I was going to post this in a specific thread but decided to make it its own since many people seem to have trouble with Era insides. I'm by no means a pro Era LAT (I consider myself mediocre at best) but wanted to get some stuff off my chest since this seems to be a common issue with many Era insides I see today.

I never really mastered Era levels but I was LAT there for a while and did some decent things (but mostly stupid and ugly crap, some of which is still up...I'm sad to say). One thing I learned was that keeping things simple in shape helped the level become more attractive. Some of the most impressive Era levels were actually quite simple in design!

Look at these 3, my favorites:
Click here!
Don't know who made the levels. Note the structure of the walls and floor tiles, very straight and simple. Heavy use of lighting makes the level stand out and seem attractive to the eye.

Other examples (sorry but a lot of this is old stuff):


This is something I made back in 06, it's not by any means good but is an example of how simple you can keep a level. The level itself should have been smaller and could have used more content but keeping things simple (symmetrical even) is recommended.



A simple staircase, part of a building I regret ever LATing. This particular level is fair, though. In very small levels like this it's ok to go a bit unrealistic with the carpets and everything, but the shapes are still kept straight. There's just enough content to keep the level from looking bare, and some light effects are used to enhance the blue. Don't be afraid to use subtle lighting! It does make a difference.

I can't dig up more screenshots at the moment, and I'm sorry if you were expecting some kind of in-depth tutorial. There are some good looking Era levels out there but I cant find them.

In short:
-Keep it straight, carpets designed like Classic grass do not work.
-Keep it as small as needed, you don't need a gigantic and bare inside level (unless it's intended for PKing etc).
-Keep it simple. Layers upon layers of tiles won't always look that good.
-Keep some form of symmetry when possible.
-Don't be afraid of subtle lighting!
-Practice! Click the above link for the post with the screenshots of my favorite levels and look at the thread itself. Those were my early attempts at Era levels, yeah it was awful. Doesn't matter how long you've been LATing, always practice with a tileset if you want to be good with it.

For all the GFX folks out there, don't be afraid to make your own graphics specifically for your levels. The tileset can be very limiting, as a lot of you will find out.

Finally, I leave you with something completely unrelated:
http://i.imgur.com/JFajo.png  

good!  

Sticky sticky sticky!!!  

Brilliant. I hate Era levels with wonky walls -.-  

Dude you freaking made the core electronics levels .  

Cheers for the comments.

Posted by Wester

Dude you freaking made the core electronics levels .

They are horrible, really. I loved the fishtank scripts Era had though and played with them. I think the only parts I like are the staircase (pictured above) and the fishtank that you can walk over before you enter the manager/comanager offices.  

Posted by Crono

They are horrible, really. I loved the fishtank scripts Era had though and played with them. I think the only parts I like are the staircase (pictured above) and the fishtank that you can walk over before you enter the manager/comanager offices.

I like them at least . Sadly they never opened up Core Electronics on iEra .  

Posted by Wester

I like them at least . Sadly they never opened up Core Electronics on iEra .

Soon young Padawan...soon...  

Can you post the wall lamp image here?  

Crono, this is very nice. Can you do something similar in the Classic section ?  

@Matt, Classic levels are more complicated because I don't really do insides, I do outsides. My most recent inside was Zodiac's class trainer...the older version of it sucked hard so I had to do something! Outsides are more complicated to explain and the only guidelines are very, very vague (don't over-detail, don't stack grass on grass please, use logic, etc).

Posted by Dude1310

Can you post the wall lamp image here?

Sure.

// By some random person edited by crono lolz
// Better color

//#CLIENTSIDE
if (created) {
setimgpart chrisz_tuliplamp.gif,35,0,25,33;
timeout=.1;
dontblock;
drawunderplayer;
x -= .1;
}
if (timeout) {
showimg 1,light2.png,x-3.2,y-3;
changeimgcolors 1,1,0.4,0,0.8;
changeimgzoom 1,random(.8,1);
timeout=.1;
}

It's in GS1 but yeah...toy with the x -= or x += to get it just right.  

Nice! +rep  

Thanks =D

Also what did you write for the script for the fishes? My fish keep flying out of the tank, also could you post the fish images, thanks!  

Posted by Dude1310

Thanks =D

Also what did you write for the script for the fishes? My fish keep flying out of the tank, also could you post the fish images, thanks!

The fishes were already scripted on Era, I just had to play with the values that define their min/max x and y values. I'm not sure if I should release the script for those since Era and maybe iEra are still using them. ;[  

Yea they do still have fish in many levels, so yea its ok! I'll just experiment more xD