The Jetpack 2 Level Editor is a very powerful tool, allowing you to easily create anything from a simple puzzle, to a detailed story with journal entries, to an imaginative maze with moving Tile Groups and custom scripting. The Level Editor is lots of fun, and takes only a short time to master.

Getting to Know the Editor
Drawing Your Level
Playtesting!
Advanced Editing Tools
Tile Groups
Level Settings
Ini Config File
Ini Config: Text Blocks
Ini Config: Scripting
Tile Triggers
Tips for Designing the Best Levels

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A great way to get started is to view some sample levels.

Press

TAB

to activate the Level Browser. Check out the shared folders, where you can see what other people are building. Load a level to explore the inner details of different level designs.

When you're ready to build your own level, press

SHIFT+N

to create a new level. The Level Settings dialog will appear, with many settings for configuring your level. Right now, the only ones that need your attention are Title and Background. After you name your level, press

ESCAPE

to exit and begin designing your level.

You can save your level at any time by pressing

SHIFT+S

Keyboard Shortcuts

TAB

: Level Browser - Browse your levels, and other user-created levels

SHIFT+N

: New level

SHIFT+S

: Save level

SHIFT+L

: Level settings

SHIFT+A

: Advanced Scripting / Ini Config

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You create a level by "drawing" tiles onto the level map. The map has 9 layers (like background, solid, & foreground), and each tile belongs to a specific layer.

Select a Tile

Select a tile with the Tile Picker (

SPACE

), or grab a tile with

Z

or by holding

SPACE

.

0-8

: Switch layers. Each layer remembers its last used tile.

< , >

: Rotate/cycle tile alternates

JDGIFBLTS

: Quick-select certain tiles

PAGE UP/DOWN

: Change tile theme

BACKSPACE

: Put away the tile (stop drawing)

Drawing

While holding a tile,

drag the mouse

to draw with the current tile

Hold SHIFT + click

: Place the tile on the free-range layer instead of the tile's normal layer

Hold CTRL + drag

: Delete tiles

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Playtesting your level is fun, and essential to making sure your designs work in all situations. Share your incomplete level with friends to get feedback and ideas.

Keyboard Shortcuts

ENTER

: Playtest your level

SHIFT+ESCAPE

: Quit back to editor

F2

: Live edit mode

+ / -

: Change game speed

Cheat Keys

Cheating can be essential when testing difficult parts of your level.
(you may substitute

SEMICOLON

for

HOME

)

HOME+INSERT

: Open/close door

HOME+DELETE

: Suicide

HOME+F

: Fill fuel tanks

HOME+I

: Invincible Jetman

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Select a Rectangular Area

While not holding a tile,

drag the mouse

.

SHIFT+X

: Cut,

SHIFT+C

: Copy,

SHIFT+V

: Paste

DELETE

: Delete the selection

SHIFT+F

: Fill with the current tile

SHIFT + 0-8

: Hide/filter layers

\ (backslash) + A-Z

: Toggle Tile Group
Note: In paste mode, Fill & Delete apply to the clipboard.

Hiding Layers

It's easier to see background layers if you hide foreground layers - especially if you are using the opaque layer to conceal parts of your level.

Hold 0-8

: View only a layer or combination of layers.

Hold SHIFT

while releasing the numbers to lock

Special Tools

SHIFT+T

: Convert level to the current theme

SHIFT+ARROWS

: Shift tiles (with wrap)
Note: In paste mode, these apply to the clipboard. Some commands don't work in live edit mode.

SHIFT+I

: Import a .JET file

SHIFT+E

: Export to .JET file

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Powerful automatic effects are available by using Tile Groups. You can put a group of tiles into motion, trigger disappearing rooms, or cause tiles to be created. A level may have up to 26 groups, represented by the letters of the alphabet.

Assigning Tile Groups

Every tile in your level can by a member of any number of groups. When Tile Groups are visible, each tile is overlayed with its group letters.

\ (backslash) or Eszett

: View Tile Groups
While viewing:

\ (backslash) + A-Z

: Toggle Tile Group

Tile Group Effect Editor

SHIFT+G

: Edit Tile Group effects
While you edit the group's effect, a preview of the effect is shown.
You may also assign tile groups to tiles from this dialog.

Tile Group Settings

name

: For your own reference. Spaces are not allowed.

triggerRange=#

: In tiles. Only applies to trigger "proximity". The maximum range is 5 tiles.

globalSound=$id

: The sound played when the group activates. The sound has no position. See list at Scripting/playSound.

