Sandbox

The Sandbox mode makes it possible for you to design, create and test your own levels for Mister Tins.

Sandbox levels are stored in the "Sandboxes" subfolder of the "Mister Tins" folder in "My Documents". Levels are organized into individual sandboxes which can contain up to 99 levels each.

Sandboxes are simply subfolders of the "Sandboxes" folder. Initially there is one sandbox called "Examples" which contains a few levels with comments explaining the basics of the level format. You can find a more detailed description of the level format in the section below.

Each level is stored in a separate text file. These files should be named "Level01.txt", "Level02.txt", etc., up to "Level99.txt", and stored in the subfolder corresponding to the sandbox.

To load and play a sandbox level, run the game, select the "Sandbox" option from the main menu, select the sandbox from the list and select the level.

Level Format

The level file is a simple text file, so you can use Notepad or your favorite text editor to create and edit levels for Mister Tins.

A level file contains a map of each layer, from the lowest to highest. Each layer consists of elements called blocks. As the player is approximately 1.5 blocks high, a level must consist of at least two layers. A floor is automatically added below the first layer and a ceiling is added above the last layer.

Each line of the file corresponds to a single row and each character corresponds to a single block. Lines starting with a semicolon are ignored and can be used for placing comments.

Blocks

The following characters are used for various types of blocks:

space  empty block
#      solid block (wall)
$      box
a-c    trigger (yellow, green and purple)
A-C    trigger with a box on it (yellow, green and purple)
1-3    door (yellow, green and purple)
!      trap trigger (red)
-      water block
x      exit block
@      initial player position

Each layer must be surrounded with a continuous set of walls. All spaces outside these walls are converted to solid blocks, and all spaces inside the walls remain empty blocks. This way it's possible to create rooms of irregular shapes. No other blocks (including boxes, triggers, doors and water) can be placed outside the walls.

Triggers correspond to doors of the same color. When boxes are placed on all triggers of a particular color, the corresponding doors will open. Placing a box on a trap trigger ends the game.

Triggers must be placed on top of solid blocks (including the floor below the first layer). Doors must be placed directly next to at least one solid block (to the north, south, west or east).

Boxes must be placed on top of solid blocks (including the floor below the first layer) or on top of other boxes. They can also be initially placed on triggers. If all triggers of a particular color have boxes placed of them, the corresponding doors will be initially opened.

Water blocks must be placed above solid blocks or other water blocks. They also must be surrounded by solid blocks or other water blocks in all four directions. No other blocks (including boxes, triggers and doors) can be placed in or under water.

A level must have exactly one initial player position and one or more exits.

Directives

Each layer of the level file must begin with a "/region" directive with the following syntax:

/region x y z

The x and y coordinates are the coordinates of the north-west block and the z coordinate is the layer number. All coordinates start at 1. The x coordinate increases from west to east, the y coordinate increases from north to south and the z coordinate increases from bottom to top.

One layer may consist of multiple regions, as long as they don't overlap. So if a layer is large or consists of separate rooms, it's possible to divide it into a number of regions.

A level often consists of many identical layers. The "/clone" directive can be used to create a copy of a layer. It has the following syntax:

/clone zsrc zdest

The zsrc and zdest arguments are the z coordinates of the source and destination layers, respectively. It is only possible to clone a lower layer to a higher layer.

When a layer is cloned, all boxes, triggers, the exit block and the initial player position are automatically converted to empty blocks. This makes it easier to create typical levels in which the second layer has the same arrangement of walls and doors, but doesn't contain any boxes or triggers.

Layers must be specified from the lowest to the highest one. Each layer can be specified either by cloning it from another layer or by specifying at least one region. It's not possible to skip a layer or to specify layers in a different order.

After cloning a layer, it is possible to modify a part of it by using one or more subsequent "/region" directives with the same z coordinate. This is useful when there are layers which are mostly identical and only differ in some areas.

Publishing Levels

When you finish designing and testing your levels in the Sandbox, you can publish them on the mistertins.com website so that other players can download them and compete for the best results.

To create a level pack, simply pack the entire sandbox folder as a ZIP file. Next, go to the Level Packs page and click "Upload Pack". Enter a short and unique name for the level pack, an optional description and attach the ZIP file. Finally, click OK.

You can change the level pack description at any time or upload a new version. The new ZIP file must not contain fewer levels than the previous version. Also you're not allowed to rename an existing level pack.

On the Level Packs page you can also find the level packs created by other players. To install a level pack, download the ZIP file and save it in your "My Documents" folder > "Mister Tins" subfolder > "Levels" subfolder. DO NOT extract the ZIP archive! On the level pack page you can also submit your rating and comments, view the best times for each level and the current leaderboard.

On the My Account page you can find a list of all levels packs that you have played and level packs created by you.

By publishing your level pack on mistertins.com, you agree to the Terms of Use of the website. In particular, you may create derivative works based on level packs distributed with the game and created by other people, as long as you give credits to the original authors and you only publish them on mistertins.com.