Hello everyone!
You'll find below a guide to understand how to properly use the Level Editor tool of the game.
Happy reading!
General
- Display Help panel: H
- Level Editor “Pause” Menu : Esc, press again to resume
- Undo: Ctrl+Z
- Redo: Ctrl+Y
Known issues:
- Controls in the Level Editor cannot be changed
- Shortcuts displayed in the UI and the Help panel are set for QWERTY keyboard by default
Camera:
- Camera movement: W, A, S, D
- Camera forward/backward : Alt + Right-click
- Camera height: mouse wheel or hold Right-click + Left-click
- Camera rotation: hold Right-click or hold Alt + Left-click
- Camera movement speed: Click on camera pink button, or use C, or hold Shift while moving camera
- Focus on selected object: F
Known issues:
- Moving the camera while selecting an item in the UI may block the camera movement in one direction. Opening the Pause Menu at this moment will block the camera movement entirely. Save your level, go back to the main menu and reload your level in the Level Editor to unblock the camera.
- Holding Shift to move the camera faster may not work after several Alt+Tab. Go back to the Main Menu and reload your level to fix it.
Grid:
- While the grid is on, objects will clip on the grid lines and elevation. Disable the grid for a free positioning of items.
- Toggle the grid : Click on On/Off grid pink button or use G.
- Change the grid size : Click on the 250 grid pink button or use + and -
- Change the grid height : Ctrl + mouse wheel. Trying to move the camera under the grid will also lower the grid
Known issues:
- You can’t select or place an item through the grid. The camera must be on the same side of the grid to properly select and position items on the grid, or the grid must be disabled.
Creating, saving and loading a level:
- Click on the Save button or hit Ctrl+S:
- Save you current level
- Load a previous save of your level or load a different level
- Your creations are automatically saved on a regular basis and everytime you play your level.
- You can create a new level, or save and load, from the Esc. menu.
Editing mode VS Brush mode:
- Your cursor can either be in creation mode aka “Brush” or editing mode.
- It will be in Brush mode by default with the first objects from the items list ready to be placed (a 10x10 wall) when starting a new level.
- You can change the cursor mode by clicking the Move/Brush button on top of the screen or hitting Q.
- Clicking an item in the UI will automatically switch to creation mode.
Adding objects (Brush mode):
- You can add objects by selecting a tab in the objects menu, then an object.
- Blockout elements:
- Rooms : full elements including floor, walls and ceiling
- Blocks : simple objects of various sizes to design your very own rooms and obstacles
- Static Meshes
- Rooms and Corridors : full elements including floor, walls and ceiling, using Main game textures (Crypt, Ruins and Forge)
- Single Meshes : simple objects of various sizes to design your very own rooms and obstacles, using Main game textures (Crypt, Ruins and Forge)
- Decorative Objects : Simple decorative objects from Main game levels
- Special elements
- Gameplay: Interactive placeables : Urns, Weapons, bumpers… For interactive elements logic system, see Adding interactive elements
- Enemies : Placeable enemies
- Traps : Traps and death zones
- Various: starting and end level points, trigger boxes and helpers
- Lighting devices: Placeable point lights
- The object blueprint will be displayed in green under your cursor.
- Use R to rotate the blueprint 90° on the z axis
- Click to place the object.
- Remember to disable the grip if you want a more precise control on your Brush tool.
Known issue: - Geometry objects can overlap and will display visual clipping on overlapping areas. If too many objects overlap, they will appear elsewhere.
Editing objects (Edit mode):
- You can edit objects by clicking on the Brush/Edit button or using Q.
- A 3-axis icon will be displayed over the last selected object. To edit another object, click on it.
- Hit E to move, R to rotate it and T to resize the object on the 3 axis.
- Resize only works on geometry objects. You can try and resize enemies but they will spawn in your level at their default size.
- You can also toggle between move, rotate and stretch view using Space.
- Click and drag an axis to move, rotate or stretch the object on this axis.
- To select a group of objects, hold Ctrl and click to add or remove objects from a group. Selected items will be outlined in yellow.
- To duplicate an object or a group of objects, hold Shift and click and drag a move axis.
- To delete an object or a group of objects, select it and hit Del.
- Hit Esc. to unselect the selected object or group of objects.
- Remember to disable the grip if you want a more precise control on your editing tool.
Adding starting and end level points:
- Every level needs a start and an end in order to be completed.
