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- Volkove (May 27th, 2012, 3:04 pm)
A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
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A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
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by MessengerOfDreams » May 26th, 2012, 11:05 pm
I have a theory. Maybe it's because I'm really tired and I took my meds and I should be asleep, but hear me out.
I've been tracing the work of our ancestors- namely, our four most notable ones. Maybe five, but the fifth is tricky. I've noticed that, in some form of variation, the four dead ancestors have inspired almost every trained designer afterward. Let me state the theory, and we can discuss.
First, the four ancestors.
24murph: Adopting an incredibly simplistic style, 24 usually chooses to forego dialogue-anchored story in favor of good old fashioned Mario fun. Creating entertaining and beautiful platformers, he is the master of catching the Miyamoto vibe (or whatever other vibe he wishes) with effortless flair.
Level4: Treating the designer as his personal sandbox, Level4 stunned the SM63 world with the amazing creations that moving blocks and other technologies taken at face value could done if extremely manipulated. His test levels stand as true wonder even today.
Fourinone: He only made a small handful of levels, but anchored them with a good sense of humor and often a brilliant story with lovable characters. Whether simplistic or anchoring throughout the entire level, it's what drives the level and takes you places, and what keeps you playing (along with the superb gameplay, of course.)
Krazy321: Krazy321 was an exceptional designer overall, focusing on balancing talents across the board and anchoring them with intensively constructed graphics and realistically and lovingly rendered worlds.
The fifth is somewhat tricky to name, as he seems to work in a different way. But I'll try my damndest.
Volcove: He is different from the other four in other ways- he is still alive today, having been designing for three years straight, and has in his time snagged all three medals. His style can never quite be mimicked but it is easy to learn from his immaculate construction, immersible worlds with remarkable design, his love for gaming which subtly laces every piece and often some very bright ideas. In short, he truly creates, whether it be original ideas or tributes.
My theory is, if you haven't gathered, that those designers have never died. These four designers represent the traits all designers strive for-
Immaculate gameplay (24murph)
Technical prowess (level4)
Exceptional storytelling (fourinone)
Meticulous graphics (Krazy321)
Superb execution (Volcove)
For convenience's sake, we'll call the holy union of this 'the Items.' :3
I believe that those who master in one or more of those areas today or even yesterday have been given the designing genes of the four deceased and one living. For example, I can be considered a child of Fourinone and Krazy321- my storytelling makes the levels, and albeit somewhat lesser my graphics do as well. I'm not so great at execution, horrid at technicalities and my gameplay is usually a wildcard, but I'm well known for two of those.
My other theory is that maybe, through us, the original Items evolve further than before, with time and effort. What was incredible yesterday can be even better today.
So that's my theory. Let me know what ya think!
~MoD
I've been tracing the work of our ancestors- namely, our four most notable ones. Maybe five, but the fifth is tricky. I've noticed that, in some form of variation, the four dead ancestors have inspired almost every trained designer afterward. Let me state the theory, and we can discuss.
First, the four ancestors.
24murph: Adopting an incredibly simplistic style, 24 usually chooses to forego dialogue-anchored story in favor of good old fashioned Mario fun. Creating entertaining and beautiful platformers, he is the master of catching the Miyamoto vibe (or whatever other vibe he wishes) with effortless flair.
Level4: Treating the designer as his personal sandbox, Level4 stunned the SM63 world with the amazing creations that moving blocks and other technologies taken at face value could done if extremely manipulated. His test levels stand as true wonder even today.
Fourinone: He only made a small handful of levels, but anchored them with a good sense of humor and often a brilliant story with lovable characters. Whether simplistic or anchoring throughout the entire level, it's what drives the level and takes you places, and what keeps you playing (along with the superb gameplay, of course.)
Krazy321: Krazy321 was an exceptional designer overall, focusing on balancing talents across the board and anchoring them with intensively constructed graphics and realistically and lovingly rendered worlds.
The fifth is somewhat tricky to name, as he seems to work in a different way. But I'll try my damndest.
Volcove: He is different from the other four in other ways- he is still alive today, having been designing for three years straight, and has in his time snagged all three medals. His style can never quite be mimicked but it is easy to learn from his immaculate construction, immersible worlds with remarkable design, his love for gaming which subtly laces every piece and often some very bright ideas. In short, he truly creates, whether it be original ideas or tributes.
