I've just added a new feature that will help to accurately design the levels you imagine: the "Path Mode" feature.
In this new mode,
- 1) you select a single entity or a Favorite made of several entities to be cloned/generated along a path (in the screenshot below, I selected a multi-entity favorite => it's the red-selected item in the item list, and on the level's left side, you can see this favorite is not a single object but it's actually made of some various items)
- 2) then, you continuously draw each segment of your path until you decide to stop your path. And
for each single segment, you set in
real time the
number of clones you want along the current segment (using keyboard's arrows to adjust the number of clones).
During this process, you see in real time the location of each item/clone on the segment: so, as you stretch and move path's current segment, you have an instant visual feedback of how your items will be finally set in the level. This is very coooooool to accurately design level's areas!
And until you commit the path's current segment, the clones that are displayed on screen act only as visual references (therefore, you don't see them in the minimap, since I didn't commit the path yet). When you commit the segment, items are actually added to the level.
Paths can be snapped on the grid lines too
See this screenshot:
- 1 single segment,
- 3 clones wanted in the 1st screen,
- then, 14 clones wanted in the 2nd screen (very same segment)
- and, finally, 12 clones on a shorten straight horizontal line, in the 3rd screen
=> real-time visual feedback of what one is about to draw in the level
And the "Path" feature isn't limited to straight lines: you can also perform freehand drawings. Moreover, when you use curved paths, you can specify in
real-time the
spacing between each drawn item, and, as with straight-line paths seen above, you have a
real-time visual feedback of what you're doing: veeeeeeeeery handy to design cool things!
So, with this new tool, generating landscapes is a very easy -and almost instant- job! It's really cool
Please, see the screenshot below:
- same path used on each screen (blue hand-drawn curve),
- selected entity used for the path is a Favorite made of 4 items
- spacings used are 1) 6-unit spacing (continuous landscape), 2) then 17-unit spacing, 3) then 45-unit spacing, 4) and finally I commited my path using a 99-unit spacing which results in a landscape made of individual islands.