- To add a starting point, select the Special elements tab in the Object menu or use F4, then select the Start button.
- Use R to rotate the blueprint 90° on the z axis, which will change the direction the player is facing when starting the level, and click to place your starting point.
- You can only place one starting point. Trying to place a second one will just remove the first one.
- To add an end level point, select the Special elements tab in the Object menu or use F4, then click the End level button. Click to place your exit point.
- The End level area is a cube with an highlighted face. The highlighted face is the one the player will have to go through in order to complete the level. Make sure to make it face in the right direction.
- Just like other objects, you can resize, move around and rotate the End Level area.
Adding special elements (logic system):
Enemies and interactives elements such as bumpers or levers obey to a logic system
Adding such elements to the level will display the logic system panel on the right side of the screen and the following options, depending on the element:
- Activation delay : used on elements activated in game by the player. “Is On” must be unchecked. Adding a delay will add time between the moment the player activates the element and the moment activation occurs
- Is On : if checked, the element will be activated when the game starts. A bumper will be active, a door will be opened, a lever will be pulled, and so on. If unchecked, the element will need to be activated by the player thanks to another element
- Is Enablable : if checked, the element can be activated by the player. If unchecked it cannot be activated by the player until another condition is fulfilled
- Outputs : clicking on the “+” button lets you select which elements are activated when the player activates this element. For example, adding enemy spawners to a trigger box outputs will make these enemies appear when the player enters the trigger zone. Adding a hook block to a first block outputs will make the second block active when the first block is used by the player. You can delete an outputs element by clicking on its “-” icon.
- Is Optional Spawner (enemies only) : if checked, the enemy spawner won’t need to be triggered or the enemy to be killed in order to finish the level. This is useful for creating alternate paths. If unchecked, activating the End level zone will require the spawner to be triggered and the enemy to be killed, so make sure you don’t place an enemy spawner in an unreachable area and that the activating elements (trigger box, lever…) can’t be missed by the player..
- Turret mode (enemies only) :Turret mode (enemies only) : if unchecked, enemies will move to attack the player. If checked, they won't move and will only attack when in range.
Known issue:
- When clicking on the Outputs “+” icon while being in brush mode, first switch to edit mode (shortcut Q) before clicking on the element you want to add
Editing the world settings:
- Click on the gamepad icon on the right side of the screen to display the game rules. There you can edit the time limit for each medal. Make sure you set achievable goals for your level to be completed by others. A good way to verify this is to try and get the medals from your own level before publishing it.
- Click on the handgun icon on the right side of the screen to display the loadout. There you can edit the number of bullets and clips for each weapon as well as available powers.
Object settings:
- Select an object that as settings to edit : Enemies, Lights, Interactive elements
- Click on the Cursor button to open the Object Settings
- You can change various settings, depending on the object you want to modify. Enemies can be set in Turret mode and won’t move, you can change the color or the intensity of the lights, you can select the number of ammos of pick up weapons…
Lighting Settings:
- Click on the light Bulb
- You can select any lighting biome you like, small loadings might occur.
Testing a level:
- Click on the character+play blue uttonor use Alt+P to try your level from the start
- Click on the eye+play blue button or use Ctrl+P to play from the closest point the camera is facing. This can be handy when testing a specific section of a long level.
- Using the character+play icon or Alt+P will make you start from the camera view if no starting point has been placed.
- In testing mode, you can restart your level as many times as you want using Tab, just like you would in a real game level.
- To exit test mode, use Esc
Publishing a level:
- Before publishing your level, make sure that:
- It has a start and end zone
- All non optional enemies are triggered by the player’s path and can be killed with sufficient ammo and powers
- End zone is properly triggered and the level is finishable.
- All medal times are achievable, bronze time being at least 2 seconds
- You have tested and completed your level yourself.
- You have saved your level.
- When you are ready to publish your level, click on the blue upload button or use Ctrl+E.
- Give a name to your level and fill the description field to make other players want to play your level.
- Your level will now be playable by other players by selecting Community levels in the game main menu
Playing other people’s level
- You can access the list of other players’ levels by clicking the Community levels button in the Main Menu
- Click on a level title to display its description. Additional info will be added in later updates. Download number, type, difficulty, rating and screenshot are placeholders.
- Click on Download to add the level to add it to your playable levels
- Go to the Play levels tab, click on the level you downloaded and click Play to test it
- Click on the red button to delete a community level from your list
- While playing, hit Esc to go back to community level selection
