Angular Velocity Level Editor Instructions

Welcome to the Angular Velocity level editor. This is the very same editor that I use to make all the levels in Angular Velocity.

These instructions are for the in-game level editor. If you'd like to make levels on a regular computer, there's also an easy-to-use browser-based level editor at lukeallen.org/av.

Basic Tutorial
Here's how to create a basic level:
There's more info below, but I recommend that you don't read it at first; just play around with the editor.



More Info

    There are lots of options for adding objects and walls; the best way to learn is just to experiment with them. If you do something you didn't intend, use Level->Undo or Edit->Delete to fix the mistake.

    You'll notice that walls must be convex, and vertices must be clockwise. This is because my physics engine requires it for some stuff. So to make a concave wall, you need to combine multiple walls. (It's fine if walls overlap each other).


    When creating fans, you touch to place the fan and drag to the end of its airstream. So for a long airstream, you'll need to zoom out before placing the fan.

    For long editing sessions, it may help to lengthen your device's Display Timeout setting (under device Settings/Display).

    If your device has a physical keyboard, you can use the D-pad to move your view and the "i" and "o" keys to zoom in/out.

    Levels are saved on your SD card in a folder named AngularVelocityEditor. You can also put levels here that you get from friends; just be sure to change the level number to avoid overwriting your own level. For example, to avoid overwriting your own level 1, rename your friend's "custom-level-1.lvl" to "custom-level-20.lvl". (The levels must be named in the form "custom-level-#.lvl" or the editor won't find them.)



General advice for level creation
Here are my thoughts on making good levels:

-The really great levels have some physics tricks that the player has to figure out. (For example, a way to build up momentum to break glass or reach a height.) Making the player use physics and momentum with the grappling hook is what makes an awesome level.

-After you create the functional parts of your level (such as the walls the player needs to grab or bounce off of, and the objects he needs to use) add more parts that are purely aesthetic or serve to make the solution a little less obvious (maybe that wall has supporting beams, or maybe there are two gravity controls and the player has to choose the right one).

-Don't give the player exactly what he needs at all times. For example, instead of putting a grapple-able wall right where he needs it, put it off-center and make him adapt. Instead of a perfectly-placed ramp to jump a gap, make the player use the grapple. It's the challenges that make a level fun.

-If the player needs to go somewhere that's off his screen, use arrows or other visual cues. Try not to force the player to memorize the level in order to get through it. (This can be a hard principle to follow, and some of my levels violate it, but it's good to try.)

-Resist the tendency to make the level only out of rectangles. Make complex shapes by combining overlapping polygon walls and circles (though be aware that for performance reasons, you're currently limited to 100 total walls per level)

-The Edit->"push-to-background" function can be a time saver: for example, to make a hole full of lava, make a V-shaped indentation with two walls, then draw a big box of lava that completely covers the bottom of the V, and push the lava to the background. Then only the lava inside the hole is visible. That's a lot easier than using the "move" function to perfectly match the lava to the shape of the hole.

-Levels shouldn't require extreme split-second timing or precise long-distance aim with the ball; touch screens just aren't well suited for that sort of gameplay. Instead, the level should be about using momentum in the right way. For example: in the level High Dive (level 13 of the main game), the player has to fall, then swing under a wall to throw the ball upward. But after the ball gets moving upward, there are multiple large walls to grab over a wide area, so the player can recover from imperfect timing as long as he had the basic idea right. So, if part of your level does involve split-second timing, consider adding recovery paths for players who have solved the basic puzzle but can't quite get perfect timing.




Submitting Levels

Don't let false modesty stand between you and eternal e-fame! If you've created a good level, share it!

Option 1 (recommended)


Option 2 (if accessing a PC is difficult for you)








Appendix: Complete Editor Command List

Special thanks to Gilles St. Cyr for beta-testing the level editor