Ladders are used so Jumpman can Climb Up or Down to Girders at different heights in the level. Jumpman can also Jump off a Ladder in an attempt to grab something or land on another platform.

When you create a Ladder, the following object graphic is drawn in the editor.. It can then be selected and moved around as per any other object. (Shown is the non-selected and selected states of the object)

Ladder's (via the Scriptlets) can be made to appear or disappear on collection of a Bomb or when a Trigger is run-over. This allows the Level to dynamically change shape as the player progresses though the level. Ladders will Fade in and Out as the .Active state is changed (Due to level play).

There is no limit to the number of Ladders which can be created on each level.

This Section describes the object and the properties available at design time.

When a Ladder is Selected, the Property Editor Window will bring up the following dialog;

Name

Sets the name of the object which is used to reference it via the Visual Basic Scriptlets. Object Names Cannot Contain any spaces and Must be unique.

It is important to note that changing the name of an object will not change any references to it via the scriptlets. Generally it would be unlikely that you would change the name of an object from the one generated by the program.

Sprite Image

Defines the Image set to use for rendering the Ladder at run-time. Selecting this item will bring down a list of all the Images available in the Image Manger (link).

Ladders Are built up out of 4 Individual Graphic elements.. A Top Piece. A repeating Middle Piece and a Bottom Piece. A Ladder with the Length of 1 uses a Single Graphic Piece. A Ladder with the Length of 2 uses only the Top and Bottom Graphic elements. Ladders will automatically Join other ladders they are next to to make a single ladder with the correct Top and Bottom Pieces.

The Following Images show a single Ladder Graphic and how it changes (using suttle shading) into the 4 requires elements.

The Top Left Graphic (of the bigger graphic) is the TOP piece, to it's Right is the Repeating MIDDLE piece. On the second row is the BOTTOM piece with the SINGLE piece. Combinations of these graphic elements make up the complete Ladder.

Length

Defines the Length of the Ladder.. Setting the Length to a value which will make the Ladder extend past the edges of the level will result in the value being clipped to the maximum length allowed (depending on the position of the object).

Visible

If Ticked, then the Ladder is Visible at run-time.. If the Ladder is either not Visible or Active then it is drawn in a darker shade to signify that it is different from other Ladders.

Active

If Ticked, then the Ladder is Active at run time.. Active means that the player will interact with the Ladder (ie. climb). It is possible to have an invisible Ladder which can be climbed on and a visible Ladder which can't by different combinations of the Visible and Active flags.

This Section describes the object and how it can accessed and controlled via the scriptlets at run-time. Please refer to the Bomb on more information about scriptlets.

A Method is a function call which can be executed whilst a Property changes the state of a individual flag in the object.

There are currently no script accessible Methods for Ladders.

.Visible

Makes a Ladder Visible or Not.. Irrelevant if a Ladder is Visible or Not, It must be Active for Jumpman to be able to climb it. Valid Values are True and False.

Script Example..

Ladder1.Visible = True

The Object will either Fade In or Fade Out depending on the state of .Visible

.Active

Makes a Ladder Active or Not.. An Active Ladder can be climbed by the Player. Valid Values are True and False.

Script Example..

Ladder1.Active = True

Ideally both the .Visible and .Active properties should be changes at once to the same state unless you want some confusing level behavior. (Which may be the case)

ie..

Ladder1.Visible = True
Ladder1.Active = True