I haven't played that many levels, partly because I don't have time to build and play and also because I'm a pretty poor player but the one thing I do hate is using a switch and then no camera clue to show what it has done (unless the door or whatever is triggered is so near that you couldn't miss it or unless it is for a secret). I've given up on several games because of this, I just don't have the patience to keep searching endlessly for that one door that might have opened. Just recently I was playing a superb level set, thoroughly enjoying it but several times I pulled a switch, only to find Lara still looking at the wall in front of her - what no camera clue? What happened there? It's even worse if it's a timed door because by the time you have found it, it's probably closed again so you don't realise that's the one that opened. I don't know why builders do that, if it ever was considered to be some kind of a "puzzle", it's extremely poor and makes for very boring gameplay IMO.

a pet peeve : a builder who needs to show how much they can smartass us players.
With the main course that is; do it for secrets and that is fine with me. But a mandatory walkthrough/ stuck-topic visit, just to show how smart and obscure the builder is, to me this is not good gameplay or oh-so-genius building.

This has also to do with either keeping the whole level accessible all the time or Lara being in limitited areas. Extremely obscure stuff in vast, re-trackable to everywhere levels - not my thing.
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About the darkness - I am actually quite happy with some darkness. Just so you builders know, there really is someone who appreciates it.
Unlit caves, undiscovered tombs, doomed castles, deep in the jungles, nighttime....
I like to play darkish or dark levels in the evening with only the smallest ambience light around.

And that is on a really old and weakened CRT monitor.
I never use so low brightness and contrast settings as when playing custom levels. I like how it helps me in inmersing into the game, and not perceiving so much the basic squarenesss the game always has.
Of course the downside is I have trouble finding small grey things on grey floor and such. Whenever I need to research a level more thoroughly, I always find some more medipacks, or Uzi ammo.
I am unsure in how much exactly this also adds to my incertitudes à la "Hm, can I really get there this way?" or "what kind of jump does this require?"

Of the Complex Simplicity I have now played 2 games, and both of them were mostly so bright and sunny, no creepy castle feeling ever came up. Combined with the manor style gameplay, I almost expected to see a school class on their field excursion any moment.
Nah, I want castles to be dark and dreadful. Or darkish and mysterious.

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Not really pet peeves, but some small stuff with sounds that can still interfere much with the game :

Odd Lara sounds and footsteps, be they just messed up or explicitly applied.

As in Complex Simplicity - Lara hopping back gives the sound of throwing away a flare.
Islands of Kirobore - Lara makes surfacing sounds a lot, e.g. in climbing.
many levels with stone floor (e.g. Neon God): clippe-di-clop.
I can't help but thinking of Lara's personal horse-man, following her around banging two halves of a coconut. Sorry, this sound for me is like hardwired with that scene.
disroportionately loud pistols-sound (few levels) - in terms of annoying neighbours (or myself), the pistols are the loudest and most to be repeated sounds. So I end up with either fitting pistol sound volume, but all other gamesounds not loud enough, or everything is fine but the pistols break my ears (and my neighbours').

1) Underwater mazes.
2) Puzzles where you can become inextricably stuck if you can easily do something in a manner unenvisaged by the builder.
3) Hugely demanding pixel-precise jumps and/or timed-runs that seemingly exist in order to show the players how good the builder is at playing TR levels.

Looking at these remarks, I have an idea on what players don't want now. However, I'm not sure what players want now, especially for gameplay or how to go beyond bland texturing and decorating. I'm trying to play some levels to have an idea on what has already been done, what techniques I need to acquire (I was impressed at how in Picasso's London Armageddon Level, the author retextured a demigod into an alien. I'm not done playing the level yet)...

Concerning exploration, backtracking and getting stuck, wasn't that the point of many of the Tomb Raider games (especially TR2 and TR3)?

I do agree though that when it comes to activating switches, I do prefer having cameras to see what the switch has done as well as appropriate OCB animation numbers when activating a switch (sometimes there is an incorrect animation for a particular switch).

