LEVEL EDITOR TUTORIAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ..................................................................................................... 2 Checkpoints ..................................................................................................14

Secret Panels .................................................................................................14
Level Editor Basics .......................................................................................... 3 Tiling.................................................................................................................15
Creating a New Level ........................................................................... 3 Background Tiles ...................................................................................15
The Context Menu: Main Menu and Object Menus ....................... 3 Overlay Tiles ...........................................................................................17
Setting up the Level ....................................................................................... 4
Collision Blocks ................................................................................................ 4
Objects Not Covered in the Tutorial .........................................................18
Start Point and Exit Point ............................................................................... 6
Trigger Areas ..........................................................................................18
Moving Platforms ........................................................................................... 6
Camera Triggers ....................................................................................18
Toggle Switches.............................................................................................. 7
NOT Gates ..............................................................................................18
Lights, Security Cameras and Lasers .......................................................... 8 AND Gates .............................................................................................18
Pressure Switches ........................................................................................... 9 Sunlight ....................................................................................................18
Lasers and Invisible Moving Platforms Revisited ..................................... 12
Robots, Portals and Containment Fields ................................................. 13

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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Stealth Bastard Level Editor Tutorial!

By now, you’ve probably played through a few levels of Stealth Bastard (but if you haven’t, you should go and do that right now!) and want to create some
fiendish, addictive levels of your own. This tutorial will introduce you to all the editor features you’ll need to recreate a simple example level – and hopefully
start your creative juices flowing!

Level Overview

The above screenshot shows an overview of the completed tutorial level – you may find it useful to refer back to this as you work.

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LEVEL EDITOR BASICS
Creating a New Level The Context Menu: Main Menu and Object Menus

Start by opening up the game and clicking Make Levels from the main When you right-click somewhere on the screen in the level editor, a menu
menu. will appear. This menu is context-sensitive (meaning that it changes based
on what you have selected), and takes two basic forms: the main menu
and object menus.

When you right-click in a blank space in the editor, you’ll bring up the
“main menu”, which applies to the level as a whole. From here you can set
the properties for the level, create new objects and access the save/load
features of the editor.

To set properties for individual objects, you’ll need to first select them with a
left-click, then right-click over them to bring up their “object menu”.

You’ll open up the Level Editor and be presented with a new, blank level.
To keep your workspace clutter-free, all the game objects, tiles and menu
options are contained in a context-sensitive menu, which you can bring up
with a right-click.

Main Menu / Object Menu (for a Switch object)

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SETTING UP THE LEVEL COLLISION BLOCKS
We’ll kick things off by setting the room width and height. The level we want The simplest object in the editor, and the one we’ll create first, is the
to make will be 800px wide by 360px high, so right-click to bring up the Collision Block. Collision Blocks are the black rectangles that make up the
main menu, then point to Set and click on Room Width. Type “800” in the floor, walls and moving platforms in the game. Bring up the main menu and
dialog box that appears and hit Enter. Open up the global menu a second click on New Collision Block to create your first block.
time, then go to Set  Room Height and set the height to 360px.

Let’s save our level before we go any further. From the main menu, go to
File  Save Level (or just press Ctrl + S) and the editor will request that you There are a few things worth noting here.
give your level a name. Let’s call this level “Tutorial” (you can always
 Firstly, you might notice that the Help panel, in the top-right corner,
change this name later via Set  Level Name).
has changed to reflect that you have an object selected. The
keyboard shortcuts listed here will come in handy for manipulating
your object! (If the Help panel gets in your way, you can hide it by
pressing H on your keyboard.)
 Secondly, you’ll see that in addition to the Help panel, an Info panel
has appeared. This Info panel summarises the various properties of
your selected object – useful as a quick reference. (You can hide
the Info panel with I).

