I'm new to trying this, and I'm going to try and make a very basic and dull level for the sole purpose of easily being able to make animated gifs of the characters when I take screenshots. There for the background is going to be completely black, and so is the ground, except for the area right under the ground there will be a tile so you can see where you can go. I want to add all the situations that will trigger specific animations in the characters, like swinging on vines, crossing a horizontal vine, bouncing on springs, using poles, getting hurt and swimming. Have I left any out?

Anyway, how can I use water in a tileset that doesn't have it? Can you use water anywhere? How? I know it must be possible because I saw a Diamondus battle level with water when I played online before. But I deleted it from my cache folder already.

Is it easy to make water? I'm really new to this.

Oh, and I also want to know how to make a starting position for every character in the same spot. And where the heck is Lori's starting pos? By the way, I'm using TSF's JCS but it doesn't seem to be any different. Oh, and as for the quickchange boxes, do they change you between Jazz, Spaz and Lori?

Lori uses Jazz's starting position. Water is an event.

Oh, and unless using a tileset that requires TSF, make it using the 1.23 JCS, because TSF levels can only be played in TSF but 1.23 levels can be played in both.

There is a Lori Start Pos. Yes. I'm not sure if Lori starts at it, having never used it. If there isn't one, Lori will just start at the Jazz Start Pos. Same with Spaz and the Spaz Start Pos. I'm not sure if Jazz will start as Spaz's Start Pos if there isn't a Jazz Start Pos, but that's not what you asked.

For water, use the "water level" event in Enviroment: Scenery. Instant is whether or not it instantly changes the height, or if the water level slowly goes up/down like in JJ1. The first time you hit a Water Level event, it Has to be instant.
Level is how high the water is. The number you set it to is how many tiles from the TOP the water begins. So a height of 0 would cover the entire level.

If you're making a bland level to get all the animations, I would not advise using Black as a background. While it works almost fine, it makes "paste as transparent selection" a pain, because it takes the outlines with it.

Originally posted by Unknown Rabbit
There is a Lori Start Pos. Yes. I'm not sure if Lori starts at it, having never used it. If there isn't one, Lori will just start at the Jazz Start Pos. Same with Spaz and the Spaz Start Pos. I'm not sure if Jazz will start as Spaz's Start Pos if there isn't a Jazz Start Pos, but that's not what you asked.

For water, use the "water level" event in Enviroment: Scenery. Instant is whether or not it instantly changes the height, or if the water level slowly goes up/down like in JJ1. The first time you hit a Water Level event, it Has to be instant.
Level is how high the water is. The number you set it to is how many tiles from the TOP the water begins. So a height of 0 would cover the entire level.

If you're making a bland level to get all the animations, I would not advise using Black as a background. While it works almost fine, it makes "paste as transparent selection" a pain, because it takes the outlines with it.

Oh, so I should use a white background? Well how can I make a background like this? What does it give you if you choose no background? Wait, do the characters have a black outline, or whatever colour their parts are? Like, Jazz would have darker green outlining his green fur, etc. Am I right?

So, I want a white background then. I want to use an existing tileset, but I want a completely bland white background. So how can I add a background to an existing tileset?

Solution: Use a tileset with a pure white tile. Like... *thinks for around two seconds* Top Secret ]I[. (3)

Yes, the outlines for various parts mingle between Black and dark colors of the various part. But "Paste as transparent image" is a little too tolerant, and takes some of that along, making everything look weird.

What tileset? Top Secret I 3? Huh?

Oh! Nevermind. I couldn't find it because I was using TSF JSC. Great! I'll get to work on the most craptacular level you've ever seen! Good for only one reason - getting the animations of the characters. Would anyone want to play it just to see how bad it is? I bet not, but I'll host it one day anyway.

Argh. I still can't do it. So the white tile is in Top Secret III, but the other useful tiles I'll need (the few I will need) are in both Colon 1 and any level with spikes. Anyway I can get the tiles I need all into one tileset I can call my own?

