338 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
338 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
# Creating Custom Levels
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One of the core gameplay features is the Level Editor which lets you draw your
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own custom maps to play and share with others.
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From the game's Main Menu, click on the "Create a Level" button to open the
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level editor. To edit an existing custom level, click on the "Edit a Level"
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button instead.
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## Level Properties
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When creating a new level, you first choose some settings for it. These are
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described below:
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### Page Type
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This setting controls the size and boundaries of your level, and control the
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appearance of the notebook paper background of your level.
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* **Bounded** is the default. The camera won't scroll past the top-left corner
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of the page (0,0), and the level size is capped to 2550x3300, or the
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approximate size of an 11:9 standard sheet of notebook paper in pixels.
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* **No Negative Space** is like Bounded, but the width and height of the level
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have no boundary. Levels can grow "infinitely" to the right and downward
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but no negative coordinates past the top or left edge.
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* **Unbounded** allows for "infinite" sized maps that give unlimited room to
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grow your level. The wallpaper on this level type only uses the "tiling"
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pattern, so notebook-themed levels won't show the top/left decorations.
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You can change these settings later if you change your mind.
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### Wallpaper
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The wallpaper affects the "theme" of your level. Sketchy Maze is themed around
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hand-drawn mazes on paper, so the built-in themes look like various kinds of
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paper.
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* **Notebook** looks like standard ruled notebook paper. It's a white paper with
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blue horizontal lines, a single red vertical line down the left, and a wide
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margin on the top and left edges.
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* **Legal Pad** looks like ruled yellow legal pad. It's similar to Notebook but
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has yellow paper and a second vertical red line down the left.
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* **Graph paper** `new in v0.6.0` is a white paper with a repeating grid pattern
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of light-grey lines about 32px each; a darker dotted gray grid every 3x3 units;
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and a teal grid every 6x6 units. A light version of Blueprint.
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* **Dotted paper** `new in v0.6.0` is a white page with a repeating pattern of
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single dots every 32 pixels apart. Most dots are light blue but with a grid of
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red dots every 6x6 units. It has the same grid spacing as the Graph paper.
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* **Blueprint** is a dark blueprint paper background with a repeating grid pattern.
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A dark version of Graph paper; you'll want to pair it with the **Blueprint Palette**
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which has light colors for level geometry by default.
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* **Pure White** is a blank, white (#FFFFFE) background color with nothing going
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on except for what you draw on your level.
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* **Custom wallpaper...** lets you use your own wallpaper image. See
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[Custom Wallpaper](custom-wallpaper.md).
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The decorations of the wallpaper vary based on the Page Type. For example, the
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Notebook and Legal Pad have extra padding on the top of the page and red lines
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going down just the left side, and the rest of the level uses the repeating blue
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lines pattern. The page types and their effect on the wallpapers are:
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* **Bounded** and **No Negative Space** will show the decorations for the top
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and left edges of the page, as these levels are bounded on their top/left
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corner.
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* **Unbounded** levels only use the repeating tiled pattern across the entire
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level, because there is no top-left boundary to anchor those decorations to.
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### Default Palette
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When starting a **new** level, you may choose a default Palette to start out
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with. The available options as of **version 0.6.0** are:
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* **Default:** the classic palette from previous alpha game releases.
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1. **solid**: black, solid geometry
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2. **decoration**: light grey
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3. **fire**: red, fire
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4. **water**: blue, water
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* **Colored Pencil:** a new palette with some more varied default colors.
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1. **grass**: green, solid geometry
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2. **dirt**: brown, solid
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3. **stone**: dark grey, solid
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4. **fire**: red, fire
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5. **water**: light blue (#0099FF), water
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* **Blueprint:** the classic palette for levels with the Blueprint wallpaper:
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1. **solid**: white, solid
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2. **decoration:** light grey
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3. **fire**: light red (#FF5000), fire
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4. **water**: light blue (#0099FF), water
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5. **electric**: yellow, solid
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In earlier alpha versions of the game, the Blueprint palette was chosen by
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default when the level starts out with the Blueprint wallpaper, which has a
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very dark background color and Blueprint was basically a bright version of
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the Default palette. As of v0.6.0, the user can select the palette separately
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from the wallpaper.
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If you're using the Blueprint wallpaper, pick the Colored Pencil or Blueprint
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palettes for best results: the default black color for level geometry won't
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show well on the Blueprint wallpaper!
