Map editor

The map editor was released as part of update 0.63 on August 22, 2010. The feature lets players create their own map with any of the objects the "official" maps have. Maps can then be published to everyone, and will be spawned randomly. Currently, the game interchanges between playing an official map, followed by a user created one. At the end of playing an unofficial map, players can vote if they like the map or not. If the popularity vote is below 50% and the map has 100 votes, maps get deleted from the server.

As part of update 0.67 on August 27, 2010, the map editor now has additional Map Settings, where the player can change the gravity, wind, and map type.

Creating

The basic interface

The level editor can be accessed by clicking on the menu button and then pressing "Map Editor". This takes the player to a different room from the one they were in - [Editeur] (and player's name next to it). No one besides that person can enter the room.

At the bottom of the editor are 5 categories:

• Selector: When clicked, the player can click on already created objects to change their positions or delete them. While a "ground" or an "object" is selected, the player can change its properties. Everything has the X and Y Location properties.
  • For "Grounds", these properties include Length, Height, Dynamic Ground (whether or not it is movable while playing the map), Mass (The "density" of the ground, most commonly used for weight), Friction, Restitution (Also known as bounciness), Rotation (The angle at which the ground is set at the beginning of map play), Fixed rotation (Whether or not the ground can be rotated during play), Linear Damping (The slowness of a ground in relation to gravity and the mass of the object moving it), and Angular Damping (The slowness of a ground in rotating).
  • For "Shaman Objects", these properties include only Rotation and Ghost Object (whether or not an object is invisible during play and mice can move through it). This does not apply to "Anchors", however, which have no properties other than X and Y Location (along with "Mice Stuff."
• Grounds: This allows the player to put normal ground, ice ground, purple (trampoline) ground, red (lava) ground, or sticky (chocolate) ground into the stage. Click and drag to create large pieces of ground. These "preset" grounds have preset settings already. In comparison to normal ground, ice ground has 0 Friction; trampoline ground has 0 Friction and 1.2 Restitution (as opposed to 0.2); lava ground has 0 Friction and 20 Restitution; and chocolate ground has 20 Friction (and 0.2 Restitution).
• Mice stuff: This allows the player to place mouse holes and cheese, and to specify where the shaman and the mice will spawn. On 7 July 2011, a new feature was added. You can now add decorations, like trees, grass and sand elements onto your map.
• Shaman objects: This allows the player to place shaman items and anchors onto the map.
• Map Settings: This allows the player to change the gravity, wind, collision (overlap) mode, and soul mates (partners) mode. The night mode setting has been removed, however, some maps such as Map 97 still have it.

There is currently a limit of 30 items per user created level and 40 ground blocks, though this can be exceeded with XML editing. (See below.)

Bug.If Mice Spawn or Shaman Spawn is selected with Selector, it will follow computer's mouse within game area, until player clicks something else on map, or menu with map editor stuff.

(Other Shaman Items)

You can place Shaman Items that aren't available in editor menu by copying the map to the clipboard and editing the B value for objects.

-The items seem to have been here since the August 20th update.

Publishing

A level must be validated before it can be published. After pressing "validate level" you will start the level as a shaman, and you must get to the cheese and bring it to the hole to validate your map and prove that your level can be solved. After you have validated it you may upload your level. To upload a level, you must have already collected 1,000 overall, as well have 40 cheese in your possession at the time. The 40 cheese will be taken, but the 1,000 cheese is simply a prerequisite and will not be taken from you. After it has been uploaded it is available for other mice to play and vote on. You will be given a code that will allow you to reload your map to make changes and to see what your map's popularity is.

Voting

User created maps are randomly chosen in game just like the official maps are. After the level is finished only the mice that gathered more than 500 cheese are given the option to vote on the level. Users can see the current number of votes and the current percentage. They may vote yes, no, or don't vote. After a short period of time the voting window is closed. If a user has not voted by this time no vote is counted for them. Voting occurs after the map has finished and before the next map will start. The map will be deleted if less than 50% of the users say that they liked it. Ratings do not go into effect until a total of 50 votes have been cast. Maps are not immediately deleted once they reach under 50% rating, they might be deleted on a frequent basis.

Controversy

Due to the fact voting is open to all mice, who all have their own map preference, some players feel that maps get rated on the difficulty rather than the quality of the map. Some players enjoy easier maps whilst others prefer more of a challenge or more unique maps. This can cause a difference in opinion regarding the voting system. In an attempt to improve the quality of submitted maps, it was made so a requirement of 1000+ collected cheese is needed to upload a map as well as the sacrificing of 40 cheese. However again, people disagree on whether this attempt was a success.

Patch Notes

• Patch 0.72: Admins can designate user-made maps as official maps, causing them to load only on the official maps. These are distinguished from non-permanent maps by the yellow creator's name and a cheese icon next to it.

See Also

• Techniques - A list of techniques which can be used to enhance your levels visually or physically.
• A guide to the map editor - A guide to the map editor made up of topics from the old Transformice forums.
• Transformice MapPad - A powerful external map editor.
• Enigmice Map Editor - Another external editor. This one supports Mac and Linux!