Press the H key to enable/disable the contextual help. It shows you all available options based on what you are currently doing.

To place a new object, first select the object you want to place in the object selection menu at the right of your screen, and then left click anywhere on the level to place it.
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In Vacuum Pilot, all objects can be resized. This way, you can create walls and other obstacles.
The orange line represents the "vertical direction" of the object.
To resize an object, you can use the following keys.

W - Increase vertical size of an object
S - Decrease vertical size of an object
D - Increase horizontal size of an object
A - Decrease horizontal size of an object

R - Reset the size of an object

Alternatively, you can use the arrow keys to resize more precisely.
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Every object can be rotated using the mouse wheel.
When rotating an object, its vertical direction will change.
You can press the middle mouse button to reset the direction.
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When placing new objects, you can copy the size and rotation of an already placed object by hovering over it and pressing the C key.
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When placing new objects, first right click anywhere on the screen to "clear" your selection.
While not placing a new object, you can hover your mouse over an already placed object and left click it to edit it. Alternatively you can press and hold the left mouse button in an empty space to draw a selection box and select all objects in it.
You can hold Shift and left click on another object to add it to your selection.

Note: To rotate or resize the selected objects, you must first hover over a selected object with your mouse. Rotations will be applied to all selected objects, while resizing is only applied to that one specific object.

You can delete all selected objects by pressing the DEL key.
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Press the ALT key to toggle precision mode on/off.
In precision mode, the grid will be removed and you can move and rotate objects more precisely.
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Hold Shift + Mouse Wheel - Rotate an object by 90°
Hold Shift + Arrow Keys - Mirror an object (Especially useful when using Curve objects)

Right click on any object that has properties (Like doors, buttons, magnets, light sources and text boxes) to edit their properties.
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Move your mouse to the border of the screen to move the camera to that direction. Hold the Shift key to increase the speed of the camera.

Hold Ctrl and use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.

This is where the player will spawn. Its size can be changed to change the size of the player ship, allowing for some interesting concepts. Only ONE player spawn can be used, otherwise the level won't start!




If the player touches any of the black wall objects, they crash and respawn at the last checkpoint.



As the name implies, these objects can be used to decorate the level. They do not affect the gameplay.



The player needs to fly through all checkpoints before reaching the goal. They will respawn at the latest checkpoint when crashing.

Note: Please DO NOT do this
Instead, DO THIS




Flying into a stopper will disable the acceleration of the ship, while flying into an unstopper will enable it again.



Doors are red walls that need to be opened by a button so the player can fly through.
When placing a Door, the game will ask for a Button ID. This can be any number or text.
When placing a button, the game will ask for a Button ID again. You need to type in the exact same Button ID that you used with the door, so the game knows which door to open.
Afterwards, the game will ask for a time in seconds. This is the time limit after which the door will close again.



Magnets will pull you towards its epicenter.
The size of the actual object does not matter, it won't be visible in-game.
When placing a magnet, the game will ask for its range in pixels and its force per second. You can use a negative force to push the player away from the magnet.



These objects will display a custom text.



If the player flew through all checkpoints and touches this object, they complete the level.
You can use as many goals as you want

Every level has a darkness level, which decides how visible the level is without any light source.
Darkness Level 0 means that everything is visible, Darkness Level 10 means that the player won't see anything without light sources.

You can edit the Darkness Level by left or right clicking the "Darkness Level" button at the right side of the screen.

Light sources can be found in the Lighting category which can be accessed by clicking the arrows next to "Basic objects".

Light sources can be placed and resized like normal objects. After placing a light source, you can right click it to open the color selection.

Every level in the Steam Workshop is required to have a preview image. The easiest way to make one is to use the "Take Screenshot" button which can be found at the right border of the screen.

While in screenshot mode, you will see a blue outline. Everything within this outline will be visible in the screenshot.
Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out and use the left mouse button to save the screenshot anywhere on your PC.

Alternatively, you can design your own preview image with a maximum size of 1MB.
If your preview image is larger, the upload may fail.
We recommend an image resolution of 600x440.

To upload your level to the Steam Workshop, simply click the "Upload" button at the right border of the screen.
You will need to enter a level name and select a preview image.
Once you're ready, click the "Start upload" button. You will need to complete your level once before the upload process starts.
Once the upload is finished, your level will be available for the entire community to play.
(You may need to agree to the Steam Workshop Terms of Use before your level is publicly accessible)