Map-Editor Introduction

v1.0
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 Index
1 Introduction...................................................................................................................................................1
2 Moving around..............................................................................................................................................3
3 Selecting Entities / Using Tools......................................................................................................................3
4 Tools..............................................................................................................................................................6
4.1 Creation Tool..........................................................................................................................................6
4.2 Transformation Tool...............................................................................................................................7
4.2.1 Duplicating/copying entities..........................................................................................................7

4.3 Rotation Tool..........................................................................................................................................8

4.4 Scale Tool..............................................................................................................................................10
4.5 Recoloring Tool.....................................................................................................................................11
4.6 Random Block Tool...............................................................................................................................12
5 Checkpoints.................................................................................................................................................13
6 Keyboard Shortcuts.....................................................................................................................................15
7 Finishing a map and making it playable.......................................................................................................16
7.1 Setting a mapname...............................................................................................................................16
7.2 Setting the preview camera..................................................................................................................16
7.3 Checkpoints, spawnpoint and the goal.................................................................................................17
7.4 Recording a run.....................................................................................................................................18
7.5 Exporting the map................................................................................................................................21
7.6 Playing custom maps............................................................................................................................22

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1 Introduction
With the alpha update v4 the editor was finally released to the public. In order to make map-creation
as easy as possible (and as there isn’t an ingame tutorial on how to use the editor) I have written this
introduction/tutorial for the ingame map-editor.

Note: This tutorial was originally made for the Celaria alpha v4. Things may change when new
updates alter the editor. If that happens I will try my best to update this pdf accordingly. If you still
find any wrong / outdated information, please feel free to let me know about that on the Celaria
forum. ( http://forum.celaria.com )
To get this question out of the way of how to access the map-editor: It’s very simple. After starting
the game click on the “Map Editor” button in the main menu.

Before we start with the details, here is a quick overview of the editor:

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Nr. Name Description
1. New Map Button Deletes all current entities in the editor.

2. Load Button Loads a previously saved map (“.ecmap” files)

3. Save Button Saves the map which is currently viewed in the editor (saves in
the “.ecmap” file format).
4. Export Button Saves the current map in the playable “.cmap” map format so
that it can be loaded into the game as a custom map. (More on
that later.)

5. Map-Name Input field Text field in which you can insert your map name (Note: You
need to set a map name in order to be able to export the map
in the playable “.cmap” format.)
6. Record Run Button Starts a run which records your time and calculates all medals
(platin, gold, silver and bronze) for this map. Necessary to do
before the map export. (More on that later.)
7. Toolbar Contains all editor tools.
8. Entity Creation Tool Allows you to create (and place) new entities in the scene.
9. Transform Tool Moves entities around in the scene.
10. Rotation Tool Rotate entities on the z-axis.
11. Scale Tool Scale entities.
12. Recolor Tool Change the color of blocks in the scene.
13. Random Tool Allows you to place blocks with random parameters in the
scene. Useful for creating background scenery.
14. Tool options bar Tools have different options from which you can choose. Those
options will be displayed in this bar.
15. Set Sun Position Button Allows you to change the sun position. Look with the camera
into the sky at the position in which you want to place the sun
and press the button in order to reposition the sun.
16. Grid Toggle Button Enables/disables the grid to which the coordinate- and scaling
values snap.

17. Checkpoint Path Button Allows you to change the checkpoint order in which the player
has to finish the course. (More on that later.)

18. Recorded time field Displays the platin time which was recorded by the player and
the gold, silver, bronze times which were calculated by the
editor. Will be only displayed if no entities are selected.

19. Bronze time offset Allows you to alter the bronze time of the map. (Silver and gold
input field times will be calculated automatically. More on that later.)

20. Attribute field area Displays attributes of selected entities (which can be altered). If
no entities are selected then it will display the recorded medal
times and the bronze time offset input field.

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2 Moving around
Important: You will need a PC mouse with a mouse wheel in order to use the editor properly.

In order to look around with the camera, press and hold the middle mouse button (mouse wheel)
and move the cursor.

You can move the camera around with the W, A, S, D keys.

In order to increase the movement speed of the camera, press and hold the Shift key while pressing
the movement keys.

3 Selecting Entities / Using Tools

We will go through a little example in order to showcase how to select entities and use tools.

First click with the left mouse button on the “New Entity” button in the left tool bar. Then click with
the left mouse button anywhere in the scene to create a white block at the selected position.

Now select the entity by clicking on it with the right mouse button. Selected entities will be
highlighted in the color red.

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You can still use the left mouse button to create new blocks without deselecting the currently
selected entity.

In order to deselect entities, simply click with the right mouse button anywhere in the scene. If you
click on another entity with the right mouse button, you will deselect the old entity and select the
new one. This way only one entity can be selected at a time.

