email: jay@loomsoft.net
web:http://www.loomsoft.net

Contents

• Introduction
• Note
• Key Shortcuts/Controls
• Full Screenshot
• Play Field
• Tile Picker
• Special Tile Picker
• Teleports
• Layer Controls
• Tile Type Indicators
• Tile-Grid
• Layer Hiding
• Map Properties
• Creating a Level Set!

Introduction

Note

The terms Norm/Normal Layer and Block/Blocked layer are synomonous and mean the same thing throughout this documentation.

Also, please make sure to read the "Creating a Level Set!" section before attempting to play or distribute your custom made levels!

Key Shortcuts/Controls

Hide the Trans layer while held down

Full Screenshot

Play Field

The Play field is where most of the editing takes place when creating a new level. The play field directly represents what the player will see when playing your level. It is here that you place tiles strategically to create a fun level!

Place a tile with the left mouse button.
Use the right mouse button to copy the same tile from the location you clicked on.

Tile Picker

The Tile picker is where you select tiles to use to draw onto the play field. The red box represents what tile is currently selected; and also the currently selected tile will display between the left and right arrow buttons. To flip to a new "page" of tiles, simply press the left or right arrow button with your left mouse button to flip the page in that direction.

The left mouse button selects a tile.

Special Tile Picker

The Special Tile picker is where you select Special Tiles for placement in the play field. Simply click the icon for which special tile you wish to use. You will notice the "--" beside the tile will turn to "ON." This represents that the tile is currently "ON," or in a drawing state and will be drawn when you click somewhere in the play field. Click the button again to turn the tile back to "--". Also, selecting any other tile will turn the currently selected special tile off.

The tile marked "DEL" simply deletes tiles off of the play field when it is turned "ON." The "DEL" special tile cannot delete teleports. Read down for more information on teleports.

The teleport tile is a little more complicated than the other tiles. To place a teleport, click the teleport tile; then place the teleport ENTRANCE where you wish it to go. A on-screen dialog will appear informing you that to place the teleport EXIT you must right-click in the desired location. If you click the teleport icon twice, you will notice a "DEL" appear next to the tile. This option is used for deleting teleports. When the "DEL" word appears next to the teleport tile, click the teleport ENTRANCE of the teleport set you wish you delete, and the teleport entrance and exit will be removed simultaneously.

Teleports

When teleports are placed onto the playfield, they will each be designated with a number. This is how you can differentiate between which teleport entrance leads to which teleport exit. The teleport entrance is simply shown as the regular teleport sprite; and the teleport exit is shown as a vertically flipped image of the same teleport sprite.

Please read the information found in the Special Tile Picker section about placing and removing teleports.

Background Editing

These are the controls for editing the background. The big left and right arrow buttons scroll through which background will show while the level is being played. Setting the background to 0 sets the background to the "scrolling star" background, which does not display in the level editor.

The small left and right arrow buttons are used to change the velocity of the scrolling of the background. Scrolling can only be set in either a horizontal or a vertical direction; not both. Therefore one of the values; either the X-Velocity or the Y-Velocity will always be zero. Clicking the left arrow button will decrease the value; and clicking the right arrow button will increase the value. The minimum value is -8, and the maximum value is +8.

Layer Controls

The Layer Controls consist of simply one button. This changes the current layer from Normal to Trans (transparent). The normal layer draws over the Transparent layer. Both layers draw with masking turned on.

If the tile type option is turned on, letters will be displayed at the top-left of every tile which is either a tile on the Normal Layer, or a tile on the Trans (transparent) Layer.

BT denotes the current tile is drawn on the Normal (blocked) Layer.
TT denotes the current tile is drawn on the Trans (transparent) Layer.

Remember, the Normal layer is drawn on TOP of the Trans Layer, so if a Trans tile and a Normal tile are drawn in the same position, only BT will show.

To aid in visualizing levels and placing tiles, a tile grid option is available in the editor. When the tile grid is turned on, red lines will outline the "grid" of tile locations which makes up a level map.

In the editor there is an option to hide either the Norm/Block layer, the Trans layer, or even both. An indicator is shown on the bottom left portion of the Play Field. If no layers are being hidden, no indicator is shown.

This set of buttons perform different functions. They basically execute a command doing exactly what the text on the button says.

Pressing the Save button will bring up a save dialog where you can save your map.

Pressing the Load button will bring up a load dialog where you can load a previously saved map.

Pressing the Level Name button will open a very simple dialog in the bottom left corner of the play field where you can enter a name for the current map. Hit enter when the desired name is set.

Pressing the Next Map button will bring up a dialog much like the Save/Load dialog; however, this dialog selects which map to load after the current level is completed in the game.

Pressing the New Level Set Loader will begin the process of creating a "Level Set Loader" which enables users to easily play your levels from the main game. First you are instructed to select the first map. This would be the map that the game engine would load when your level set is in use. Next, you are asked to enter name for your level set. Then, you are asked to save your level set. Make sure to save your level set to the same directory that your levels are located or else your level set will not load correctly.

Pressing the Last Level Button will set the next map to "end" which signifies that it is the last level in the level set. This is required as a level set loader will not compile unless the last map's next map is labeled as "end."

Creating a Level Set

This section contains detailed information on creating a properly working level set. Please read this section before trying to play or distribute your custom levels!

This first thing to understand is that all levels that should be part of one set should all be contained in a single folder. The Zep's Dreamland engine uses an architechture where all levels of a single set must be in the same directory; and the level set loader that loads the levels must reside in that directory as well. The location of the directory containing this information is irrelevant so long as it is contained within the same directory as the game's executable. An optimal location would be within the data\levels directory.

Once all of the levels are complete, and each level points to the next level in the set, use the "Last Level" button to set your last level's next level field to be "end". This signifies to the engine that it is the last level in the set. Once this is done, hit the "New Level Set Loader" button. A dialog will appear asking for you to select the first map to be loaded when your level set is played. Select the map you want to be the first. The engine will then recursively go through each map, testing that the next map to be loaded does, in fact, exist in that same directory. It will recur through until it hits a next map named "end". Once this occurs and your level set is verified as working, you will be prompted to name your level set. This name is what will appear in the actual game in the list of level sets. Once you have entered a name for your level set it will ask you to save your level set. You may name it whatever you wish, as long as it ends in the extension .zll and resides in the same directory as all of your levels. Once you are done, fire up the game and your loader should appear in the master list of level sets!

Please note! Setting any map's next map field to a previous map will result in an infinite loop that the level set finalizer will not auto quit. A message appears displaying which level is currently being processed. If you notice that the processing seems to be in an infinite loop, hit the Escape key to break the level set finalizing sequence.