The Room Editor

The Room Editor is where you create your game rooms. Every game requires at least one room to run, and in the room you can place instances, sprites, tiles, paths, backgrounds, sequences and particle systems. Each of these different assets can be placed on their own unique layer which can then be ordered however you wish in the Layers Editor. Due to the complexity of the room editor, we'll give you first a brief overview of the most important features, and then you can find more in-depth details from the section links listed below.

When you create a room asset, you can right click RMB Icon on it in the Asset Browser to open the context menu, which will permit you to create child rooms (see the page on Inheritance for more information), open up the room for editing, add a new resource group to better organise the rooms, rename the room or delete it. Note that to change the room order and/or inheritance you need to use The Room Manager, which you can open using the menu in the top right of the Asset Browser.

The Room Editor is itself a workspace and as such you can click LMB Icon on the tab and drag it off of the main window into a new window of its own - perhaps in another display, for example. You can also place it back into the main window by dragging the tab to the top of the IDE and releasing the mouse button.

The user interface for the room editor is simple to navigate and split in various discrete sections. Those parts of the editor that are docked - The Inspector that shows the room or layer properties and the layer editor - can also be removed from the dock by simply dragging them out into the workspace, and they can be added back into the docks again by dragging them to the sides or the bottom of the workspace.

Below is a brief overview of each of the Room Editor sections:

Rulers / GuidesRulers / Guides

The rulers along the edge of the canvas show you the position of the things that are placed within it, and are marked from (0, 0) which is the center of the canvas and the origin for the room. You can click and drag on the rulers to pull a horizontal or vertical guide into the room, and this guide can then be used to accurately position the different assets that are being used, as moving an asset close to one will "snap" it to the guide. While positioning assets within the room, smart guides will also be temporarily shown indicating the distance between assets, as well as the distance from the room boundary or center point.

Guides and Smart Guides in the Sequences EditorThe distance that assets "snap" to guides, as well as other properties, can be set in the Room Editor Preferences.

 

Layer EditorLayer Editor

The room editor places things onto layers within the room. Each layer is at a discrete "depth", where those that appear at the bottom of the list in the layer window will be drawn under those that appear near the top.

IMPORTANT There is a minimum and maximum layer depth of -16000 to 16000. Anything placed on a layer outside that range will not be drawn although all events will still run as normal for anything on the layer.

Layers are created by clicking  the appropriate button for the type of layer you want to create, which are:

Instance Layer Icon Instances This layer is for placing instances that will be used in the room.
Tile map Layer Icon Tile Maps This layer is for placing tiles from tile sets as tile maps.
Path Layer Icon Paths This layer is for showing and adding paths in the room.
Asset Layer Icon Assets This layer is for visual assets to be added to the room, like spritessequences and particles.
Filter/Effect This type of layer defines a filter/effect that is applied to all layers below it.
Background Layer Icon Background This type of layer defines a background, which is essentially a single colour or sprite image that may be tiled over the whole room.

You can also create a layer folder using the folder button Folder Icon where you can group selected layers together, as well as delete the selected layers with the delete button Delete Layer Icon. Each of these layer types are discussed here in more detail.

NOTE You can toggle inheritance for the layer editor which will affect layer order and visibility. The visibility itself can be set by clicking the eye icon Eye Icon beside each of the layers, or you can click the one at the very top to enable/disable all layers at once. You also have the possibility to "lock" a layer (or all of them) so that they cannot be changed by clicking the padlock icon Padlock Icon.

NOTE Layers which are flagged as invisible will not be shown when the game is run.

 

Layer PropertiesLayer Properties

The Inspector window will show layer properties depending on the currently selected layer in the layer editor.

Room Layer Properties In Full Each window will have the different properties and lists associated with the currently selected layer type, and you will be able to edit fundamental details for how the layer is displayed and what is actually on the layer. Please see here for more detail.

 

Room PropertiesRoom Properties

When the room asset is selected in the Asset Browser, the Inspector shows all the base properties for the room, like its size, whether it uses physics, or any cameras and viewports it requires. These can be changed here as well. This section is dicussed in more detail on the Room Properties page.

 

Layer ToolboxLayer Toolbox

Certain layer types will have additional tools added to the top of the IDE in the Layer Toolbox (for example, tile layers or path layers). The exact tools will change based on the layer type currently being edited, and so are explained on the page explaining each layer, here.

 

Room ToolboxRoom Toolbox

At the top of the main Room Editor canvas you have a few controls to deal with how things are displayed. They are:

Room CanvasRoom Canvas

The center of the room editor window is taken up with the area where all the actual editing takes place. Here is where you'll be placing your instances and assets, drawing your tiles, or positioning your paths. You can zoom in and out using the mouse wheel or the room controls at the top, and you can pan around by holding the middle mouse button MMB Icon down and moving the mouse around or using Space Icon + LMB Icon while moving.

When creating asset layers or instance layers, you can place the asset or instance by simply dragging it from the Asset Browser and then dropping it where you want it to be positioned. Alternatively you can select an asset or instance from the Asset Browser and then press and hold Alt Icon to preview the resource "in-situ", and if you additionally click the left mouse button LMB Icon you can add the instance and even "paint" it into the room layer by maintaining the button pressed and dragging the mouse. Note that by default instances and sprites that are added to a room in this way will be snapped to the defined room grid settings, but you can hold down Control Icon / CMD Icon to have the instance follow the mouse precisely and not snap (releasing Control Icon / CMD Icon will permit snapping again).

For paths you can create a new path layer and path resource right from within the Room Editor- or create a new path resource and then drag it into the main editor window as you would for an instance - and then edit the path and its connections in the editor window too. For tile sets, you can "paint" them in from the tile set editor.

Note that you can select and move or delete multiple assets from the same layer by holding down Control Icon / CMD Icon + LMB Icon on the ones you want, and most resources in the room editor will permit you to rotate and scale them (singly or as a group) by clicking and holding LMB Icon along the outside edges or corners and dragging the mouse. You can also double click LMB Icon on any single asset (tiles, instances, sprites) to have the editor pan to it and open up the properties window for the selected asset in the Inspector.

 

Status BarStatus Bar

The status bar is used to show you context specific information. The status bar will always show you where in the room the mouse cursor is, but it will also show additional information based on the layer being edited, the tool being used and the state of that tool.

 

 

You can get more information about some of the above mentioned sections from the following pages:

Room Menu

Apart from the in-editor tools, you will also see a drop down menu at the top of the IDE.

Room Editor MenusThese menus are explained below: