Creating a Ball Race Map

Using the Condo tools, this guide will cover how to create a Ball Race map with the Ball Race Map Maker.

Prerequisites

Before you can get started creating a Ball Race map, you will want to get an understanding of how to edit Condos and spawn Condo items.

You will also be using the IO inventory menu, which is a tab on the bottom inventory.

Intro

The Ball Race map maker uses the same editor as the Condo but with Ball Race-designed items.

When making a Ball Race map, you can use:

• Co-op Editing (invite friends to help build in real-time)
• Canvases (custom images)
• Materials/Surfaces
• Workshop Sound Emitters (custom sounds)
• Condo I/O (custom gameplay logic)
• Condo items (for decoration purposes)
• Workshop Models (custom models)

Opening the Level Editor

To access the level editor, go to the Main Menu of Tower Unite. Near the bottom, there is a Workshop Editor option. From there, click on Map Editor.

Since Tower's Map Editor supports multi-player editing, it'll ask you if you would like to host for Public, Friends-only, or Singleplayer.

Once loaded in, you will see a popup. This popup has similar information to what we'll cover in this guide.

Click on Ball Race as your Selected Editor by clicking on the Ball Race icon then click Okay.

You will see an empty grid environment.

Accessing Ball Race Editor Tools

While holding Q, access the bottom inventory and click on the Condo IO / Game Items tab.

Then, click on the Ball Race tab.

You will see a list of Ball Race specific items such as the Level Start, Finish, and Pop Volume.

Map Creation

Creating Your Ball Race Level

Level Start

Once you have a level designed out, you can place down a Ball Race Level Start. This is where the level will begin from.

Level Duration: You can adjust each level's timer within the Level Start item's settings. By default, it is set to 60 seconds.

Level Start also comes with IO outputs such as OnStart which is called when a player spawns for the first time, and OnRespawn which is called when a player respawns after dying.

Bonus Levels

You can optionally add a bonus level to your map.

Place down a Ball Race Level Start, then edit the item. Enable the Bonus Level setting. And that's it!

You can have as many Bonus Levels as you want.

Assigning Melon Pickups To Bonus Level

If you want the Bonus Level to show how many Melon Pickups there are, you will need to set the Level setting on each Melon Pickup of your bonus level to match the bonus level's number.

Placing a Finish

If you haven't already, place down a Ball Race Finish or a Ball Race Finish Volume.

You can adjust the type of Finish you want by editing the Finish item.

You can also use the Finish Volume. The Finish Volume is the same as a regular Finish, but it is invisible during gameplay.

There is an IO output for when a player finished called OnFinished.

Pop/Kill Volume

After your level design is done, you will need to spawn a Ball Race Pop Volume around the level, so when the ball goes off level, it'll pop. You do not need to set any settings on the volume, it will immediately pop the orb on touch.

You should place the Pop Volume under your floating platforms across the entire map.

You should use this instead of damage volumes, as this volume is client predicted and will not cause lag issues for clients in a multiplayer match.

Tip - Hiding Volumes:

If you want to edit your course after placing bounds volumes, you can hide volumes by going to your bottom inventory and at the right click on Settings > Show Volumes and turn them off. The volumes will still be there, but visually hide so they don't get in your way.

Gameplay

Melons

Melons are the pickups in Ball Race. They give players extra points and are a good way to guide players around the level or introduce challenge. The item is called Ball Race Pickup.

There are three types of melons:

• Single (1)
• Mega (5)
• Golden

Golden Melons

Golden Melons are hidden melons that are fun to find and unlock. You can add up to 3 golden melons to your level. You will need to set a unique golden melon number for each golden melon you place.

Bumpers

Bumpers are common obstacles in Ball Race. They bounce players when hit. The item is called Ball Race Bumper.

There are many styles of bumpers to choose from.

Boosts

To boost players or set the player's velocity, you can use the the Boost Volume found in the Condo IO/Game Objects tab.

The Boost Volume has settings to add a force in a direction and set a force in a direction. It also has built-in sound effects and FX (togglable).

Trampolines

Trampolines bounce orbs into the air. The item is called Ball Race Trampoline.

There are a few styles of trampolines such as the ones from Prism and Event Horizon.

Attractors / Repulsors

Attractors / Repulsors will pull and push orbs toward or away from it. The item is called Ball Race Attractor / Repulsor.

They are very common in the level Memories, if you want to see how they can be utilized.

Buttons

You can use the Ball Race Button item to require players to press buttons to open a path or a doorway, or whatever you'd like!

