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ChipEdit
ChipEdit was the first level editor for Chip's Challenge, originally made by John Elion. It was first released in 1997; the latest version was released in 2004.
System requirements
ChipEdit is the lightest of all level editors, and can run on Windows 95 and upwards. It can also run on Windows 3.1 if Win32s is installed. It can also run on Linux systems through the WINE compatibility layer.
A copy of Microsoft's version of Chip's Challenge is also required to playtest levels. Tile World is unsupported.
Features
As the first level editor, ChipEdit contains many special features that have been improved on, but some which remain ahead of other editors. The major advantages of ChipEdit are:
- Show Invisible, Show Blue Walls, and Show Concealed: These three options allow the editor to specify whether concealed items will be shown in the editor, and whether to display the state of all invisible walls and blue walls. This feature has since been copied by other editors as the default, but will only work with either all three on or all three off: the latter displays the level as it actually appears in-game. The major advantage of ChipEdit in this regard, however, is that blue walls and invisible walls are shown as walls or floor, rather than translucent/solid blue blocks or the type of invisible wall they are, which makes it vastly easier to plan routes through long stretches of levels from either category. Examples are Chipmine and Vanishing Act.
- Alt-A: As of yet not attempted by any other editor, pressing Alt-A sets the level in demo motion: all monsters will start moving, toggle walls will switch, traps will open, monster clone machines that are on the monster list will clone, and tanks can be switched with the blue button. Chip will not move, and if Chip is killed during the demonstration, it will automatically stop. To avoid this, remove Chip from the level before running it. The demo can also be stopped manually with the Escape key. Be warned that the monster order is different in demo motion than in Chip's Challenge itself, so be sure to playtest the level.
- Check: If the Check option is turned on, all invalid tile combinations will be prohibited, though it does not revert existing ones. This will allow the user to create Lynx-compatible levels easier. However, blocks over locks are mistakenly labeled as invalid.
- Quick level access: Moving forwards or backwards in a level set is controlled by Ctrl-N or Ctrl-P instead of picking through the list of the levels, which makes moving through levels lightning fast - approximately equal to the speed within MS Chip's Challenge. ChipEdit is often best to use for a cursory examination of a levelset, but more descriptive and clearer editors are better for further study.
- Read-only: If this is selected, the levels cannot be edited unless the option is disabled, which prevents accidental editing of the levelset. This feature was later added to Chip's Workshop.
- Monster status: In ChipEdit specifically, the description of a monster in the data field includes whether the monster is programmed to move or not. The only ways to find out in other editors are either to check whether that monster is in the monster list, or to actually playtest the level.
PGChipEdit
PGChipEdit is a modified version of ChipEdit created by David Stolp that adds support for PGChip.