Dear Ylanders,
The Editor has evolved from elementary to extended, bringing us a more advanced version, which translates into having more buttons that we don't know what are used for.
There are tooltips for every button in the editor, but in case you find the interface not to be very intuitive, we decided to compile this short “guide”, mainly explaining what each button does. So let's go by parts, as Jack the Ripper said.
1. Pressing this exits the editor, creates a game based on it and starts it. You can return back to the editor from the game via the in-game menu.
2. This switches to the character mode - you can then test the scene as if you were playing. You can pause/restart time (in the editor mode it is always paused) and toggle the editor mode back on.
3. Undo/redo buttons. With undo you erase the last action you made and with redo you revert the action that you undid.
The following buttons show/hide "widgets" for the currently selected object. Widgets allow you to perform some action with the object more intuitively, by selecting/dragging various axes etc.
4. Selects objects in the level/scene. No widget - nothing is shown.
5. Movement (sometimes called "translation") widget.
6. Rotation widget.
7. Scale widget. Currently this is only used to set the area of effect for some game logic objects (trigger zone). Eventually you will be able to scale other objects as well.
8. This button lets you select whether you move the selected object in the World or Local coordinate space. In the World mode you move/rotate the object along axes that never change, while in the Local mode you'll be using the object's own axes, that change as the object rotation changes. If you are unsure about how this feature works you can check some of the many articles and videos available on the Internet.
9. If this is active and you drag an object across the level ("drag" - not by using the movement widget axes), the object will keep its distance to the ground. So if, for example, you place an object slightly below or above the ground, the object will stay this way even if you drag it someplace else.
10. If this is active and you move an object vertically, the object gets snapped to the terrain or structures for an easier and more precise placement. If not, it goes right through.
11. If this is active the object will stick only to the terrain, building block and such, otherwise it will stick to everything. This can be helpful when placing items on tables, hanging them on trees etc.
12. If this is active the items are snapped to a grid instead of freely (its size can be specified by pressing the arrow) when moving an object.
13. If this is active the items are rotated by predefined values instead of freely (the angle can be specified by pressing the arrow) when rotating an object.
14. If this is active the items are scaled by predefined values instead of freely (its size can be specified by pressing the arrow) when moving an object.
15. If this is active, the camera can't pass through the terrain, otherwise it can.
16. You can use the terraforming tool directly in the editor without going to the character mode with the Terraform button.
With these two buttons you can maximize/minimize the left and right panels.
The left panel shows the list of the current game logic objects in the scene.
In the right panel you can access the whole catalog of items, divided into different categories: all, game logic objects, creatures, objects and items.
Unlike in the game, the progress in the editor is not auto-saved. For now we need to do this manually by clicking on File (in the upper left corner) and then on Save. But in the future there will be a warning message asking us if we want to save the changes made in the scenario when trying to exit the editor.
And last but not least - it is possible to copy (Ctrl + C), paste (Ctrl + V), duplicate (Ctrl + D) delete (Delete key) and select multiple items (holding Ctrl) in the editor with said shortcuts, but for now this is not specified by any hint. This will be changed in the future and it will be possible to complete these actions by right clicking on the item/object. In the same way, shortcuts will be added for every button.
Aaaand that's all folks! Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below - what you like, what you don't like, what you'd like to see changed etc.
Ane