I have made a list of the stuff I found in this thread that I would like to see in a brand new JJ2 level editor. As I'm working on a new version on WebJCS, I'm open to suggestions and requests


LEVEL PROPERTIES

Textboxes
- Browse buttons for Next level, Secret level and the Music field
- Ability to open Next level/Secret level without having to manually open it (should open in a new tab/window)

Ambient lighting
- Ability to have a level start with lighting higher than 100 ("I've seen this in some hacked levels")
- Replacing the lighting bars with textboxes (not a big deal but can get annoying) (Maybe as an option?)

Text strings
- Ability to use 511 characters long text strings instead of 127, or more textstrings than 16
- A counter showing how many more characters may be used in a text string
- An easier way to browse through the text strings
- Displaying the text string contents in a box rather than a long line (Replacing newlines with "@")
- Allowing (live) preview of text strings (simplifying coloring)


ANIMATIONS

Animation properties
- Replacing the FPS bar with a textbox (not a big deal but can get annoying) (Maybe an option?)

Animations info
- A counter displaying how many animations can be stored in a level, how many that are currently in use and how many more you can add

Animation list
- Ability to arrange the animations
- Fixed view of the animation when scrolling horizontally (so you see the result if you have a very long animation)


SAVING/COMPILING/RUNNING

Tileset compiling
- Easier and clearer tileset compression (displaying the exact error once one happens for example)
- More advanced tileset compiler (choose palette, etc..)

Save & Run
- Run command line options

Saving
- Helpful warnings when user tries to save. Things like "Level does not contain proper start positions", "Warp on tile x,y would get player stuck", "No corresponding Warp Target for warp ID x", "Flipped animated tile at x,y could crash game", "No next level setting specified". User should be able to ignore warnings or turn off warnings entirely.


EVENTS

- Less cumbersome event listing
- A search/filter field
- Bitfield editor
- JCS.ini editor
- Searching for specific events in a level, add replacing features
- MCE list, and maybe a MCE generator (that places the desired MCE)
- Listen to the ambient sounds before you add them
- Show hints for events, like arrows on suckertubes, poles, wind, belts etc..
- Event window contains links to corresponding ERE entries for each event
- Event window display mode where each event in the list contains an image of the event. Tuf turtle image above "Tuf Turt" event, etc. Like windows explorer thumbnail view.


LAYERS

Layer properties
- A colorpicker for the 16-bit Warp-Horizon textured background fade

Miscellaneous
- Export layer(s) as image(s) to PNG or other format
- Ability to manually set tile caches, such that tiles in the foreground layers can use the same tile cache as tiles in layer 4 etc..
- A function that changes all layer dimensions to the smallest values possible without removing tiles. Of course it should move the level up and left as far as possible on all layers with both speeds 1 and both autospeeds 0.
- 1x1 tile sized (or bigger) grid, 4x1 grid and ID for the tilecache

Drawing
- Flood fill/paint bucket, (random) tile patterns, lines, rectangles etc..
- Tile clipboard


PARALLAX VIEW

- Show sprites, like ammo, enemies, springs etc..
- Zoom in/out
- True in-game view


TILESETS

- Tileset extractor
- Working rightclick menu (Put event, grab event..)
- More hotkeys for adding/removing tiletypes on tiles


MISCELLANEOUS STUFF
- Random level generator (really? awesome!)
- Not only undo, but also redo
- A file manager specialized for JJ2 files
- Save as 1.23 or TSF
- A help file which incorporates everything in JCSref
- Built-in lists and appendices for the MCE list and ambient sounds and other lists
- Ability to remove level password (for your *own* level) once a password has been set.
- Episode editor/compiler?
- Collaborative level editing. Login, chat, draw, etc..


THE INTERFACE

- Tabs for having multiple levels opened at once
- Better working scrollbars for the tileset dropdown
- A better tileset picker, filtering, one that shows for example version of the tileset before you load it
- Skins/themes of the level editor
- Hex editor for low-level editing
- A (completely?) new interface? Or choose your own interface
- A mix between the layers and parallax window
- More hotkeys!
- Maybe a web interface? See WebJCS or try the new WebJCS