Dusty takes a trip to Era
 

I decided to try my hand at an Era level with just about only using Era's tileset. Also wanted to try to make it look appealing without 50 walls and carpets that look like Atari sprite outlines.

Here's what I came up with. Heavily relies on light effects(actually scripted this time!) to break up the monotony. Never actually finished, however(upper room is pretty bare and unfinished, and I ran out of ideas of how to fill space.

Oh well.

I want a house like that irl.

wow, the carpet looks really nice! i love the tiles in the kitchen. great job dusty!

Looks nice but a lot of free space. One reason why I don't like making the living room that way is because you don't have a spot to put the TV.

I like it, hope you finish it up.

Overall I like it, but the kitchen looks messy, and I don't like the transparent table. It's also too symmetrical.

However, I like the way you made it into one level rather than several, and I like the light effects/shadows.

Tables are usually symmetrical.

Does Era have diagonal wall tiles?

I never understood a lot of peoples' incessant need to comment on the symmetry of buildings in general. Preferring one to the other is all subjective anyway though, I suppose.

I personally can't stand when people go way out of their way to create an asymmetrical mess and/or try to use every tile on the tileset in the same room: People don't build twisty-straw or zig-zag shaped houses as a rule of thumb, so I just can't find anything aesthetically pleasing about it.


I think Dusty's level is more attractive than anything I can recall seeing on that server currently, btw.

Completely agree.

Most designs behind houses are extremely symmetrical. Not all the rooms are perfect squares or rectangles, always, but there's always an underlying symmetry. There's too much utility involved in a house for anyone to want to add some sort of far fetched balance-through-asymmetry visually stimulating/challenging kind of floor plan.

Quick! The pizza is about to fall off the counter.

Great level, btw :p.

Are all these tiles/images existing on Era currently, or did you make any custom?

Only custom was the fridge, table, and one of the couches that I had to flip.

This is probably the most visually appealing era level i've seen in awhile. Very simple, yet satisfying. Which I believe does very great justice rather than over-complicating a level design which is what most try to do with modern levels. Great job Dusty. :)

it looks nice, but I'm too used to seeing your choice of wall tiles as tables so it looks extremely odd to me.

No


Not bad Dusty ^^

Beautiful level, really nice!!

I made those carpet tiles a while ago when Andrew worked there. I was editing the bed tiles and copied the design off the head-board and added it to a carpet using the flip & rotate tools in paint lol

I meant the entire level is too symmetrical, not the table ;) I can see where it was unclear, though.

The graphics hold it back imo. Though, it's still a very good level, and obviously one of the best looking era levels I've seen. ^^

wb dusty ( a little? o.o )

I suggest making the walling around the vertical roofing sections symmetrical on both sides of the section to aid to the design of them being able to be walked under.

I edited the screenshot of your level in paint to illustrate what you level would look like following my precise suggestion, shortening both top rooms evenly to take into account the added wall.

I also suggest placing chairs all around the glass table in the center, and not limiting the chairs to the top side of the table.

Attached is the edited screenshot.
Note: I also edited the wall in the top-right room to be consistent throughout the level, if you prefer using table tiles for walling then disregard that edit.

Aside from my suggestion, I find the symmetry and simplicity of your level to be visually appealing both as an inside level and as a modern level. I also applaud your use of light effects and your glass table in the center of the level.

I don't understand what is cool about taking Graal's graphic system of level design and dumbing it down to something that cannot be layered as well..

Meaning everything on Era is straight-up looking and therefore if you had something like a raised platform with stairs leading up to it there is very little way to show graphically that one platform is higher than another.

I can give examples if there is someone that doesn't know what I mean. I don't understand the idea of taking such important work (which was stolen from Nintendo and edited in the first place, but genius nonetheless) and turning it into something that only is for show and not for design emphasis.

That sort of inside level design actually started on Graal2001 and seemed nice at the time (think of the hat shop in the slums---the stairs that go up to the higher level with the desk).

Dusty's level shows how it can be best done, though.. I'm sure no one can disagree.