My theory is, if you haven't gathered, that those designers have never died. These four designers represent the traits all designers strive for-
Immaculate gameplay (24murph)
Technical prowess (level4)
Exceptional storytelling (fourinone)
Meticulous graphics (Krazy321)
Superb execution (Volcove)
For convenience's sake, we'll call the holy union of this 'the Items.' :3
I believe that those who master in one or more of those areas today or even yesterday have been given the designing genes of the four deceased and one living. For example, I can be considered a child of Fourinone and Krazy321- my storytelling makes the levels, and albeit somewhat lesser my graphics do as well. I'm not so great at execution, horrid at technicalities and my gameplay is usually a wildcard, but I'm well known for two of those.
My other theory is that maybe, through us, the original Items evolve further than before, with time and effort. What was incredible yesterday can be even better today.
So that's my theory. Let me know what ya think!
~MoD
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Re: A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
by SuperMIC » May 27th, 2012, 8:59 am
That is actually pretty awesome. And I agree totally with that. I'd say I'm somewhere around level4, foru, and a little bit of murph. I'm nowhere near Volcove (you've seen my pipes and doors. :3), and while I do love Krazy, my graphics arent as breathtaking as his...
But while those are our ancestors, what about children of them that influence the even newer designers? I mean like you, King, MP3, etc. Don't they have a place somehwere in this "hierarchy?"
But while those are our ancestors, what about children of them that influence the even newer designers? I mean like you, King, MP3, etc. Don't they have a place somehwere in this "hierarchy?"
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PROOF.
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Re: A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
by ~MP3 Amplifier~ » May 27th, 2012, 11:01 am
I don't really know which category I belong in ... I always think of myself rather different or mixed.
I'm getting better at gameplay recently and types of platformers used, so Murph counts there. Yet if you check Antichesm, I've been looking on the level4 side of things, especially in the squash zone in the factory and the power section of the battle level. Though I don't huuuuge storylines, I try to have at least some kind of minor story in my levels to interest audience, so a little bit on the Four side. Yet Graphics IMO is the area I focus on most, and especially try hardest to use good block manipulation, so there's a bit of Krazy there too.
As for Volcove, I belong in the Professional Detail minitier that he tops right now so you could even say I belong there too..
So I really don't know, lol, maybe I need someone other than myself to decide where I belong best. If I am my own style or mix of each area, then great!
As for this statement, I think the ancestors and the children should both be recognised as equally as each other. While the ancestors introduced to us these wonderful creations, there are the children too like SMIC mentioned that maintained the ideas and even created new ones. I think anyone still alive in level designing who is mentioned in the tier list and others on the portal who need to be noticed also should have a place as a child, and hopefully, we can find a category for them. But if you ask me, I think personally that every designer has their own style.
...Sorry if I was going off-topic thar.
I'm getting better at gameplay recently and types of platformers used, so Murph counts there. Yet if you check Antichesm, I've been looking on the level4 side of things, especially in the squash zone in the factory and the power section of the battle level. Though I don't huuuuge storylines, I try to have at least some kind of minor story in my levels to interest audience, so a little bit on the Four side. Yet Graphics IMO is the area I focus on most, and especially try hardest to use good block manipulation, so there's a bit of Krazy there too.
As for Volcove, I belong in the Professional Detail minitier that he tops right now so you could even say I belong there too..
So I really don't know, lol, maybe I need someone other than myself to decide where I belong best. If I am my own style or mix of each area, then great!
SuperMIC wrote:But while those are our ancestors, what about children of them that influence the even newer designers? I mean like you, King, MP3, etc. Don't they have a place somehwere in this "hierarchy?"
As for this statement, I think the ancestors and the children should both be recognised as equally as each other. While the ancestors introduced to us these wonderful creations, there are the children too like SMIC mentioned that maintained the ideas and even created new ones. I think anyone still alive in level designing who is mentioned in the tier list and others on the portal who need to be noticed also should have a place as a child, and hopefully, we can find a category for them. But if you ask me, I think personally that every designer has their own style.
...Sorry if I was going off-topic thar.
The below image is a montage of my individual highest placing LDC creations, as a reminder to myself that level designing is a part of my life that I can't just leave behind
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Re: A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
by Asterocrat » May 27th, 2012, 11:18 am
Erm, quite interesting.
I personally think I could be a child of Volcove, Volcove surely. I try to find original-never-seen-before ideas, which I try to make it work the best I can. In short, a good level is first of all an original level. Dragon Valley, Neon City, Plastic Beach, and soon Aztec Ruins, anyone? Then I could be a child of Krazy321. Though it's not mentioned on the tier, hut still, in my honest opinion, I think my levels have a good touch on graphics, just look at past judging in LDCs: I usually get full points in graphics. Even if my graphics is nothing compared to the Krazy321.
