| Getting Started Creating Your Own Levels |
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In-Game Editing Basics You can test your level right in the editor by "play" button in the level editor toolbar:  The Dr. Dobbs in the editor toolbar is the character selection widget. You can change which character that you would like to play as in this level by clicking the arrow buttons underneath the character.  If you are editing a level that is larger than just one screen, you can use the arrow keys to scroll around the level. The automatic level camera follows the little red focus dot. Level Editing  The red box is the "tile reticle", iyour guide that shows you where the tile will be placed when you click. To erase a tile, there are two ways:  You can click the "sky" button to switch to "sky" mode. Now, anywhere you click you will erase the tiles instead of placing them. Advanced users only: You can hold any modifier key to erase tiles instead of placing them, or vice versa. For example, in "ground" mode, if you hold Shift, Control, or Alt, you can delete tiles when you click. Likewise, in "sky" mode, you can hold Shift, Control, or Alt to place tiles instead of erasing them. This can speed up your level editing a lot! if you want switch to the "temple" theme or "techno" theme? Click one of these buttons:  Sprite Placement Click and drag sprites onto the playfield to place them:  When placed, you can click them again to move them; if you wish to delete them, move the mouse over the sprite, so that it highlights with a pink bounding box. Then, press the "delete" or "backspace" key on your keyboard. Advanced users only: If you want to quickly duplicate a sprite in your level, just highlight it with the mouse, and hold down any modifier key while you click and drag the sprite to a new location. Saving Your Level To save your level, first, enter the name of your level in the textbox at the top of the editor. Civil names only please! Once you've given your level a clever, attractive name, press the big "Save & Quit" button to save your level to the online database:  Advanced users: If you are working on a really big level, it might be a good idea to "Save & Quit" when you are only partway finished. You have access to the last 6 levels you made from the Create mode menu screen, and you can re-open them and continue editing whenever you want. |
We've had a few comments recently from users having a spot of difficulty with our in-browser level editor, and so we thought we'd help out with a quick "getting started" guide to the editor here. Don't forget that there's a fully featured | < Prev | Next > |
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Welcome to Dr. Dobb's Challenge Deuce, a special game competition brought to you in association with the world-renowned 
he Dr. Dobbs modding competition ended on June 12th, and as of then we ended our contest to win Dr. Dobbs Bobbleheads for creating the best level every week. Of course, we still have two best level winners to award with Dr. Dobbs Bobbleheads, and one final $500 best level of the month prize to award.
Entries for Dr. Dobbs Challenge Deuce closed on June 12th, and now we're able to announce the cream of the crop, announcing our winners of Best Game, Best One-Button Game, Best Total Conversion and Best Game Starring Dr. Dobbs and the Defy all Challenges Crew.