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This tutorial will guide you through the absolute basics of getting a world going. It's called a simple tutorial, but that's just compared to what you can do with the editor! Even doing a basic world like this is very complex. So print this out and have it by your side while you work. If you follow the steps exactly, you'll have no problems, and you'll learn how to use the most common editor features. If you don't know what we mean by any term we use (a lot of terms do have specific meanings in this game!), check in the Glossary, below.

To begin, simply click on Editor in the title menu (if it says "??????" instead of Editor, then you haven't bought the Editor yet! Save up some coins and go buy it in one of the shops in the SpisMall!). This presents you with the Editor screen, and a helpful bit of information, hinting that you should use F1 occasionally if you get confused.

The first thing you see!
The first thing you see!

Press ESC or click the Exit button on the help box to get rid of it (not a bad idea to read it first, though!). Now you're editing. The big green area you see is your Level. The black space around it is not your Level. It's area you won't see when playing the game, and you can't edit it anyway. The dotted line is the boundary of your level (it's more than that, but that'll do for now!). Before we even get into the stuff on the grey Control Box (is that a good name? I just made it up now), there are 5 keyboard keys you need to know to do any editing. Don't worry though - 4 of them are very similar.

Press the Arrow Keys to scroll your view around (you can also scroll by pushing the mouse cursor against the edges of the screen). The other special key you need to remember is the Fire button - whichever key you've configured to throw hammers (if you haven't changed from the default, that would be CTRL or Z). Try holding that key down while you push the Arrow Keys. It makes your view scroll much faster! Remember that for getting around very big levels. So, right now, get used to the arrow keys by scrolling your view around, and notice how your work area is a rectangle floating in a black void.

Okay, let's actually do something to your level now. The Floor Tool is currently active, since this is what the lower right corner of your screen looks like:

The Floor Tool
The Floor Tool

So let's put some floor in! If you click anywhere in the Level right now, you'll hear a click and nothing happens. That's because the entire level is already filled with the same Floor Tile that you are using. That's not very good. So let's pick a new floor tile. Most of the tools work this same way: Right click on any of the four green tiles in the Control Box, and you'll be whisked away to the Tile Select screen:

The Tile Select Screen
The Tile Select Screen

There's a ton of stuff on this screen, but it's not really very complex - the top half of the screen shows some of the tiles available to you (there's a way to add more tiles to the list, but you don't need to do that now), and the bottom half shows information about whichever tile your cursor is currently hovering over. Click the "Next Page" button to see more available tiles. Click "Next Page" again to get back to the first page (you can have up to 4 pages of tiles, but these two pages of tiles are what you get by default when you start a new world). So let's pick one of the tiles that looks like dirt. Your choice! Click on the tile you want, and you're taken back to the editor screen. But now the tile you clicked on in the Control Box has changed to the dirt tile you picked, and it has a white box around it. The white box tells you which of the four tiles is currently active. You can left click on any of them to pick which one to have active, or right click to pick a new tile to put in them.

So, make sure the dirt tile is selected - if the white box isn't around it, left click it so that it is. Then simply click in the Level to replace the green grass with brown dirt where you click! You can also hold the button down and 'paint' your way around the level. Don't forget to scroll around with the arrow keys or mouse to make a mess over as much of the Level as you want.

The first Level in any world is a Hub Level. So for this to be a good hub, we'll need it to have Level entrances in it. Maybe adding Bouapha to it wouldn't hurt either. Let's do both.

To select any tool (currently you are using the Floor Tool), you click on where the name of the tool is, and hold the button down to get the list of tools. It looks like this:

The Tool List
The Tool List

Move the cursor to where it says Badguy, and release the mouse button. That selects the Badguy tool as the active tool, which looks like this:

The Badguy Tool
The Badguy Tool>

Even though it's called the Badguy Tool, it is also used for placing goodguys. Could've been called the Monster tool, I suppose. As you can see, it has four slots, just like the Floor Tool did, and all four of them are set to Bouapha right now. That's perfect.

Click anywhere in your level to place Bouapha. Click somewhere else, and he'll appear in the new place. Only Bouapha works this way. All other monsters place one copy at each place you click. But since there can only be one Bouapha, the editor just moves him with each click.

Well, you now technically have a playable world! Want to see? Select Test from the Menu List. The Menu List works exactly like the Tool List - hold the mouse button down on the word "Menus" in the Control Box to get the list of menus, then move the cursor to "TEST!" and release the button. Suddenly, you're playing the game! You're in a level called "New World", filled with randomly scribbled dirt and nothing else. When you get tired of wandering it, pause the game and select "Editor" to get back to editing.

Okay, so we have Bouapha and a place for him to run around in. Now he needs another Level, so we can put a Level entrance that leads to that Level! Go into the Menu List again, and select "World". This is the World Menu:

The World Menu
The World Menu

First, type in the name for your new world. Notice that anything you type shows up in the box at the bottom of the window. Hit backspace to correct mistakes. Click "Rename" to change your Hub level's name to the new name. Whatever Level #00 is called, that's the name of your world in the World Select Menu.

Now click "New" to add a new Level to your world. It shows up as Level #01, with the same name as Level #00 That's no good! Hit backspace a bunch to erase the name, and type in a new one. Click Rename to change it to the new name. Notice that you can click on either Level in the list to select them. You can also click Author Name now if you'd like to put your name on your creation. Make sure Level #01 is selected, and click Exit to get back to editing.

You're back at another empty green level! With the Badguy Tool, place Bouapha somewhere good. Now let's make this level tricky! Select the Wall tool:

The Wall Tool
The Wall Tool

Just like Badguy and Floor, it gives you four slots to work with. But here's an important difference: Walls consist of two separate tile images. One is for the front of them, and one is for the top. So when you right click on one of the wall slots, you either need to right click the top half, to pick which Roof to use, or the bottom half, to pick which Wall to use. Do that now - see if you can pick the Roof and Wall for the first slot to make it look like this:

A Nice Brown Brick Wall
A Nice Brown Brick Wall

You place Walls just like Floors. Click where you want the wall to go. Now try it once, and notice what happens - where you click is where the base of the wall goes. It rises up from that spot. So, keeping that in mind, give Bouapha a bit of a maze to navigate. Here's what I did:

Brain-Teasing Maze
Brain-Teasing Maze

Notice how the Walls stretch up past the dotted line at the top? That's because they're "3D" - they have height, so while their base is inside the Level, the top appears to stick up past it. If you place some Walls you don't want, switch back to the Floor Tool and draw Floor over them to erase them. Then go back to the Wall Tool to put them where they should be. Okay, let's put in some monsters. Choose the Badguy tool again:

Badguy Tool Looks Familiar
Badguy Tool Looks Familiar

This time, it's not Bouapha we want to place (although you can pick a new spot for him, if your maze calls for it). So you know how these tools work now - right click on any of the four Bouaphas to pick a new Monster for that slot.

Pick A Monster!
Pick A Monster!

At the top of the Monster Select screen, you see a whole pile of general monster themes, like "Goodguys" and "Badguys". Click on "Spooky", and you'll see the lower left of the screen is filled with a list of decidedly Spooky monsters. If you move your cursor over them, they show up on the lower right of the screen, and information about them shows up in the lower middle, if you've scanned them in the game with a Scanner. Click on Bonehead, because that is of course the monster we want!

Now you place Boneheads the same way you placed Walls and Floors - click where you want them, or if you want your level to be impossible, drag the mouse around to make a horde of them. If you place one you don't want, you can right click on him to remove him. Right click erases with most tools (you could've erased Walls with it earlier, but 'erasing' a wall just makes it flat, with the former Roof tile being used as a floor... this can be very confusing!). Notice that, just like a Wall, the spot you click in is where the Bonehead's feet go. He rises up from that spot. Place 3 or 4 Boneheads.

You can try playing the level now, but if you did, you'd realize it's hopeless. Bouapha needs some Hammers! Select the Item Tool the same way you selected the other tools:

The Item Tool
The Item Tool

Once again, you have four slots, and this time, they all have Hammers in them. Lucky us! Click in your level to place Hammers for Bouapha to pick up. Notice you can put them behind walls where they're barely sticking out. I'm sure you're very familiar with that tactic from your playing! Another thing you can do which you should not do is place items actually inside a wall tile. There are reasons why you might use this, but it's very advanced - leave your items out in the open!

Hammers are nice, but Pants make them better, so right click on one of the four slots to pick a new Item to go in that slot. Here's the Item Select screen:

The Item Select Screen
The Item Select Screen

Another overwhelming screen! This one is actually just as simple as Monster Select. There's a list of categories at the top, and the items in that category are in the lower left in alphabetical order. The other stuff is details of how the item works, which you don't need yet. Right now you're in the Pick-Ups category, which is pretty appropriate. But I don't see Pants Of Power! Click "More Items..." at the bottom left of the screen to see the next page of the Pick-Ups category. There's the Pants! Click on the Pants to select them.

Now place a few pairs of Pants around the level to give Bouapha even better odds against those tremendously mighty Boneheads. Like Badguys, if you place an Item where you don't want it, you can right click to remove it. Test out the challenge of your level now by using the TEST! command in the Menus. Fun? Great! But wait, there's no way to win it!

Let's place some more items, to give this level a reason to live. Right click on one of the item slots to pick a new item. There's three items we need to place: first, select the Brain item from the Pick-Ups category, and put a few in your maze. Every level needs a few brains to collect!

Now, to give the player a bonus challenge, let's put Candles in. Right click an item slot, and this time, you see Candles are in the Pick-Ups category too (which makes sense!), but items don't just appear in one category. They're listed in every category that makes sense for them. So click on the Collectibles category. Brains and Candles are here too! This is just a way that it's easier to find things than sifting through one gigantic list. So select Candle, and place a few in your level.

