Hi,
In the near future we will start making a game that looks like Where is My Water and Cut the Rope games. By that I mean there will be multiple levels in which the player tries to solve a simple physics based puzzle.
We were thinking of making a tool that can be used for designing the different levels of the game. Instead of programming individual levels, the tool will be a drag and drop style tool that can be used to create new levels easily.
There are some questions that I would like to ask (some of which may be open questions but this is a discussion more than a QA type of thread):
1 - Are there any resources that talk about the essential elements of level designer tools?
2 - In your opinion, do you see that such a tool will be useful or will save time during the development process of the game?
3 - Are there any books that talk about the subject or the role in game development teams that deals with tool development rather than actual game development? I need that to get more deep idea about the elements that can be considered as generic in common games and how to identify the situations in which we should invest our times in tool development rather than actual game development.