Overview
This guide will contain written instructions on how to navigate your way through the Flockers Meat Maker/Level Editor. The guide contains a variety of coverage on the editor such as:Level creation,Level enhancment,Level publishing.
Introduction to Flockers Meat Maker
This guide will show you how to swiftly edit your own level into Flockers along with uploading it to the Steam Workshop using simple steps.
To start making levels in Flockers Level Editor you are going to need to download Flockers Level Editor (Meat Maker).
To find the level editor do the following:
1. Run Steam
2. Hover over the Library tab
3. Select Tools from the drop down
4. Find and install Flockers Editor from the list of tools (shown in the image below)
5. Once the installation has complete, double-click the Flockers Editor to launch it
Creating your level!
Save regularly!
To create your new levels do the following:
1. Run Meat Maker/Flockers Level Editor
2. Click “Project” in the tool-bar
3. Click “New level”
4. Save the level somewhere you’ll remember with a name you’ll remember
Now to add settings to your level:
You will now see an empty landscape with three objects –
The Golden Fleece – The sheep that gives you a bonus score.
The end object (where your sheep get sucked up and added to the (x/1) sheep goal.
The starters object which will ‘spawn’ your sheep into the game.
Changing the number of sheep spawned:
1. Click the spawner while under the tab “Objects”
2. A tab will appear saying “Max 20”
3. Change this to the amount you want
Changing the number required to win & the time limit:
1. Go to “Setup” in the menu
2. Go to “Win condition”
3. Change the number of sheep to save as well as time allowed.
Mapping out your level!
To start off you want to create a simple pathway to get the hang of Flockers Level Editor – something similar to this;
To create a simple pathway and level you can move objects around (left click and drag). You want to do the following:
1. Make sure scenery tab is open – you will see “Landscape pieces”.
2. Find a pathway surface you like the look of (in this case I used Rectangle 10×4).
To move these Scenery objects simply click and drag – highlight multiple objects to move them all in one motion.
3. Tick the box “Snap to grid” – this will allow all of your objects to be aligned with the grid and not all over the place (mid-way between the grids). This will help your path look smooth.
To make sure your game works you can click “Test Mode” in the Game Controls –
Your game should look and run perfectly as you designed –
Enhance your level – Abilities!
Make a reason for them to need abilities
1. Return to “Edit Mode”
2. Drop down the landscape menu; this is a small button next to “Landscape Pieces” and (you will see all of your added Scenery objects here under Landscape).
3. Find and remove one of the pathway slabs, (you may need to adjust some objects to line up with the remaining slabs) – This will now mean that your sheep are going to require an ability! Note that sheep cannot jump 10×4 slab spaces – these means you’ll have to either move your landscape closer together or add smaller landscape pieces to take up some of the jump.
To add an ability:
1. Open the “Objects” panel.
2. Scroll right to the bottom and click “Ability Crates (0/10)”
3. Click “Add Ability Crate”
4. At this point an ability crate will appear on your level – move it to the designated area.
5. You must now edit the “Contents” of the crate to match what you want, (Objects tab and click the crate in-game)– in this case a “Jumper” is required. You must also choose the amount (default is 0) – in this case I used 10.
6. Your game should finish looking like this –
Once again I recommend at this stage you test your game – make sure the ability works and that you’ve got the hang of everything up to this point. You also want to make sure that the reason for the ability being needed is actually solvable with the ability!
Enhance your level – Sheep death traps!
In this case you are going to need to make an alternate route which would make the user have to react – in this case I moved the fleece and exit portal down out of reach.
Note:
You can highlight everything whilst under “Scenery” – this then allows you to move everything swiftly.
Applying an alternate route
Re-apply slabs and added spikes – spikes can be found under “Objects” and then “Physical objects”; scroll down until you see “Spikes”.
Unfortunately because you moved the previous pathway down you have no way for your sheep to reach it –
To solve this we can:
1. Go on “Scenery” and find ramps.
2. You can then move the ramps to line up with the lower option –
The main reason for making the ramp so low is that because you have given the sheep “Jumping” ability, they are not going to follow the ramps – they will hop the gap.
1. This is why I added an additional ability crate:
“2 vertical formation” with 1 content.
“3 step formation” with 1 content.
2. This will require the person to put a 2 block just before the spikes making sure every other sheep turns and falls down the gap. In addition to a 3 block just before the jump so that the sheep cannot jump back and will fall down the gap towards the exit.
3. A larger surface area was added before the spikes so people would have time to make the ability changes.
Icing on the cake!
Before publishing make sure that your Setup is perfect –
1. Make sure you have set up “Star Scores”
2. If they need ability’s at the start – make sure you’ve added them in!
3. Is the win condition possible?
4. Theme – make sure the chosen one makes your level look as appealing as possible!
You want to make your map seem as attractive as possible! To do this you need to make sure you market your level as much as possible. The two main ways of doing this are:
1. Attention grabbing title
2. Amazing description
3. Clear ‘Preview image’
All of this is able to be added by doing the following steps:
1. “Steamworks” tab
2. “Publish”
3. You can now edit your descriptions and images in the tab
The title should reflect on the kind of level you have created.
The image is traditionally an example of your level such as;
When completed your tab should be filled in like so –
Remember to agree to the terms, otherwise you can’t continue!
Public, Friends only and private will change who is able to see your level.
Publishing to the Steam Workshop
On the “Flockers Meat Maker” tab you will find the following toolbar –
You have to prove the level is possible – to do this simply run “Test Mode”, complete the level and then publish the level. You will be asked to fill in a form as such;
You will then have “Successfully published to the Steam Workshop”.
Enjoy publishing your own level!