Mistakes

Common mistakes

Design · Technical

this should be expanded

There are many level design mistakes that have a negative effect on the playability or appearance of the level. This page lists some things to keep in mind.

Most important of all: check the mine before finishing work on it. The diagnostics tool can point out several issues that could, if unaddressed, ruin the experience or cause the level to crash the game.

Design

• Make sure the exit door is linked to the reactor, or else the player will be forced to lose a life (and all of their items!)
• Avoid placing enemies into the starting room. The player should generally be safe for at least some time or until they start moving around.
• Avoid distorting segments or sides too much. The game can automatically convert a side into two triangles, but this can cause issues with the collision engine or stretched textures.
• Don't scale textures up too much - the resolution of the game's textures is fairly low, which is very apparent if a texture is stretched over a large face.
• Don't forget that robot makers can activate an infinite number of times on Insane.
• Don't place too many robots too far from the player. They won't fire from beyond a certain distance, which can make them sitting ducks.
• Paper-thin solid walls are discouraged. The player should not be able to ram themselves against a paper-thin edge - it causes strange results with the collision engine. Sharp edges in general may cause issues.
• Always have one "end of exit tunnel" side in the level at the very end of the exit tunnel. Don't place them anywhere else, particularly in places where the player could access them directly.
• Some players may be left frustrated if repeatedly forced to take unavoidable damage.
• Not all solid textures have a corresponding secret door texture. Choose their location wisely.
• Hostages should be positioned 4.9 - 5.0 units above the floor. When added to a default 20x20x20 segment, the hostage will be at 10 units above the floor, which causes them to appear to levitate. Leaving them that way looks jarring.
• It is part of Descent tradition to place a "starting door" right behind or close to the player's spawn point. It should use the door05 clip and be locked from the player's side, to give players the impression that the player entered the level through that door.
• It should go without saying; test your levels before releasing them to other players.

Technical

• Always include a reactor in the level, even if it has a boss robot or if the player is meant to end the level without even causing the countdown. Most versions of the game can tolerate a missing reactor, but not all can. If the level has a boss robot, the reactor will be removed on level load, so you don't need to worry about the player being able to somehow access it.
• Make sure the segment the reactor is in is set to be a reactor segment.
• Never add doors that are only present on one side, or the game will crash when the door opens or closes.
• While 350 objects is the maximum, it's recommended to have less than 250-300, since the object limit also affects projectiles. Because of this, if the level is very close to the object limit, it'll be very difficult for the player or robots to fire, which can render the level nearly unplayable.
• If your level is for co-op, always place all of the co-op player spawns (8-10) so that there is exactly one of each in the level.