Introduction to CliCli Editor

This article explains the basics of CliCli Editor by creating, playtesting, and publishing a simple maze. A maze is a subgenre of puzzle games where a player moves in complex and branched passages to find a particular target or location.

Follow each section and learn how to:

Utilize CliCli's templates to create the environment of your maze
Navigate around the viewport with ease to browse the whole map.
Build a simple maze for players to traverse using CliCli preset decorations and units with modifications.
Playtesting and troubleshoot errors in your game.
Publish your game and share the fun with everyone.

Getting Started

CliCli Editor is the essential creating tool for developing and publishing CliCli games. It's free to use on Windows devices, and it doesn't require you to purchase a license. CliCli editor comes together when you download the platform. If you haven't installed CliCli yet, see Setting Up CliCli Editor.

Creating a New Game

The New Blank Project template provides a plain terrain with customization options for UI, Map Size, and Terrain Texture. A terrain is CliCli Editor's default environment where all game objects and play are implemented.

To create a new game in CliCli Editor:

Launch CliCli Editor. On the Project panel, click New Blank Project.
Type your game information, select the desired options for your project and click Create.
A new project opens. In the viewport, you can see the selected terrain texture is taking effect.

Moving the Camera

Now that your game is open in CliCli Editor, click inside the viewport and move the camera around to get a better view. For keyboard and mouse controls, see the following table.

Key/Shortcut	Action
↑	Moves the camera forward.
↓	Moves the camera back.
←	Moves the camera left.
→	Moves the camera right.
Ctrl+Page Down	Moves the camera down.
Ctrl+Page Up	Moves the camera up.
H	Top-down view to see the whole terrain
C	Change to editor view that looks at the center point of terrain. Press again to switch between editor view and in-game view.
Right Mouse Button	When pressed, dragging the mouse moves the camera view around.
Ctrl+ Right Mouse Button	When both pressed, dragging the mouse pans the camera.
CMouse Scroll Wheel	Zooms the camera in or out.

Building Your Game

When you are getting familiar with camera control in the viewport, you can begin building your game by adding objects like decorations and units to create a simple maze for players to explore. In addition, you can also replace the models from the Resource Manager to change the theme of your environment.

Working with decorations

A decoration is one of the primary element for creating the environment in a CliCli game. You can move, rotate, resize, and customize decoration attributes to change their appearance, such as their Material.

Placing Decorations

Click on the triangle to expand the categories and find the decoration you prefers to place. While CliCli Editor provides many preset decorations that are ready to be used, you may create custom decorations in the Object Editor.

To insert a decoration:

On the Place Object tab, navigate to the Decorations panel.
Under the Editor Official category, choose the decoration you would like to use.
After selecting an object, click again in the viewport to place your decoration.

Moving Decorations

The placed decoration is the first piece of the maze. Decorations can move along the X, Y, and Z axes, which are color-coded:

X Axis - Purple
Y Axis - Blue
Z Axis - Green

Grid view and Hotkeys

Press G multiple times to switch between the Grid views. If you would like make the decoration snap to grid, you can use the hotkeys below to move the decorations in the viewport.

Key/Shortcut	Action
1	Moves the decoration back and left.
2	Moves the decoration back.
3	Moves the decoration back and right.
4	Moves the decoration left.
6	Moves the decoration right.
7	Moves the decoration forward and left.
8	Moves the decoration forward.
9	Moves the decoration forward and right.

To move a decoration:

Select the decoration you want to move in the workspace, then select the Move tool on the tool bar.
Click and drag the arrow in the direction you want to move the decoration.

If you want to enable snapping behavior, you can use the hotkeys above to move the decoration.

Scaling Decorations

Similar to moving, decorations scale along the X, Y, and Z axis. You can make a decoration larger or smaller by using the Scale tool. To scale a decoration:

Select the decoration you want to scale in the workspace, then select the Scale tool on the tool bar.
Click and drag a cube to scale the decoration in that direction.

Rotating Decorations

Similar to moving and scaling, decorations rotate around the X, Y, and Z axes. You can rotate a decoration to a new angle using the Rotate tool.

Select the decoration you want to rotate in the workspace, then select the Rotate tool on the tool bar.
Click and drag a circle to rotate the decoration in that direction.

Customizing Decoration Materials

To customize a decoration's material:

In the viewport, select a decoration.
Click Edit Object at the bottom right of the Edit Attributes panel.
The Object Editor opens up, click on Display to view the decoration model.
Click the dropdown arrow. The material options display.
Select a material for the part.

Block out the maze

Designing the path

Before you place too many decorations in the workspace and lost in directions, sketching out the routine and trying to solve it will give you a better idea of how to design it.

Not all problems have only one solution, you can highlight the right path with green color and deadends with red color.

When you're done the maze design, it is time to implement it in the editor. Use the move, scale, and rotate tools to build the walls. You can even play with the terrain and decoration colors to make it look better.

Enable collisions

Physics in CliCli editor is different than physics in real world. Although most of the assets used are 3D models, the editor only calculate two-dimension collisions. To stop players from moving through the walls, we need to enable the collisions.

To enable the collisions of a decoration:

In the viewport, select a decoration.
Click Edit Object at the bottom right of the Edit Attributes panel.
The Object Editor opens up, click on Display to view the decoration model.
Expand the Collision Edit
Select the Ground collision type, click and drag to draw the collision.

Playtesting Your Game

Playtesting is a vital step before publishing any game because you need to verify that everything works and users can reach the final destination. When you playtest your maze, consider its difficulty and how that might affect the user's experience.

To playtest your game:

Navigate to the top left menu bar.
Click the Play button.

While playtesting, you can use the default controls to control any unit you placed:

Similar to RTS controls

Control	Action
Left Mouse Button	Click to select an unit. Click and drag to select multiple units.
Right Mouse Button	Click to make selected units to move to the click point.
A	Click and make units attack move to click point.
S	Stop the selected units.

To stop playtesting:

Navigate to the menu bar.
Press F11 to unlock the mouse, and click the Stop button.

Publishing Your Game

When you are happy with your game, you can publish it to the platform to allow other users on CliCli to play it. To publish your game:

In the menu bar, select Publish.
Select Upload Game. A dialog displays.
Click Publish New Game, type your game name and click Publish New Game again.
A new browser page opens, fill in your game information, and click Submit.
Once your game is approved, go to your Creator Dashboard and click Publish to make your game public!

Setting Up CliCli Editor Design For Clicli