Well, I guess it's time!!!
So I'm happy to announce you that the level-editor I've started working on on May has just been released!
(it's been quite a long way since the beginning, really!)
I won't bother you with too much blabla but here are few things to help you starting with the software:
(
I know I have to write a README file, but you don't want to wait for it to be written, do you? )
1)
INSTALLATION(if you already have Lemmini installed on your computer, then the installation process is very easy) :
- get the .zip file from the link at the end of this post, and uncompress it (
jLevelBuilder - beta_1.0)
- find the "resources/tilesets/Lemmings/" directory
- in this dir, you'll find a dir for Lemmings' every tileset (Helpers are in these dirs). Fill these dirs with Lemmings' graphic data (because of obvious copyright issues, I can't provide Lemmings' graphics). So how to do that?
- a) if you have Lemmini installed, well, simply copy here all items from Lemmini's tilesets (
example for "brick" tileset: copy from "brick.ini" to "brickom_7.gif" in the "brick" folder, and do the same for all tilesets). EASY! nothing else to do!
- b) if you don't have Lemmini installed on your computer, then search on YouTube for "Lemmini Lemmix", and follow the installation steps shown in the "How to set up Lemmix level creator with lemmini level player" tutorial. When it's done, copy the Lemmings graphics from your Lemmini's gfx folder to the level-editor's gfx folder (see step "a)" above).
- launch
jLevelBuilder.jar, and you're ready to make a level! (
"j" stands for "Java")
(then, in the editor, the 1st thing to do is to select the tileset you want to use: brick, dirt, snow, ...)2)
SET YOUR OWN CONFIGURATION (optionnal)
you can freely modify the "config.ini" and the "keyconfig.ini" text-files located in software's root-dir.
For example, if you want to adjust GUI's size according to your screen's dimension or if you want to change default directories, then go editing "config.ini".
Key configuration is best modified directly from the level-editor's GUI ("Options" > "Key configuration")
You'll find backups of the original files in the "_backups_" folder.
3)
TOOL TIPSif you don't know what this button or value does, then just leave your mouse over it few seconds to make the component's description appear.
4)
MATH FORMULAI have to write stuff on this one, because it is probably not very clear on how to use it.
Basically:
- in the level, select all the items you want to be affected by your Math formula
- in the "Math Formula" window, select if your math formula will affect items' posX or posY
- work your maths
, and write a formula which results in a
single value- click "Compute" and you're done
- For convenience, I have already written some math templates you'll find in a list at the bottom of the "Math" window: you just have to fill the blanks between operators
- Knowing that, it should be ok to start with this feature, and I'll write more detailed explanations later (specially about the incremental stuff)
5)
LEVELS IN ADVANCED MODE (VS LEVELS IN LEMMINGS MODE)At the time being, I still have work on extra features for the "Advanced" mode (.xml saves, level's ID, level's password, groups, item 90°-rotation, ...), so you can only make levels for classic Lemmings (but that should be ok, right?
). Therefore "Level Format" is stuck to "Lemmings", and features that are disabled are just linked with "Advanced" mode, so you can ignore them atm.
6)
UNDO/REDO30 steps backward, 30 steps forward
7)
WHAT CAN I DO WITH THIS LEVEL-EDITOR? WHERE IS THE LIST OF ALL THE FEATURES?I can't stress enough the fact that you should read the list of available actions on level-editor's official page (
http://www.lesjeuxlesplusmieux.com/jlevelbuilder.html), and test each option at least once. Otherwise, you'll probably miss some convenient features.
From the GUI's "Key Config" window, you can also have a good look at the available actions.
8 )
SYNTAX ERRORSI'm not an english-native speaker, so if english-native speakers find syntax errors on the official page or in the GUI (tooltips, for example), feel free to tell me about a fix! Thanks!
9)
BUGSI have tried my best to provide a functionnal tool, but you'll find bugs I missed for sure: so please report them here. If possible, try to be precise, and maybe post a screenshot or provide a download link for the buggy level. Thank you!
10)
NEW FEATURES?Of course, I'm ok to add new features, so if you have ideas about some new features, feel free to submit them!
11)
DONATIONSYou can freely download the level-editor from my website.
If you're feeling generous, and find the tool useful, then you can make a Paypal donation on the download page. Thank you very much!
12)
CONCLUSIONNow it's time for you, guys, to work (I have finished my job, no?... well, not yet, actually, since there will be plenty of bugs to fix
), and to show us what kind of new levels you can bring to Lemmings in 2013, using features that even DMA didn't have, when they created levels for the original Lemmings (I think of paths, clones, favorites, entityID-reindexing, list-sorting, thumbnail list, helpers...). Now, I'm really excited to see what
YOU! will create with this level-editor!
Let the game begin!
download link:
http://www.lesjeuxlesplusmieux.com/jlevelbuilder.htmlPS: I've just noticed that the current version of the editor lacks info about the way to create circle paths. I'll fix it in the next version. Anyway, when you finished with a path (= all segments drawn), you have to commit your path by clicking again on the "Create Path" key ("p" by default). For creating circles of entities, commit circle-path using "SHIFT+p" instead of just "p" (classic path). Sorry for the inconvenience...
PS2: the editor lacks an "hourglass" icon when performing heavy operations (like commiting circle paths/complex paths, for example). I'll try to fix this and also see how I can optimize some things, but, for the time being, just wait until the job is done (= no need to kill the process
)...
Remember, complex paths/circle paths using many entities are heavy on CPU!