content stages and maps

Stages and maps

Template-backed stages inherit a Core layout while replacing encounter data. The experimental authored-layout format reads finite orthogonal Tiled JSON and supports PNG tile/image layers, per-axis image parallax, viewport-aware camera bounds, animated tiles, native .tx templates, decorations, curated Core art, pack-local ambient/positional audio, explicit stage music overrides, vendors, weapon cases, three door types, notes, keypads, altars, lights, platforms, moving platforms, particles, loose registered-item pickups, named spawners, explicit navigation links, and validated interaction/action chains. Reusable visible templates cover machines, switches, and ordered Easter-egg steps.

Multi-room progression

Multi-room stages remain one loaded stage and do not create checkpoints or mid-run saves. A room rectangle supplies camera bounds, a named room-entry point supplies a transition destination, and a room-transition rectangle moves the player to that entry. Entering a room volume also changes the camera bounds for seamless connected layouts.

• Room names, entry names, and transition names must each be unique.
• A room may set initial: true; otherwise the room containing the player becomes active.
• Each entry requires a room property naming its destination room.
• Each transition requires destination, naming an entry.
• requireNoEnemies: true prevents traversal while a living enemy remains active.
• oneShot: true disables the transition after its first successful traversal.

Transitions are deliberately transient: death, restarting, or reopening the stage uses the ordinary stage start rather than preserving the last room.

Warning

Experimental: the schema is not frozen. Arbitrary scripts and custom Unity components remain unsupported. Explicit navigation links, audio, and tile animations are available, but creators must still play-test them on every target platform and with each intended enemy movement type. Authored ambient-audio and audio-source objects preload their pack-local clip; set playOnStart to false when a stage script should control playback through play-audio and stop-audio. When preserveInheritedStageObjects is enabled for a migration pack, the inherited prefab hierarchy is translated so its original player start aligns with the authored Tiled player start; retained doors, actors, displays, and trigger zones consequently stay registered with the replacement layout.

Use ExampleMods/training-yard-stage for inheritance, ExampleMods/tiled-training-yard for the original authored-layout preview, and ModSDK/MapTemplates/TiledStage as the clean public starter kit. ExampleMods/core-fer-tiled-port is a migration reference exported from the shipped FER prefab. Version 0.3 exports its platforms, player start, spawners, vendors, camera bounds, and static SpriteRenderer artwork as pack-local PNG/TSJ assets with editable position, scale, rotation, flipping, tint, opacity, and sorting metadata. FER no longer enables the all-or-nothing preserveInheritedStageObjects option. Instead, each remaining specialized door, case, fuse, display actor, pose point, or linked lab object is represented by an explicit core-stage-object point with a validated source and authored position. This compatibility adapter is intended for conversion of shipped Core stages; ordinary maps should use the portable public objects and leave both compatibility flags false. FER's spawners are newly created mod components, and door-linked spawners receive explicit open-door requirements. Rebuild the reference with Tools > Captivity Modding > Export FER as Tiled mod.