These buttons are pressure pad buttons that just require one player to roll over them. You can set the button to be pressed once, or require a player to be on it.

You can use IO to handle what happens when the button is pressed down.

Teleporters

Coming soon...

For the time being, you can still use a Teleport Volume to teleport players around in Ball Race.

Water Volume

You can use the Water Volume, as the Water Volume will work with the Orb and keep it floating, making for some unique level design!

Physics Spawner

Want falling rocks that slam players around? With the Physics Spawner, found in the Condo IO/Game Objects tab, you can do exactly that.

The physics spawner has various settings to control how many physics you want to spawn, how often, how long the physics live for, and of course how fast you want them to eject out of the spawner.

Level Design

Start Podium

While you can have a start be anything you'd like, you can also use the Ball Race Start Podium to add a rolling start to the level. There's several different variations of the start podium.

Tiles

You can make a Ball Race map with any primitive, but we also provide a Ball Race Tile item that comes with multiple styles and sizes of Ball Race tile pieces you can use to more easily create maps. These tiles grid snap on the 20 unit grid snap.

Tubes & Spline Platforms

Ball Race Spline is a multi-purpose item tool. It comes with curvable platforms, tubes, and railings.

Editing the spline is done with the Spline Editor. See Working With The Spline Editor for more information.

Visuals/Decoration

Decoration

The Ball Race Map Maker supports any Condo item for decoration. You can browse Tower Express for items to get an idea of what's available.

You can use anything a Condo can: canvases, primitives, lights, and even workshop models.

Sky Lighting / Weather

You can adjust the time of day, sun/moon position by pressing Tab then going to Map Settings > Day/Night & Weather

You can also adjust the weather, and the weather will save as the default for your map.

If you want even more control over the sky, place down a Sky Volume found in the Condo IO/Game Objects tab. The Sky Volume will allow you to adjust fog settings, horizon colors, and more.

Post Processing

You can adjust post process settings to enhance your level's atmosphere by placing down a Post Processing Volume found in the Condo IO/Game Objects tab.

Sounds

Just like in Condos, you can easily add sounds and sound atmosphere to your map.

There are two types of Sound Emitters: Sound Emitter, and Workshop Sound Emitter. They both share the same functionality, but the Workshop Sound Emitter will allow you to use custom sounds that have been uploaded to the Workshop Sound Pack workshop.

You can access both of these items in the Condo IO/Game Objects tab.

Music

Ball Race is known for its fun and cheerful music. Each map has one looping music track that plays throughout the entire map. There is no intermission, post game, or waiting music in Ball Race.

Custom Music

To add your own custom music, spawn a Game World Music Manager, which can be found in the Condo IO/Game Objects tab.

Edit the Game World Music Manager and you will see music slots. You can override the music with any custom Workshop Sound Pack, or you can create your own.

Bonus Music

To override the Bonus music, set the Bonus/Hurry Up/Boss/Intro Music setting on the music manager.

Built-In Music

You can also use Tower's soundtrack for your level as well, by checking on Use Built-In Music and selecting a track from the list for your level music.

Saving and Loading Maps

At any point of time, you can save your map to a file. You can then load this map at a later time.

The editor automatically saves your working map every so often, and before the game closes. But if you are working on multiple maps at once, you can save and load your maps to files.

To save/load your map, hold Tab and at the top of the scoreboard there is a Save button and a Load button.

Saving

Clicking on Save will ask you to provide a map name and then the editor will save your map.

Your maps are saved in the game's main folder /Tower Unite/Workshop/Maps/ and they are saved in a .map format. You can access this folder by opening Steam and right clicking on Tower Unite > Properties > Browse Local Files.

Loading

Clicking on Load will show a file prompt. If you do not see the file prompt - make sure you are in borderless or windowed mode as fullscreen is not compatible.

Loading From Condo Data

Did you happen to make your map in your Condo? You can load Condo map data just like a map.

First you will need to get your Condo save data. It is stored in:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\ <SteamID3> \394690\remote\Condos\

where <SteamID3> the last part of your Steam ID. If you are the only Steam user who has used your machine, there should only be one folder. If you are not sure, you could try going by the last date modified.

There are folders for each Condo (ex. C_SmoothDirt) and inside of them there is a CondoData file. Copy that file to another folder, then rename the CondoData file to CondoData.map.

Once you have done that, you can import your condo data as a level!

We are hoping to streamline this process more in the future.

Testing Your Map

There are two ways to test your Ball Race map before releasing it. The Level Start and a full test.

