Big Kahuna Reef 2: Chain Reaction

Editor Documentation
for the original Big Kahuna Reef manual click here.

Welcome to the Big Kahuna Reef 2 Level Editor!

Disclaimer: The Editor is NOT SUPPORTED. This means that Reflexive is not responsible for providing adequate documentation or answering questions that pertain to the Editor or its use. This also means that it may be possible for the player to create levels that don’t work correctly, seem broken, or don’t do what the creator envisioned them doing. Reflexive Entertainment is not responsible for assisting designers create their levels, or “fix” features that work fine in the shipped game but might not in some extreme condition found by a player using the Editor.

Please choose from among the following categories below:

The Level Editor

Quick Start

How To Create A Level Set

Editing Levels

Editing a Tile

Edit Level Properties

Editing Level Sets

Selecting Fish To Unlock

Inserting A Decal

Drawing Shapes

Creating A Basic Object

Making Curves

Making The Curve “Curvier”

Modifying Shapes

Changing The Object’s Color

Changing The Line Around The Object

Changing The Object’s Texture

Editing Decorations

Selection of Multiple Decorations

Rotating a Decoration

Changing Size of Decorations

Grouping Selected Decorations

Changing the Decoration's Order

Copy/Paste A Decoration's Style

Sharing Your Level Set

Shortcut Keys

Glossary

Level Editor

The Level Editor for Big Kahuna Reef 2 can be used to make your own levels.

The Editor can be reached through the “Options” menu. The first time that you enter the editor, there will be a message that pops up that gives you very basic instructions on what to do first. You will also have to type in the word “unsupported”. This is to further drive the point home that this is an unsupported level editor.

To exit the Level Editor, pull down the file menu and select “Exit” or hit the <ESC> key on the keyboard.

NOTE: Most actions do not have an “Undo” function associated with it. Be careful when deleting things, as it is probable that it cannot be undone.

Quick Start

This is intended to get you creating levels as quickly as possible!

Creating Your Level Set

1. From the Main Menu, Select “Options”. Then, Select “Level Editor”
2. On the window that appears, Select “New” at the bottom of the screen
3. Type in a unique name in the window that appears and then press “Save”. Funny names are OK!
4. Click on the name of the level you just created in the window and press the “Select” button.
5. A window will appear (if this is your first time in the level editor) that explains how the level editor is unsupported. Please read the short description and type in “unsupported” where prompted. A tutorial window will then pop up that explains a few basics. Please read it and then click on “Continue”.

Editing Your First Level

6. The next screen that appears is the first level of your new level set.
7. If you want to put more boxes on the screen, RIGHT CLICK where there is NOT a box to put one there. If you want to remove a box, RIGHT CLICK where there IS a box and it will remove it.
8. Do this until you like the way it looks. Then, on the small Editor Box, click on the word “File” and then on the word “Exit” that pops up.
9. You will then be playing your level! You will notice ugly text all over your level telling you that it is untested. These go away when you complete the level.
10. If you like your level, great! Go ahead and finish it and go to the next one. If you DON’T like your level, you can edit it before you finish it by pressing the <F6> key anytime during play to go back into the Editor. (<F6> is typically on the top row of keys on your keyboard)

Editing Other Levels

11. Inside the Editor, you can go from one level to the next by clicking on the “<” and “>” keys on the Editor Box. Then just do the same steps as before.

Sharing Your Levels

12. Once you have played through every level, congratulations! Not only have you played levels that YOU created, you can now share these levels with others, if you wish. Go to Sharing Your Level Set below to find out more.

NOTE: In the Editor, you can double click on any box to see more attributes of the box. Feel free to play around with this stuff.

How To Create A Level Set

Before you can edit a level you must create your own Level Set.

Creating Your FIRST Level Set

1) Select “Options” on the Main Menu.
2) Then Select “Level Editor” to enter the Level Editor.
3) On the window that appears, select “New” at the bottom of the screen.
4) In the window that pops up, type in a unique name for your level set, then press “Save”
5) The name of the Level Set will appear in the list. Select it in the list and hit the “Select” button to go right to it. That’s it!

