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Designing Your Level[]

LD Environment[]

  • Design Mode
LDMainScreen

Level design begins with placing Tiles and then Items in Design Mode. Placing Tiles or Items is as simple as left clicking once on the desired Tile or Item, and then left clicking once in the desired location.

To make designing easier, there is a grid, which consists of 32x32 pixel squares. All Tiles will automatically snap to the grid, and thy are designed to fit within the grid in specific ways, so that the SM63 engine can determine the geometry of how Mario and the enemies interact with the environment, so that glitchy reactions can be kept to a minimum, and so that the tiles will connect graphically in a smooth way. This will result in some tiles visually overlapping the grid lines like they are not properly aligned within the grid space, but it is entirely all right. Items will not automatically align to the grid, but if you hold the CTRL button while placing an item, it will snap to preset spots within the grid. It is highly encouraged for all designers to do this, especially with items that add to the geometry of the surfaces you can run on, such as falling logs.

Test Mode[]

Test Mode is where the level can be played. You should also actually test the level before submitting it as well, to make sure that it plays the way you intended, and that the level is actually winnable. See more on this in the General Tips and Good Practices.

To get to test mode, choose from the menu "File" and then "Test Course".

Loading and Saving Levels[]

Load file

Design Mode is a purely graphical method of making levels, mostly using the mouse, but since the levels are stored as plain text, and key details of the code generation have been released, it is possible to make a level in a text editor. This is where loading and saving your levels comes in.

There are 3 places that you can store your levels:

1. In the browser cookies

The easiest (and least reliable) way to save your level is to save it to the browser's cookies. This can only save 3 levels at a time, and if you clear your cookies, *poof* they're gone.

2. In the Level Portal

Below, we'll go over how to submit your level to the portal. Portal is dead, you will go to Wayback Machine.

3. In a text file

Choose your text editor of choice, from Notepad to word, and paste your level code, and then save it wherever you put your files on your computer. If your computer is reinstalled, every document will disappear when you reset the PC.

Level Settings[]

Level info can be entered by going to the "File" menu and selecting "Course Info". This brings up the "Course Info" dialog box.

LDCourseInfoLDCourseInfoDialog

Here you can enter the name of your level, select the background graphic and music, and adjust the dimensions of your level.

Level Name[]

Enter it in the "Name" text box. Level names are limited to 32 characters, and can consist of any ASCII character.

Music[]

You may choose only 1 music to be played throughout the level. Choose the music by pressing the up and down arrows to the right of the setting. Be aware that if the level is played in an LDOnly version of SM63, you will not be able to hear any music.

The available music selections are:

  • Mushroom Kingdom
  • Bob-Omb Battlefield
  • Secret Course #1
  • Secret Course #2
  • Rainbow Ride
  • Boo’s Mansion
  • Hazy Maze Cave
  • Snowman’s Land
  • Lethal Lava Land
  • Shifting Sand Land
  • Bowser’s Castle
  • Boss Fight 1
  • Boss Fight 2
  • Floater Land
  • Terror Theme
  • The Final Battle
  • The Meteor
  • Inside the Castle
  • No Music (Not available in the menu, only legitimately selected and chosen by default in LD only version, requires editing the level file in a text editor if you are not playing an LD only version.)

Background[]

You may choose only 1 background to be played throughout the level. Choose the background by pressing the up and down arrows to the right of the setting.

The available background selections are:

  • I B HillsAndClouds Hills and Clouds
  • I B HillsAndOcean Hills and Ocean
  • I B SecretCourse Secret Course
  • I B Sky Sky
  • I B Underground Underground
  • I B Snow Snow
  • I B FireField Fire Field
  • I B Volcano Volcano
  • I B DesertAndHills Desert and Hills
  • I B Desert Desert
  • I B FireCastle Fire Castle
  • I B FireCastleOutside Fire Castle (Outside)
  • I B Space Space
  • I B BowsersCastle Bowser's Castle
  • I B Black Black
  • On older versions have sky background because Super Mario 63 does have sky BG and make level better background interesting huh.

Adjust Dimensions[]

In the lower-left corner of the dialog box, there is a square with numbers on it, surrounded by plus and minus signs. This is where you can adjust the dimensions of your level. This can be a little confusing at first, but just remember that you are adding and subtracting tiles, located on each side of your level, depending on which set of plus/minus signs you use (in other words, use the top set to add or subtract from the top of your level, and use the right hand set to add or subtract from the right side of your level).

Warning Careful

This becomes much more important to be aware of once you have edited your level, since subtracting on any given side will not only erase your tiles, but also make it so that any items that you've placed will now be outside of the playable area, and thus unusable.

