Tomb Raider 4 Level Editor

I could have kept all three of today’s posts in one but I want to organise things into their correct categories. 

I decided I wanted to do some more 3D level designing, but hadn’t really enjoyed working with Unreal Editor as much as I had hoped.  I think maybe because of its genre of pc shoot ‘em up which I have never been much of a fan of.  I enjoyed working with unrealEd in the way that it allowed me to explore and play around a 3D world which I had designed.  Maybe it was just my inexperience with the game, the editor and the genre in general which left me feeling less than excited about the whole thing. 

Anyway, yesterday I was thinking back to one of the first times I remember thinking how cool it would be to make games, and it was back probably ten years ago or so, maybe even more, when in PC Gamer or some other PC Games magazine there was an interview with someone who worked as a level designer for the Tomb Raider games.  I remember there was a screenshot of the level editor of some kind which showed part of an unfinished level and (as geeky as it sounds) found the idea of playing around with the levels of Tomb Raider a really fun idea.  

So I typed in Tomb Raider Level Editor, not really expecting there to be one, but was happily surprised when I found ‘Tomb Raider 4 Level Editor’ Yay :D

 

I have only had a quick look at it and followed a very basic tutorial which came along with it.  It looks very nice though and I will hopefully get round to creating a proper level with the feel of a real Tomb Raider game at some point, but I think I’ll need to sit down and spend more time and effort on it.  Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any concept within the editor of importing static meshes to place within the level so this is sort of limiting, but I still think it will be a good way of getting some level design experience, as well as creating and importing textures to use within the levels.

There is also some good stuff on level design in the PDF by Phillip Campbell, a level designer for the Tomb Raider series about the structure of levels as well as giving examples of things he has done in his own levels.

Some screenshots of the level editor and the game running the level (I know it's terribly textured but it still cool).

 

Programming Lessons

Today I have been looking into using event handlers/listeners in C#

Websites I have looked at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317794

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa983610(VS.71).aspx

http://www.developerfusion.co.uk/show/2137/

http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/C-Sharp/Event-Handling-With-C-sharp/

http://www.gamespp.com/c/EventHandling.html

I am hoping to create a C# version of the level editor for my flash game 'Wizards' so trying to improve my C skills a bit.  Also been looking up classes and some other stuff, no examples of any working code yet though.

Website update

Over the summer I started learning some php and use of mySQL databases in websites.  After finishing the current version of the Wizards game (which is not really finished, but I'm having a break) I came back to doing a little bit of web stuff.  Here is the page at the moment of writing this page http://www.colinjensen.co.uk/~gibboco/1/index.php  (its on my friends website, not got around to getting my own domain name yet).  Theres nothing much there, and I know the design is pretty much none existant.  The only thing the site does is gets the information from the database and displays different posts in the blog depending on which category is selected. Nothing amazing and needs work but it's a start.

3D Work Update

Before I started getting on with the Wizards 2.0 project, I was jumping back and forth between different things I wanted to get done over the summer including some 3D design, some level design, web design, a comic, etc etc.  I then got obsessed with the Wizards game for almost a week, but I am taking a break from it for a bit, so I thought I would do a quick update of other stuff I have been working on.

Firsty, some images of little 3D farm yard I started:

thats as far as I got...Then I did a little street scene where I experimented a bit with lighting

And lastly, yesturday I started working on a scene for a futuristic game/animation, and modelled a dentest chair-like bed which you can see below:

WizED 1.1 (for Wizards)

Instructions for the editor for my flash game Wizards (WizED v1.1) 

I am putting this in my blog as I don't have a website for the game set up yet, though I should do shortly.  As the editor (along with the game) have been quite rushed, and since it has all been a learning experience, programming things I have not attempted before, things will not all run perfectly.  I have made no attempt at error handling as of yet.  If a problem arises, the game will most likely crash.   

I know this game isn’t perfect, but I have worked hard on it and have learnt quite a lot (mainly that I need to learn better ways of doing things) and I hope you enjoy trying it and messing around with the editor.  I know there are problems with it, and I know it can be frustrating, but I would really appreciate any useful criticism and ideas on how to improve the game and the editor.  I will be working on updates now and again so hopefully the game will begin to improve over time. 

