Play & Edit Walkthrough

This guide takes you through each Play & Edit lesson, to help you out if stuck or if you just want a heads-up on the contents.

Lesson 1#

A missing piece!#

Nice simple lesson to start - you just need to find and add the missing bit of trench. Press and select edit mode. Then go to guides and make sure obey auto guides is on. Template elements come with auto guides which help you place them properly, so we want obey auto guides on to take advantage of that.

Go to search, where you’ll see the Shoot-’em-up: Play & Edit Elements collection pinned to the top. Head in there and find a Standard Trench Segment. Camera position makes a big difference when assembling levels. Keep the view at roughly 90°. Use to position the piece and stamp it with . Press and select play mode to carry on.

Lesson 2#

Checkpoints#

We’re going to place some enemies in a minute, so we should place a Checkpoint to store the player's progress. Use and switch to edit mode again. Go to search, find the Checkpoint and stamp it in the circle with . As long as you have obey auto guides on it’ll snap nicely to the trench. It's a good idea to give some health and power-ups by a Checkpoint, so search in Pick-Ups and choose something to stamp into that empty outline with . Press and go back to play mode.

Lesson 3#

Make some enemies!#

In edit mode, head to search again and find an enemy to place here. Choose whichever you like - they all just work when you stamp them in, with internal logic which makes them move and fire. Stamp your chosen foe with . Now head back to play mode and beat that enemy.

Lesson 4#

Obstacles in the trench!#

Obstacles are good for giving your player things to navigate, adding to gameplay. In edit mode, search in Obstacles for something you fancy and stamp it with . If you had obey auto guides on, you might have found it hard to get it where you want it, so just adjust it after you've placed it. Turn off obey auto guides then turn on precise move and grab it with to reposition it. Moving Obstacles have a guide sketch to show where the centre of movement is. This is often best matched to the centre of the Trench. Head back to play mode and carry on.

Lesson 5#

Enemies… on the surface.#

Platform Enemies are designed to be placed on platforms made from Static Obstacles. Their internal logic detects surface edges and walls, alternating their direction, so that they move back and forth on their platform. In edit mode, firstly go to guides and switch obey auto guides back on. Search for a Platform Enemy. To orientate it to the platform surface, hold and use to rotate, then stamp it down with when you’re happy. Note that if you were putting it on a platform at the top of the trench, you could flip it with

Lesson 6#

X-Ray it!#

Many elements in the template collections have value sliders set up so you can easily adjust their behaviour. A useful show/hide filter called x-ray lets you see and edit these. Let's change the rotation speed of this spinning Obstacle. In edit mode, go to show/hide and turn on x-ray. Now you can see a value slider called Rotation Speed/Direction. Hover over it, press and hold and drag it with your imp to adjust the value. Don't forget to test your levels to make sure you're not setting an impossible challenge for the player! Head back to play mode and carry on.

Lesson 7#

Like a boss!#

Boss time! In edit mode, search a Boss and stamp it in with . There are three big bads to choose from and they all track the ship as it moves up and down. The big pink Pause Barrier behind the Boss controls whether the camera and ship continue moving forward. You'll notice that we made the trench wider here to give the player room to fight the boss vertically. Bosses have their own health bar and are designed to be used one at a time, but feel free to add some supporting enemies! Head back to play mode and defeat that boss!

Lesson 8#

X-ray time!#

Let's x-ray an enemy this time. In edit mode, go to the show/hide menu and turn on x-ray if it’s not still on. Now you can see the value sliders that let you adjust gameplay. Hover over the Number of Ships value slider, press and hold , and move your imp to the right, to set the value to more than 0. Get used to testing your levels as you go, making sure they can be completed by actual humans. You might decide to make the challenge easier, or to throw in some power-ups to help the player get past it.

Lesson 9#

Freeze!#

The freeze tool locks elements so that they can't be accidentally edited. In edit mode go to tools and equip the freeze tool. Notice the scene changes. Blue elements are frozen, grey ones are not. When the tool is equipped, elements can be frozen or unfrozen using . Hover over the segment with the switch and press to unfreeze it. Press to unequip the freeze tool and press over the switch to turn it on and progress.

Lesson 10#

Pause barrier needed!#

The barrier is an important part of the bosses. It prevents the boss from continuing right for too much time. We made the boss invulnerable and slowed your ship to give you time to place a Trench Pause Barrier behind it before the trench runs out. In edit mode, make sure obey auto guides is on, then search in the collection for a Pause Barrier and stamp it in the outline with . Put it vertically across the trench to stop the boss moving back. Head back to play mode and defeat the boss.

Lesson 11#

Time for a quick exit!#

This has to end somewhere! You need a Level Exit Gate. It has a doorway in it so that you can exit the level, or link multiple levels together in the order you want them. In edit mode, search the collection for the Level Exit Gate and stamp it with

And we’re done! Why not try the Foundation now and make your own 2D shoot-’em-up?