Editor Overview

The Mars Editor

The default Mars Editor view with a single mesh object

The Mars Editor is a mesh-based level editor that's based on traditional level design principles, but with modern tools and conveniences. It is inspired by editors such as Valve's Hammer 5 (Source 2) and modelling software such as Blender.

The Mars Editor is built directly into the game engine, and can be accessed through the Editor option on the main menu, or by launching it via the console command "editor". You can load a map with the editor at the same time by adding the map name after the command, i.e. "editor my_level".

Editor Overview

Toolbar

The top toolbar is where most common functions, known as Global Tools, are located. Here you will find your global object tools like Select, Move, Rotate and Scale, the Global Texture Tool, object creation tools, pivots, snap and texture lock tools. It is covered in more detail below under Global Tools. This panel cannot be toggled.

Outliner Panel

The Outliner Panel is where all the objects within a map are listed. It is the panel on the left of the editor screen, and can be toggled with the O hotkey. Objects in Mars Editor use a Scene Tree format, where objects exist in a hierarchy and can be grouped together, or nested (or parented) to one another. This is covered in more detail below under The Scene Tree.

Inspector Panel

The Inspector Panel is where information and options relevant to an object are listed. It is the panel on the right of the editor screen and can be toggled with the I hotkey. It is full of contextual information that depends on what object is currently selected and where all object scripting and Geo sculpting options will be located. See Geo Sculpting and Adding Components below.

Browser Panel

The Browser Panel is where you can browse all the defined objects and assets within Mars Editor. It is located on the bottom of the editor view and can be toggled with the B hotkey. Here you can browse through and register new assets such textures, props and sound assets. See Registering New Assets.

info: Object, prop, particle and sound definitions are currently unimplemented / a work in progress.

Global Tools

Object Modes:

Select:

Move:

Rotate:

Scale:

Create Geo:

Create Entity:

Global Texture Tool:

Grid Space:

Pivot Modes:

Snap Tools:

Texture Locks:

Vertex Auto Merge:

Difficulty Filter:

The Scene Tree

Nesting (Parents and Children)

Groups, Parents and Children within the Scene Tree

As objects in Mars Engine are hierarchical, they can be nested together. Any object nested below another is a Child, with the object at the top being the Parent. Nesting can stack, so objects can be a Child and a Parent at the same.

The real power of this system is that Children will respect the transformations of their parent, so for instance any object that is the Child of a moving platform will move along with it. This can stack in extremely powerful ways, even respecting the enabling or disabling of parents, allowing you to toggle and swap out whole chunks of a level, including all the props, effects and monsters within!

The potentials of this system are covered more under Adding Components below.

Groups:

Objects can be grouped together to help organise and de-clutter the Scene Tree as they can be collapsed, hiding objects from the list. Groups are purely organisational and have no local transforms, so objects within a group will not influence each other (unless they themselves are nested). Objects are grouped together by selecting multiple objects within the Outliner Panel and using Edit | Group Selected from the Menu Bar, or the Control + G hotkey. You can also drag objects into existing groups within the Outliner Panel.

info: Dragging multiple objects into a Group at once is currently unimplemented

TODO: MOVE THE BUILDING SECTION TO ITS OWN PAGE?

Let's Start Building

File:Create Geo.png

The Create Geo button with drop down

You build levels in The Last Exterminator out of meshes, known in this engine as Geo. They are the basic building blocks everything from world geometry, to doors, windows and moving structures. You start creating a new piece of Geo with the Create Geo button up on the toolbar, and then selecting the type from the drop-down. Currently there are three types: Box, Plane and Cylinder.

All Geo shapes are actually scripted, and can be further configured with options relative to the chosen type. Once a Geo type is selected look to the Inspector Panel for more options for what you are about to draw.

Geo:

Draws a six-sided box shape. Dragging out the shape draws the bottom plane (relative to whatever viewport you start drawing in), and then you drag out the height (or width) of the shape next. Can be drawn inverted with the Inspector Panel.

Geo Plane:

Draws a flat one-sided plane only, essentially just the first part of drawing out the regular box Geo. Can be drawn with a surface offset, made double-sided and with the texture auto-scaled to the draw size.

info: Currently the surface offset default is 0.01, resulting in a Geo plane slightly offset from the grid plane. Either set the offset to 0 when you start working, or snap the Geo to grid with Shift+G.

Geo Cylinder:

Draws a configurable cylinder. Like the box Geo, the bottom plane will be drawn first, then the height or width. In the Inspector Panel you can configure the number of sides, the material for the end caps, and invert the faces.

info: The cylinder remains configurable after creation, and locked out of vertex, edge or face editing. In order to begin modifying it like the other Geo types you must click Convert to Geo in the Inspector Panel to bake it down to a regular mesh.

Once you have selected a type, simply draw on one of the 4 viewports to begin creating the Geo. You can do this on both the 2D and 3D viewports.

Adding Components

Every Geo can have special functions applied by adding Components. If you are familiar with editing classic idTech or Source Engine games, this is similar to tying an object to an entity, however Geo in the Mars Engine can have multiple components, allowing for some powerful behaviour combinations. These are used for a variety of elements throughout The Last Exterminator, such as doors, triggers, destructible objects and moving platforms.

With a piece of Geo selected, look for the Add Component... button on the bottom of the Inspector Panel, and choose the desired component.

All components added to a Geo will appear at the bottom of the Inspector Panel, where their individual parameters can be set. There are numerous component types to choose from, covered in more detail here:

TODO

Animatable: Damageable: DamageableDestructible: Destructible: Door: EnableDisable: LightGroupMaterial: PushVolume: SetMaterial: ShatterableMaterial: TriggerVolume: Usable: WaterVolume:

Registering New Assets

> LINK TO ASSET MANAGEMENT PAGE