Brainstorm: level editing and gameplay mashup

What if we combined level editing and gameplay into a unified experience? This wouldn't
just be an in game editor but allowing editor commands while playing the game. For example if you can't get across the river you just use the editor to put in a bridge. Is the enemy too tough? Just edit the AI parameters to make it easier. While you're playing.

Of course the game would fall apart if you allowed the players unlimited access to the editor, but if access is limited somehow it could just work. Maybe we allow just N actions per level. There could be a points system where editing actions cost points.

I'm unsure if this is an original idea. These days it's common to think of something original only to find out later that it's been done.

The UI for level editors is always tricky, especially if we want players to use it, not just the pro level designers. I don't have a solution for this yet.

Multiplayer could be fun. Player one edits while player two plays the level simultaneously. This could work with N players. Even AI players! You're editing while AI players try to play the levels. Or, you're playing while an evil AI bot is editing the level. This could also work with bots that try to help you.

These ideas are so good that I hesitate to reveal them right now. And yet, that's the point of this blog, to not hold back, to show how ideas are formed and later turned into a game.

--fxl