June 21st, 2020 11:32 PM — Layout Update Activate
Hey everyone,

Today we're releasing the so called "Layout Update". Now this isn't a brand new TPK layout or anything, but it is the first major overhaul to the TPK layout since the current iterations' release in 2016. I've been improving my CSS skills considerably over the last month or so, and have been working toward this release. Now all of TPK's layouts across blue, classic, and the forums use CSS Variables, which let me easily adjust properties across each website respectively.

Besides the many layout adjustments, the big feature of this update is the new - and now public - layout editor. Our old layout editor was for artists only, which was frustrating when people would come to me wanting to investigate creating the layout. Now anyone can go to the layout shop and create a layout of their own to share with the world.

The layout editor isn't magic though. It's is mostly boiled down to picking colors, but it's much harder to do this than it might first appear. TPK Blue has over 70 different properties you can adjust. Each color you pick will affect the colors around it as well. It can get more advanced as well by the creation of custom gradients, swapping out tilesets, and making banners. The more fundamentals you have on CSS the better you will do. There's no substitution for trial and error. I hope to make a tutorial video on the subject like I did for the map engine, so be looking out for that in the future.

I worked on this update almost exclusively on my twitch channel, and it has been great having the community stop by and have an impact in how I develop the game. If you haven't stopped by yet - it's worth it. You'll get to see the next features get made from the ground up. Speaking of which, now that this update is done I'll be turning my attention to finishing up some new maps for the game which Gimbo and Nova have been working on. That will almost certaintly be on the stream at some point or another as I work through that update.

The layout editor is only available for TPK Blue right now, but for people who were already making Stylish layouts, you should be able to overwrite the css variables from Classic or the forums, so making new layout color schemes will be significantly easier for you all as well.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with using the new layout editor! Have a TPK day.

~B0sh