How to make a simple level:
Draw your level like you want it in the editor or click <Random> to get a simple level. When you are pleased with your design, press the <Export> button to make it playable. If you don't put in any platforms, they will be provided by the game when the level loads.

How to make a good looking level:
Draw your level in the editor or load a bitmap from disk. To draw areas with other properties than 'Wall', select the appropriate property from the drop down box. Right Click on the Brush icon to load a different brush or platform. If you put in more than 8 platforms, you will not be able to respawn on all of them. If you want, you can <Save> your level and edit it in your favourite bitmap editor. Try to keep the number of different colors below 128 and no more than 192. When you are pleased with your design, press the <Export> button to compile the level and make it playable.
Save early and save often if you want to be able to recover from stupid mistakes.

If you are going to give your levels to someone else, rename them like this:
    level99.bear
    levelm99.bear
    level99t.bear

    level98.bear
    levelm98.bear
    level98t.bear
    ...

Tools:
1-9 - change brushsize.
Left click - draw with current color / property and brush.
Right click - draw with black(Air) and current brush.
Left click + Shift - FloodFill with current color / property.
Right click + Shift - Pick up color.
Backspace - undo your latest brushstroke / floodfill.
F - Flip brush horizontally

Material Properties:
W - Wall
B  - Behind Wall
T  - Water
E  - Explosive
S  - PlatformFS
A - PlatformFSA

Views:
<ALT>+Z  - Zoom
<ALT>+L  - Show Level
<ALT>+M - Show Map
<ALT>+T  -  Show Thumbnail

Arrow keys - Move around the level

Map colors:
Air - RGB(0,0,0)
This is where the ship can fly.

Wall - RGB(255,0,0)
This is where the ship can't fly.

Behind Wall - RGB(128,0,0)
This is where the ship can fly behind objects..

Water - RGB(0,0,255)
Texture and plants are added when the level is loaded by the game.
Two lakes side by side should have the same vertical size and position to keep the texture correctly aligned on both.

Explosive - RGB(255,255,0)
Makes an explosion after being hit numerous times by the gun.

PlatformFSA - RGB(0,255,255) & PlatformFS - RGB(0,255,0)
Platforms have to be quite thin or there will be trouble with ships getting stuck inside. Right click on the Brush icon to load a predefined platform.
PlatformFSA refills Fuel, Shield and Ammo.
PlatformFS refills Fuel.and Shield.
Both platforms allow change of special weapons.

Menu:
New - Create a new empty level.
Random - Create a new exciting level by random and arbitrary methods.
Load - Load a level into the editor (BMP, GIF).
Save - Save your level (BMP).
Export - Compile and save all Level files to the gameData folder.
Level -> Map - Create a Map from your Level. Useful if you just loaded it as a bitmap.
Options - Change the name of the Level.
Help - Show this file (clever eh?).

Left click on the Brush icon to choose a new color. Right click to load a new brush from disk (BMP, GIF). The three colored fields above the brush icon shows the RGB value of the pixel under the cursor. Use the drop down box below the brush icon to select the property of the brush. Clicking on the Thumbnail icon moves your viewpoint around the level.

Requirements:
Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Registered version of HEAD-ON
Minimum resolution of 800x600
Recommended resolution of 1024x768, truecolor
16MB Free RAM
4MB Graphics card

Installation:
Run 'setup.exe' to install the editor. If the setup program needs to restart the computer, then start the setup program again after the restart to complete the installation. If you wish to remove the the HEAD-ON Level Editor from your computer, open the Control Panel and choose Add/Remove Programs.

Contact:
Homepage: http://home.no.net/headon
Mirror (just in case): http://home.online.no/~baeverfj/headon

If you have any questions or comments, we would like to know: headon@start.no