WHAT IS
TOMB RAIDER LEVEL EDITOR?
The
PC version of Tomb Raider: Chronicles is
available right this second to buy and ships
with the much hyped Tomb Raider Level Editor
which enables users to create infinite new
worlds and adventures for Lara Croft. Eidos
Interactive asked Core Design about their
level editor....
What
is the Tomb Raider Level Editor ? Users
will be provided with the basic Tomb Raider:
Room Editor and instructions how to get
started. This editor allows users to create
rooms/levels from scratch. We are also working
on 2 tutorial levels that go hand-in-hand
with the documentation. The first tutorial
level goes over the basics (making rooms,
connecting rooms, lighting, placing pick-ups
and objects, etc...) while the seconds tutorial
will demonstrate some of the more advanced
TR concepts. Additionally, we'll also be
including 4 different level sets from TR:TLR.
Users can open these projects in the editor
to study how certain things were put together,
and will also be able to use these objects,
enemies, textures, etc...in their own levels!
If the editor is well received and people
crave more, we hope to make additional level
sets available for download. The Level Editor
can only work with the environments that
Lara explores. You will not be able to modify
the textures or the model of Lara or the
objects that you place in the world.
How
long will it take to create a level ?
It all depends how quickly you pick up the
concepts and how much time you want to put
into it. It's easy to quickly make a few
rooms and connect them...it takes more time
to texture them nicely and get the lighting
right etc... Game play tweaking can take
a few minutes or many days depending on
how much effort you want to put into it.
What
kind of skills are needed ? Patience
& basic computing skills. It also helps
if you're creative!
Would
you expect a talented teenager in school
to be able to create a level with a tutorial,
or will creating a level require skills
of a training computer programmer? You
do not need to be a programmer in order
to create a level with the TR Editor. All
the programming work that 'makes the editor
work' has already been done...You'll just
be building new levels for Lara to explore.
Any object that Lara has to interact with
already has the animation codes built into
them.
How
does one create a room ? Without going
into too much detail (you'll have to read
the manual for that!) everything is based
on blocks/squares....You basically start
off with a big empty square and proceed
to build it up and shape it. You then apply
textures, lighting, place objects/enemies/various
triggers etc...
Is
Lara pre-programmed to interact with surfaces
? Lara's control codes and animations
are already programmed to interact with
whatever type of tomb you create....For
example, if you create a long drop into
a water room, she will go into her swimming
animations when she hits the water. We'll
also include a section in the manual explaining
how things need to be constructed in order
for Lara to function properly...She can
only jump and grab blocks/ledges when the
dimensions have been setup correctly...All
of these types of instances will be documented.
Do
enemies require any special programming
? Not really "special programming",
it's more like assigning behavior to the
Baddies. The editor does allow the user
to set specific AI attributes for certain
enemies...For instance, you can assign an
enemy to go after floor pickups in addition
to attacking Lara. Some of these options
will be discussed in the advanced tutorial
level.
How
are enemies triggered ? You will have
to set triggers for when Lara walks over
certain areas. The key to placing enemies
is to make sure that they don't trigger
directly in front of your eyes (they'll
just appear).
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