Creating SUBSEQUENT Level Sets

1. From within the Editor, pull down the file menu and use the "Select / Create Level Set" option.
2. You will then see a window with a list of current Level Sets. Proceed as before.

Editing Levels

(To make your own levels, first create your own Level Set. Look at How To Create A Level Set for help)

All steps below assume that you are already in the Level Editor

• Placing/Removing Boxes: RIGHT click with your mouse on an empty space on the board to place a Box. RIGHT click with your mouse on a space with a tile to remove the Box.
Shortcut Key: Holding the RIGHT mouse button and moving your mouse around will allow you to quickly add or remove Boxes.

• Inserting/Removing Rows or Columns of Boxes: Select any game box on the Board where you would like to insert or delete the column/row. Then, select the “Tile” Menu option on the Editor Box. The available options will appear, including Delete Row, Insert Row Before, Delete Column and Insert Column Before. There is no “Undo” button, so you may want to experiment with this feature on boards you don’t care too much about first.
Shortcut Keys: Delete Row is 8. Insert Row Before is 2. Delete Column is 4. Insert Column Before is 6. These numbers are meant to correspond to the numeric keypad on the right hand side of most keyboards.

Editing A Tile

Double click on any box on the board to bring up the tile edit window.

•“Has Been Completed”: This box unchecked means that the box needs to be broken. This box checked means that the box starts off without a box behind it to break.
Shortcut Key: Pressing the “c” key with a tile selected will toggle between completed and uncompleted.

• “Is Playable”: This box checked means that a box will appear in this tile section. This box unchecked means that no box will appear here.
Shortcut Key: Right Clicking on a tile will toggle between Playable and Not Playable.

• “Locked”: Next to the word “Locked” is a number value with an “up and down” arrow next to it. Enter a value of “1” here to make a single lock on the box, and two for a double lock. The graphic for a locked piece can only distinguish between a single lock, a double lock and a triple lock. If you enter 3 or more, the tile will look like a triple lock, but will take that many matches to break.
Shortcut Key: Pressing your middle mouse button with a tile selected will toggle between a single lock facing to the right, a single lock facing to the left, a double lock, and no lock at all, provided you have a 3 button mouse and it is configured in Windows to function in this manner.

• “Alternative Lock Angle”: When the “Locked” value is “1”, this will show the lock chain going in the other direction, for visual aesthetics. This checkbox only affects the tile when the Locked value is set to 1.

•Tile Editing, ADVANCED: Within the tile edit window is a tab called “Advanced”.

• “Tile Style”: If you want a particular piece or BOMB to be on a tile before the level begins, you can select it from this list. There are a few things to remember:

1. Pieces will fall if there are empty spots below them to fall into and will not stay on that tile they were created on unless there is no place for them to fall to OR they are locked in place.

2. Placing three of the same shape right next to each other BEFORE the level starts will not work. The level will automatically change the pieces that are spawned to prevent any automatic matches from occurring.

• “Is Spawn Point”: Represented by the letter “S” on some boxes on a level represents where pieces will get spawned when a match has been created and more pieces come onto the screen. Checking/Un-checking this box will have no effect UNLESS the “Auto Calculate Spawn Points” is turned off for the level.

Shortcut Key: Pressing the “s” key with a tile selected will toggle between the tile being a spawn point or not, provided that the Auto Calculate Spawn Points has been turned off for the level.

•“Background Image”: This allows you to have the tile display an art image in the game. Some art images that can be displayed using this may not display themselves well in relation to the tile, and/or may not look good in the game in general. This setting does not work by default unless the “Auto Calculate Corners” checkbox has been unchecked in the Level Editing Properties.

• AWESOME Tile Editing Shortcut: If there is any tile that you want to make more of, simply left click on that tile, press “Ctrl” and “C” and then “Ctrl” and “V” where you want to make an exact copy of that tile. This can really save you time.

