You can copy & rename template_unix.txt or template_windows.txt into a current or new sub folder to begin editing.

The user/ folder was created for you. The fanmade/ folder was created for single, community-submitted Map files.

For making the Map Grids, it's recommended to use one of these visual/drawing editors:

• ASCII Map Editor by stmn
• ASCII Mapper by No Time To Play

You can submit your Map files here on GitHub Discussions or as an Issue to have them included in the next version! Or to simply share them for others to try.

Alternatively, you can just copy & paste them into a comment on itch.io using a Markdown code block (backticks).

Example Map file with line numbers:

 1:  [EkoScape/v1]
 2:  Name of Map
 3:  Author's Name
 4:
 5:  7 11
 6:
 7:  ' '
 8:  1000
 9:
10:  ###########
11:  # >  #  ! #
12:  #    #    #
13:  # @  :  0 #
14:  ###########
15:
16:  ########
17:  # 0  $ #
18:  ########

Rundown:

• Line 1 is the required header to identify the file as a Map.
  • Only the header matters, so you can use any (or no) file extension.
• Lines 2 & 3 are self-explanatory.
• Line 5 is the speed of the Player.
  • The 1st number, 7, is the turning speed of the Player in degrees per frame from 0.0 to 90.0 degrees.
    • A lower number is slower, and a higher number is faster:
      • 1 degree turns the Player 1 degree per frame (very slow).
      • 90 degrees turns the Player instantaneously in one frame (very fast).
    • A value of 0 uses the default turning speed.
  • The 2nd number, 11, is the walking speed of the Player, expressed as the number of frames it takes to complete walking one step (at 60 FPS), based on the formula <seconds> = <speed> / 60 FPS.
    • A lower number is faster, and a higher number is slower:
      • 1 frame takes the Player ~0.017 seconds (1 / 60 FPS) to walk a step (instantaneous, very fast).
      • 60 frames takes the Player 1 second (60 / 60 FPS) to walk a step (very slow).
      • 120 frames takes the Player 2 seconds (120 / 60 FPS) to walk a step (super slow).
    • A value of 0 uses the default walking speed.
  • For the speeds, you can use decimal numbers (floats) such as 7.4 or 11.11.
• Line 7 is the "floor" space, inside of single quotes, for Things that can move/disappear, such as the Player and Robots.
  • You cannot use a Thing as the space, but you can use a Wall or a Portal instead of a Floor space.
• Line 8 is the delay, in milliseconds, of the Robots.
  • In this example, 1000 would mean that the Robots move every 1 second.
• Lines 10+ are the Grids (i.e., the floors/layers) of the Map.
  • Each Grid is separated by an empty line (line 15 in this example).
  • You can only have a maximum of 10 Grids.
  • You must have at least one Player space (^, v, >, <) and one End space ($) in at least one of the Grids.

Line separators are platform-independent, so you can use the ones on Linux (\n), Windows (\r\n), and/or Classic Mac (\r).

You can place your Map files inside of any sub folder in assets/maps/ or in a new sub folder, and they will be picked up by the game automatically.

Floors:         w *
Walls:        # W x & _
Ghost Walls:  % +
Player:       ^ v > <
Things:       @ : $
Portals:      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Robots:       = ! | ? Q

Normals:        # %
Whites:       w W +
Outer space:  * x _
Ends:           $ &