What is it about sewer levels that make them both so ubiquitous and generally so reviled?
By their very nature, about all you can do with the level design in a sewer is long hallways and switch puzzles. And no one wants to wade knee-deep in other people's shit.
Finding your way down a maze of tubes and fighting rats while seeing the same textures over and over again is boring.
>>340306293
well, they're part of the modern society, and there's lots of urban myths and spook stories related to them. They're sort of always with us, just out of sight.
I personally have nothing against sewers. One of my favorite settings in vidya, actually.
Is Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines still on record as having the worst sewer level ever?
>>340306426
>>340306464
This. Also,
>you can't cross over the sewer because of knee-high water or some other bullshit
>if you can cross it, you can only go back on the ledges at specific ladders/slopes
Jak 2 and 3 actually had great sewer levels.
>>340306821
I'd say Thieves Guild from Thief Gold isdownthere.
>>340306293
Well I guess you can't really have interesting architecture or anything.
I liked Residue Processing and Route Kanal.
But why are they all over the fucking place?
>>340307190
Me too. Some of the most atmospheric parts of their games.
>>340307278
see: >>340306648
They outstay their welcome almost instantly, and also they're usually a required part of the game so you can't skip it.
I'm playing Dead Island and I heard there were sewers later.
>>340307278
Easy to make slow-paced breather levels, I presume.
>>340306892
>those sewer levels in jak 2
Fucking metalhead rattling the grate
>Play a game.
>Its fun
>Sewer level
>Followed by a warehouse level
>Followed by an industrial interior
>Back to some warehouses
Just got done playing Fear1 and Buffy on Xbox. Both ended up like this.
Too many games that I like end up being ruined by boring, generic repetitive level design .
>>340307360
The entire game is a sewer.
>Playing Serious Sam 2
>Get to the sewer level
>There are no games without them XD ""humor"" ensues
It wasn't even bad yet many other levels were legitimately terrible.
>Playing witcher 1
>Go kill a basilisk in the sewer
>oh here we go
>it's around the first corner
>exit is down a straight path
>over in ten minutes
pleasantly surprised
Crash 2 had excellent sewer levels, but I think that's because the game itself was already linear so the sewer layout wasn't new
>sewer is fucking gigantic, like big enough to hold half the cities population
>oh maybe it's something cool like they built on top of an old city and just converted it into a sewer
>no, it's just a sewer
>>340307990
>oh maybe it's something cool like they built on top of an old city and just converted it into a sewer
That's even worse, unless it's like Old New York from Futurama, which it never is. Wandering around literally shitty ruins for hours gets extremely tedious and kills all suspension of disbelief.
wheres that goddamn cylinder
They're so common, because they're easy to make. A couple different straight sections, some curved sections, a couple Intersections and you can stretch that out into an entire level.
>>340307990
that dog is looking to start some shit
>Don't like sewer levels
>Don't like water levels
>Loved Clanker's Cavern, which is both
I lend that to the overall atmosphere of the game, on top of the main setpiece of the entire level (Clanker himself) being interesting and even sympathetic.
>low visibility
>poison enemies
>poison water
>fucking valve puzzles
>long drops/climbs
>pointless item collecting (lever/handle/key)
>no bosses
Shit tier level. Always
>>340306293
The scariest and monstrous of enemies are down in sewers.
>>340306293
because people rarely venture there
and you don't have to make a lot of things, just tubes and hallways
Okay /v/, you're tasked with making each of these levels
>Sewer level
>Underwater level
>The single vehicle driving level in a game where you don't drive vehicles
How do you make them good?
Hello
>>340311029
Oh shit
Are there ANY real-life examples of modern-day sewers (or even storm drains) being as needlessly large as they are in vidya?
>>340310995
>sewer level
Dont give in to the temptation of adding gimmicks like water level puzzles, water that slows you down, having to deal with no light, etc. These are the things that make sewer levels different from the rest of the game so often and makes them shit.
>underwater level
Dont make water movement too slow/slippery. If you can stay limited time underwater keep the timing relevant but dont require perfect precision so you can make it out with 1 ms worth of air left.
>vehicle section
Dont do it at all. I refuse to answer.
>>340311158
Sewers are long as fuck but I dont think they are ever that wide.
>the undercity sewers in KOTOR
>>340311158
Pretty much the extremely big cities all have extremely big sewers.
NYC, London, Paris, and Moscow all have sewer systems that are large enough at parts for people to wander through them like vidya (mainly because they are maintenance tunnels).
There are also places that aren't technically sewers, but are still underground pipes designed for shit like flood control. Las Vegas has an entire homeless community living underneath it.