In order to select multiple entities, press and hold the Shift key and click with the right mouse button
on the entities you want to select. Alternatively you can also press and hold both the Shift and the
left mouse button at the same time and just hover over the entities in order to select them.

You can delete selected entities by pressing the Delete or Backspace key on your keyboard.

Generally speaking: You select / deselect entities with the right mouse button and you use tools with
the left mouse button.

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Maybe you noticed that if you select an entity, additional data shows up on the right side of the
editor window. These are the attributes of the selected entity.

This is a brief rundown of the attributes:

Attribute Description
field name
x The x coordinate of the selected entity
y The y coordinate of the selected entity
z The z coordinate of the selected entity
sx The scale on the local x axis of the selected entity
sy The scale on the local y axis of the selected entity
sz The scale on the z axis of the selected entity
rz The rotation on the z axis of the selected entity

You can manually edit those values by clicking on the desired field and replacing the value.

Note: If you select multiple entities, only the values of the first selected entity will be shown in the
attribute fields. But if you edit a value in those fields while multiple entities are selected, the change
will affect all selected entities.

Also, depending on the type of tool you have selected, there may be different data displayed in the
attribute field.

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4 Tools
4.1 Creation Tool
The creation tool allows you to create new entities in the scene. This includes blocks
(different blocktypes) the player startpoint, checkpoints, etc...
If you activate this tool (by pressing on this button) the tool options bar will display all
entity types which you can place in the scene.

The white block is selected automatically for you. Now hover with your mouse over the 3D scene and
place a white block in the scene by pressing the left mouse button.

Note: Currently there can only be one player startpoint and one red block in the scene. If you try to
place another entity of one of this types in the scene, the old entity will be automatically deleted.

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4.2 Transformation Tool
The transformation tool does allow you to move entities around all three axis in the scene.
Note that the tool options bar at the top changes if you select this tool.

You drag the entities around the X and Y axis by default. You can change that by pressing the buttons
in the top bar. By pressing the blue “Z” button, you can drag the blocks on the z-axis.

4.2.1 Duplicating/copying entities

You can copy/duplicate entities by holding the Control key on your keyboard while draging entities
around the scene. If you hold Control while letting go from the left mouse button, you will copy the
entity instead of changing the position of the original.

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4.3 Rotation Tool
The rotation tools allows you to rotate entities on the z-axis.

If you have more than one entity selected, there are two different ways in which you can rotate
them. At the top bar you can see a button which displays two yellow blocks and has “LOCAL” written
under it.

If you press this button you are switching between the local and global coordinate mode.

If you switched to the local coordinate mode and you rotate your entities, they will be rotated
around their own individual origin point:

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If you switched to global, you will rotate the entities around their shared middle point on the xy axis:

Note: You can only rotate entities on the z-axis. It is not possible to rotate them on the x and y axis
due to the way the game was designed.

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4.4 Scale Tool
This tool allows you to rezise your entities on all three axis. If you don't select any specific
axis in the top tool bar you will rezise your entities on all three axes at the same time.

By selecting an axis in the top tool bar you can scale them on only one axis at a time.

You can also switch between local and global coordinate mode. By switching to “global” the scale
tool will also factor in the spacing between entities and scale it up accordingly.

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4.5 Recoloring Tool
This tool allows you to change the color of blocks. Note that each color represents a
different blocktype in the game.

Notice how the top tool bar changes and displays all colors from which you can choose.

In order to change the block type to a different color, select your color in the top bar and click on the
desired block in the scene with the left mouse button.

Note: You can't color a block red if there is already a red block in the scene. (Only one block can be
colored red in the scene.)

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4.6 Random Block Tool
This tool allows you to generate random blocks in the scene. Useful for quick and efficient
placing of blocks for the surrounding scenery. Press the left mouse button in the scenery
in order to create a random block at the mouseposition.

The game will generate a block with different scales on the x, y and z-axis and a random rotation on
the z-axis. There is also a small chance that the generated block will be colored either in blue, green
or yellow.

Note that you can change the scaling parameters on the right side of the editor window in the
attribute bar.

Fieldname Description
Xf The minimal scaling value on the x-axis.
Xt The maximal scaling value on the x-axis.
Yf The minimal scaling value on the y-axis.
Yt The maximal scaling value on the y-axis.
Zf The minimal scaling value on the z-axis.
Zt The maximal scaling value on the z-axis.

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5 Checkpoints
With the new entity tool you can place checkpoints in the scene. Notice how the checkpoints are
numbered in the editor. This is the order in which the player has to pass the checkpoints before
being able to head for the finish/goal.

The game will automatically number the checkpoints sequentially for you. If you want to change the
checkpoint order afterwards, you can do that very easily. First select all checkpoints in the order you
want them to be numbered. I selected them in clockwise order starting from the right checkpoint.