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  Lastly, the “Complexity” meter up the top of the screen is no longer Create the rest of the collision blocks as shown above, resizing them with
completely empty – a little bar of orange has appeared within it. the mouse wheel (note the shortcuts listed in the Help panel) or by right-
This meter gives an indication of how many objects you have in your clicking on them and selecting Set  Width and Height. You may find it
level – if the bar gets close to filling up, your level probably has too useful to switch the grid on, which you can do by pressing G, and you can
many objects in it (meaning your framerate – or the framerate of also switch white outlines on by pressing O.
other players using slow computers – is likely to drop), so keep an
eye on it. Yellow in the bar represents non-shadow-casting lights, You’ll need to pan across your level to place all these blocks, which you
orange represents collision blocks, red represents shadow-casting can do by holding down the spacebar and click-and-dragging with the left
lights and cyan represents tiles. mouse button, or just by click-and-dragging with the middle mouse button.

Make sure your first collision block is selected (it should be highlighted in red Note that the gap between the 128 x 48 block and the 560 x 16 block is 3
– if it isn’t, left-click on it to select it), then set its width by right-clicking on it grid squares wide (48px) – this will be important later.
and selecting Set  Width. Type in “288” and hit enter. Similarly, set the
height to 144 through Set  Height. Click and drag your resized block into
the lower left-hand corner of the level as shown in the picture below (note
that it protrudes beyond the bottom of the level a little bit, but the top, left
and right sides align with the grid).

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START POINT AND EXIT POINT MOVING PLATFORMS
Create a start point for your level by bringing up the global menu, then Let’s create a moving platform for the player to ride down. Create a new
selecting New Logic Object  Start Point. Drag it into position as shown 48 x 16 collision block in the area shown and choose Make Moving Platform
below. Here, I’ve also set the light colour to blue, which you can do by from its object menu.
opening the start point’s object menu and selecting Set Light  Colour.

You’ll see two yellow squares appear: these are the platform’s nodes.

Similarly, create the end point for the level through New Logic Object 
End Point and set the colour to blue.

IMPORTANT TIP: Note that this is the first time we’ve encountered an
instance of multiple objects (the platform and its nodes) overlapping
each other in the editor. If you find you’re not selecting the object
you intend when you try to click on it, you can hold down the Alt key
on your keyboard to “select through” objects. The Alt key also has
the effect of pausing moving platforms when pressed and held.

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If you click on the leftmost node you’ll see that the info panel lists its TOGGLE SWITCHES
“Position in Path” as 1, indicating that this is the moving platform’s 1st node, Next we’ll set the platform up to respond to a switch. Right-click on the first
where the platform will start. (The right node has a Position in Path of 2, (top) node and select Set  Off. This means that when the platform
indicating that it is the 2nd node.) We want the platform to start where it is reaches this node in its path, it will stop moving. Since this is the first node in
now, so we’ll grab the right (second) node and drag it down to the bottom the path, the platform will start motionless.
of the drop, making sure the platform has enough space to fit in this gap
(remember that both the gap and the platform should be 48px wide – go Create a new switch via New Level Object  Switch, and place it up near
back to the Collision Blocks section and adjust your collision block your start point. Switches, by default, start off as “toggles” – meaning that
placement if it doesn’t fit). Pull the first node across a little to the right so the they will turn ON objects that are currently “off”, and turn OFF objects that
platform’s path is a perfectly straight line, and you should see the platform are currently “on”. In this case – for making a platform that moves up and
moving smoothly up and down the path you’ve created. down in response to the switch – this is exactly what we want.

Right-click on your new switch and go to Link  Object 1 to link it to the first
node. You’ll see a yellow link line appear, terminating in a yellow circle over
the linked object. The “1” in the circle indicates that the node is now linked
to the switch’s “Object 1” property.

Then, go to Link  Object 2 and link the switch to the second node.

At this point you may want to test your level out – save it by pressing Ctrl + S
(you should be doing this regularly!) and test the level by pressing F1. Your
moving platform should start off at the top node, and move down to the
bottom node on the first flip of the switch. The second flip of the switch
should move it from the bottom node back to the first, and so on. Press F1
again to return to the editor.

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LIGHTS, SECURITY CAMERAS AND LASERS
Now we’ll set up a security camera, and a light to make the player visible.
Create a new camera (New Level Object  Security Camera) and place it
on the wall (refer to the overview screenshot for a broader view of where
I’ve positioned objects in the level). You can adjust the rotation through Set
 Rotation (or by pressing R on your keyboard), and the range through Set
 Range (or by using the mouse wheel). Here I’ve set the range to 152.