Yes, I have been guilty of some of the trial and error stuff in my first level. In the second level, I tried making a thrilling, fast-paced challenging level that I enjoyed testing and re-testing (I wanted to reflect Messalina's personality via the gameplay. So that was inevitable. I also admit I was inspired by some of the fast-paced sequences of Tomb Raider II like in the Temple of Xian or the Great Wall of China), but I realized it was too difficult for some. For the upcoming levels, I want to develop levels that allow one to explore and observe, maybe some fast-paced stuff, trying to strike a balance in terms of level difficulty and lighting...

A couple more:

Overly long flyby's: I managed to overlook this one being mentioned in the OP. Flyby's can be useful tools, but I see a lot that just go on and on without actually "showing" anything and that would be much better with some editing. Outside of special cases like storyline cutscenes etc I'd say thirty seconds is more than enough time for 95% of flybys to last. When it comes to large areas etc a lot of the time it's better to let the level speak for itself.

Lack of camera hints: This has already been covered in detail by others.

I'd agree with Snork that I don't really mind levels being gloomy, I guess that doesn't always mean being dark though.


With a few exceptions when you know what you're doing there's little backtracking and almost always shortcuts etc to make navigation easier as you progress. Puzzles usually have clues and there's some hints to death traps (although TR3 has some trial and error issues). The first and second games in particular provide a good general model for progression, as they mostly manage complex designs without bogging it down with filler. Three and Last Revelation are mostly good models too, although they slip at times (but they are also more complex a lot of the time).

I believe that ld should never follow the desires of the players and should only follow her instincts and give vent to his creativity for a number of reasons:
1) History teaches us that the greatest works were never built to accommodate the popular will
2) What it doesn't like a player is nice for another one and however a good ld customize always the rooms, puzzles, etc. ... If ld does not have talent then it's nobody's fault but everyone has the right to try .
A level may not like but what it ask any player-reviewer is education and respect for the work of those who don't receive one euro.

Does anyone object to exploration? I doubt it. As far as backtracking and getting stuck are concerned - yes, certainly, the original games had plenty of them. But I think I have distinguished between the good kind of getting stuck and the bad kind (can't remember where I mentioned it before, or if it was even on this forum ). When as a player, you know that there is clearly a way forward, and it's just that you can't see it at the moment - that's a good kind of stuck, the kind that makes you want to keep looking. On the other hand, when a builder is playing a 'gotcha!' game with players - by creating illogical puzzles, or seemingly solid walls that in fact you can walk through, for example - then getting stuck is no longer fun, and it doesn't inspire a player to keep looking for a solution, as there is no way to find it unless you're a mind-reader.


You have a valid point, of course - at the end of the day, a level should be about a builder's own creative vision, not about pandering to players' demands. But there are plenty of aspects of level building that have almost nothing to do with creativity, but more with courtesy towards a player. For example, is it in any way 'creative' of a builder to create unmarked climbable walls, or walk-through walls, or hide important pickups/switches in dark corners, where they will be easily missed? These things are not personal preferences, and they're not liked by any player, I think. If a builder is building only for his/her own enjoyment, with no intention of releasing the level, then it's no problem. But if he/she releases a level online, then he/she obviously expects that other people will play it - and they will not like such cheap tricks.

I think that ld should only follow their own creativity and the player-reviewer should report errors with education and respect but not to suggest puzzles, construction of rooms, if to use pushables, mazes, gameplay. I don't like dark rooms, but the caves of Borrut are wonderful . If it wins the philosophy that it must follow the tastes of the players then we will have all equal levels. I admire the ld experiencing at the cost of making a mistake, instead of ld that flatten to a vote in more.

A particular peeve of mine is collecting a number of pickup puzzle items and not knowing how many in total you need or where they go, until the end of the level. It’s not a problem if you happen to get all the items but if you fall short it is so frustrating to have to re-search old areas. If this also means replaying trap sequences then the frustration just grows.
Related to this, I don’t like to do a complex jump/trap sequence only to find a puzzle hole or closed door at the end of it … Luis

An excellent example of this is the level I just completed, Fortress of Fear in the Complex Simplicity series.



Sure, and I can disdain playing your levels for a number of reasons.

And where is the problem? If you don't like my levels don't play them.