Edit Level Properties

Left click on the “Edit Level Properties” button on the Editor Box. On the window that pops up, you can enter:

• “Name”: The level name. This will pop up when the level is played.

• “Credits”: Your name.

• “Comment”: Only seen by you in the editor when looking at your levels in the editor, but it can also be seen by others that look at your level in the level editor.

• “Time to play”: used in Timed Mode to determine how long the level can be played before time runs out.

• “Requires Double Completion”: This checkbox makes the boxes on the screen take two hits to complete. When unchecked, all boxes on the level takes one hit to complete.

• “Has Undo Piece”: When checked, this will put the Skeleton Fish of Kamehameha (the Skeleton Fish) into the mix for the pieces that will get created on the level.

• “Background”: This tells the game what background image to use on a particular level. We recommend leaving it on “Any” (the default value) so that backgrounds will change, and will not repeat, as the levels progress. Selecting a background of "blank" will allow you to select any color as a background color (see below)

• “Background Color”: Changes the background color to the color specified by the numeric values. R stands for Red, G for Green and B for Blue. Try moving the values up and down using the arrows next to the numbers. However, changing these values will only affect the background color when the “Background” field above is set to “blank”. The color property is ignored if any other background image is selected.

• Level Properties, ADVANCED. Within the level properties is a tab called “Advanced”.

• “Auto Calculate Spawn Points” is checked by default. It automatically creates spots from where pieces can fall. While we wouldn’t recommend it, you can modify which pieces spawn pieces by un-checking this box and then going out to your level and pressing “s” on each selected tile to make it a spawn point. Press “s” on it again to not make it a spawn point.

• “Auto Calculate Corners”, when checked, will create decorations on the board that surround the boxes. If you have a single hit board of wooden boxes, it will create wooden decorations on the edges to make the board look better. It creates metal decorations when you have a metal double completion board. When unchecked, you have the ability to draw these in yourself. With it unchecked, left-select any box and then use your mouse wheel to cycle between these images. WARNING: If you go back and check this box, it will undo all of your work and recalculate the corners again. There is no undo.

• TRICK: If you want to only place some of the corners that look best, but not others, make sure the Auto Calculate Corners box is unchecked, select the box, then go to the “Tile” pull-down menu on the Level Editor screen and select “Auto Set Background for Selected Tile”. This will place the “best” corner fit for that tile. You can then use the mouse wheel to select a slightly different one, if you wish.

Shortcut Key: Pressing the “b” key with a tile selected will also place a corner, provided that the Auto Calculate Corners has been turned off for the level.

• “Clear Power-up Enabled” allows the fishnet to be on a level when checked, and disallows it when unchecked. While we don’t recommend taking out the fishnet, please feel free to experiment as you see fit.

• “Designed With Bombs In Mind”, when unchecked, will disallow FALLING matches of 5 or more from making a bomb, when the pieces have been placed on the board ahead of time. Any match that the player MOVES into a match will still make a bomb. Some of the tricky chain reaction levels disable this feature so that bombs are not created in the middle of a complicated chain reaction of pieces that are falling into place. Chances are, you won’t need to uncheck this option.

• Board, Decorations and Editing Checkboxes: The “Show Board” and “Show Decorations” checkboxes will toggle whether these show up in the Editor or not, but do nothing for how they will show up when playing the game. The “Shape Editing” checkbox will allow you to edit any Line Art shapes that are selected. (See Drawing Shapes for more information with Line Art)

Level Facts

• The “S” letter on some boxes on a level represents where pieces will get spawned when a match has been created and more pieces come onto the screen.

• When a new level gets created, a message will appear on the screen to indicate that the level has not been tested. This message will go away when it has been completed. In addition, this message will appear on a previously tested level if any changes to the level are made.

• Shortcut Key: Pressing the <F6> key will enter and exit the editor on your own Level Set or Level Sets downloaded from the Internet. This will NOT work on the Level Sets that shipped with the game.

