Map Properties and Layers

Map Properties

Maps have a few custom properties that can be added to them.

A map's properties panel can be accessed from the top ribbon, under "Map" > "Map properties...".

The following are all the custom properties that can be added to a map:

• name - The name of the map. (shown on the save file)
• light - Whether the map is a Light World map (defaults to false)
• music - Name of the music track to play in the map (relative to assets/music)
• border - Name of the border to display in this map (relative to assets/sprites/borders)

Map Layers

Everything placed into a map has to be placed onto a layer. As well as being for their namesake (layering), Kristal uses layers to differentiate between different types of map data.

This works based on the layer type and layer name, so if a specific layer type and name are present in the map, Kristal will treat the data on it as a specific feature such as paths, markers, or objects.

Layer names are case-sensitive, and they can also include a suffix. This means you can have a layer named something like objects_enemies, and the suffix _enemies will not prevent it from loading as an objects layer, and a layer called Objects will not be treated as objects, because the casing does not match.

List of Map Layers

Generic Tile Layers

• A Tile layer with no specific name will be treated as regular tiles.

battleborder (Tile)

• Only visible when the player is inside a battle area.
• • (See Battle Areas for more information on battle areas.)

objects (Object)

• Objects layers are used for placing events into a map.
• These can place engine events, any objects registered using Game:registerEvent(), and any legacy events in scripts/world/events.
• • Either the Class or Name property of the object must reference the ID of the registered event you want to spawn.

objects_party (Object)

• If an objects layer exists with this name, the party will always spawn on it.
• • If this layer does not exist, the first objects layer that exists above the markers layer spawns the party instead.

controllers (Object)

• Controller layers are used for placing controllers into a map.
• • These are special event-like objects that have no physical presence in the map. They are designed for controlling other events, hence their name.
• User-registered controllers should be stored in the scripts/world/events/controllers folder of the project.

collision (Object)

• The shapes on this layer will be used as the collision for each map.

enemycollision (Object)

• The shapes on this layer will be used as collision that only affects enemies (ChaserEnemy).
• Enemies will still be affected by the collision of the standard collision layer, regardless of this layer's presence

markers (Object)

• The shapes on this layer create markers that reference specific points or regions of a map. Each marker must be given a name so it can be referenced later.
• Markers for the current map are stored in Game.world.map.markers, or can be gathered with Game.world.map:getMarker(name).
• • Sometimes, events will need markers for certain properties.
• • Additionally, the world uses the spawn marker, if it exists, to determine where to place the party when the map is loaded from a savefile or without an entry position.

paths (Object)

• The perimeter of each shape on this layer is treated as a path. Each path must be given a name so it can be referenced later.

battleareas (Object)

• When the player enters any object on this layer, it will cause them to enter a "World Battle". This causes the battleborder layer to become visible, and the world to darken.
• • (See Battle Areas for more information on battle areas.)

blockcollision (Object)

• The shapes on this layer will be used as collision for the pushblock event.

Generic Image Layers

• Any layer using the Image type is treated as-is.