Using the official Jill of the Jungle level editor
Jill of the Jungle has an undocumented built in level editor which can be used to create custom levels. (The key sequence to enter the editor was removed from Xargon, although the code is still there. It is available in the open source release. I, Allen Pilgrim, the Game Designer and Programmer for Xargon, will be releasing the "Xargon Level Editor" on April 1st with substantial documentation.)
This tutorial will briefly explain how to use the editor.
Activating the editor
The activation sequence is quite simple - press Ctrl+E on the main menu.
Using the editor
The following keys are used while working in the editor:
| Key | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys | Move the cursor around (hold shift to move half a screen at a time) |
| Space | Place the selected tile at the current cursor location |
| K | Select the tile under the cursor |
| Tab | Continuous draw mode (as if Space was held while the cursor moves around) |
| Enter | Load a tile by name (prompts for name; names are stored in jill.dma, e.g. "PLATREDL") |
| O | Object edit mode (see below) |
| L | Load a map by filename (prompts for a name, e.g. "map.jn1") |
| S | Save the map to a new file (prompts for filename) |
| H | Horizontal flood fill (all tiles on the current row matching the one under the cursor are set to the selected tile) |
| Y | Disalign Y (place newly inserted objects this many pixels below each grid boundary) |
| U | Update object sizes (probably good to do this before saving) |
| V | Something to do with the inventory (adding the 'hero' to it?) |
| Z | Clear map |
| N | New board (seems to do the same as 'clear map') |
| I | Add an entry to the high scores with 100 points (why??) |
| C | [Xargon only] Set colour (enter a number 0-10 inclusive) |
| F4 | [Xargon only?] Cycle colours (palette animation?) |
It is apparently possible to copy a block of tiles, by pressing F1 at the top-left corner then F2 at the bottom right. F3 then pastes the block at the current cursor position. However this doesn't seem to work in Jill, so may be Xargon only.
Object edit mode
Pressing O to brings up the object management menu. The currently selected object is the one under the cursor when the O key is pressed (be sure to have the cursor exactly over the object, taking into account any X/Y disalignment.) A menu will be displayed. Press a key to choose:
- A - add an object. Type the name (e.g. "gem", see list below) and if the other values are left at zero the object will be inserted at the current cursor position.
- D - delete the object under the cursor (type is set to 'killme')
- K - select object under cursor.
- P - paste a copy of the selected object here.
- O - move previously selected object (with 'K') to the current cursor position.
- M - modify object under cursor. Similar to A for add.
Object names
These object names were taken from the Jill of the Jungle episode 1 .exe file. These are the names used when adding or modifying objects. Note that not all objects are valid.
|
PLAYER |
BOBSLUG |
TINY |
BOULDER |
BEESWARM |
JILLFROG |
Notes
- To insert powerups, add an object of type TOKEN. Set the "CNT" number to different values to get different powerups.
Credits
The level editor was discovered by Malvineous. It was first announced on the RGB Classic Games forum.