Editing Level Sets

These are the important features and functions when modifying the Levels within your Level Set.

These features can be accessed from the Editor by clicking on “Edit” and then “Edit Level Set”

• Properties: The “Properties” button will take you to a window where you can enter the Description and Author of the level set. Both a Description and an Author Name will have to be entered for the set to be published online. If you don’t wish to publish your set online, do not worry about typing in this information.

• Remember: If you wish to have your set online on the Big Kahuna Reef site, you will need to enter a description and an author name.

• Edit Button: Allows you to go to a specific level in a set. Simply select the desired level you wish to go to and click the “Edit” button (you can double click on a level to go there as well). To go to a level from outside of the Edit Level Set window, use the “<” and “>” buttons on the tool bar.
Shortcut Key: You can also change the level that is highlighted in the window by using the up and down arrows on the keyboard.

•“Move Up” and “Move Down” Buttons: Used to change the order of the levels in a set. Click to select the level you want to move and use these buttons to change its position in the list.
Shortcut Key: You can also hold down shift and use the up and down arrow keys (shift-up arrow and shift-down arrow) on the keyboard to move a highlighted level in the list.

• Insert Button: Will insert a new “Template” level before the one that is highlighted. If you want the new level to be at the bottom of the list you will have to insert it and then move it down to the bottom.

• Delete Button: Used to delete the highlighted level. You will not be able to delete a level that is the current level being edited (you must change to a different level first as explained above and then delete the desired level from the Edit Level Set window).

WARNING: There is no confirmation window that will come up to ask if you are sure you want to delete a level, so be careful. You will NOT be able to retrieve a deleted level.

• Copy Button: Stores a copy of the highlighted level. You can then use the “Paste” button to paste the level in the list. This is useful if you want to make a board that is a variation of another one you have in your set. When you paste the level it will go before the highlighted level just as insert would.

• Copy All Button: Can be used to store a copy of all the levels in your set. When you then use “Paste” it will put duplicates of all the levels in the set.

• Select Fish Button: This is cool. This allows the designer to decide what Fish are “unlocked” during the course of playing the level. On the screen that pops up, there are two columns, “Available Fish” and “Fish In Your Level Set”, and a series of buttons in the middle.

Selecting Fish To Unlock

1. Simply click on a fish in the “Available Fish” column and click the “Add” button to add it to your list.

2. If you add one that you do not want, select it and then click the “Remove” button. Add fish to the “Fish In Your Level Set” until you have the fish in your list that you want to have on your level.

3. Then, put the fish in the order that you want to unlock them by selecting a fish and then using the “Move Up” and “Move Down” buttons. The top of the list represents the first fish to get unlocked and the bottom is the last.

4. FISHY FACTS:

• Make sure your list contains AT LEAST 4 fish. This is because the first three in the list will start off “unlocked” and there needs to be at least 1 fish to get “unlocked” during the game.

• The game will automatically space out the number of levels that have to be completed to unlock a fish.

• Example 1: If you have 10 fish in the list, and 10 levels, 3 will start out “unlocked” and the other 7 will be unlocked as you play the Level Set.

• Example 2: If you have 15 fish in the list, and 10 levels, 6 will start out “unlocked” and the other 9 will be unlocked after the first 9 levels in the Level Set are completed. (The last level in the Level Set doesn’t unlock a fish)

Inserting A Decal

Decals are art objects that can be inserted into the level.

• From the Editor screen, click on “Decorations”.

• On the Menu that expands, click on “New Decal”.
Shortcut Key: Pressing “E” will create a new decal.

• An object should appear on the level. It is possible that it was created behind the boxes on the level. It will show up as a simple white outline behind the boxes if this has happened. Click on it to select it and then move it to the side of the existing boxes on the board.

