Intensity

Guide info#

Short: 3-5 minutes

TLDR - What this guide covers#

• Intensity is the strength of your emotions or tensions during something.
• You can make a level intense through more rapid movements, good pacing, and an effective song.
• Intensity is best “felt” instead of met with specific criteria, so it’s best to get playtesting and keep it within a proper context.

Intensity is defined as strong emotions or tension within something. Intensity can be a fairly abstract concept and it may be hard to describe, but usually this is often seen in a level’s visuals or gameplay. Intense levels have a strong tone and high energy.

Overall, the best practice is to “feel” the intensity, rather than meet a certain criteria to create it. This is achieved best with feedback from others.

Intensity is a good device for worldbuilding, progressing some plot in a level, or simply reflecting details in a song. If the song a level uses feels intense, the level would want to portray it.

Intense levels can also be more memorable to the player. With emotional and intense gameplay, it can definitely make an impression. Intense levels are also more engaging, making a better experience and leaving the player satisfied with completing the level.

2: How could you make a level intense?

• Movement: Movement gives levels life, which ties to a level’s energy. Having moving elements on screen helps to achieve this, but icon movements are beneficial as well. Having the player move spots instead of limiting gameplay to one part adds more character to a level. Sudden movements to elements will add intensity too. Using a mini portal helps with these movements, since most modes have more vertical speed this way, adding a chaotic feel. In contrast, the mini cube and robot’s smaller jump height can be used in calmer gameplay. Movement isn’t completely effective while standalone, but is useful when combined with other elements like speed.

• Pace: Pace is the rate in which things happen, which have a heavy impact on a level. Fast pace gives the player impressions of high energy, chaos, or anxiety. In general, a player’s speed puts more focus on gameplay and icon movements. High CPS gameplay has the player engage with your level and creates good flow as well.

• Song Choice: Intense levels need the right song to impose the right feel. For example, “Change of Scene” wouldn’t have the same feel using a song like Kevin McLeods “Who wants to Party?”. Intensity should tie to the song, instead of forcing it onto something that isn’t.

Kinesiophobia by TheJosiahTurner meets these principles extraordinarily well, with an intense song, fast gameplay, and many fast movements from the layout and the player.

3: Balancing and Implementing Intensity

During the process, it’s easy to get carried away. Remember, chaos sometimes won’t contribute to intensity. Overdoing any of the three principles above can lead to messiness and overwhelming the player. Balancing this can vary for levels, so it’s important to experiment and test concepts before deciding on adding them.

Playtesting is critical, as it helps gauge how well you are achieving intensity. Asking for feedback shows whether you’ve achieved the right intensity and balance.

Intensity needs context to apply to a level, which is influenced by the intensity of prior parts. There can be a buildup at the beginning of a level to lead into intense parts later on. There can be breaks between intense parts; The level can reach a climactic end, or a relaxing one that calms the player afterwards. Think of how the song progresses and find ways to match it in the level. If you’d like, look at the Progression guide to better understand this concept.

4: Examples

WOW by Trusta and more slowly leads to intense spam in the first half of the level. Between these spam sections, there are breaks to help ease the overwhelming feeling. The level’s ending finishes full-circle this way.

Nhelv by SirGuillester, Notlsa, and Dienid constantly switches between intense and calm sections. The calm sections are used to build up into intense parts, while also serving to provide a quick break to the player.

Credits#

Created by @NotAModerator and @TDP9