If you want to open the in-game levels to get a feel for how level creation works, Tiled will give an error about not having a tileset.

This can be fixed!

Open the json of the level you're trying to open, and scroll to the bottom of the file. Here you will find tileset paths.

By default they look for tilesets in a D drive, as I'm assuming that's where the dev was keeping their assets.

Go in there and edit the path to instead go to the Content folder in the kitsunetails local files.

Be aware that objects.json in Content refers to an "objects" folder that does not exist on release, but the objects.json file in docs works just fine. You could probably edit objects.json in the content folder to reflect everything being in the same folder, or you could make your own objects folder and copy everything into it, but I've not tried that yet.

To set the background of a level, go into map properties and make a custom property.

Set it to accept a string value, and name the property "background."


Then look for bg files in the Content folder and enter the file name (without .json on the end) for the background you would like to use as the value to the "background" property. Be aware that some backgrounds are level first naming (2-1_bg) and others are bg first naming (bg 1 and 2).

When you want to save your files and test them in-game, you'll need to put them in a different folder than the "mods" folder that is in your steam directory. The pdf in docs explains the exact location for each OS. In my case (OpenSUSE Tumbleweed) the levels folder can be found in ~/.local/share/KitsuneTails/levels. Make sure you make a folder with the name of your level, and then name your level "level.json" or "level.tmj" inside of that folder :)

Kitsune Tails loads level.json at the time that you choose to open the level instead of reading the levels at loadup, which is great for rapid testing

You can keep Kitsune Tails open in the background with the mod menu opened, edit your level, then quickly test it in-game, close the level, and repeat without having to close out of the game at all.

This is going to be something of a living document. As I run into snags while learning how to make a level, I'll edit this document to give any solutions I find :) I figure if I'm going to learn how to do this, I might as well document any pitfalls so others can avoid them.