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Now press the “set checkpoint path” button on the upper half of the editor window. This will change
the checkpoint order to your selection order.

Notice how the order (and the path) changed after you pressed the button.

Checkpoints are displayed with a player cone which is placed on top of the checkpoint. The cone
shows you the player spawnpoint as well as the direction in which the player will be facing after he
respawns on this particular checkpoint.

You can change the respawn direction by rotating the block with the rotation tool.

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6 Keyboard Shortcuts
There are a couple of keyboard shortcuts that you can use in order to increase your efficiency while
working with the editor. Here is a table of all currently implemented shortcuts:

Key Description
F Transformation Tool
R Rotation Tool
T Scale Tool
G Random block tool
E Creation Tool
C Set checkpoint path
Q Switch between local- and global coordinate system
[Del] Deletes selected entities
[Backspace] Deletes selected entities
[Space] Map preview cam (more on that later)
1 X-axis (for the transformation- and scaling tool)
2 Y-axis (for the transformation- and scaling tool)
3 Z-axis (for the transformation- and scaling tool)
4 X&Y-axis (for the transformation- and scaling tool)

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7 Finishing a map and making it playable
There are a few things that you have to do/be aware of before exporting a map in the playable
“.cmap“ format.

7.1 Setting a mapname

Make sure to name your map before exporting. Your map has to have a name in order to be
exported. You can set the mapname in the textfield on the top of the screen:

7.2 Setting the preview camera

By pressing the Space bar on keyboard you switch to the map-preview camera. This camera will be
used as a preview in the map selection. (If a player selects your map in the level selection menu, this
camera will be used as a quick overview over the entire map.) You can control the camera in the
same ways as the normal editor view.

If you are happy with your camera position, press Enter on our keyboard in order to confirm your
camera placement. If you want to cancel your current camera position, press the Escape key on your
keyboard.

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7.3 Checkpoints, spawnpoint and the goal
In order to make a map playable you have to have a player spawnpoint and a goal defined in the
scene. Without the spawnpoint and a goal (red block) you can't export it to the playable “.cmap“
format.

The spawnpoint and the goal (red block) is mandatory. The checkpoints are optional.

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7.4 Recording a run
After you finished your map, the only thing left is to set the medal times. This can be done by
pressing the “Record run“ button on the top of the editor window.

Pressing this button will start a race against the time. Get to the goal as fast as possible.

After you finished the run you will be brought back to the editor screen.

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On the right side you will now see the medal times which were set for this game. Your own time
determines the “platinum” medal time. The gold, silver and bronze times will be calculated with a
formula by the editor.

Here is a quick overview over this information:

Fieldname Description
P Platin time (set by the recorded run)
G Gold time
S Silver time
B Bronze time

Note: Those medal times only show up if you don't have any entities selected and if you aren't using
the random block tool.

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Depending on your map it may be that the gold, silver and bronze times aren't optimally set. (They
can be either too easy or way too hard to achieve.)
It is recommended to playtest the map and run to the goal slower (as you would expect from
someone who plays on the map a first time or doesn't have that much game experience) to see how
much time is needed to finish the map and get the bronze, silver or even gold time.
Depending on that information you can adjust the “bronze time offset“ value. This value determines
how much time is needed for the bronze time on this map.
The offset value is a multiplier. It takes the platin time, multiplies the offset-value with the platin
time and uses the calculated result as the bronze time.
The gold and silver times will be scaled accordingly between the bronze and the platin time.

You can see that I reduced the offset value from 1.4 to 1.25 which results in lower times for the
bronze, silver and gold medals.
This step requires a bit of playtesting from the mapdesigner in order to make sure that the medal
times are balanced.

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7.5 Exporting the map
Once all that is done you can now export your map in the playable “.cmap“ format. In order to do
this simply click on the “Export“ button at the top of the editor window.

Now a pop-up window should be displayed. Navigate to the directory in which you want to save the
map.

In my case it's “D:/exported maps“. Choose a filename and save the file. (As an example: I saved it
under the “myMap“ filename.)
Now you have successfully saved your map.

Note: If you want to change/update your map in the future then don't delete the “.ecmap“ file of
your map as you can't load the final “.cmap“ file in the editor anymore.

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7.6 Playing custom maps
In order to play custom maps you have to copy your mapfile in the “custom maps“ directory of
Celaria. You can find the directory of your current Celaria version in the „localappdata“ directory of
windows.

After you have successfully copied the mapfile in the “custom maps“ directory you can go back to the
menu (or start the game if you haven't done that already) and click on the “Custom Maps“ option in
the main menu.

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You will see that your map will be displayed on the left side of the screen. The mapname which will
be displayed is the same mapname which you (as the mapcreator) set in the editor, regardless of the
file name.

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