Security cameras on their own aren’t much of a threat to the player – they
need an object to trigger. Create a laser beam above the light (New
Hazard  Laser Beam), Set its Rotation to point straight down (270) and
The light used here is an “area light” (New Light  Area Light), with a radius make it Start  Off. Then right-click on the camera and choose Set  Target
of 128 (Set  Radius). I’ve also made the light green through Set  Colour. Object to set its target object as the new laser beam. The camera will now
trigger the laser if it sees the player.
When placing lights in the editor, it can be useful to check how effective
they are by right-clicking in an area and selecting Tools  Check Player
Visibility. We want to make sure the player can’t sneak past this area
unseen, so ensure that the player is FULLY visible when they pass below the
light.

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PRESSURE SWITCHES MOVEABLE BLOCKS, DOORS AND ABSOLUTE SWITCHES
If the area light we created before always remains on, the player will never Unfortunately for the player, he won’t be able to stand on the pressure
be able to get past the camera without being killed by the laser. So, we’ll switch and walk past the camera at the same time – so let’s help him out
set up a pressure switch to control the light. with a moveable block to hold the switch down.

Create a pressure switch using New Level Object  Pressure Switch, and Create a New Level Object  Moveable Block and a New Level Object 
Link its Object 1 as the light. Now, as long as something (the player, a Door, placing both above the pressure switch as shown below.
moveable block or an enemy) is pressing the switch, the light will remain off.

I’ve also added a green “decorative light” (New Light  Decorative Light)
below the pressure switch to make it stand out, and to hint to the player
that the switch affects the green area light. The easiest way to choose a
style for your decorative light is to first select it, then browse through the
different available styles using the scroll wheel.

Set the door to Horizontal so the moveable block can sit neatly on top of it.
(You should create some new collision blocks around the moveable block,
too, to get your level to look like the overview screenshot – these are to
prevent the player from bypassing your moving platform.)

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Create a new Switch and Link its Object 1 as the door. We want an PATROLLERS AND INVISIBLE MOVING PLATFORMS
“absolute” switch here, rather than a toggle, so right-click on the switch Next we’re going to add a “patroller” enemy, starting by setting up a path
and choose Change to Absolute Switch. Note that Set Target Objects to is for it to move along.
set to “on” by default, which is what we want here – doors are considered
“on” when open and “off” when closed. Now, when the player uses the
switch, the door will open and the moveable block will drop straight onto
the pressure switch, turning off the light and allowing him to pass the
security camera unseen.

(remember to refer to the overview screenshot if you’re not sure where to

place things)

In Stealth Bastard, every object that moves along a path is linked to an

invisible moving platform – so we’ll set up one of those now. Create a new
16x16 collision block and change it to a Moving Platform. Add two more
nodes to the path by selecting an existing node, then right-clicking on it
and choosing Add Node to Path. Drag the nodes into a rectangular shape
as illustrated in the screenshot below.

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By default, the moving platform will follow this path linearly and backtrack TERMINALS AND MOVING PLATFORMS REVISITED
when it reaches the final node in the path. Since we want our patroller to Just below this patroller enemy, we’re going to place our first terminal for
follow his path in a continuous loop, right-click on the moving platform and the player to hack. Go to New Level Object  Terminal and place some
select Set  Looping. (Remember you can hold Alt to make the platform lights around it so the patroller has a chance of spotting the player. Here
stay still if you’re having trouble clicking on it.) We also don’t want the I’ve used both an Area Light and a Spotlight (pointing up). I turned shadow
platform itself to be visible, so go ahead and Set it to Invisible. casting off (Toggle Shadows) on the spotlight, since there are no collision
blocks in its path to cast shadows (so the player will see no difference) and I
Now we can create our patroller (New Enemy  Patroller). Attach him to
want to keep my complexity bar as low as possible.
the moving platform (Link Moving Platform  Position) and your patroller
should be looping around the path!

Terminals can do more than just open the level exit – they can trigger
objects, too. Create a Moving Platform as shown below (the top node
needs to be the first one – ensure that its “Position in path” is 1) and Set both
nodes to Off. Then, from the terminal’s object menu, choose Set Target
Object and select the first node. This means that when this terminal is
hacked, the linked platform will move from the first node to the second
(where it will stop).

