The map
The map is the heart of the studio. It looks like the map computer you use in the game: the level's real ground in green, with its hills and contour lines, the buildings drawn from above, and everything that matters on top of it.
What you see
- The ground is the level's real terrain, lit from the north-west, with a contour line every 5 m (a darker one every 25 m). With Ground textures on, it is shaded by what it is made of: fields, dirt tracks, rock, snow.
- Buildings, towers and structures are drawn from their own 3D models, from above, at their true size and heading. A radar dome reads as a dome, a water tower as a tank on legs.
- Vehicles, crates and other solid props are drawn from their models too, in a darker green, so a truck stands out in a yard.
- Roads, railways, fence runs and power lines are drawn along their course, each as wide as the model laid along it: the track on its embankment, the train bridge, a road between two bases.
- Trees, lamps, poles, computers and switches are symbols at their real size.
- Guards are triangles pointing the way they face: red for the enemy, green for a soldier who fights on your side, and yellow for yours until they are in the game. Snipers, gunners and officers are marked.
- The player start is a green triangle. Select it and drag it to move where the mission begins.
- Pickups show what they are: rifle, sniper rifle, SMG, shotgun, pistol, grenade, mine, medipack, ammo.
- Cameras are red camera symbols. Zoomed in, each shows its view cone, and dashed, the whole arc it sweeps.
- Objectives are numbered yellow diamonds; events are pink numbered badges.
- The red names are the level's own map labels, the ones the game's map computer shows. A label stays only while its building stands: take the building out and its name goes with it.
A building goes see-through while the pointer is over it or it is selected, so you can see what stands inside. The X-ray layer does this for every building at once.
Moving around
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Move the map | Drag empty ground, or Ctrl+arrows |
| Zoom | Scroll, or + and - |
| Fit the base | F |
| Fit the whole level | 0 |
| Jump to the player start | H |
| Zoom to the selection | Z |
| Step through your changes | J |
| Measure a distance | M, then click two points. It gives the distance, the height difference and the slope |
The readout in the bottom left corner gives the position, the ground height and the slope under the pointer.
Hover to learn
Hover anything on the map and a card tells you what it is: its 3D model, a tag (enemy, camera, building, vehicle, pickup, yours) and the facts that matter. For a guard: his type, weapon, model and how far he sees. For a camera: its view, tilt and height. For a building: its kind, size and model, and whether you can go inside.
The layers
The bar above the map shows and hides what is drawn: the terrain relief, ground textures, buildable ground (B), the grid, buildings, see-through buildings (X-ray), props and vehicles, fences and walls, doors and gates, pickups, security cameras and what they watch, the level's guards, cutscene actors, map labels (L), all walkway points (N) and the level's patrol routes. At its right end are the patrol animation's controls: play or pause (Space), speed, and back to the start positions.
On a narrow window, or with the side panels open, the bar stays on one row: the buttons at its end fold into a ⋯ menu, and come back when there is room. The view tools on the right do the same.
Guards with a patrol walk it on the map as the game would have them do: along the walkways, pausing at their stops.
The view tools and the legend
From the left: 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 (see Guards), and the live view.
The Legend lists only what is on this map, with counts. Hovering shows the first rows; a click opens the whole list.
The map computer preview
The screen button shows the mission as the game's map computer will: the ground, buildings, walls and large structures, the labels, the player, and the numbered markers of the objectives. Its card lists the Objectives page as the game shows it, and how many of the map computer's 32 markers and labels the mission uses. The game cannot load a level with more than 32, so the studio warns you before that happens.
Right-click
Right-click anything for what you can do with it. Drag with the right button instead, and it selects everything in the box, with no menu (see Groups).
- On a guard, pickup or object: edit, duplicate, rotate, view it in 3D, edit or clear a patrol, change a guard's type or weapon, change a pickup's item, undo its changes, remove it.
- On a walkway point: remove it, undo, zoom to or hide its graph.
- On things you selected together: what to do with all of them: rotate, drop onto the ground, duplicate, copy, add to your items, zoom to them, deselect, or remove them all. Anywhere else the menu is the usual one, and they stay selected.
- On open ground: add an enemy, a weapon or item, a building or object (a search box over the whole catalogue opens), a walkway point, Build a fenced compound here..., or Test from here... to start the game with the player right there.
The menu bar
Beside the studio's name, a menu for each kind of thing:
- Mission: New mission, the Start page, Save, Duplicate, Rename & in-game description (the name and the line of text the game's mission list shows; about 120 characters fit its box), and Delete mission....
- Edit: undo, redo, Tidy up (finds things of yours that hover over bare ground, and things placed twice in the same spot, and offers to fix them), and the keyboard shortcuts.
- Design: Time limit and weather (see Objectives), Music and picture, A draft from a description... (write the mission in plain words and the studio places it for you, without any AI service, see The AI designer), Easy, normal and hard versions... and Make a campaign... (see The AI designer).
- Game: Check mission..., Apply to game..., and Settings.
- Share: export the mission to a file, export all your missions in one file, import a mission file, and copy the plan.
With one menu open, point at another to open it, or use the arrow keys. On the right of the top bar: Help, Community (with a gold count when missions you pulled have a newer version there, see The community) and Apply to game.
Beside the menus is the mission's name. Press the pencil beside it, or double-click the name, to rename it: Enter or clicking away keeps the new name, Esc puts the old one back. Mission, Rename & in-game description changes the line the game's list shows too.
At the foot of the side panel are you and the settings: your community account, whose menu has your profile, Keep me signed in, Settings and Sign out, and the gear that opens Settings. With every side panel closed, they are at the foot of the left wall.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| Arrows (Shift ×10, Alt ×0.2) | Move the selection 0.5 m |
| R / Shift+R · T | Turn by 15° · by 90° |
| [ / ] | Selection down or up one floor |
| Delete · Ctrl+D | Remove · duplicate (the whole group when several are selected) |
| Right-drag · Shift+drag · Shift+click · Ctrl+A | Select a group, yours and the level's, with no menu · select your things (with Alt held, the level's too) · add or drop one · all your changes |
| Ctrl+C · Ctrl+V | Copy the selection · paste it at the pointer, in any mission |
| G | Drop the selection onto the ground |
| C · Alt held | Placing a fence or wall: start a new run · lay a panel at any angle, not in 15° steps |
| P | Edit the selected guard's patrol |
| V | View and place the selection in 3D |
| A · N · L · B | Add walkway points · show all walkway points · show labels · buildable ground |
| + / - · F · 0 | Zoom · fit the base · fit everything |
| H · Z · J | Player start · zoom to the selection · next of your changes |
| M | Measure (Esc stops) |
| Space | Play or pause the patrols |
| Ctrl+Z · Ctrl+Y · Ctrl+S | Undo · redo · save |
| Esc · ? | Stop or deselect · list every shortcut |
Next: guards, patrols and walkways.