Vanilla Design: Tips and Tricks!

[Waddle]

Hello all!

As a judge for the upcoming Vanilla Contest, I have vested interest in judging only the best of levels. So, I've compiled a list of tricks I like to use in vanilla aesthetic design for your consideration and use. Ordered by number for your convenience:




These are just a few of my techniques. But, a man cannot reveal all his eggs, lest the vultures win.

Happy vanilla-ing, make sure to add your own [[dope techniquès]] if you think they are neat

[Emral]

𝓱𝓸𝓬𝓱𝓲 𝓶𝓪𝓶𝓪

[Ness-Wednesday]

I'm feeling all :C_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA: right now

[cato]

Unless I am in the dark about the editor, it doesn't look as simple as you say.

Off-grid block/BGO placement is jank and incredibly precise. You would have to turn off the snap-to-grid, enlarge the screen and drag the object pixel-by-pixel to align everything. Any wrong move and the whole thing will go off-grid. It is the same for sizable. The editor doesn't allow you to go under 32x32 so you have to drag the border without snap-to-grid.
Why isn't there an option to input the coordinate of the objects and move them pixel-by-pixel by adding/subtracting their values?

Not to mention the effort of needing to set up multiple layers so that place the same block/BGO in the same grid. The limitation of the Z-layer on the editor doesn't help either.

God, I hope it doesn't become a "meta" for this and future contests. If it does, I am blaming your monster level from the previous contest. I really shouldn't make pixel-perfect, complex design choice just for aesthetic points.

[Emral]

Off-grid block/BGO placement is jank and incredibly precise. You would have to turn off the snap-to-grid, enlarge the screen and drag the object pixel-by-pixel to align everything. Any wrong move and the whole thing will go off-grid. It is the same for sizable. The editor doesn't allow you to go under 32x32 so you have to drag the border without snap-to-grid.

Not true! You can very easily go down to 8x8 pixel precision with the options in the menu. Having to go finer than that is fairly rare.

[deice]

Not true! You can very easily go down to 8x8 pixel precision with the options in the menu. Having to go finer than that is fairly rare.

also even in the case that you do need to go finer, there's always the option of making an ini file for that specific item to make it align to a specific grid size. the ini file being deleted won't affect anything since the item has already been placed inside the editor.

[FutureNyanCat]

PSA: When using sizables to make decoration or custom tiles, please take note that the sizable limit is 1000. Any more of that and SMBX will crash upon starting the level!

Since PGE's default counters do not have a counter for sizables, you can go to Debugger, and create a custom counter that covers every single basegame sizable, so you can track down how many sizables you have in your level. Keep track of this if you do plan on making custom blocks with sizables (and 8x8 gridsize too).

1. Go to Debugger
2. Click the Add button under Custom Counters
3. Item type is Block, and you can set a name (for convenience, name it "Sizables (Max 1000)")
4. Click Add and then choose Sizable Blocks category (with group set to "All"), then click and drag to select all of the basegame sizables, then press OK. Then press OK on the previous window to add the custom counter.

[cato]

Off-grid block/BGO placement is jank and incredibly precise. You would have to turn off the snap-to-grid, enlarge the screen and drag the object pixel-by-pixel to align everything. Any wrong move and the whole thing will go off-grid. It is the same for sizable. The editor doesn't allow you to go under 32x32 so you have to drag the border without snap-to-grid.

Not true! You can very easily go down to 8x8 pixel precision with the options in the menu. Having to go finer than that is fairly rare.

Never seen that in the editor. Thanks for letting me know, I suppose that partially solved some of the problems.

[55jedat555]

The more precise editor alignments are occasionally still janky with certain items, it's just the way it is.
Also, quite a bold move blaming Waddle for establishing a new aesthetic "meta". These are tips and suggestions that you *can* follow should you want to, nobody is forcing you to do it.