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LASERS AND INVISIBLE MOVING PLATFORMS REVISITED INVISIBLE SWITCHES
Now we’re going to create a laser attached to a moving platform – similar In addition to triggering the moving platform, we want our terminal to start
to what we did for the patroller enemy – but instead of moving the laser the laser beam swinging (so the player can slip past), but we have a
with the platform, we will simply have it point to the platform. problem: terminals can only have one target object!

Create a new Laser Beam and set up an Invisible Moving Platform as shown This is where invisible switches come into play – since switches can be linked
below, ensuring the node on the left is the first node (so the laser starts to up to four objects, we can use them to trigger multiple events in
pointing straight down). Leave both nodes on, but set the platform itself to response to a single player action (such as hacking a terminal). You can
Start  Off, and set the Pause Time on both nodes to 10 frames – so that even chain switches together for particularly complex designs.
when the platform is turned on, the laser beam will pause briefly at each
node. Create a new Switch, then Set it to Invisible. Link it to the object the
terminal is currently linked to: the first node of the visible moving platform.
Next, set the laser to point in the direction of the invisible platform (Link Next, link it to the invisible moving platform guiding the laser (be careful to
Moving Platform  Direction). I’ve also added some pink decorative lights link to the invisible platform itself, and not to its nodes – take note of the
to indicate to the player where the laser will be pointing when it pauses. floating tooltip that appears when you’re placing the link).
(This is an easy thing to check in the editor once the laser’s direction is
linked to the platform – just click on a node and the laser will swing to point
at it.)

Then, change the terminal’s Target Object to this new invisible switch.

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ROBOTS, PORTALS AND CONTAINMENT FIELDS TIMERS AND BUZZSAWS
At this stage of the level, our player has almost reached the exit point! Let’s A buzzsaw will be the final obstacle for the player to pass before reaching
create a robot enemy for him to get past. the exit point. Create one using New Hazard  Buzzsaw and Set its Radius
to the smallest possible size (16). Create a new Invisible Moving Platform,
with the top (first) node Off and the bottom (second) node On, and Set the
platform’s Speed to 2. Attach your saw to this platform via Link Moving
Platform.

Insert a robot by going to New Enemy  Robot. I started off by placing

some 16x16 collision blocks for him to patrol between, and an Area Light to
give him a chance to spot the player.

Next we’ll create some portals, which are available from New Level Object
We want to turn the first node on and off again at regular intervals, so we’ll
 Portal. Set the Target Portal of the left-hand portal to the right-hand
create a timer object via New Logic Object  Timer. Set the timer to
portal, so the robot will be teleported back to the right when he reaches
Repeating, and Set its Timer Period to 160 frames. Then, Link it to the first
the left portal.
node of your moving platform. The buzzsaw should now bounce quickly
Close off the portals to the player by creating some New Level Object  between the nodes a few times (five times, if you’ve left a gap of one grid
Containment Fields. These are similar to collision blocks, except that they space between the nodes as I have), then pause at the top node for an
only affect the player; the robot will be able to walk through them without interval. Place another terminal just below the second node for the player
a problem. to quickly(!) hack during the buzzsaw’s pause interval.

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CHECKPOINTS SECRET PANELS
We’ve filled our level with some fairly threatening obstacles, so it seems only To add a little mystery to our level – as well as to make it less visually
fair to provide the player with a few checkpoints along the way (New Logic overwhelming when the player first loads it up – let’s put a New Logic
Object  Checkpoint).You can resize checkpoints with the mouse wheel Object  Secret Panel over the robot section of the level.
(like collision blocks), or through their object menus (Set Width and Set
Height).

Be careful when placing checkpoints – try not to put them in dangerous

areas, or the player may respawn at a point where death is unavoidable!

I’ve also Linked my invisible switch to the panel, so that when the first
terminal is hacked, the panel will disappear, clearly indicating to the player
where to go next in the level.

