Gendoors & Killdoors

(or the secret to making things appear and disappear)

Rayman walks over to get a blue ting, there's a magic sound, and an enemy appears near him. That's a Gendoor in action! When Rayman walked over to the blue ting he entered the zone of detection of a Gendoor and all of the events (enemies, bonuses, platforms) that the level designer had linked to the Gendoor popped into existence. Here's the secret to making things appear and disappear.

The image to the right is a section of a Cake World level. We would like to have Rayman walk to the wall on the right then have the annoying clown appear blocking his way back out. We also decided to have a power-up appear because Rayman is sure to lose some life points fighting the clown.  Using the Events Editor we first added the clown and power-up. Don't worry, when we're done Rayman will not be able to see them when he first arrives here.

Next in the Events Editor we added a "Gendoor size 1". Gendoors make things appear; Killdoors make things disappear. In the Events Editor there are four Gendoors, sizes 1 to 4. The sizes refer to the size of the zone of detection. We only need a small zone here, so we chose "Gendoor size 1". In the Events Editor the Gendoor is represented by a magician. The Gendoors are never visible when playing a level.

Now we needed to link the Gendoor with the events we wanted to appear when Rayman enters its zone of detection.  In the Events Editor we changed to the Events Editor's Link Mode by pressing the 'I' key. It may be difficult to see in the screen snap to the right, but each event now has either a green or maroon line coming from it, ending in a small square.

First we clicked with the left mouse button on the clown, dragged its square to a central location, and released the mouse button. Next we left clicked on the power-up, dragged its square on top of the clown's square, and released the mouse button. We did the same with the magician. 

Finally we clicked with the right mouse button on top of the magician to activate the links and change the lines to yellow. The Gendoor size 1 is now linked to the clown and the power-up To leave the Events Editor's Link Mode, we pressed the 'I' key again.

The yellow lines are not visible in the normal Events Editor mode. Finally, we had to give Rayman a reason to walk over to the wall on the right. We added three blue tings.

This is how it looks while playing the level. The clown, power-up and Gendoor are not visible. The blue tings entice Rayman to walk into the Gendoor's zone of detection. The Gendoor is triggered, and the clown and power-up appear to the left. If Rayman dies, the Gendoor is reset and the clown and power-up disappear from the level. They will reappear if Rayman again enters the Gendoor's zone of detection.

Events that are linked to a Super Gendoor are permanent. Once they appear they remain visible in the game even if Rayman dies. Super Gendoors are typically linked to platforms that must be present for the player to continue the game. Use a Super Gendoor to avoid having the player repeat sections of the game if Rayman dies.

A Sparkling is a Gendoor that is activated by Rayman's punch. It triggers the appearance of all of the events which are linked to it.  In the example to the left, the Sparkling is linked to the Hunter. When Rayman punches the Sparkling, the Hunter will appear. If Rayman dies, the events disappear and Rayman must again punch the Sparkling to make them reappear.

Killdoors make things disappear. In the example on the right, the Killdoor is linked to the swinging blue spike. Rayman walks in from the left, gets past the swinging blue spike, then triggers the Killdoor as he walks toward the blue tings. The swinging blue spike disappears.  If Rayman dies, the Killdoor is reset and the swinging blue spike will again appear in the level.

If a Super Killdoor is used, the effects are permanent. Once triggered, the events linked to it disappear for the remainder of the game. Use a Super Killdoor to remove obstacles or enemies that you don't want the player to battle repeatedly.

This is an example of a Ting Killdoor. When Rayman collects all 10 of the green tings, he triggers the disappearance of the blocking stone column which is linked to the green Ting Killdoor.  Like a Super Killdoor, the disappearance of the linked events is permanent. If Rayman dies, the events will not reappear in the restarted game.

The Ting Gendoor works in a similar way. When Rayman collects all of the colored tings corresponding to the colored Ting Gendoor, he triggers the appearance of the events linked to it. Like a Super Gendoor, the appearance of these events is permanent. If Rayman dies, the events will still exist in the game.

There are 6 different Ting Gendoors, each corresponding to one of the six different colored tings (0-grayish blue, 1-red, 2-gold, 3-yellow, 4-gray, 5-green). To select the color of a Ting Gendoor, create a Ting Gendoor (any color), release the right mouse button, then with the cursor hand still over the Ting Gendoor press the UP or DOWN ARROW keys to scroll through the color numbers (0-grayish blue, 1-red, 2-gold, 3-yellow, 4-gray, 5-green). Use the same method to create the correct colored Ting Killdoor.

While most levels are designed with 10 colored tings for Rayman to collect, there is no reason why you couldn't use as many colored tings as you want in your level. The number of tings remaining in these colors is shown at the bottom left of the screen. You can use the F10 key to scroll through the count of the various colored tings.

Gendoors & Killdoors

To select the color of the Ting Gendoor, create a Ting Gendoor (any color), release the right mouse button, then with the cursor hand still over the Ting Gendoor press the UP or DOWN ARROW keys to scroll through the color numbers (0-grayish blue, 1-red, 2-gold, 3-yellow, 4-gray, 5-green).

To select the color of the Ting Killdoor, create a Ting Killdoor (any color), release the right mouse button, then with the cursor hand still over the Ting Killdoor press the UP or DOWN ARROW keys to scroll through the color numbers (0-grayish blue, 1-red, 2-gold, 3-yellow, 4-gray, 5-green).