Triggers

atStart

: Run when the level starts

proximity

: Run when the player enters a certain range of any tile in the group

proximityStop

: (requires "proximity") Stops when the player leaves the proximity of the group

triggerRestarts

: Re-triggering the group restarts it from the beginning

onceOnly

: The group can only be run once

autoReverse

: When the group is triggered OFF, it first reverses to the beginning, then stops. Does not apply to scripts.

Effects

To run a script as a group's effect, use

[when $groupName]

. Scripts are not reversible.

create

: Create the tiles in the group, if they don't already exist at their starting locations.

destroy

: Destroy the tiles in the group. If "duration" is set, uses a fade out effect first.

fadeIn

: Changes the opacity of the tiles to make them visible.

fadeOut

: Changes the opacity of the tiles to make them disappear. Use with the opaque layer to reveal hidden rooms.

moveLine

: Move the group in a line
   

angle=#

: The direction to move, in degrees. 0=right, 90=down.
   

distance=#

: The distance to move, in tiles

moveEllipse

: Move the group in a circle or oval
   

center=x,y

: The center point, in tiles
   

track=x,y

: Rotate a single tracking point instead of each tile. Maintain's the group's shape.
   

axisRatio=#

: Adjust the shape. 1=circle.

makeDynamic

: Make static tiles like bricks, become movable and affected by gravity
   

randomPush=#

: Increase the spread of the objects by giving them a push

phase

: Phase out the phaseable tiles in the group

General Effect Settings

duration=$seconds

: How long the effect lasts before stopping or reversing

options=$options

: reversed, pingPong

easing=$type

: none, slow-fast, fast-slow, slow-fast-slow, fast-slow-fast, endBounce

iterations=#

: How many times the effect repeats. To reset the counter, use triggerRestarts

Effect Options

reversed

: Forward & reverse are swapped. Ignored by scripts.

pingPong

: When the effect ends, it will reverse to the beginning. This counts as 2 iterations.

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Achievements

Achievements enhance gameplay by giving players extra goals. In Jetpack 2 this is especially useful: achievements are used to give expert players a run for their money, while beginners are still able to beat the level. Try to make your achievements clever, and tricky.

Par & Master Times

The Par & Master Times are another kind of achievement, to make the game more challenging for experts.

To beat these times, a player must collect all the treasure AND the idol before making it out the exit door. Make sure to include these when measuring your level's times.

Par Time

: An average player should be able to beat this time after a few tries.

Master Time

: An expert player must navigate the level almost perfectly to beat this time.

Other Settings

Reset on Death

: Normally, when the player dies, the world continues to run. This setting forces the world to reset on death. Certain designs may need this to prevent the player from entering an unwinnable scenario. Avoid using this setting unless absolutely necessary.

Disable Stains

: Smoke and blood stains may look good on the walls, but if your level has any "open air" spaces where there is no back wall, they look odd. Use this setting to disable them.

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The Ini Config file can contain configuration settings, text blocks, journal entries, or scripting.

Settings Sections

[group $letter:$name]

: Tile Group settings

[groupEffect $letter:$type]

: Tile Group effect settings

Tile Groups

Advanced users may find it more convenient to edit Tile Groups in the Ini Config file rather than the dialog. This makes editing faster, and allows for copying group settings to other levels. Note: the dialog edits only the first groupEffect for each group.
See Tile Groups for details.

Example

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Text sections of the Ini Config file can contain notes to yourself, journal entries, notification messages, and popup dialog text.

Text Sections

[editorNotes]

: Design goals & notes that should be respected during future editing

[editorTodo]

: Remaining "to do" list for completing the level

[msg $trigger]

: Plain text

[help $trigger]

: Markup for a help popup

[journal $trigger]

: Markup for a journal entry. Journal entries are only added once, no matter how many times they are triggered.

Triggers

See "Scripting/Triggers" for information on triggers.

Markup

In markup, newlines and extra space are ignored. To add a newline, use \n
Flexibility is limited - it's advised to stick to the format of the examples

Available Markup Tokens

Available CSS Classes

Available Images

Available showGraphic

Available Journal Images

Examples

Storing sign text in the Ini Config

Give the sign tile a trigger ID:
Ini Config:

Journal entry embedded in a level

Simple popup

Advanced popup

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Script sections run as follows: check TRIGGER / ( select TARGET / execute COMMANDS / repeat )

Script Sections

Each section is it's own self-contained script.

[when $trigger $settings]

: Runs when trigger is set ON

[whenOff $trigger $settings]

: Runs when trigger is set OFF

Triggers

A trigger can be a simple true/false condition that you name and trigger manually, like "heHitTheSwitch". There are also several automatic triggers.

Automatic Triggers

Achievement Triggers

Be aware that these are reversible, and some start already on.

