As fans wait for Epicenter (pictured on the right hitting himself with a sledge hammer) to complete his article and release the Ecco 2 0429 prototype, Jorge of DARK SEA has been disassembling code from the Ecco 2 ROM and building a level editor.
He and Tails have figured out how the levels, enemies and graphical data are stored. The level editor is coming along nicely and has to be the biggest reverse engineering project since Sebastion's never released Ecco PC editor.
The program was written in C# and began using preloaded tiles that where captured with an emulator. Jorge figured out how the tiles that build the levels were stored and has updated the editor with the ability to decompress them. He and Tails have collaborated together over the past year breaking new grounds in Ecco research.
If the Ecco 2 Level Editor is finished fans will gain more replay value and be able reshape the game as they see fit. Jorge plans for the editor to include being able to edit background and foreground objects, setting enemy locations and collision data. There are also plans to choose stage music, select where Ecco begins and exits a stage and being able to generate level and sonar maps.
If you would like to get involved in the discussion of this project or give feed back, there is a topic open in the DARK SEA forums. Jorge is offering the editor in two flavors, the program itself or the program with source code.
Related: DARK SEA BBS - The E2ED Development Thread
