Level maker games are one of my most favorite genres. The entire game's about designing a level and sharing it with the whole world, and then playing other people's levels! It's the creative process, gamified.

Now, of course, not everyone's the Picasso of level design. That's perfectly okay! Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. However, sometimes people... well... just don't get it. These people make what's called... Hot Garbage.
...That's fine as well. Everyone learns how to make a good level. This guide's here to help you learn what Hot Garbage is and how to turn it from trash to treasure. Just remember me once you're in the Weekly Mix, ok?

Let me briefly state what this guide is not, and redirect you to a better guide:

• This is NOT a gameplay guide. This is about how to fix any potential bad gameplay you may have made, or may make. (Currently no guide for this.)
  
• This is NOT a level decoration guide. Although some Hot Garbage may look terrible, and this guide implores you to fix it, this guide doesn't tell you how to design a pretty level. (Currently no guide for this. I swear there was one, though...)
  
• This is NOT a "Hall of Shame." I am not here to make fun of people who can't design levels, I am here to teach you how to retroactively fix bad design. There is no guide I will willingly redirect you to here.

(Note: This guide's not fully complete. It may never be, and so I need your help! If you know some type of hot garbage I don't, leave a comment about it, and maybe make a few examples for me. I'll add them if I see them, alright?)

Anyway, let's get started!

Hot Garbage is essentially the worst possible levels that can be made in any maker game ever. You should never ever make hot garbage willingly, intentionally, and only. Hot garbage takes many shapes and sizes, so it's sometimes hard to categorize.

Usually, prevention of hot garbage varies per type. However, a golden rule to stopping hot garbage is to playtest. Playtest, playtest, playtest! Getting a second opinion is guaranteed to at least give you one idea for improvement. Make sure your playtester has not seen the level until now! (i.e. a friend; a brother/sister/genderless sibling; an online friend; a pet fish; Sans from Undertale; hell, even me! I'd love to playtest your level!) Usually you'll be the only one making a level, so anyone's a good choice.

> IMAGE GOES HERE <
We can call these Excavation Levels. An Excavation Level is the ultimate test of patience (and not in a good way.) Excavation Levels are usually about doing the same task over and over (say, making a certain jump X amount of times) until you either decide you have bigger fish to fry and quit, or win.

An easy way to tell if you have an Excavation Level on your hands is to break down its gameplay. Try writing down a simple step-by-step guide to your level. If you write down "Do X task Y times" for 60% or more of your guide, you've probably made an excavation level. Use your discretion.

This might sound crazy, but excavation levels can be a good thing. As long as you can spice up the gameplay every so often - say, adding extra spikes, changing the path, giving/removing abilities, etc. - it's possible to turn a dumpster fire of a level into an exquisite item storage container also known as a chest.

---

> IMAGE GOES HERE <
SUPER MEGA ULTRA HARD INSANE IMPOSSIBLE LEVEL!!!!!111 levels, or just Impossible Levels for simplicity's sake, are levels where objects are randomly placed with no rhyme or reason as to why they're there. An Impossible Level doesn't need to be difficult; it only needs to be incomprehensible. Spamming a bunch of obnoxious items/sounds/colors everywhere, even if the level's gameplay is "hold right", counts as an Impossible Level.

I'll be blunt. If you make an Impossible Level and have a hard time telling that you did, there is something seriously wrong with you. If you can't, though, back up for a second and ask yourself these questions:

• If I'm a stereotypical player and play this level, would I get key info quickly?
  
• If I had to present this level as the standard for all levels in I Wanna Maker, how'd that make the game look?
  
• If I were in a level-making contest and I submitted this, would it do well?

If you say "no" to over half these questions, you probably made an Impossible Level. Use your discretion.

If you want to fix an Impossible Level, your best bet is to pick a gimmick you like and stick with it. Most Impossible Levels hop from one gimmick to the next with no sense of direction. It's OK to introduce gimmicks, and it's fine to introduce gimmicks to combine with your current gimmick! Make sure it's easy to follow and trim out any visual fat that might get in the way.

...but sometimes, the best way to salvage an Impossible Level is to throw it in the trash and start again. It's difficult to fix an Impossible Level sometimes.
Not to get too lengthy, but this is usually because when designing a level part, you build it off the foundation of the last part. If you change the foundation of a part, you have to go to the next/last part and reconfigure some of that part's foundation to be compatible with the last/next part. If you reconfigure a part too much for compatibility, you might have to reconfigure the next next/last last part to be compatible, which could lead to a whole daisy-chain of reconfiguration.
If that was too hard to follow, try this:

• I have five parts in this order: A, B, C, D, E.
  
• If I change Part C, I might have to change B and/or D to work with C.
  
• If I change B or D too much to work with C, I might have to change A or E to work with B or D.
  
• If I had extra parts, say, X, A, B, C, D, E, Y, I might have to change X or Y to work with A or E from the changes I made so it'd fit with B or D from the changes I made so it'd work with C from the changes I made to fix some hot garbage.

Use your discretion, and don't be afraid to start over.
Alright, that was quite lengthy anyways! Moving on...

---

I'll call these Boring Levels. Boring Levels are, well, boring levels. They're exactly what it says on the tin. These are essentially siblings with Excavation Levels, being levels where you do a monotonous task. Excavation Levels are where you do a certain task (say, knocking a Burst Block into a large breakable wall) over and over. Boring levels, however, are superfluously ennervating. They're principally, all-out lethargic. They're super ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boring. All you do in a Boring Level is the same incredibly lengthy task. It could be hitting a button 3,000 times, or maybe walking 500 miles (and maybe even 500 more), or maybe even sitting dead still for a half-hour.

If your level requires a lot of doing an action - if it's walking, shooting, waiting, etc. - try shortening the time it takes or adding in some extra action the player has to do. Add some platforms and spikes to your walk. Move the button around a small arena each time you shoot it. Make the player dodge some bullets while they wait. If you're doing an adventure map, try adding some exposition! Add some signs that explain your story. You can even do some dialog if you'd like.

---

> More to come! <

You can either "host" a playtest on a personal machine, publish your level as unlisted and give someone the ID, or, if you're computer snazzy, share the level file with your friends, and chat with them on a voice/text & video channel.

Here's some general guidelines for playtesting:

• Look for people familiar with IWM. Most of my levels I've made assume prior knowledge of how IWM works. My gimmicks usually do NOT show players what they do alone. I expect the player to know what the objects that constitute my level are, what they do, and how they interact.
  
• Run through your level quickly. Trust me, it's super embarrassing when I'm playtesting a level and something breaks, and I have to explain that something broke and I need to fix it. Test your level and make sure everything runs smoothly, and try to patch up/add workarounds to things. If you haven't placed a goal yet (maybe your level's not complete yet), place one where your level ends to draw attention away from the sudden stop.
  
• Don't give any hints. Actually, don't even talk about designing/solving the level. A playtest should be a glimpse as to what players will see, feel, and do when playing your level. Now, unless you're a really cool guy, more often than not, level creators will not tell you how to beat their level.

I hope this guide helped you out! If I helped you out, or at least helped you learn a thing or two, do make sure you like this guide, and if you have any suggestions or things you'd like to tell me, make sure you leave a comment.

Hope to see your levels! Happy making!