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## Editor Interface
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This is the level editor. You can click and drag on the blank page and begin
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drawing a level. The toolbar down the left has various drawing tools: Pencil
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(freehand), Line, Rectangle, Ellipse. The toolbar down the right is your level
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palette. You can mouse-over most buttons and see an immediate tooltip appear
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that describes what it is.
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Quick 5-second overview of the editor interface:
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* The top of the window has your [**Menu Bar**](#menu-bar), a common sight on desktop applications.
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* The panel on the left side of the window is your **Tool Box**. Clicking these
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buttons activates a specific drawing tool or mode:
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* <img src="../images/sprites/pencil-tool.png" width="16" height="16">
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**Pencil Tool** lets you click, drag, and draw pixels of your selected
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Palette color onto your level freehand. Shortcut key: `f`
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* <img src="../images/sprites/line-tool.png" width="16" height="16">
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**Line Tool** lets you easily draw a straight line between two points. Click
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in your level where you want the first point to be, and drag your mouse to
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the second point. Release the mouse to commit the line to your drawing.
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Shortcut key: `l`
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* <img src="../images/sprites/rect-tool.png" width="16" height="16">
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**Rectangle Tool** lets you easily draw rectangles on your level. Shortcut: `r`
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* <img src="../images/sprites/ellipse-tool.png" width="16" height="16">
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**Ellipse Tool** lets you draw circles or elliptical shapes. Shortcut: `c`
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* <img src="../images/sprites/actor-tool.png" width="16" height="16">
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**Doodad Tool** lets you drag doodads such as buttons and doors onto your
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level. See the [Doodad Tool](#doodad-tool) below. Shortcut: `d`
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* <img src="../images/sprites/link-tool.png" width="16" height="16">
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**Link Tool** lets you link doodads together so that they can interact off
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each other. For example, a Button connected to an Electric Door will cause
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the door to open and close when the button is pressed. See [Link Tool](#link-tool)
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below.
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* <img src="../images/sprites/eraser-tool.png" width="16" height="16">
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**Eraser Tool** cleans up your mistakes. Click and drag over pixels you've
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drawn to delete the pixels from your level. Shortcut: `x`
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* The **Size:** label on the left controls the brush size of your current drawing
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tool. This translates to the line thickness, or how big your pixels are when
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drawn into the level. Click the + and - buttons to increase or decrease the
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brush size, and draw thicker or thinner lines.
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* The panel on the right side of the window is your **Palette** of colors to
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draw with. Mouse over a color to see its name and properties -- different
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colors may mean different things!
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* The **Edit** button will open the Palette Editor where you can change a
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color, rename it, and set its properties. See [Color Attributes](#color-attributes)
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---
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## Doodad Tool
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When clicking on the <img src="../images/sprites/actor-tool.png" width="16" height="16"> **Doodad Tool** or
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pressing the `d` key, the Doodads window will appear in the level editor:
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Doodads are objects you drag and drop into your level to add interactive elements
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such as enemies and buttons. Mousing over a doodad will tell you its name, and
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the pager buttons at the bottom can show more options. See the
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[list of built-in doodads](../doodads.md) for details on what each one does.
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Click and drag a doodad from the Doodads window onto your level to place it.
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While the **Doodad Tool** is active on the left toolbar, when you mouse over an
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existing doodad on your level, and orange box will appear around it. You may
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click and drag to move this doodad somewhere else. Right-click it to remove it
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from your level.
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* Left click: **move a doodad** somewhere else on your level.
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* Right click: **removes the doodad** from your level.
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Doodads provide various useful features to your level:
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* **Keys and Locked Doors** let you place collectible keys around the level which,
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when obtained, allow the player to permanently unlock doors of the same color
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and open new paths on the level. There are four pairs of keys and doors.
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* **Buttons and Switches** let you open and close **Electric Doors** and trigger
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other devices to which they are linked.
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* **Trapdoors** provide one-way gates; once the door has swung shut, it can not
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be entered from the wrong side!
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To connect buttons to control doors, use the
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<img src="../images/sprites/link-tool.png" width="16" height="16"> **Link Tool.**
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### How do I remove a doodad from my level?
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Select the <img src="../images/sprites/actor-tool.png" width="16" height="16"> **Doodad Tool**
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to adjust the doodads already on your level.
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To remove a doodad: either **right-click on it** or else drag it from your level
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back into the Doodads window and release, and it will be gone from your level.
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## Link Tool
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The <img src="../images/sprites/link-tool.png" width="16" height="16"> **Link Tool**
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allows you to pair two doodads on your level together. This allows the doodads
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to communicate events with each other, for example, so a button can open an
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electric door when pressed.
