Lix Editor tutorial by Flopsy

[Flopsy]

EDIT: This section is largely contained within the Lix Multiplayer Guide by Flopsy in another sticky topic. I leave this topic on the forums so you don't need to go to the multiplayer guide to read this, although the information in this topic may be out of date due to recent changes to the Lix editor.

To read more about using the editor and making multiplayer levels, consult the Lix Multiplayer Guide
Lix Multiplayer Guide by Flopsy
Go to Section C in the guide to read about the editor

The Editor

You can access the editor by either selecting "Edit" or "Create Level" while in the Lix single player level index

Most of the buttons in this picture can be customised to a hotkey which can be set in the Options on the main menu under "Editor Keys".
The hotkey is displayed on the button for reminder purposes.

You can move tiles using the arrow keys on your keyboard.





1. New: This deletes the entire screen and starts new. It should now ask you whether you want to Save before it completely starts anew.
2. Save: Saves the level in it's assigned location.
3. Quit: Quits the editor and you will be asked to save changes (unlike the New button above).
4. Save As: You choose a location and filename to save the level as. It's recommended that you save it in the network folder if it is a multiplayer level in the folder for the correct number of players.
5-7. Grid 2, Grid 16, Grid 8: these settings set how much the grid size is. You can only have one of these setting activated at once or none at all. If you move tiles using the arrow keys in the editor, this will set how many pixels the tiles move by with each movement.
Lix is high-resolution compared to NeoLemmix: 2 Lix pixels = 1 NL pixel. So the "grid 16" setting is the equivalent of "grid 8" in NL. This applies to splat height as well: 128 in Lix, 64 in NL.
The grid is more useful in Lix than in NL, because more terrain pieces are built with dimensions exactly 8 x 8, 16 x 16 etc.
Basically use Grid 16 if you want to move tiles quite a long way across the map, these settings help you measure pixels on the map as well and help with keeping consistency across the map.
8. Everything: This is basically Select All, use this to select all the tiles at once.



9. Frame: This doesn't actually need to be selected, it auto activates if you drag a box using the left mouse button.
10. Add: With this selected, you can keep selecting tiles to select a subset of tiles.
11. Undo: A new feature, this undoes the last action you took in the editor. You can use this multiple times to go back multiple steps.
12. Redo: The opposite of above, this reverses the undo.
13. Make Group: This allows you to group the selected tiles into a single tile.
14. Ungroup: If you have a grouped tile created using the above feature, you can undo the grouping process and use them again as single tiles using this feature.
15. Copy: Copies and pastes the selected tile offset from the original tile.
16. Delete: Deletes the selected tiles.



17. Background: Puts the selected tiles behind nearby tiles which are not selected.
18. Foreground: Puts the selected tiles in front of nearby tiles which are not selected. This is helpful for making sure steel is on top of other tiles.
19. Mirror: This flips the selected tiles horizontally.
20. Rotate: Rotates the selected tiles 90 degrees clockwise.
21. Dark: This is effectively the erase feature, it makes the selected tiles turn into erase pieces (similar to how it works in NeoLemmix)
22. Zoom: Left clicking zooms in and right clicking zooms out, it would be handy to have this hotkeyed to your mouse rollerwheel if you have one.
23. Terrain: Adds a terrain tile. This takes you to the folders of all the existing tilesets for Lix and you select a terrain piece from there.



24: Steel: Adds a steel piece (number 34 on the level itself).
25: Goal: Adds a Lix exit to the level.
26. Hatch: Adds a Lix trapdoor to the level.
27. Hazard: Adds a trap, water, fire or interactive object to the level.
28. Constants: This brings up the following fields for the level.
Level title
Author
Players (can be set from 1 to 8)
Initial Lix (can be set from 1 to 999)
Overtime (can be set from 0:00 to 9:00)
Spawn Interval (can be set from 1 (high RR) to 96 (low RR))
Spawn interval can be converted into release rate, and vice versa, by the formula SI + RR = 103. This means that SI 4 corresponds to RR 99, the fastest possible in NL, and SI 1, 2 and 3 are even faster. Since spawn interval is simply the number of frames between successive spawns, SI 2 is twice as fast as SI 4, and SI 1 is four times as fast.
29. Map: this brings up the following fields for the level.
Left - moves the left border of the level left or right by the specified amount of pixels.
Right - moves the right border of the level left or right by the specified amount of pixels.
Top - moves the top border of the level up or down by the specified amount of pixels.
Bottom - moves the bottom border of the level up or down by the specified amount of pixels.
Wrap Around Horizontally - tick this to make the level wrap around horizontally.
Wrap Around Vertically - tick this to make the level wrap around vertically.
Background Red, Blue, Green - assign a hex value to these 3 colours to change the background colour of the level.
30. Skills - this is where you specify the skillset for the level (more on these later).
You can set skills to infinite by press down below zero or going up above 999 of the respective skill.
Fling Exploder: Tick this to make exploders have an effect on surrounding Lix by having the explosion fling them.



31. Hatch on the level, the letter on this is its index meaning it relates to the goal which also has that letter (index). In this case it is up and left from it.
32. Goal on the level, the letter on this is its index meaning it relates to the hatch which also has that letter (index).
33. Terrain piece, this is a normal terrain piece which can be burrowed through by Lixes.
34. Steel piece, this is a steel piece which cannot be burrowed through by Lixes.

