Code, you have no grounds to claim originality for Intel but like Jedi and Lothar have said, stick with playability. Try to respond directly to what has been said in previous posts rather than going off on a tangent and try not to overreach. Most people here have been playing Descent for over twenty years and have a great deal of experience to draw from so keep it simple and stick to what you know. Also, level making is infinitely more than just splicing one or two levels together to make a new one. Sure this has been the case with some levels as mentioned in previous posts, but it has the potential to be so much more if you just try.
Admittedly, this thread/topic should never have escalated to this point but seeing as we're here I'd like to talk some more about levels. No single level or style is ever going to appeal to everyones tastes as we all judge them differently and certain design aspects will appeal to some people more than others. Remaking or rehashing levels to make new ones can help to create new, relatively successful levels for us to play in (i.e. Cronos and Mythena). However, originality is highly significant in my opinion and it shouldn't be dismissed so easily.
Making levels for the sake of playability is all fair and well until the only ten levels we're left playing are Logic. Playability is reductive; its like conceding that creativity is dead and no one could possibly do anything better so why bother? Theres plenty of reasons to bother because theres a whole host of different ways to manipulate cubes to create effective levels with design aspects that differ from most levels and more significantly, the most 'popular' levels. There is so much potential for making some really interesting levels but all too often, people get complacent and settle for what they perceive to be popular. I'm not here to make a point about the core levels however, I strongly believe that most people on the DCL are unwilling to branch out beyond the most commonly played levels because they're either unwilling to train in a less popular level, afraid of getting stomped in a less popular level or have preconceptions on what makes for a good level based upon mostly playing a small pool of similar styled levels. As a result its no surprise to see that the most commonly levels played on the DCL are virtually all made by the same author and are of a very similar style.
I implore anyone who's interested in making levels to go out there and explore levels new and old, from anarchy to single player, both inside Descent and in a level editor to see how they're put together, to test out different rooms or experimental structures to see what works and most importantly, to make the levels they themselves want to make. Sure its an uphill struggle to garner interest and playtime for a new level, but you've got to have faith in your work and if you really believe its worth playing then its likely that others will too.
• DMDB:
http://www.enspiar.com/dmdb/index.php• Pootermans:
http://www.pooterman.com• Sick One's Asylum:
http://www.descent2.com/sickone/• Sirian's Warpcore:
http://sirian.warpcore.org/descent.html