But still, I may have some genes from the other three. The fun of 24murph, even if my levels are most of the time anti-Miyamoto (Neon City, Dragon Valley, Dimension Infinity), people still find my levels fun, which I personally don't understand :3 I have some genes from level4 even if I never show it really, but I'm sure I can do great things nothing expected. I have done and worked lots of blosses, even if actually none of them actually got public. And finally, the least I'm related to is eventually Fourinone. I mean, I suck at stories, because of my English, but looks like it start finally in my level Lethal.
Again, that's my own judgement on myself, feel free to contest :3
Not sure I got the list right: it is 24murph's Fun, level4's Technical aspect, Fourinone's stories, Krazy321's Graphics and Volcove's Originality, right?
Also yay, I'm above three of them is the tier
I personally think I could be a child of Volcove, Volcove surely. I try to find original-never-seen-before ideas, which I try to make it work the best I can. In short, a good level is first of all an original level. Dragon Valley, Neon City, Plastic Beach, and soon Aztec Ruins, anyone? Then I could be a child of Krazy321. Though it's not mentioned on the tier, hut still, in my honest opinion, I think my levels have a good touch on graphics, just look at past judging in LDCs: I usually get full points in graphics. Even if my graphics is nothing compared to the Krazy321.
But still, I may have some genes from the other three. The fun of 24murph, even if my levels are most of the time anti-Miyamoto (Neon City, Dragon Valley, Dimension Infinity), people still find my levels fun, which I personally don't understand :3 I have some genes from level4 even if I never show it really, but I'm sure I can do great things nothing expected. I have done and worked lots of blosses, even if actually none of them actually got public. And finally, the least I'm related to is eventually Fourinone. I mean, I suck at stories, because of my English, but looks like it start finally in my level Lethal.
Again, that's my own judgement on myself, feel free to contest :3
Not sure I got the list right: it is 24murph's Fun, level4's Technical aspect, Fourinone's stories, Krazy321's Graphics and Volcove's Originality, right?
Also yay, I'm above three of them is the tier
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Re: A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
by MessengerOfDreams » May 27th, 2012, 11:31 am
@SMIC/Amp Yeah, perhaps I should have elaborated. I think their descendants (us) have expanded on the base formula of each designer. While fourinone did lighter stories that molded the level itself, (Venexis and) I have created entire interactive books via the designer with links and all that. Fourinone's levels still stand as masterpieces but (Venexis and) I have expanded what it means to tell a story via levels. Y'see?
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Re: A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
by ~MP3 Amplifier~ » May 27th, 2012, 11:42 am
Yeah, I suppose that's the greatness about the new generation of level designers. People like us will take the simple ideas that they introduced and blow them up. I'm gonna remind myself of Krazy's mecha bowser block boss, I mean if you look at it in comparison to some of the block bosses made recently, it is quite simple really. I'll refer to Ven's block boss in Calamari Cove, that's much more complex. I'd love to refer to my own in Antichesm (which for the record, took me three days to make completely and even longer to plan out) but I think that one was more crazy than finding a balance.
EDIT: I love seeing Volcove speechless, it means we've truly accomplished something. XD Also yay for the legends.
It would be great if we could add a group for everyone to belong to in the tier list or in this topic even. Oh yeah SMIC, I think you belong on the Level4 side.
EDIT: I love seeing Volcove speechless, it means we've truly accomplished something. XD Also yay for the legends.
It would be great if we could add a group for everyone to belong to in the tier list or in this topic even. Oh yeah SMIC, I think you belong on the Level4 side. The below image is a montage of my individual highest placing LDC creations, as a reminder to myself that level designing is a part of my life that I can't just leave behind
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Re: A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
by nin10mode » May 27th, 2012, 12:20 pm
I'm definitely a Krazy-Volcove hybrid.
Watch this turn into a shipping thread.
Watch this turn into a shipping thread.
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Re: A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
Thumbs up x3
by Volkove » May 27th, 2012, 3:02 pm
... Oh my. 
Will do sporadic level reviews on request - PM if interested. I will only do one level at a time. I tend to be rather critical.
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Re: A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
by SuperMIC » May 27th, 2012, 3:55 pm
inb4 murph, level4, four, krazy, and Volcove collab in LDC making perfect level
<Arocado:> I'm Asian.
PROOF.
^ Panik, you rock. ^
RUNOUW: DANGER AND DECEPTION: Read it! You could be in it!
PROOF.
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Re: A Theory of Evolution: The ITEMS
by Harmless » June 1st, 2012, 7:18 pm
I really only have a little bit of Volcove and murph, but only 1% from each...
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