How do you make levels?

[namida]

I was just interested in how most people go about making their levels. No, I don't mean "opening an editor and putting them together", but rather, where do you get the ideas and how do you go about putting them together?

For me, I find I use a mixture of methods. From most to least common:

1) Most of my levels are in fact made by simply throwing together random things that look good, giving myself 20 or so of every skill, then looking for a challenging solution. Some of the levels that were made this way include "Return of the T" and "No Salvation" - as well as pretty much EVERYTHING in the first Lemmings Plus.

2) I guess the next most common is thinking of a specific element I like the idea of, then building a level based around this. My (most likely) most well known level, "Oblivion", was designed this way - I got the idea of making EVERY lemming block, then simply built a level around finding a way to force this and added in a couple more things to pad it out. Some others that were made this way are "Alternative Logic" and "The Deadly Climb".

3) Quite often, I'll see a trick in another level - possibly as part of it's intended solution, but more likely as part of a backroute - then devise an entirely new level based around this trick. "The Impossible Room" in Lemmings Plus 2 is an example of this.

4) From time to time, I don't feel like making something hard at all, and just make something that rather than being hard, is simply fun to play. My personal favourite example of this is "Bullet Lemming".

5) Sometimes, similar to #2, I have an idea. But, rather than the idea being the main focus of the level, it's more a feature of the level that the level is not directly built around, but simply incorporates. One example of this is the solving a long, drawn out, worker lemming level with no builders - of course, I'm referring to "To The End!" here.

6) Very rarely, I'll make a level another way, then make an easier version of this. Then, I'll give myself some challenge on that easier version, and then make a whole new level out of that - possibly harder than the original hard version. The only example I can think of off the top of my head here is "Not gonna work.", which was originally save 80% and also gave you 20 blockers, I then challenged myself to see if I could acheive 100% on it, managed to do so, and made this the level instead. I removed the blockers due to their obvious uselessness - blockers on a 100% level with no destructive tools are pretty obvious dud skills anyway.

[Minim]

Most of the time, I make a random scenery and try to make it as challenging as possible, so in general I'm more of an Original Lemmings Designer.

[Clam]

I usually do one of the following:

- Find a little-known trick or unusual combination of skills, and build a level around that. Often this means focusing on one or two skills. This covers most levels in my first 4 packs (plus the Xmas pack)

- Create a fun graphical design and build a puzzle into it, e.g. RABBIX, Training Zone Alpha

- (05 pack only) Try to create levels that are fun to play and can be solved in multiple ways, in the spirit of the original game.

[Luis]

When I make a level, I always put something that will annoy me to increase the difficulty. The funny thing is that I will even complain about it.