Level Editor is irrlicht based application used for making game levels/maps.
It is opensource and free to use, and all game examples are opensource too,
and you can change the code to alter the games if you like.

In this tutorial, we gonna make simple game level, then we will start the game wich will load our level.

Start Level Editor.
You should see game objects window with a list of available game objects in a tree to the left.




There are three tabs defining three groups of objects:
- Monsters
- Pickables
- Static
Monsters are animated models used for enemies, NPCs, and playing characters.
Pickables are objects you can pick and place in your inventory.
Static are objects that are too big or superglued to the scene to pick up, usually not animated
(but you can see a weaving tree in there, why not), and some of them could be interactive (later).

Select tab with Static models, pick a house and drag it to the map. Click on the map to place it.
Like house, place few more models to the map, don't be shy.

To navigate in Level Editor use these controls:
Move selected object by clicking on it and dragging it around (left mouse press and hold).
Rotate selected object by pressing SHIFT + left mouse press and hold.
Scale selected object by pressing SHIFT + mouse scroll.
Rotate map with right mouse press and hold.
Pan map with SHIFT + right mouse press and hold (or WASD keys).
Zoom map with mouse scroll.

Save the map (go to File->Save Level) to some file with irr extension (irr scene file), for
example save it to directory "maps/my_map/first_map.irr".
Thats it, we're done with Level Editor, you can turn it off.

In bin directory you can find Game_01.exe, start it.
Game will start and you can see some predefined scene and you can walk predefined character around.
To load your map, you have to tell the game where it is.
Shut the game down.

Find game_config.xml in the bin folder and open it for edit.
You can use notepad or other similar programs for editing text.
Look for 'MapStart' attribute. Instead of existing path "maps/temp/default_map.irr"
type in your map file and path to it, for example: "maps/my_map/first_map.irr".

Start the Game_01.exe.
You should be able to walk around your map.

Advanced topics:

If you want to change the player character from default (turtle), look for maps/temp/Player.xml
and try altering config attributes in that file. Attribute "Model" is path to animated model file.
In order to change your main character, you have to provide path to new animated model file,
and write in animation frames for walk and idle (other two parameters).

Petar Bajic
MPE (C) All Rights Reserved
Homepage: www.mystic-peanut.com
July, 21 2008.