• Double left click on the Decal to open its property window. There are many things you can modify:

• To Change The Image: There is a field called “Image”. Press the Pull Down Arrow next to this field. (It looks like a small triangle with the point turned downward). Select any object in the list to see what it looks like.
• Mirror Checkbox: This makes the image look slightly different, depending upon what image is being used. Try it.
• Scale X and Scale Y: Scale X will increase or decrease the scale of the image the left and right. Scale Y will increase or decrease the scale of the image up and down. The image will definitely look its best when both of these numbers are the same.
• Rotation: Rotates the image to a different angle.

• Modifying The Decal Colors

• To the FAR RIGHT of a list of 4 values, each followed by a number (R,G,B,A), there is a colored square. Click on the colored square.

• Another window will appear that is filled with colors. Click anywhere on the colors to change the color of the object to match, then close the window.

• The “A” value (or Alpha) has a number to the right of it. Think of this as the transparency. The lower the number, the more transparent the object is.

Drawing Shapes

This feature allows designers to personalize their levels by drawing shapes of different sizes, colors and even textures. Let’s go through the basics of getting started.

CREATING A BASIC OBJECT

• From the Editor screen, click on “Decorations”.

• On the Menu that expands, click on “New Shape”.
Shortcut Key: Pressing the “N” key will create a new shape.

• An object should appear on the level. It is probable that it was created behind the boxes on the level. It will show up as a pulsing shape behind the boxes if this has happened. Click on it to select it and then drag it to the side of the existing boxes on the board.

• Now, turn on “Shape Editing” by checking the “Shape Editing” checkbox on the Editor Box. Then select the shape that was just created. The outline of the object should now look green with light yellow lines protruding from the object in places. (Try selecting the little white dots in the middle of these yellow lines and then moving these dots around with your mouse. You will see that the curved green line underneath it will move in response.)
Shortcut Key: Pressing “P” will toggle the “Shape Editing” on and off.

• RIGHT click on any of the little white dots around the edge of the object. A menu should appear with lots of options. Move down to “Select All Points” and click on it.
Shortcut Key: Pressing “A” will “Select All Points”.

• The menu should go away, and now all of the little white dots have little white boxes around them to indicate that they are all selected. Now, press the DELETE key on your keyboard. The object should vanish, AND your mouse cursor should change to that of a small arrow with a yellow “X” next to it.

•Left click anywhere on the screen. A small white point should be placed, and a white line will connect the point to your cursor. Move your mouse cursor away from the point, and left click again. Another point will be placed, and another line now connects the last point to your mouse. In addition, the previous white line has turned green. Move your mouse cursor away again and left click again. Another point should be placed.

• When you have placed AT LEAST 3 points on the board, RIGHT CLICK to connect the last point with the first point. The entire object should be comprised of green lines.

• You can now left click on any of the points of the object and move them around to change the object’s shape.

MAKING CURVES

Once you have your basic object created, now you can add curves to the object.

• First, make sure you have the object selected and the “Shape Editing” checkbox is checked.

• Next, hover over one of the green lines of the object, away from one of the points. Your Shell Cursor should change to a yellow cursor with a yellow “plus” sign next to it.

• While your cursor is changed, RIGHT click on the line. A menu should appear with options on it. Click on “Increase Curve Order”
Shortcut Key: Pressing the “>” key will “Increase Curve Order”

• A white box will appear on the line where you clicked. Hovering your mouse over the box will change the cursor to a Four-Way Directional Arrow. Left click on the point you just created and move it around. You will notice that the curved line will move as you move this point.

• Do this on the other lines of the object (if you want).

• Uncheck the “Shape Editing” checkbox to see what it will look like in the game.

MAKING THE CURVE “CURVIER”

Once you have your basic curve, you may want to play with making crazy curves.

• First, make sure you have the object selected and the “Shape Editing” checkbox is checked.

• On one of the curves that you already created, go back and hover over the green curved line again until the cursor with the yellow plus sign appears.

• Select “Increase Curve Order” again. (Either in the RIGHT click menu or with the “>” key)

• The yellow line should “split” so that there is now a yellow line projecting from each of the points on both sides of the curve. Grab each of these points and move them around. Crazy, huh?

