Manual Level Creation
For the Proof-of-Concept Levels, the structure has to be created manually, fitted to the songs. As part of this article, we want to show you the different steps we took on creating the level to Kiss - I was made for lovin’ you as this song was chosen by us.
# 1. Step: Rhythm and BPM
As the first step, we gathered information about the song and wrote it down, as it becomes important later!
For example: Kiss - I was made for lovin’ you BPM: 128 Rhythm: 4/4
# 2. Step: Listen to the Songs and make notes on the different song parts
In this part it is necessary to identify the different song parts and also count the frequencies of each part. For our example, it looks something like this:
# 3. Step: Slow down the song and follow the melody; Create structures based on that!
In the third step, we listened to the slowed down song and made notes on how the levels could look like. It can take multiple tries, but at some time you will get the hang of it. For us, it looks like this (please don’t judge my handwriting).
The horizontal bars, we drew across the lines, represent the height and length of a platform the player is supposed to jump on.
# 4. Step: Summarize and Combine
After we repeated step 3 for all song parts, we drew some of the parts out, and now had a perfect draft for final level creation.
We also made notes on when to jump.
At last, you have to find the right player-speed and jump strength at each individual level, but this technique marks a good start on level creation.