Hmm, Nadine I quote

Is it easy to make water? I'm really new to this.

You need to put Water Event anywhere you want. Tiles are from the top or bottom of leevel I think...

Nadine Argh. I still can't do it. So the white tile is in Top Secret III, but the other useful tiles I'll need (the few I will need) are in both Colon 1 and any level with spikes. Anyway I can get the tiles I need all into one tileset I can call my own?


Nadine Oh! Nevermind. I couldn't find it because I was using TSF JSC. Great! I'll get to work on the most craptacular level you've ever seen! Good for only one reason - getting the animations of the characters. Would anyone want to play it just to see how bad it is? I bet not, but I'll host it one day anyway.


Nadine What tileset? Top Secret I 3? Huh?


Unknown Rabbit Solution: Use a tileset with a pure white tile. Like... *thinks for around two seconds* Top Secret ]I[. (3)

Yes, the outlines for various parts mingle between Black and dark colors of the various part. But "Paste as transparent image" is a little too tolerant, and takes some of that along, making everything look weird.


Nadine So, I want a white background then. I want to use an existing tileset, but I want a completely bland white background. So how can I add a background to an existing tileset?

You don't need pure white tile, just use a blueish 8 by 8 texured background in the level and place water.

Try not to "get the tiles" and put it into one tileset, it's hard for you to do that (n00b) and it is not cool to "rip" or "get the tiles"

I want a white background to make it easier to get all the animations of the characters when I use F12, so that I won't have to edit out the background manually which would take a lot of time and be a pain. I want water so I can get the characters' swimming animations. The background should still be white though.

Yes, as a noob it would be hard to place existing tiles into one tileset. I didn't mean "call it my own" as in claiming the tiles I borrowed are MINE. I just want to use existing tiles, from different tilesets. And it will only be for personal uses as I'm sure no one will want to play this level. I wish when you change the tileset it doesn't change the tiles you've already placed into ones from the current selection, because then I would have no problem here.

Derby: Content truncation.

Okay, so if a level of 0 covers the entire level, than how does it know when the BOTTOM of the water area is? Do you have to make water at the bottom of a level or can you make it begin and end near the top of the level? I mean like a small area to swim in, and you could make an out of water area below it. Can you do that?

Err, sorry, made a mistake there. A height of One is the closest you can come to covering the entire level. A Water Level event with Height 0 will set the top of the water to the tile you're on.
The bottom of the water area will always be at the bottom of the level. You can't have walls to keep water out of something or other and stuff like that. It goes from its height to the bottom of the level, and doesn't stop for anything inbetween.

Okay, thanks very much.

Oh and, how do I make text for the signs? I read the help in JCS, and I know that the text appears under level properties, and that each number represents a sign, and using @ makes the next line of text. But, where do I type it? It doesn't seem to let me type it there.

Hmm, I just tried the water out. This doesn't work well for getting the animations of swimming (the blue and white water colours and warping movements). Obviously it's meant to look like water! But, how can I trigger a water event without the LOOK of water being there? Is it possible? The only time I saw it happen was in a online game where water was going up and down, and other players were lagging (but not me). So the characters looked like they were swimming in the air. THAT's what I want to happen in my level, if at all possible.

So what should I do? Can I even make this happen?

I think low-detail 16-bit mode can kinda make it look like water isn't there. There probably will be some strange color changing thing on the left part of the water, though. And if you want to make text for signs, click twice (but not too quickly) on a Help String, then type whatever you want there. Then match up the Help String with the Text ID number in the Textx event.

In case you don't believe him, BlurredD is right there. 16 Bit + Low Detail water is the best for taking screenshots, as while the water on the left half or so of the screen will look like normal low detail water, the right half will be invisible, allowing for the best possible water screenshots.
First, select the text string you want to edit. When selected, it will be blue. Then click on it, and wait a little while. Then type. @ is for a new line, and # makes all letters after it rainbow colored.

Thanks so much you guys! I will try it out now and see what happens.