As well as the gameplay of your stage, the visuals play a very large part of the player's experience on a map. Properly using textures to provide a unified look and feel as well as making sure the player can see what he needs to see at all times is essential to a good map. Also, adding in some nice artistic touches goes a long way to making a map better than it would be otherwise. Nice graphics aren't everything, but a pretty stage is going to leave a better impression than an ugly one.
Theme
- Have a unifying theme to the visual design. A lot of times these go under established video game stereotypes: grassy areas, deserts, sunken temples, lava stages, etc. These themes are important because they establish the feeling that the player has entered a real place, as well as give the player a feeling of familiarity with the surroundings. Nobody needs to be told that lava is bad, for example. Make sure the stage has a unified, visual theme that gives it a visual look. Be creative on themes, as the more original the theme is, the more memorable. Just make sure the theme actually makes sense.
- If a level is going to have multiple themes used at the same time, they should be cohesive. They should make sense. Combining a jungle theme and electricity theme is going to take some work, but mixing a water and mine theme would be more easily done.
- Theme-changing levels should have logical transitions. Improper transitions are often ugly.
Detail
- Levels always look nicer when they have a perfect amount of detail. Too little detail can make the level feel empty, but too much detail can make the level cluttered, hard to move around in, or cause the framerate to drop.
- Balance the detail. Putting all the details on one side looks strange. Instead, make sure to spread it across the map. Don't just put it all in a single really pretty room.
- Make sure details don't obstruct the player from moving around. Details in smaller hallways shouldn't obstruct the player, as sector-based detail can cramp the passageway and intrude on the player. It's often a good idea to put visual details in smaller passages on the ceiling where they won't block the player's movement.
- Large rooms are the opposite of hallways. Detail can be used to fill up the room and give it purpose and life. Be especially careful not to overdo it in large, open areas, though. Too much detail in large rooms can be a major drag on framerate.
- Detail should be done both with sectors and things, though use of one more than the other can give the level style.
- It's a good idea to support structures in the stage with supports. While SRB2 is a game based on unrealistic gameplay, the world the player sees is supposed to be moderately correct, so seeing a bridge that couldn't possibly stand up in reality makes the player think something isn't right about the world. Even if the player doesn't consciously know why it's wrong, they'll know something isn't right. Both natural and artificial structures in the stage should be reasonably expected to stand up against gravity in the real world. Floating platforms and other similar things are obviously exceptions to this.
- Don't connect sectors to the thok barrier whose floor heights are higher than that of the thok barrier. It can cause mild to severe slime trails.
- 2D levels should take advantage of the 3D depth that SRB2 allows. Seeing a truly 3D background is seldom seen even in professional 2.5D mode games, so use this to your advantage to make your stage look cool.
Texturing
- Don't texture randomly. Even a distorted reality concept needs a mild amount of consistency with each theme shown. All the textures in the stage should fit together as a cohesive whole. Clashing or textures that don't fit with each other should be avoided.
- Make sure the texturing allows the player to see. Using extremely similar wall, floor, and ceiling textures obscures the pathway and makes it extremely difficult to navigate the stage. Use different textures for the walls and floor so the player can see the edge of the area they're in. Use midtextures such as GFZGRASS to allow the player to see the edge of the platforms they're on. Remember that it's more important that the player be able to see what's going on around them than the area be as pretty as possible.
- Certain textures and flats shouldn't be used on tall walls. These are generally the one-color textures, liquidfalls, and things that tile lots in a small area like the small Green Hill set and the small Hidden Palace set. The larger the wall, the simpler the texture used on it should generally be to look right. This is the reason behind the texture for the outside wall of Sapphire Falls Zone, for instance. Using the textures from the inside of the stage on that wall is painful to the eyes because of how much it repeats.