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TILING Background Tiles
The level itself is now complete! Once you’ve tested it a few times and feel
Once you’re in Tile Mode, you can press and hold T, or the right mouse
happy that the gameplay is working solidly, you can get on to putting
button, to bring up your currently selected tileset. (Background tiles should
down some background tiles to make the level a bit more visually
be selected by default; you can switch between the two tilesets by pressing
appealing.
A or Enter.)
Switch to Tile Mode by pressing Tab. There are two tilesets available to you:
Select individual 16x16 tiles by left-clicking on them, or multiple tiles by left-
background tiles, which you can use to create the level’s “backdrop”, in
clicking and dragging. You can then place these tiles on the background
various styles, and overlay tiles, which you can place more sparingly to add
of your level by left-clicking.
atmosphere in the form of pipes, wires, vents, blood splatters and more.
Overlay tiles are designed to be layered on top of background tiles, so we’ll
look at those in a moment and start off by placing some background tiles.

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You’ll probably also find it helpful to switch off some of your level layers
while you tile (particularly the collision blocks). Press L to see the shortcuts for
toggling various layers.

Left-click to place the corner tile.

I’ve made some simple background “panels” by using the tiles shown
below. (Refer to the overview screenshot to see an overview of the style
I’ve gone for.)

A finished “panel” should look something like this.

Left-click and drag to place the top edge tiles.

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If you make a mistake, you can delete individual tiles from your level by Overlay Tiles
hovering over them and pressing Delete on your keyboard. Similarly, you
can move tiles by clicking and dragging them with the Ctrl key held down, After filling the level with background tiles, I then switched to the overlay
and pick up / “eyedrop” tiles for duplication by clicking on them with the tileset (switch by pressing A or Enter, or by scrolling the mouse wheel) and
Shift key held down. added a few overlays around the moving platforms to give the
appearance of “runners”.

Once your tiling is done – that’s it! You’ve completed the Stealth Bastard
Level Editor Tutorial. Now that you’re familiar with the tools in the editor, you
can create some levels of your own design and upload them to the Stealth
Bastard level repository via File  Upload Level, so that others can play and
rate them.

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OBJECTS NOT COVERED IN THE TUTORIAL
There are a few “logic” objects and one light object not included in this AND Gates
tutorial level that you may find useful in your own levels:

Trigger Areas
AND Gates are used to trigger a
single target object when a number of
conditions are fulfilled. For example, you
Trigger Areas can trigger a target object when the player steps into might want to create a door that only opens
them. Unlike Checkpoint Triggers, which are always One Shot (meaning after two separate switches have been triggered. To do this, you would
they can only activate once: the first time the player steps into them), need to create an AND Gate, set its Target Object to the door, then Link
trigger areas can be Set to One Shot or Persistent (the latter meaning they the two switches to the gate. Once both switches are pulled, the door will
will trigger their target object every time the player steps into them, not just open.
the first time).
Sunlight
Camera Triggers

Sunlight is a shadow-casting light that affects an entire level. If you

Camera Triggers are used to draw the player’s attention to areas place a sunlight object in your level, be warned that the game won’t cull
by moving the camera. Like trigger areas, they can be Set to One Shot or any offscreen collision blocks to aid framerate. This is because in levels with
Persistent, and will need to be given an X Offset and / or a Y Offset. When sunlight, collision objects can cast their shadows infinitely across the screen,
the player enters a camera trigger area, the camera will move to centre and so turning them off when they are offscreen would potentially turn off
around the offset point you’ve specified for it. their onscreen shadows. Best practice is to only use the Sunlight object in
smaller levels, or to use collision objects sparingly in sunlit levels.
NOT Gates
Note: If you experience framerate drops in your sunlit levels, you can force
a collision object to always be culled when offscreen by selecting
OffscreenAlways Deactivate from its context menu. However, for the
NOT Gates reverse the signal of a reasons described above, it is best to be cautious with this setting.
switch, effectively changing an ON signal to
an OFF signal and vice versa. For example, you
might want an absolute switch to switch two laser beams OFF, but also to
switch a third one ON. The simplest way to achieve this would be to Link the
switch to the first two lasers and to a NOT Gate, then set the Target Object
of the NOT Gate to the third laser.

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