Enemy Placement

This topic came up yesterday on the IRC, and I wanted to hear some other people's thoughts on the matter. I was gonna put it in BZ4's level design discussion topic, but that turned into something else altogether.

Anyway, when I make my maps, I place crawlas all over the place. I don't do it randomly, I mean, there's at least some thought put into where they go and how far apart they're spaced, but they're not actually there to pose a challenge. Rather, I place them because the level simply feels better with them there than without. I have a few ideas as to why I think this (mainly, it's a fun little side-diversion while the player is traversing a space) but the members I spoke with on the IRC disagreed.

Generally, the gist I got is that if you're not going to use your enemies in a unique and interesting/challenging way, they just shouldn't be there at all. There are an abundance of maps that just use random crawlas, after all, and I suppose it does get tiresome to see the same damn enemies everywhere.

But even then, I argue that the level feels better because of them. Isn't that a good enough reason to put them there anyway? Is there something wrong with a level if random crawlas are an improvement?

I agree with having enemies in otherwise empty spaces, so long as they're not overpowering. If the basic idea is to give some kind of variety to platforming but the player needs a break, Crawlas in flat areas is a perfect way to do it.

Even then, why not fill the empty area with something more interesting than a bunch of Crawlas? If the enemies are only there for decoration, why not decorate the room with something that actually looks good? If the enemies are there as a diversion, why not divert the player with something that is actually interesting?

It's not so much decoration so much as making the room at least somewhat interactive. If I'm jumping around avoiding crawlas, then I'm actually doing something in a room where there's otherwise nothing to do.

Yes, they're easy to avoid, but it still gives the room some level of interactivity.

A lot of our enemies are built to work regardless of the level design they're placed in. For example: crawlas, jettys, and the GFZ Eggmobile all work no matter the sector layout. I'd really like to see levels use enemies that coordinate with the level geometry, like neo-skims, pop-ups turrets, and DSZ Eggman. These types are harder to place intelligently, but they should do more for a level than simply crawlas.

The way I see it is this: The more enemies there are, the less likely the player is to stop and take them out. When I see crawlas around a map, it doesn't make the map look any better because they're there, I just ignore them outright because they don't do anything to block my path or hinder me by leaving them alone. I also avoid large swarms of enemies because they would too long to defeat if I were to stop and deal with all of them.

If you're going to place an enemy, it should cause the player to react to it as they approach the enemy, and there should be some sort of consequence for just ignoring said enemy rather than dealing with it.