Skills

Walker - this pretty much works how it does in NeoLemmix, it changes the direction of a Lix not performing a skill or it stops the Lix performing a skill if it is performing a skill.
Jumper - also works very similarly to how it works in NeoLemmix, the Lix will jump up with forward motion, like a projectile. This can be used to reach higher ledges and saves you having to use a builder or climber to do so.
Runner - a skill which is not in NeoLemmix but it was in Lemmings 2 The Tribes. This makes a Lix run faster across the level, this can be handy for getting a Lix up ahead to fix the road up ahead and make it safe. Note that if you use a jumper on a runner, you will jump much further (the Lix will somersault instead). However the runner does not increase the speed of any other skill which will be performed at the normal speed.
Climber - works pretty much how it does in NeoLemmix/Lemmings
Floater - works pretty much how it does in NeoLemmix/Lemmings
Batter - a unique skill to Lix, this was created as a counter to Blockers. When assigned, the Lix will swing a bat immediately in front of her and any other Lixes hit by this swinging bat will be launched in the direction of the swing. Any Lix can be affected by this swing, including fallers and blockers.
Exploder - it leaves a hole like it does in NeoLemmix/Lemmings however rather than being egg shaped, it is perfectly circular. There are 2 types of Exploder, fling and non-fling. They both leave holes behind but the fling exploders will make a blast which will affect other Lixes in the vicinity of the explosion. Non-fling Exploders (Imploders) omit this blast effect and no other Lixes will be affected by it. Imploders (i.e. non-fling bombers) leave an egg-shaped crater. Exploders (fling bombers) leave a circular one.
Blocker - works very much like it does in NeoLemmix/Lemmings. A Blocker can freed by having another Lix use a batter on it.
Cuber - the other skill unique to Lix, however if you are familiar with the stoner in NeoLemmix, it's a similar concept. The differences are, you can only assign a cuber when the Lix is on the ground and the Lix will turn into a cube.
⦁   This skill will permanently kill the Lix it is used on.
⦁   The cube is too high for a Lix to walk up and over.
⦁   This cube is effectively terrain which can be penetrated through.
⦁   It is handy for making a wall quickly to stop Lixes walking a certain way.
⦁   Putting multiple cubers on top of each other will make a wall which a climber could climb up.
Builder - this works very similar to how it does in NeoLemmix/Lemmings. You can assign multiple builders to a single Lix and this Lix will carry out these builder tasks one after another, very handy for when you are building a long bridge and you don't want to keep going back and assigning the next builder. Note that this will remove the skill from your skill count for each builder you queue up to Lixes which are building, however if something happens which results in the Lix not using those skills, they will be added back into your skill count.
Platformer - this works very similar to how it does in NeoLemmix/Lemmings 2 except hitting terrain does not turn the Lix around, it will continue in the direction it is facing. Similar to builders above, the platformer skill can be queued. You can assign multiple platformers to a single Lix and this Lix will carry out these platformer tasks one after another, very handy for when you are building a long platform and you don't want to keep going back and assigning the next platformer. Note that this will remove the skill from your skill count for each platformer you queue up to Lixes which are platforming, however if something happens which results in the Lix not using those skills, they will be added back into your skill count.
Basher - works slightly different to NeoLemmix/Lemmings bashers. The basher burrows from bottom to top which makes it impossible to use the walker stepping method from NeoLemmix.
Miner - works very similar to NeoLemmix/Lemmings miners except if the pickaxe touches steel, the Lix will immediately stop. You can assign miners while standing on Steel to turn the Lix around.
Digger - works very similar to NeoLemmix/Lemmings diggers.

[Proxima]

Great tutorial, Flopsy. I just have a couple of additions to make, and one correction. (Most of these are things the community is probably familiar with, but for a tutorial like this, I figure it makes sense to make a comprehensive list!)

* Lix is high-resolution compared to NeoLemmix: 2 Lix pixels = 1 NL pixel. So the "grid 16" setting is the equivalent of "grid 8" in NL. This applies to splat height as well: 128 in Lix, 64 in NL.

* The grid is more useful in Lix than in NL, because more terrain pieces are built with dimensions exactly 8 x 8, 16 x 16 etc.

* Spawn interval can be converted into release rate, and vice versa, by the formula SI + RR = 103. This means that SI 4 corresponds to RR 99, the fastest possible in NL, and SI 1, 2 and 3 are even faster. Since spawn interval is simply the number of frames between successive spawns, SI 2 is twice as fast as SI 4, and SI 1 is four times as fast.

* Jumpers who are also climbers will grab onto a wall and start climbing, as they do in NL. Climbers cannot jump off a wall as in NL.

* Imploders (i.e. non-fling bombers) do leave an egg-shaped crater. Exploders (fling bombers) leave a circular one.

[Simon]

Thanks for this great editor reference! And thanks for Proxima's fixes; Flopsy has merged the fixes into OP.

#421: Editor's new-level button must prompt to save on unsaved data was a nasty data-loss bug, it'll likely came with the reworkings to support Undo everywhere in 0.9.35. Thanks for pointing it out! It's now fixed, 0.9.36 will ask on unsaved changes.

--  Simon

[Forestidia86]

I think it would make sense to pin this topic. Maybe it could even go into the Lix documentation as kind of manual.