Also be aware that you may end up with undefined tiles when you add to the size of your level. This results in the level showing a glitching tile that flashes through all of the tiles in the LD when the level is played. It will also cause the Design Mode to glitch, showing a repeat of whatever tile hits the edge of the viewable area. I am not sure what causes this, or how to account for it, but it is fairly easy to identify. Just put some ground up to the new edge, and play the level. it is fairly easy to fix as well, though a bit of a pain. All you have to do is erase all of the tiles in the rows or columns that you added. I have seen it happen to just the first or second columns, or to all of them. It may be related to what you were doing before you added the tiles, and possibly how fast you click the plus sign.

Level Elements[]

Tiles[]

To get to the Tiles, click on the "Tiles" menu and then click on "Place Tiles". This brings up the Tiles panel on the right side of the screen. The Tiles panel has 12 sets of Tiles, 8 of which are unlocked via a specific amount of Star Coins, grouped by environment type. The unused tiles do not show up in any of the sets and can only be selected through coding. They are:

  • I T Jungle Jungle - 45 tiles
The default set. Good selection of edges and surfaces. Only shallow inclines, but half and full tile variants of many connections. Natural environment.
Star Coin Requirement: None
  • I T Interactive Interactive - 32 tiles
An important group. Contains many kinds of breakaways, both with and without coins, as well as the cannon and switch controlled block. Breaking blocks.
Star Coin Requirement: None
  • I T Bricks1 Bricks #1 - 50 tiles
Contains many common "dungeon" and "castle" type tiles. Includes the first background tile (19 Wall Tile), as well as a set of stair tiles with included background section. Castle blocks and house blocks.
Star Coin Requirement: None
  • I T Bricks2 Bricks #2 - 48 tiles
More tiles like the Bricks #1 set. No additional background tiles. Includes the important 43 Metal Cage tile that can be walked through with the invisibility powerup. Bowser blocks.
Star Coin Requirement: None
  • I T Grass Grass - 45 tiles
Laid out with the exact same pattern as the Jungle set, it functions exactly the same. Only shallow inclines, but good tile/half tile options. Natural grass in real life blocks.
Star Coin Requirement: 10
  • I T Cave Cave - 47 tiles
The most complete set in the game. Full selection of steep and shallow slopes, half and full tiles, and a very good selection of ceiling tiles with steep and shallow variants. Mining blocks.
Star Coin Requirement: 13
  • I T Snow1 Snow #1 - 44 tiles
Set up similarly to the Jungle set. Includes both steep and shallow inclines. No ceiling tiles. Snow blocks after winter.
Star Coin Requirement: 21
  • I T Snow2 Snow #2 - 41 tiles
Companion to Snow #1, it includes all the ceiling tiles necessary for no cutoff. Also includes foreground (Cabin) versions of the "Cabin"/"Mansion" tiles (along with those found in the Other set). Santa Claus doesn't exist in real life, just a brick blocks huh?
Star Coin Requirement: 21
  • I T Volcano Volcano - 49 tiles
A strange tile set, Volcano has a selection of materials to use, but they are fairly graphically simple, consisting of just a texture in a shape. As a result, there are no ceiling tiles because esentially all tiles have no unfinished edges. Also includes the interactive Lava tiles. In Hawaii there is VOLCANO!
Star Coin Requirement: 25
  • I T Desert Desert - 48 tiles
Set up similarly to the Volcano set, all tiles have no unfinished edges, and there are no ceiling tiles at all. No interactive or background tiles. Like Africa is very hot but its always summer.
Star Coin Requirement: 28
  • I T Castle Castle - 50 tiles
Though less "inside a building" than the Bricks sets, this set does have the most background tiles of any set, with 4 complete patterns of tiles meant for background use (castle bricks, wood panels with stairs, "Landscape Mosaic" landscape with clouds, and "Room Wall" and "Golden Tile" generic colored tiles). Only Mario series.
Star Coin Requirement: 37
  • I T Other Other - 94 tiles
As the largest set, it covers a lot of ground. A good amount of background tiles, including the largest pure background group (Castle Night Mosaic)at 8 tiles for a full pattern, also includes the Mansion tiles to go with the Cabin tiles in Snow #2. This set also includes the only far-foreground (cannot stand on it) tile in the game, 88 Twisted Wire. Cool creation and misc stuff.
Star Coin Requirement: 43

Items[]

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Submitting to the Portal[]

Posting in the Forums[]

Overview Overview Table Of Contents Table Of Contents Code Details Code Details
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