>>340311029
no no no no no no no no no
>>340311029
SPOILER THAT SHIT
>>340310995
>Sewer level
Post-apocalypse civilization sewer. That way it's like the metros in 2033/Underrail, so 70% of the time its like towns and dungeons and shit rather than sewers.
>Underwater level
Just go full Bioshock and make it so you're technically underwater, but completely dry so there's no real problem.
>The single vehicle driving level in a game where you don't drive vehicles
A throwaway but extremely fun level where you control a monster truck and smash the fuck out of things.
>>340311631
>KotOR 2
>Nar Shadda in general
>>340311631
>do all that shit
>send those people on their way to some mythical sewer city
>entire planet blows up right after
Thanks for wasting my god damn time.
>>340311631
FUCK that place. I always got lost and the gamoran guards down there are strong as fuck for your level
>>340311029
Really honestly isn't that hard.
I mean its the worst part of the game but it's not that bad.
>>340310995
>Sewer level
Do it like Half-Life and don't make it about boring ass normal sewers.
>Underwater
What's bad about underwater? It's generally the sluggish swimming mechanics so you have to avoid that. Try doing a claustrophobic underwater base where you're constantly at the threat of drowning.
>The single vehicle driving level in a game where you don't drive vehicles
Fuck you I liked airboat. Otherwise Bulletstorm dinosaur was actually kind of fun.
>>340307278
Because they require barely any effort to make. You paste the same pieces all over the place and call it a day. There's no decor, no complicated level design, no FPS problems with draw distance. It's easy game length padding.
>>340312049
it was never hard, its just piss annoying to play through
especially as ventrue
Oblivion's Imperial city sewers are the best I ever adventured in
>>340312284
>where you're constantly at the threat of drowning.
Along with the sluggish mechanics, this is why no one likes drowning - I mean underwater levels.
>>340312004
Although there's a slim chance, they could have survived depending on how everything was built in the upper and mid sections.
>>340312049
>>340312448
Wasn't it held up as the ur-example of how never to do a sewer level?
>>340312448
At least it gave you some appreciation for playing a class that could actually stand in combat.
>>340312550
According to SWTOR, they did find the safe haven and survived the Taris bombardment.
For a while, at least.
>>340312610
pretty much, not only is it boring, its also tedious and its a combat section in a game that's known for everything BUT its combat
nobody plays VTMB for vampire combat, god knows there's like two dozen games better for that
>>340307709
i remember that part, good stuff
>>340312610
By whom? I'm not saying it's a good example but there are worse elements they could have thrown in.
It's just exceptionally boring.
![572f3480d1dd9[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Ma1mXF4.jpg "572f3480d1dd9[1].jpg")
>>340312049
It's not hard at all, it's the tedium that kills it for people. I was essentially feeling like this stupid meme first time playing through it.
how do you feel about the superior sewer level, friends
>Why are there so many sewer levels?
Well, one game got really popular once and the whole thing was a sewer level.
I thought the Depths were pretty fun.
>>340312547
Then you could also make Descent style submarine section (with responsive controls, naturally) and kill two birds with one stone.
>>340307278
because everybody poops
>>340312871
What makes that any good at all?
It's exactly like all the other levels except darker and more cramped.
Shit sewer level, m8.
>>340311029
>Try a mod
>It makes the sewer levels even longer by adding more puzzles to it
>Uninstall mod
>>340306293
They're the shittiest area
Why aren't there more games with little towns in sewers/subway tunnels?
>>340312835
>It's just exceptionally boring.
Which is the exact problem with the sewer levels.
>>340313068
Girls don't.
>>340306821
Oblivion sewers were prettyshit
>>340313296
Because even though that's a surprisingly common thing in real life, it's really only fitting for post-apocalyptic games.
>>340313324
Which always boggles my mind.
As a kid I played in some of the storm drain tunnels and it was cool as shit.
There are plenty of horror movies set in the sewers that aren't garbage.
Why is it so hard for vidya?
>>340306892
#SewerLevel
>>340312928
I never thought about it like that. Everyone chasing that Mario bros money.
they're small, limiting, unimaginative, and have bland/depressing color schemes
>>340312937
I liked them the first time I went through them, and I don't usually skip them, but every time after I just want to speed through it and I keep getting lost.
>>340311029
>not having a high enough hacking/lockpicking to skip this section altogether
>>340314725
>not maxing out the noclip discipline so you can be done with the sewer within seconds
did someone say pulsating flesh bags?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQmFWYWqTZA
>>340315224
>no clip
>can't remember where the loading points are
HELP
