Your first mission
This page takes you from the mission library to a mission you can play: make it, add a few guards, give one of them a patrol, and put it into the game.
The mission library
The library has two shelves.
- Your missions, each with a picture of its map, the mission it is built on, how many guards and changes it has, and whether it is in the game: Not in the game yet, In game · mission 15 · up to date, or changes not applied.
- Built-in missions, the fourteen missions as the game ships them. They can't be changed, renamed or deleted. Click one to look around its map, or press New mission from this.
The ⋯ button on one of your missions opens its menu: open, rename, duplicate, export it to a file, take it out of the game, and delete. A deleted mission goes to the Trash, from where the library can bring it back.
Make a mission
Press New mission.
- Name it. This is the name you will pick in the game's mission list.
- Choose what to start from:
- Copy of a mission: every guard, building and objective of the mission you pick, as the game has them. The easiest start: change what you like and keep the rest.
- Empty map: the level's ground, sky, light, weather and walkways, with nothing on it. No buildings, no guards, no objectives. For a mission built from scratch.
- Pick the mission, and press Create mission.
The mission opens in the editor. Everything you do from now on is saved as you go.
A tour of the editor
| What it is | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Mission menu: new, open the library, save, rename, duplicate, export and import, check the mission, apply, remove it from the game. |
| 2 | Side tabs: Inventory, Objectives, Events, Security and Navigation. Click the open one again to hide the panel and give the map the room. |
| 3 | Inventory: characters, weapons and items, and nearly 300 structures and objects to place. |
| 4 | Layers: show or hide terrain, buildings, props, fences, doors, pickups, guards, labels, walkways and patrol routes; play or pause the patrols. |
| 5 | View tools: jump to the player start, fit the base, fit everything, zoom to the selection, step through your changes, measure, save the view as a picture, the map computer preview, sight lines, and the live view. The Legend is beside them. |
| 6 | Ground bar: level, raise, lower, smooth, ramp, brush and paint the ground. |
| 7 | The map: the level as the map computer shows it. Drag to move, scroll to zoom, click to select, right-click for actions. |
| 8 | Selection: what you clicked, with its 3D preview, its details and its settings. |
| 9 | Change log: every change that is not in the game yet. |
| 10 | Apply to game: builds the mission and puts it into the game. |
| 11 | Readout: the map position, ground height and slope under the cursor, and what the cursor is over. |
| 12 | Selection and AI designer tabs: switch the right panel between what you selected and the AI designer. |
Add a guard
- In the Inventory, click a character, for example Patrol (AK). A see-through guard follows the cursor.
- Press R to turn him, if you like.
- Click the map where he should stand. He is set down on the ground, or on the floor of the building you clicked in.
Or right-click the map and choose Add enemy here. Your own guards are drawn in yellow; the level's are red.
Give him a patrol
- Click your guard to select him.
- In his panel, press Edit patrol route (or press P).
- Click walkway points on the map, one after another. The route is drawn as you go, with its stops numbered.
- Press Done.
Guards walk the level's walkways (the navigation mesh), so a patrol is made of walkway points. See Guards, patrols and walkways for more, including adding walkway points of your own.
Put it into the game
Press Apply to game. The studio first shows a check list: anything that would stop the mission from working, anything worth a look, and what will go into the game. If nothing blocks it, press Apply. It takes about a minute. See Applying and playing.
Then start the game and pick your mission by its name in the mission list.
Undo, redo and saving
- Ctrl+Z undoes, Ctrl+Y redoes. Every change can also be undone on its own from the Change log: the button at the end of its row.
- The mission saves by itself a moment after each change. Ctrl+S saves at once.
- Press ? in the editor to list every shortcut.
Next: the map.