Now, using "Overwrite" mode, (hit Insert key) you can "draw" your level on the map using the following ASCII characters.
0 (or space!) Nothing...
# Wall. The game will automatically make the walls look a little neater (i.e. sorting out the angles of adjacent walls) when it loads the level.
8 Red Player Start
9 Blue Player Start
$ Moving Flame Start
£ Stationary Flame
1 Vertical Pipe
2 Horizontal Pipe
3 Pipe Junction. Use junctions for corners, and the like. (see "Pipe Building" section later.)
6 Red Barrel
7 Blue Barrel
A-Z (capitals) Boulders.
a-z (lower case) Remotes for Boulders.
- (minus) Holes for Boulders. Place beside boulders. You can even make paths to move the boulders along, but I couldn't think of a reason to do that, so I didn't make any myself!
[ Red Block. Allows only the Red player through.
] Blue Block. Allows only the Blue player through.
And.. um... Don't let the player go over the level-boundary, I couldn't be bothered adding detection, and the game crashes.. !
Pipe Building
When designing Pipe layouts, keep the following things in mind.
If the player hits a Junction block, they will do the following. Check ahead 1 block, if there's a straight line, carry on. If not, check Clockwise, and then Anti-Clockwise, before resorting to turning back.
The following Pipe layouts will result in the following actions. (In all cases, player is moving upwards, from the bottom)
Layout | Result |
1 1 3 1 1 |
Player will continue in an upwards direction. |
1 1 322 1 1 |
Player will continue in an upwards direction. |
1 1 223 1 1 |
Player will continue in an upwards direction. |
322 1 1 |
Player will turn to the right. |
223 1 1 |
Player will turn to the left. |
22322 1 1 |
Player will turn to the right. |
1 2233 332 1 1 |
Player will turn to the right. Useful for 4 way pipes. |
1 3322 233 1 1 |
Player will turn to the left. Useful for 4 way pipes going the other way round! |