This thread is for any helpful editor info or guides that might benefit beginner/intermediate creators! Feel free to also post video tutorials/series as well.
Here are some of my personal favorite tips/tricks:
Learn how parenting works as soon as possible. It’s one of the most important parts of making anything in the editor!
Remember to save CONSTANTLY and learn how to load an autosave from the game files in case you mess up.
You can animate arcs by using one parent for X movement and another for Y!
You can give things a spinny/wiggly movement with only one object by changing the origin on any axis to a number less than 0.5 and just rotating the object!
Good use of Circ and Expo easings can make or break a level.
A little bit of Shake makes (almost) everything look better.
Here’s a few level balancing/difficulty tips off the top of my head:
Make liberal use of checkpoints. Players trying to P rank your level will already be beating it without them, so they only lower the skill floor of your level. I have yet to find a level that uses them too frequently.
Playtesting - you should do it! A rule of thumb I’ve heard others share is that you should no-hit your level at least once before uploading it. I’d personally say no-hitting every checkpoint is good enough, but the choice is yours. This will help you detect difficulty spikes and poor warnings way more often.
Speaking of difficulty spikes, don’t intentionally put them in levels unless you have a good reason to. The intentional ones are frequently just as unfun as the unintentional ones. (I would know, I tried it twice!)
If you’re making a harder level, be prepared to have your level design be judged more critically. A poorly designed attack in an easy level is an inconvenience; a poorly designed attack in a hard level is a roadblock.
to add on to the playtesting bit, I highly recommend getting a couple other people to playtest your level, getting a second perspective from someone who isn’t as familiar with the attacks as you are is really great for being able to tell whether your gameplay is enjoyable or not.
bonus points if you watch them stream their first/second time playing it - you can catch attacks that aren’t indicated well a little better and see how they respond to them, if there’s any attacks they consistently struggle to sightread, etc. I remember seeing a handful of people play something I made for the first time and cringing because I realised how unsightreadable the gameplay was lmao
I know this isn’t really an editor tip, more just a general levelmaking thing if you care about making sure most people enjoy playing your level, but hopefully it’s helpful to someone