Trigger Settings

Targets

Syntax:

target $type

Target Types

Targetless Commands

wait

: Wait for any "slide" commands to complete

wait $seconds

: Pause script execution. (This could result in multiple copies of the script running at once.)

tick

: Defer execution until the text game tick

repeat @_marker_

: Loop back on the next tick. If @_marker_ is not set, loops back to start.
   

(total=$total OR time=$seconds)

: Repeat $total times or for $seconds seconds.

@_marker_

: A position marker used for looping

use $var=$value

: Set the default values to use with future commands: speed, time, easing

trigger $trigger

: Trigger other Ini Config sections matching $trigger

msg $text

: Display message $text in the notice window. Raw text must be "quoted".

runGroup $ids

: Activate Tile Group

stopGroup $ids

: Deactivate Tile Group

resetGroup $ids

: Reset Tile Group

toggleGroup $ids

: Toggle Tile Group

switch $color=$action

: Activate a switch (blue, red, cyan, or silver). Actions: toggle (default), on, off.

globalSound $id

: Play a sound that has no position.

stopSound

: Stop the current sound.

Targeted Commands

Note "+=2" means add 2 to the current value. Also available: -=, *=, /=

set $prop=$value $prop+=$value

: Set the targets' properties
   

random=$rand

: Multiply each value by a random number from 0-$rand before applying

reset $prop $prop

: Reset changes to the targets' properties. Does not apply to: x, y, angle, fuel.

slide time=$seconds $prop=$value

: Gradually change the targets' properties
   

easing=$type

: none, slow-fast, fast-slow, slow-fast-slow, fast-slow-fast, endBounce

slide (time=$seconds OR speed=$speed) x=$value y=$value

: Using slide to apply motion.
   

curve=$value

: Curve: 0=none, 1=circle, -1=reverse circle

destroy

: Destroy the target

playSound $id

: Play a sound at the target's position: boom, crate, glass, electro, powerup, treasure, idol, achv, notice, warning, retroBuzz, retroLaugh, futureDoor, switchOn, switchOff, switchOnOff, grind, elevator

Target Properties

These values are ratios unless otherwise noted: "1" represents the full default value. (To reset a value, use the "reset" command, not a number)

Examples

Start the game with the red switch off, then toggle it every 3.5 seconds

Give the player super jump ability, only while holding the talisman

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Some tiles can display messages. The message can also contain a trigger ID, that triggers Ini Config sections.

Activation

Tiles activated by player touch: textSign, invisibleTrigger, journalIcon, helpIcon
Tiles activated by any touch: triggerTouchSwitch
Tiles activated by player use: triggerSwitch
Note: Contacts existing at level start do not activate triggers.

Syntax

@_triggerId_/_setting_/_setting_@

: Triggers Ini Config sections matching _triggerId_. _setting_ is optional.

Settings

Trigger Type

(none/default): Each activation triggers ON

off

: Each activation triggers OFF

toggle

: First activation triggers ON / Next activation triggers OFF / repeat

held

: Activation triggers ON / Deactivation triggers OFF

Trigger Source

This only applies to touch switches and invisible triggers.
(none/default): invisible triggers=

player

/ touch switches=

all

player

: The player triggers this

entity

: Entities trigger this (enemies)

solid

: Moving blocks trigger this

all

: All of the above

Other

limit=#

: Limit number of times tile can be triggered

destroy

: Destroy when limit reached (if no limit, destroy on activation)

Examples

An invisible trigger that activates a Tile Group only while it is touched

Ini Config:

A switch that toggles super jump ability

Ini Config:

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General Tips

• A great way to learn is by finding an existing level that you like, and modifying it.
• Make your level beatable by all skill levels, saving the most difficult parts for achievements.

Uniqueness

What makes your level stand out from the rest? Here are some ideas.

• Find a fun way to implement one or many of these gameplay elements: Action, Puzzle, Adventure, & Strategy
• Use Tile Groups in unexpected ways to surprise the player
• Explore the many unique ways to use custom scripting to violate typical game rules

Appearance

Decide on the look of your level before starting. Will you use heavy symmetry, a curvy flow, or random sections? An open feel, tight corridors, or partitioned rooms? Let the underlying design guide your visual choices.

• Add scenery as a last step, after you complete the underlying design
• Be careful when mixing tile themes, to avoid a sloppy look

Achievements

For the best player experience, try to make sure your level has all the available achievements.

• Each level needs 1 idol & some treasure, all gettable (this is an achievement)
• Set par & master times - both MUST include getting all treasure + the idol (no other achievements)
• Set 3 custom achievements for your level

I hope you enjoy using the Jetpack 2 Level Editor. I can't wait to see what you come up with!
- Adam Pedersen