Now just one more item: an exit! You can pick what to use for an exit, but I think an Igloo would be nice and abnormal. If that's what you want, you'll find it under Decorations. If you want a Hollow Tree, that's under Decorations, and under Vegetation. Place it in your level. But that's not really an exit, it's just an item that does nothing. To make a level exit for real, we need a Special, and that's where things get fancy. Select the Special tool.

The Special Tool
The Special Tool

It looks so simple... there are no buttons at all! But in fact, this is by far the most complex and powerful tool in Dr. Lunatic. Left click on the space you put your exit item, and you will see the Special Edit screen:

The Special Edit Screen
The Special Edit Screen

Don't run away screaming yet! What you have to do here isn't too bad. The screen is divided into two sections: The five boxes on top are the Triggers, and the five boxes on the bottom are the Effects. A Special is a short term for a Special Event. Basically, it says "IF this happens, THEN make that happen", where this and that can be an enormous variety of things. What you want is "IF Bouapha steps on this spot, THEN win the level". Simple!

So click on the first box at the top that says "Select", and hold the button down. Just like the Tools and Menus, you get a list of things as long as you have the button held down. As you can see, there are many choices. What you want is the second choice: "Step On/Near". Put the cursor on it and let go of the button. There it is, in glorious green, with the details all filled out, including some arcane numbers. Don't worry about it - the defaults are correct.

Now that you have the right Trigger, you need the Effect. Select the effect from the list on the bottom, just as you did for the trigger on the top. Click the first "Select" in the "Effects" half of the screen to do so, keep the button held, and move the cursor to "Win Level". Let go, and you're done. It should look like this (only bigger):

A Win Level Special, All Set Up
A Win Level Special, All Set Up

Now you can actually read this page like a sentence: "IF Bouapha steps within 0 tiles of 3,4, THEN Win Level and go to New World at AUTO". The "3,4" will vary depending on where your exit is, and "New World" will be the name of your world. Click on Exit, because this special is done!

Test your level again, and you'll find it works! You can go in the exit, and you get scored, and are sent to your Hub Level. But why do the Candles all play the "Got All Candles" song, and why don't you have to pick up any brains to finish the level? What you need is the Level Menu! Select it from the Menus:

The Level Menu
The Level Menu

This menu lets you change various overall settings for the level you're working on. In the big black box is a little mini-map of your level, if you were interested to see! But all you need from this menu now are the two things at the bottom. Notice it says "Brains: 0" and "Candles: 0". So the game thinks you need 0 Brains and 0 Candles to get credit for this level. That's no good! All you have to do is click the "Auto" button next to both Brains and Candles, and it will auto-calculate how many Brains and Candles are in the level and put those values in. You can also enter the number by hand, which is needed if you're doing various special tricks which you're not.

While you're on this menu, you can pick a song for your level - just click the Song button and you'll see a list of all available songs. Click one to hear it play, click "Load" to pick it. Then hit ESC to get out of the Level Menu.

Test your level again, and you'll find it works as it should - you can't leave until you have all the brains, and only the last Candle gives you the happy candle song.

Just one more thing this world needs - a way to get to your maze level from your hub level! So let's go back to the hub level. To do this, go to the World menu again (select it from the "Menus" list), and click on your hub level in the list. Then hit Exit to get back to editing.

Select the Item Tool yet again, and place the same item you used as an exit in your maze level. It makes good sense to use that for the level entrance, doesn't it? So put it somewhere good.

Now we've got the same problem as before - our level entrance isn't much of an entrance yet. So select the Special Tool, and click where you put the item. As before, you get to be overwhelmed by the Special Edit Screen. This will be almost as easy as before, but with one more step. First, select the trigger "Step On/Near", just like before - Remember? You hold the mouse button down on the topmost "Select" button, and release it with the cursor on "Step On/Near".

Now select the Effect of "Go To Level". Uh oh - the default value is wrong. It says "Go To HubName At AUTO". So click on the box where it says the name of your hub level, and it will change to the name of your maze level. That's it! Now if you read the page like a sentence, you get "If Bouapha steps within 0 tiles of X,Y, THEN Go To MazeLevel at AUTO".

Hit Exit and give your level another Test. Notice how when you Test, you start off in whichever level you were editing. So this time you start in the hub. Stepping on the entrance should take you to your maze level, and completing your maze level should bring you back, and even light up the level entrance properly with the classic green X! You did it! This is a complete world! A very small one, but you now know most of the basics, and can explore the other options as you go. There is one more thing you should do though... save your work.

Select File from the Menu List, and you see the File Menu:

The File Menu
The File Menu

Just type in the filename you want to use (make sure it's not the same as one used by an existing world!), and click on Save. The filename doesn't have to be the same as the world name (what you named Level #00). It should be a shorter version of that, without any special characters like quotation marks, spaces, and more. Just letters and numbers are the best idea. You don't have to add ".dlw" to the end of your filename, but if you don't, the game will automatically add it for you, so when you're looking for your file later, you'll see it with ".dlw" on the end, like "myworld.dlw".

Now that your world is saved, it will actually show up in the World Select Menu when you click Play on the title screen. Go have a look!

So that's the simple tutorial. Scared yet? Back to main

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