ffs

[Cranky Old Man]

Yes, I am being elitist, because a player is only looking to play the very best games and stories, of the hundreds of games released each year. The player is being elitist to begin with, and should be proud of it.

When it comes to level design, the available tools are so easy to use, that you can more or less figure them out yourself. The rest of creating a story, requires something that you can't learn in school: Effort, dedication and maturity. Writing a game isn't about simply being able to write code, but to actually do it too. I can program 4-5 languages, including assembler, and I still suck, because I don't finish the projects that I start.

If they are so easy to use, then why can't I make something as good as the original game?

Because Frictional learnt for years, made games for years and used the knowledge and experience they gained to make that. They most likely did spend 10000 hours, learning from others and learning from each other. This is a proven study.

Hello, sleep deprivation. (No mommy, I'm not an ostrich. I'm trying to make some sense here, but you're making it very hard for me.)

Frictional Games created an engine in C++, which we don't have to. We don't have to learn C++, so I bet that if only we had the inner strength to go through with it, a bunch of uneducated people could very well make a better story than Amnesia, if we only used their level editor. Their tools are designed to not require school.

And I know that, where did I say that it is?

That what?

You think that being able to code well and make good looking levels means you can make a good game?

Yes? No? Maybe?

Let me explain to you about level design.
Call of Duty, has a very linear form of level design, a well known fact, yet why is it better than say, Doom 3's?

It is?
You see, I never played Call of Duty (or Halo). I don't play wargames unless there's some sci-fi or fantasy stuff involved. Doom 3 had pretty good level deisgn, which was mostly linear as well, and if it sucked, it was because of demons from Hell invading a human base, only so that they could find the nearest monster closet and hide in it, shivering from agoraphobia.

Because the level design they used, whilst linear kept a constant flow of gameplay and thus provided interest. Now. if you made a straight corridor and that's it, this would be a shit map even if this straight corridor was the most beautiful piece of mapping ever made, because the gameplay would not flow and there would be nothing going on, as well as knowing everything that will happen due to having seen it before it happened, whilst if you look at Halo's Silent Cartographer level, the start is very non linear and multiple scenarios could happen, but, it will keep the gameplay flowing unless you attempt to stop that flow yourself. It is why a lot of Amnesia Mods are terrible, because their level design does not keep a flow going, and even then you have to make the levels reflect the environment and the story that is going on with twisting mansion corridors and such. It's very basic stuff this.

When it comes to pacing, if that's what you're referring to, a horror game will have a different pacing than an action game, because anticipation is more scary than action is. That's basic stuff as well. You can't compare the two.
...but what's your point? Why are you telling me about level design all of a sudden?

And no, people are not elitist when buying games, do you understand what the word means? It shows that they prefer one game over another, preferring quality assured products. An elitist is a view of games, such as "They must be hard or they are boring and pandering to casuals" is an example of one elitist viewpoint.

Another example of "elitist" is "They must be good, or they are not worth playing.", which was my point. Players will only stand good games, so ideally only good level designers should reach players.

Of course, I also have the view that you can just make stories for your own fun, and if some player happens to like your story too, then that's a bonus. These views are completely opposite and conflicting, and depends on from what perspective I'm seeing things.

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And no, it's not, it's basic psychology. The easier something is the more arrogant you become and more complacent, and never push yourself as hard to learn or create things inside it. It's very common.

Why am I arguing with you when you just made my point?