830
You can blame two shitty overrated games for the grim dark gaming world we live in now.
62fe67 No.14717900
>>14713521
I love hub worlds, especialyl when they're actually filled with things to do in between the levels, not only discovering new things but just comfy needles shit like springs to bounce off of, items that have their own animations and mini-games Like A hat in time for example
f29527 No.14717903
>>14717830
Everything has to be "mature" now, and colors are for kids. We have a bunch of faggots with this mentality here too, bitching about "saturated colors" whenever something isn't dull and dreary. And obviously, realism isn't the problem, because real life is much more colorful than the shitty imitations in modern video games. Instead it's "realism", the colorless version of reality made by people who have never seen a blue sky or green grass.
62fe67 No.14717904
>>14717903
I hate the current world's obsession over maturity, for me it only proves that if you are obsessed about being mature, then in the end you aren't mature at all.
5b7734 No.14718010
>>14717830
>>14717903
The brown and grey phenomenon had been over for a while and it allowed an even more cancerous dichotomy to take place where people think "colorful" means "looks like a painter's rinse bucket". Just look at No Man's Sky or that park ranger game I can't remember the name of to see what I mean.
9d5630 No.14718044
>>14717842
>FF7
>Midgar aesthetics defined the game
>20% of the game defined the game
>not the other 80% with bright sunny backdrops and green grass with beautiful, pristine blue water or bright white snow
>no, FF7 was just Midgar
I hate this meme.
477675 No.14718104
>>14717867
People want to say it was 2007 but it was definitely fucking 2006 where it went to shit.
328ac3 No.14720288
>>14717842
Pretty sure it all started with games like gears of war, which was inspired by RE4 not 2.
a6a43d No.14720614
HookTube embed. Click on thumbnail to play.
I love the old pre-2000s approach to level design. Instead of trying to make a realistic depiction of a certain area based on real life, the levels were designed as sort of a playground for using in-game mechanics, with setting being only used as a theme. Take the TR II video I posted for example, especially the part from 9 to 15 minutes. You enter a large hall that seems to be some kind of abandoned restoraunt or a dance hall. But it has blocks to climb on, you jump on chandeliers, there are big levers around that do stuff like lifting or descending chandeliers, openning trap doors and so on. Realistically, it doesn't make any sense, but it doesn't have to because it was designed as a series of obstacles for Lara who can jump, climb, pull the levers and do all the other stuff included.
Or look at the city of Venice - no bystanders or anything like that, just straight up no bullshit fun level design, even though it's not quite an accurate depiction of Venice.
aee154 No.14720867
Don't give free ideas to corporate researchers.
5b7734 No.14721117
>>14720867
Even if they browsed this thread, which I wouldn't doubt, there's pretty much zero chance they'll bother doing anything suggested here, even less so with effort to speak of.
328ac3 No.14721150
>>14721117
They'll rip off something then add a super ugly as fuck tint (like the did to the Spyro remake)