Editor Making a map

Opening the Editor

The Altitude Map Editor is located in the folder in which Altitude was installed (the default on PCs is C:\Program Files\Altitude) . To launch the editor find the file called altitude_editor.exe and double click it.

Starting a New Map

Create a new map by clicking File->New->Map

In the "New Altitude Map" box that appears enter the maps name, the map size, and select the maps default background color. For comparison purposes, the size of tbd_cave is width: 3584, height: 1280. When you're finished click "Create."

Note: don’t worry if you don’t get these settings exactly right the first time, you can change them later. Background color can be changed with Map->Change Background Color and map size and name can be changed by right clicking the “Game” view in the View Editor box and then selecting “Configure Game”

You should now see something like this:

Note: you can control whether the Filter View and View Editor boxes are visible under “Window”

The rectangle in the middle of the screen is your new map, and the starting position of the silver team’s planes is the silver triangle. You can zoom in or out by using the scroll wheel on your mouse. The zoom is centered on wherever your mouse cursor is, but if you lose sight of your map, don’t panic. Just go to the “View Editor” box (in the bottom middle of the previous screenshot) and click the “Game: 1234x987 -> (0,0)-(2048,768)” view. Your map should reappear in the center of the screen.

Adding Polygons to your Map

To add terrain to your map click “Window” at the top of the screen and then click “Show Create Geom”. A "Create Geom" box should appear in your editor that looks like this:

Click the White square in the Create Geom box and you should notice that the “Mode” (in the top left corner of the editor window) changes from “PREVIEW” to “CREATE_GEOM_USING_SELECTED_TEXTURE.” The White square you clicked earlier is your selected texture (i.e. no texture).

Now left click on the region of your map where you want to draw a new polygon.

A little yellow dot should appear where you clicked on the map indicating where you clicked. The pink bar at the bottom and the “Poly Editor” text in the top left inform you that you have now entered the Polygon Editor. You’ll also notice the “Poly Config Panel” has appeared. Under the “Colors” heading in the “Poly Config Panel” click the colored box next to “New Point” and select the color of the polygon you wish to draw (ignore the other color boxes, they are there to trick you).

Now left click on the map where you want to start the border of your polygon. By repeatedly left clicking you can create a series of points that represent the border of the polygon you wish to create.

When you’re done laying out the border points of your polygon just do a Right Click.

You’ve now created a little object on your map. If you’re not happy with it however, you can easily modify or delete it. Here’s how:

- To move a single border point, left click it, drag it to a new location, and release.

- To add a new point to a line segment, left click a line segment and a new point is created.

- To select multiple points, hold right click and draw a square over the points you’d like to select. You can move or delete all of these points at once.

- To delete a point, select it and then press the delete key.

- To change the color of your polygon go to Poly->Change Point Color

When you’re finished with your polygon, press Enter or Escape to exit the Poly Editor and return to the Map Editor.

Note: even if you want to create another polygon, you still have to exit and restart the Poly Editor for each polygon

Back in the Map Editor, you can now adjust the properties of your newly created polygon. First, select the polygon or polygons (hold shift to select multiple polygons), then right click your selection. An “Edit Luon” box like the following should appear:

“Collidable” determines whether Players collide with the polygon or not “Damage Modifier” determines how much damage a plane takes when it collides with the polygon. A value of 1 is normal. “Elasticity” determines how much of a planes speed is bounced back off the polygon when a collision occurs. “Layer” determines which polygon is displayed when two polygons overlap. The polygon with the higher layer value is displayed on top. “Visible” determines whether the polygon is visible. “Edit Hull” takes you back to the Poly Editor where you can make further changes to the shape and color of your polygon.

Adding Special Objects

When creating an Altitude map it’s important to have more than just polygons. To add things like powerups, bases, turrets, and spawn points first make sure you’re in Map Editor mode (as opposed to Poly Editor mode). Then select “Window” on the toolbar and click “Show Create Special”. The “Create Special” box looks like this:

Select the object you wish to add and then place it on the map with a left click. As with polygons, Special Objects can be edited and configured with a right click.

Testing Your Map

To test your map first make sure you’re in the “Map Editor” mode, then select “Test” on the top toolbar and click “Run”. To end the test hit the escape key on your keyboard and you will be returned to the Map Editor.

Hope this was helpful. In the future I will discuss more advanced features of the map editor, but for now you can get that information from Lamster's posts at: http://vapor.nimblygames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16