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This screenshot shows several buttons and switches that are linked to several
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electric doors. With the Link Tool selected, mouse over a doodad on your level
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and a magenta box appears around it. Click on it, and then click on the other
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doodad to pair it to. A glowing magenta line will connect the two doodads
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together from then on, showing their connection.
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> **Note:** there seems to be no way to un-link two doodads once linked,
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> deleting one from your level and placing a new one will break the links.
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Linked doodads are able to send small messages to their linked partners when
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events happen to _them_. For example, when the player character steps on a button
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it sends a "power on" signal to the door it's connected to, and the door opens.
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When the button is released, it sends a "power off" signal and the door closes.
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See the [Doodads](../doodads.md) page for a description of the game's built-in
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doodads and how they interact with each other.
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---
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## Palette Editor
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The Palette is the set of colors that you draw your actual level with. In your
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default palette, some colors are designated as "solid" and will be used for the
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walls and floors of your level, while others may be "fire" or "water" or just
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decoration (not colliding with the player characters).
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You may edit or extend the palette to your liking. By Clicking the "Tools" menu
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and "Edit Palette", or clicking the "Edit" button on the palette toolbar on the
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right side of the screen, you will open the Palette Editor.
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Levels are designed to have a limited color palette, and this is your selection
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of colors for the level or doodad you're drawing. You can click on "Add Color"
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to create more rows as needed. There isn't a maximum bounds on number of distinct
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colors, however, the user interface will not accommodate too many of them. This
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game is themed around "hand-drawn maps on paper" and pretend each color is a pen
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or marker and how many distinct colors do you need?
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> **NOTICE:** Modifying the color of an existing swatch on your Palette will also
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> change any pixels _already on your level_ to the new color. Drawings in this
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> game use an indexed palette, similar to GIF and some PNG images!
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### Brush Patterns
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A color swatch on your palette may have a Brush Pattern (labeled "Tex") applied
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to it which will vary the look of your color once drawn onto your level. For
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example, instead of a red color drawing on as solid red pixels, it can take on
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a more noisy pattern resembling colored pencil graphite or marker.
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The pattern when drawn onto your level is a cosmetic-only effect: you can change
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the pattern after the fact, or remove the pattern altogether, and your level
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immediately updates.
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In the future, you will be able to add your own custom pattern images but for
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now there are a handful of built-in options to choose from.
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### Color Attributes
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The **Attributes** column toggles behaviors on or off for this color. In the default
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color palette, black pixels make up your **solid** level geometry, red pixels are
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**fire**, and blue pixels are **water**.
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By default the color will be purely decorative, not physically colliding with the
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player or affecting them in any way.
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The attributes and their meanings are:
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* **Solid**: the player character and other mobile doodads will collide against
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pixels drawn in this color. Useful for your level geometry.
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* **Fire**: if the player touches pixels of this color, they die!
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* **Water**: will act like water, currently it just draws the player blue.
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### Changing Colors
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Clicking on the colored square will prompt you to enter a new color in
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hexadecimal notation, like `#FF00FF` for <span style="color: #FF00FF">magenta</span>
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or `#0099FF` for <span style="color: #0099FF">light blue</span>. Colors can
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be entered in the following formats (the # prefix is actually optional):
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* 3-digit hexadecimal: `#F0F` or `#09F`
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* 6-digit hexadecimal: `#0099FF` or `#FC390E`
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* 8-digit RGBA: `#0000FF99` - a color with semi-transparency!
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You can set the color to be **semi-transparent** by providing the 8-digit RGBA
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color code; the extra two digits control the transparency between 00 (fully
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invisible) and FF (fully opaque).
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---
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## Menu Bar
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While editing a level or doodad, a Menu Bar appears at the top of the screen.
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Its options include:
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* **File**
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* New level (Ctrl-N)
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* New doodad
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* Save (Ctrl-S)
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* Save as...
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* Publish level (attach custom doodads for easy sharing)
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* Open... (Ctrl-O)
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* Close level
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* Quit (Escape)
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* **Edit**
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* Undo (Ctrl-Z)
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* Redo (Ctrl-Y)
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* Settings
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* **Level**
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* Page settings (to change the level type or wallpaper)
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* Attached files
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* Playtest (P)
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* **Tools**
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* Debug overlay (F3)
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* Command shell (Enter)
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* Edit Palette
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* Pencil Tool (f)
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* Line Tool (L)
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* Rectangle Tool (r)
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* Ellipse Tool (c)
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* Eraser Tool (x)
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* Doodads (d)
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* Link Tool
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* **Help**
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* User Manual (F1)
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* Register
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* About
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