Testing with Level Start

Each Start has a way to quickly test your level. Simply press Use (default E) on the Level Start and you will enter the Ball Race orb. From there you can roll around in your level. This test mode supports all of the Ball Race obstacles and damage volumes.

When you start the test mode, a large timer will show up on your HUD which you can use to keep track of how long it took for you to beat your level.

You can reset yourself back to the start by pressing R.

Testing with Map Editor

You can also do a full map test to see how your map will work in actual Ball Race.

Hold Tab then click on on the big green Play button.

During testing, you can switch levels with the top left testing HUD. Simply hold Tab to enable your mouse to access it.

After you are done testing, you can click on the End button and it will take you back to the editor.

Uploading Your Map

Uploading your map is the same process as uploading a Condo, but with a quick check process beforehand.

Hold Tab then click on on the Upload button.

Checking Your Map

Before you can upload your map, the editor will run a check of your map to ensure gameplay elements are there.

For Ball Race, it will check for:

• at least 5 starts and finishes

In Ball Race, you can have up to 50 levels!

You can manually check your map before uploading by holding Tab then clicking on on the Check Map button.

Uploading

After the check is completed, the upload panel will popup.

Click on Create New.

It will ask you to provide a file name to save your map as.

Name and Description

Follow the upload panel, it'll ask you to set a title for your map, along with a description.

Thumbnail and Images

Then, it'll ask you to take three screenshots, using the in-game photo screenshot tool.

If you want to upload a custom thumbnail, click on Set Thumbnail below the first image and select an image file. Thumbnails should be 800x400 resolution.

Tags

Select a Difficulty tag that best represents your map's difficulty. This can be updated in the future if you find out that players find your map easier or harder after they have played it.

Select a Map Theme. You can select up to three themes that best fit your map.

Select a Map Size.

Content

If your map uses Canvases, the map editor will pack them with your map as textures. Look over these Canvases and ensure they do not break any of our Workshop Rules.

Upload

Finally, you are here. Take a deep breath. Be proud of what you have created. You have come so far, and now you can share your creation with the world! :confetti: :cheers: :party:

If you want to make your map immediately public, click the Publish & Make Public check box then hit upload, otherwise leave that unchecked and you can make it public from the published Workshop page.

You can update your map's title, description and images on the published Workshop page. Unfortunately, you cannot update your tags or thumbnail without doing an update to your map.

Upload Errors

If your map failed to upload to the Steam Workshop, it will give you an error message:

• Nothing: Sometimes this just happens. Try uploading once or twice again, before investigating further.
• Title / Description: Large bodies of text in the title or description field may prevent the upload. Keep it short or empty and you can update it freely afterwards.
• Maintenance / Downtime: Sometimes Steam Workshop is taken offline and will be unable to accept uploads. If this is the case, try again in 15 minutes or so.
• Bans: If you have recently had an item removed from the Workshop, you may be limited by a temporary Workshop ban, even if it wasn't a Tower Unite item.

Updating Your Map

Updating your map is a similar process to uploading your map.

While in the level editor, hold Tab then click on on the Upload button.

After the check is completed, the upload panel will popup.

Click on Update Existing.

It will show a list of your uploaded maps. Click on the map you wish to update.

Then, it will ask you to provide a file name to save your map as. If you are just updating your thumbnail or tags, click on Skip Saving - Only Update Info.

At this point the upload panel will load all the existing information for your map.

Go through the upload panel step by step. You can skip updating certain parts of the update process if you do not want to update those.

When you have made your changes click on the Upload tab and click on Update.

Your map is now updated!

Payouts & Leaderboards

Newly uploaded maps by default will not have payouts enabled. This is to prevent abuse.

Each day, our staff will review newly published maps. If your map is approved for units payout, you will see a gold Unit symbol next to the map in-game for every workshop map list (including votemap).

Getting payout approved will also give your map its own leaderboard which is automatically setup for you (Ball Race only).

If your map has not been approved, that might mean that is it too abusive or our staff has not reviewed it yet.

If you update your map after being approved, you will not need to be approved again. Staff can remove the approval if upon recent review the map needs further adjustments.

The approval process for Ball Race is done by:

• checking if the map is not a obvious Unit farm
• checking if the map has enough levels (min 5)
• checking if the levels are not just a straight shot
• checking if the map is complete-able and playable

Closing Statements

This editor uses multiple features that have been in development for several years and will only continue to improve and grow.

We are very excited to see what you come up with! Have fun, and see you on the greens!