Modifying Shapes

Once an object has been created, you may want to change the color of the object, the color of the line around the object, or even the “texture” of the object. When creating your own levels, please feel free to experiment.

CHANGING THE OBJECT’S COLOR

• Select the object that you want to change the color of. (Having the “Shape Editing” checkbox unchecked will prevent inadvertently moving a point or making a change by accident)

• Double click on the object to bring up a property window.

• Select the “Fill” tab in the property window. Move the entire property window so that you can see the selected object behind it.

• To the FAR RIGHT of a list of 4 values, each followed by a number (R,G,B,A), there is a colored square. Click on the colored square.

• Another window will appear that is filled with colors. Click anywhere on the colors to change the color of the object to match, then close the window.

• The “A” value (or Alpha) has a number to the right of it. Think of this as the transparency. The lower the number, the more transparent the object is.

• Experiment with mixing the Alpha to get the color of the object that you want!

CHANGING THE LINE AROUND THE OBJECT

• Select the object that you want to change the line of. (Having the “Shape Editing” checkbox unchecked will prevent inadvertently moving a point or making a change by accident)

• Double click on the object to bring up a property window.

• Select the “Outline” tab in the property window. Move the entire property window so that you can see the selected object behind it.

• To the FAR RIGHT of a list of 4 values, each followed by a number (R,G,B,A), there is a colored square. Click on the colored square.

• Another window will appear that is filled with colors. Click anywhere on the colors to change the color of the line to match, then close the window.

• The “A” value (or Alpha) has a number to the right of it. Think of this as the transparency. The lower the number, the more transparent the object is.

• In addition, you can change the width of the line using the “Outline Width” field. You may want to keep the width of the object under 3, as larger than that and the line connections may not look correct.

• CRAZY BONUS: Ready for a powerful tool? Now, click on the pull-down menu arrow next to the “Outline Texture” field that defaults to “!None”. Select “Tiles/Black Pearl” and your object will be surrounded by Black Pearls! The color and transparency of the pearls are now affected by the values that you were just working with. Go crazy and see what you can create!

CHANGING THE OBJECT’S TEXTURE

• Select the object that you want to change the texture of. (Having the “Shape Editing” checkbox unchecked will prevent inadvertently moving a point or making a change by accident)

• Double click on the object to bring up a property window.

• Select the “Fill” tab in the property window. Move the entire property window so that you can see the selected object behind it.

• In EACH of the four R, G, B and A fields, change the numbers to 255 for all four values. You can come back and play with these numbers later, but it will be important to be able to see what texture the shape is being filled with first.

• There is a field called “Fill Texture”. By default, this is set to “!None”. Press the Pull Down Arrow next to this field. (It looks like a small triangle with the point turned downward)

• A window will pop up that a texture can be selected from. There should be three quick choices that are in the Root Directory: Metal Grate, Rock and Wood. Try selecting one of these to experiment with. However, any image in the directory can be selected.

•Now that a texture is selected, play with Changing The Object’s Color to see what crazy things the object can look like.

Editing Decorations

Both Shapes and Decals belong to the group called “Decorations”. Shapes and Decals can both be easily manipulated to fit into your design.

SELECTION OF MULTIPLE DECORATIONS

• Click on a place that does not have a decoration.

• HOLDING the mouse button down, drag the mouse over the decorations you want to select. (You will see the selected Shapes will start to glow, and the selected Decals will have a white box around them.
Shortcut Key: HOLDING the “CTRL” key and clicking on decorations will add the decoration to the selected decorations

• You can now drag the selected decorations around together.

ROTATING A DECORATION or GROUP OF DECORATIONS

• Select a decoration or group of decorations that you wish to rotate.

• Provided you are using a mouse with a center scroll wheel, scroll the wheel forward to rotate the decoration Clockwise, or backwards to rotate Counter-Clockwise.