Supaplex Level Creation Tips

This page will discuss the following:

1. Tips and tricks for creating your own Supaplex levels.

Creating your own levels can be much fun, and you will learn more about the game too. Many other people will enjoy playing your levels, even if they're not particularly easy, or hard, or anything else. If you want other people to enjoy your work, you can send your Supaplex levels to me (How should I send in new levels?)

Here is a step-by-step plan which you should follow once you think your level is ready to be included in the new levelsets.

1. First an important note to remember:
   If you set the total number of required infotrons to zero in a level editor, Supaplex will assume you mean "autodetect" and will count the total number of infotrons on the level and use that. If you want to really set the number of required infotrons to zero, you generally have two options:
   
   1. Don't place any infotrons on the level, not even as decoration.
   2. Place one "dummy" infotron in a spot where it's easy to get (e.g. right next to Murphy at start, or next to the exit) and set the total number of required infotrons to 1.
2. The second thing that you should be aware of when creating a new level, is that almost any puzzle you can think of, is bound to have a "backdoor" in it somewhere. By this, I mean that you (or at least someone) can think of an easy way to solve the level, avoiding all the careful traps you have set. This has happened often in the past, so you should be very careful, and try out your level thoroughly.
3. Now after your first few tests, sit back, and watch your level for a while. Check out what would happen if you do something a different way than you would normally. Can you find other ways to solve your level? Often, you can find an easy solution by making a seemingly "silly" or even "stupid" move somewhere. Make such a move, and see if you can still solve the level after it.
4. After this, most of the easy backdoors will have been removed. But there might be some really tricky things left. You should check out which tricks are available in the game. These tricks may not be commonly known, but can be used to survive some very tight situations. You can look at the Supaplex Tricks page to see what tricks can be used. Also, you can find a small list of cheats, which you MUST NOT use in your level as solution to a particular puzzle. If you are well aware that these tricks exist, and you are good at using them, and they don't seem to provide an easy way to solve your level, then you should be one step closer towards the best you can do.
5. If possible, let some of your friends test the levels before you send them to me. They are bound to look at the level with a fresh mind, and will try ways to solve the level that you hadn't thought of. Sometimes there are just people who are so much cleverer than you and me, and figure out a way to solve your level the easy way.
6. The previous steps should have eliminated most backdoors. But keep in mind that your changes to the level to block the backdoors you have found may very well affect other parts of the level. If you are not careful, you can introduce new backdoors this way! If you have made any changes to your level in the previous steps, it's advisable to start from the top to see if there are any (new) backdoors.
7. I know from experience that it can be very frustrating to try to find a solution for a backdoor, and not being able to find any, thus having to change the level a lot. But I guess that's also part of the fun. When the level is complete, it works, and all backdoors have been removed (well, as many as you can), the level is ready to be added to the Supaplex level collection. (How should I send in new levels?)