function Level() {
          this.CELLTYPE_OPEN = -1;
          this.CELL_SIZE = 64; // using multiple of 2 for optimization
          this.CELL_SIZE_SHIFT = 6; // x >> 6 = Math.floor(x/64)
          this.CELL_HALF = this.CELL_SIZE >> 1; // must be integer
          
          this.cellCount = { _x:0, _y:0 };
          this.dimension = { _x:0, _y:0 };
          this.spawnPoint = { _x:0, _y:0 };
          this.colors = { ground:'#000000', sky:'#FFFFFF', wallsNear:0, wallsFar:0 };
          
          this.map;
          this.viewExtent;
          this.walltypes;
   
           this.parseMap = function(mapString, cols, rows) {
                    this.cellCount._x = cols;
                    this.cellCount._y = rows;
                    this.dimension._x = this.cellCount._x * this.CELL_SIZE;
                    this.dimension._y = this.cellCount._y * this.CELL_SIZE;
                    
                    var parsedOk = false;
                    
                    if (mapString.length != this.cellCount._x * this.cellCount._y) {
                                  trace("map size not equal to level dimensions");
                    }
                    
                    else {
                                  this.walltypes = "@#%&";
                                  this.colors.ground = '#444455';
                                  this.colors.sky = '#66AAFF';
                                  this.colors.wallsNear = new Array(0xDD1111, 0x11DD11, 0x1111DD, 0x6611CC);
                                  this.colors.wallsFar  = new Array(0x110000, 0x001100, 0x000011, 0x110022);
                                  this.viewExtent = this.CELL_SIZE * 3;
                                  var spawnChar = "P";
                                  
                                  this.map = new Array();
                                  for (var row = 0; row < this.cellCount._y; row++) {
                                           var r = new Array();
                                           for (var col = 0; col < this.cellCount._x; col++) {
                                                    var type = this.CELLTYPE_OPEN;
                                                    var c = mapString.charAt(row * this.cellCount._x + col);
                                                    if (c == spawnChar) {
                                                                  type = this.CELLTYPE_OPEN;
                                                                  this.spawnPoint._x = col * this.CELL_SIZE + this.CELL_HALF;
                                                                  this.spawnPoint._y = row * this.CELL_SIZE + this.CELL_HALF;
                                                    }
                                                    else {
                                                                  var i = this.walltypes.indexOf(c);
                                                                  if (i > -1) { type = i; }
                                                    }
                                                    r.push(type);
                                           }
                                           this.map.push(r);
                                  }
                                  parsedOk = true;
                    }
                    
                    return parsedOk;
           }
          
   }