The Editor
With some objects, such as the collectable stars, and mover objects, once they are placed, there is no way of removing them without starting the level design from scratch (restarting the editor).  Mover objects can be drawn over with the blank tile, but this will not actually remove it from the level.

Also, I have found it very hard finding any information on saving information from a flash file to the local computer.  For this reason, to save your level you must copy the level information into a text file and save it in the 'Levels' folder of the 'Wizards 2_2' directory (which you will have to have copied or downloaded onto your computer from the CD-Rom or website).  The next version will allow levels to be loaded from webpage url's.

Unfortunately, for now anyway, once you have clicked the 'make' button, you will not be able to go back and edit your level using the level editor.  Also, there is no way as of yet for importing levels to edit using the editor.  This is something I will be adding in the next version.  So before you click 'make', ensure that the level is exactly how you want it.

Block Brushes

The normal tile brushes are very easy to use and work well.  Simply choose the tile (there are three different tiles available in this version of the editor, and four unused ones (red/other colours).  There is also the blank tile (which has a red line through it) which is used for removing tiles you have placed.  Once you have selected your tile, click and drag around on the map to place the tiles down.  You can place as many tiles as you like without slowing down the game any considerable amount.  If you go wrong, use the blank tile.  You can use the red tiles if you wish, they will just show up as they do on the editor when playing the game (in the current version at least).

Collectable (small) Stars 
The small stars are the collectable items in the game.  You must have at least one of these on your map somewhere or the 'make' button wont function.  Ensure that you put the stars in places that are reachable by one of the characters (in Wizards v2.2, characters can jump approximately 4 blocks high.  This may vary in later versions of the game).  The star brush icon is small so look at the output box at the bottom left of the screen to ensure it reads ‘Star Brush’ before clicking on the map.  You can only place one star at a time, and only one in each box.  In v2.2, stars are always placed in the bottom left of the box (again, may vary in later versions).  Be careful placing stars as they cannot be removed in the editor.  Although stars do not have to be reachable for the ‘make’ button to function, the level exit stars will not appear until all of the smaller stars have been collected in the level, meaning the level will not be completable.   

Also be careful with the amount of stars that you place, as they can start to slow the game down considerably.

Exit Stars
A level can only have, and must have two exit stars to be able to use the make button, and for the game to load it.  Ensure the stars are reachable by the characters (at the same time) to make the level completable.  Although you cannot directly remove exit stars, if you have the exit star brush selected and click on the map when two exit stars already exist, then both exit stars will disappear. 

Mover Blocks
Mover blocks are the big pain with the game and the editor.  These need a lot of work until they are fully usable within the game.  To create a moving block, click the red block to the right of the large star at the top of the screen.  The output text will read ‘Mover Block.  Select a tile type’.  Although you must select a tile type, this is completely irrelevant as all blocks appear as block type 3 (the four brown blocks).  Once a tile type has been selected, type in a number in both the text boxes beside the mover brush.  The top number refers to how many blocks above the selected one the mover block will move up to, and the bottom number how for the mover block will move down to.  There is no cap on the number you can enter, though errors will probably get thrown back at you if you type huge numbers (I’ve not tried). 

When moving blocks move at different heights to each other, the character gets confused when landing on one and starts jumping up and down on the lower ones.  This is annoying and unplayable, so I advise having all moving blocks at the same height.

There is nothing stopping a mover block moving down from the top screen to the bottom screen or vice versa.  I don’t think that I have actually implemented the ability for the bottom character to use mover blocks, but this will definitely be added in the next version.  As stated before, mover blocks cannot be deleted using the editor. 

Editing with Text Editor
If you really want to edit the level after you have created it and found something isn’t working right, then it IS possible to open the xml file in a text editor and make changes.  If you are deleting a star or mover item, ensure that you edit the ‘starNum’ and ‘moverNum’ tags near the start of the file relevant to the changes made.

Saving your Level

When you press the make button, assuming no errors come up, the xml data for the level will appear in a text box.  The text is automatically copied to the clipboard so just open up your text editor and paste it in (the file may look a bit odd but don’t worry).  Save it in the Levels folder as an xml file (e.g. myLevel.xml).  Now when you run Wizards2_2.exe (from the same file as the Levels folder sits) just type in ‘Levels\myLevel.xml’ or whatever you have saved it as in the text box and click ‘Load’ to start your level.