Levels are loaded in as .lvl files, though their structure is that of XML
Each level stores:
- Title: Name of the level along with a short description
- Size
- Initial cash
- Available defenses: whether the defense is allowed or not on this level
- Victory conditions: Either survival (implicit target tile) or capture-the-goal (explicit target tiles)
- Tile content: The type of the tile (rock, plain, water, etc), what is on it (wall, defense, bug
- Designer defined waves (time, placement, dispersion, bug type, difficulty, AI type)
- Random wave generation info
Toolbar
The Editor works similarly to the actual game. The designer selects a tool on the left hand toolbar. To access further tools, the designer may click and hold on a tool icon with a green arrow on it. A list of other possible tool modes will appear. For example, clicking on the tool icon for a defense type and holding will pop up a list of the 4 defense types. Clicking on one of those icons sets that tool to the toolbar.
Placing objects on the board
Clicking on a tile then places the selected toolbar's object on that tile. Defenses and walls can be placed just as in the regular game. Water and rock tiles also can be placed.
Bug waves
When placing bugs, a pop-up window appears to set wave attributes. Thus, placing a bug is actually placing a wave. In the window, the wave size, type, difficulty, AI type (which may or may not matter in the final game), timing, and dispersion around the center tile is set. To set a wave of multiple bug types, simply create multiple waves that spawn at the same time into the game.
Level Attribute Screen:
This screen pops up on first entering the editor. Various level attributes are set here, such as name and allowed defenses. Click Random Spawn to move to the Random Wave Attribute Screen.
Random Wave Attribute Screen:
Allows designer to specify where, when, and what type of random waves to spawn. Random waves spawn only when the time between designer defined waves is longer than the time specified on this screen. They fill space if waves are set too sparsely and also allow waves to continue to come after designer defined waves are exhausted.
