Generators

What each of the built-in generators does

Generators

A generator creates content and applies it to the level as one operation. One undo step reverts it

A generator's form is built from its own fields. No interface is written per generator

More - Reuse: prefabs, copying, generators

The generators window

Content generators and modifiers run from the Generators window on the toolbar. Every generator shares its Base Parameters block: Start Frame, End Frame, Layer and Seed. They belong to the window, not to any one generator

How the block behaves:

• The window opens on one second from the playhead, with the seed at 0. Random rolls a new seed
• The frames stay inside the timeline you are working on, from frame 1 to its last frame. In Prefab Mode that is the template's length
• Editing Start Frame pushes End Frame along. Editing End Frame stops it at Start Frame. The two never cross
• Layer stays inside the legal layer range
• Each frame field has a pin that holds it on the timeline's edge. Whole Level sets both pins, so the window runs from frame 1 to the last frame. The fields stay editable, and typing into one unpins that edge

Group Into One Object and Layer Per Object are on by default. The group is named after the generator. Both apply to content generators only: a modifier creates nothing to group

A generated run is never put under the selected object. It lands at the top level of the scope, or inside its own group

The window shows what the run will add before you press Generate. The button is disabled, with the reason shown instead, when:

• the generator needs the whole level and you are in Prefab Mode. That is Beat Flash, Font Cache, Capacity Hint and Remap Framerate
• it needs a selection and nothing is selected
• the run would take the level past 262,144 objects
• a content generator would add nothing. A modifier is never refused for that

A generator that reads outside data (an audio track, the beats, an image) produces nothing without it, and the estimate says so

Generate closes the window. What was generated is left selected, in the same undo step

The window remembers the generator you were on and the parameters you typed when you close and reopen it. Reset puts the defaults back

Levels

Empty Level

Clears the level completely. Everything authored is removed. Use it when you start over rather than edit

More - Your first level: the route

Level From Audio File

Starts a level from a track. Brings the audio in, sizes the level to the track and puts you at the start of an empty timeline

More - Preparing the track

Import Afterbeat Level

Converts a level from Afterbeat (formerly Project Arrhythmia) into the Bullet Hero format

More - Importing from Afterbeat

Import Level Archive

Builds a level from an archive written by this game. Formats: .tar.gz and .zip. Either can be behind a password

The file type is read from its contents, not its name. A renamed archive still opens. 7z is recognised, but this build does not read it yet and refuses it

Bullets

More on all bullet generators - Readability and fairness

Bullet Wave

A row of bullets moving together. The staple pattern, and the one to start with. Its parameters recur in the other bullet generators

Bullet Spiral

Bullets fly out along a rotating arm. The result is the classic spiral wall

Bullet Rain

Bullets fall across an area over a set stretch of time. Density and spread are parameters. Where each bullet lands comes from the level's seed. So a run can be repeated exactly

Homing Bullets

Bullets curve towards where the player is expected to be. The path is computed in advance, not during play. So the result is identical on every device

Laser Sweep

A beam sweeps across the field. The telegraph and the lethal phase are separate objects. So the warning can be shown without being able to kill

Geometry

More on all geometry generators - Reuse: prefabs, copying, generators

Polygon

Places shapes on the vertices or edges of a regular polygon

Radial

Places copies around a circle. The base of most symmetric patterns

Spiral

Places copies along a spiral. Radius and angle grow together

Grid

Fills a rectangle with evenly spaced copies of a shape

Fractal

Repeats a shape inside itself, smaller each time. The object count grows exponentially with depth. Raise the depth one step at a time

Audio and effects

Audio Waveform

Builds objects in the shape of an audio track. The level visibly follows what is heard

More - Reuse: prefabs, copying, generators

Beat Flash

Places a flash on every beat. The beats come from the level's beat map. With no map, they come from the markers. So what flashes is exactly what you see on the grid

More - Rhythm and structure

Resources and service

Texture Objects

Turns an image into objects, one per cell. The picture becomes level content and animates like anything else

More - Images and fonts

Font Cache

Collects every character the level's text uses and bakes it in advance. Then no glyph has to be prepared the first time it appears

More - Images and fonts

Capacity Hint

Writes the level's advisory limits: how many objects and effects it needs at once

More - The level's budget