diff --git a/app/lib/aether_utils.coffee b/app/lib/aether_utils.coffee
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..de07fdb57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/lib/aether_utils.coffee
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+Aether.addGlobal 'Vector', require 'lib/world/vector'
+Aether.addGlobal '_', _
+
+module.exports.createAetherOptions = (options) ->
+  throw new Error 'Specify a function name to create an Aether instance' unless options.functionName
+  throw new Error 'Specify a code language to create an Aether instance' unless options.codeLanguage
+
+  aetherOptions =
+    functionName: options.functionName
+    protectAPI: not options.skipProtectAPI
+    includeFlow: false
+    yieldConditionally: options.functionName is 'plan'
+    globals: ['Vector', '_']
+    problems:
+      jshint_W040: {level: 'ignore'}
+      jshint_W030: {level: 'ignore'}  # aether_NoEffect instead
+      jshint_W038: {level: 'ignore'}  # eliminates hoisting problems
+      jshint_W091: {level: 'ignore'}  # eliminates more hoisting problems
+      jshint_E043: {level: 'ignore'}  # https://github.com/codecombat/codecombat/issues/813 -- since we can't actually tell JSHint to really ignore things
+      jshint_Unknown: {level: 'ignore'}  # E043 also triggers Unknown, so ignore that, too
+      aether_MissingThis: {level: 'error'}
+    #functionParameters: # TODOOOOO
+    executionLimit: 1 * 1000 * 1000
+    language: options.codeLanguage
+  parameters = functionParameters[options.functionName]
+  unless parameters
+    console.warn "Unknown method #{options.functionName}: please add function parameters to lib/aether_utils.coffee."
+    parameters = []
+  if options.functionParameters and not _.isEqual options.functionParameters, parameters
+    console.error "Update lib/aether_utils.coffee with the right function parameters for #{options.functionName} (had: #{parameters} but this gave #{options.functionParameters}."
+    parameters = options.functionParameters
+  aetherOptions.functionParameters = parameters.slice()
+  #console.log 'creating aether with options', aetherOptions
+  return aetherOptions
+
+# TODO: figure out some way of saving this info dynamically so that we don't have to hard-code it: #1329
+functionParameters =
+  hear: ['speaker', 'message', 'data']
+  makeBid: ['tileGroupLetter']
+  findCentroids: ['centroids']
+  isFriend: ['name']
+  evaluateBoard: ['board', 'player']
+  getPossibleMoves: ['board']
+  minimax_alphaBeta: ['board', 'player', 'depth', 'alpha', 'beta']
+
+  chooseAction: []
+  plan: []
+  initializeCentroids: []
diff --git a/app/lib/simulator/Simulator.coffee b/app/lib/simulator/Simulator.coffee
index 0e5a6631e..01cff2057 100644
--- a/app/lib/simulator/Simulator.coffee
+++ b/app/lib/simulator/Simulator.coffee
@@ -3,9 +3,7 @@ CocoClass = require 'lib/CocoClass'
 LevelLoader = require 'lib/LevelLoader'
 GoalManager = require 'lib/world/GoalManager'
 God = require 'lib/God'
-
-Aether.addGlobal 'Vector', require 'lib/world/vector'
-Aether.addGlobal '_', _
+{createAetherOptions} = require 'lib/aether_utils'
 
 module.exports = class Simulator extends CocoClass
   constructor: (@options) ->
@@ -400,23 +398,7 @@ module.exports = class Simulator extends CocoClass
         aether.transpile ''
 
   createAether: (methodName, method, useProtectAPI, codeLanguage) ->
-    aetherOptions =
-      functionName: methodName
-      protectAPI: useProtectAPI
-      includeFlow: false
-      yieldConditionally: methodName is 'plan'
-      globals: ['Vector', '_']
-      problems:
-        jshint_W040: {level: 'ignore'}
-        jshint_W030: {level: 'ignore'}  # aether_NoEffect instead
-        aether_MissingThis: {level: 'error'}
-      #functionParameters: # TODOOOOO
-      executionLimit: 1 * 1000 * 1000
-      language: codeLanguage
-    if methodName is 'hear' then aetherOptions.functionParameters = ['speaker', 'message', 'data']
-    if methodName is 'makeBid' then aetherOptions.functionParameters = ['tileGroupLetter']
-    if methodName is 'findCentroids' then aetherOptions.functionParameters = ['centroids']
-    #console.log 'creating aether with options', aetherOptions
+    aetherOptions = createAetherOptions functionName: methodName, codeLanguage: codeLanguage, skipProtectAPI: not useProtectAPI
     return new Aether aetherOptions
 
 class SimulationTask
diff --git a/app/models/ThangType.coffee b/app/models/ThangType.coffee
index 4fe5fb30a..be48d2e74 100644
--- a/app/models/ThangType.coffee
+++ b/app/models/ThangType.coffee
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ module.exports = class ThangType extends CocoModel
     options
 
   buildSpriteSheet: (options) ->
-    return false unless @isFullyLoaded()
+    return false unless @isFullyLoaded() and @get 'raw'
     @options = @fillOptions options
     key = @spriteSheetKey(@options)
     if ss = @spriteSheets[key] then return ss
diff --git a/app/schemas/models/level_session.coffee b/app/schemas/models/level_session.coffee
index 480159024..7fa0bbb15 100644
--- a/app/schemas/models/level_session.coffee
+++ b/app/schemas/models/level_session.coffee
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ _.extend LevelSessionSchema.properties,
       type: 'object'
       additionalProperties:
         type: 'string'
-        format: 'javascript'
+        format: 'code'
 
   codeLanguage:
     type: 'string'
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ _.extend LevelSessionSchema.properties,
       type: 'object'
       additionalProperties:
         type: 'string'
+        format: 'code'
 
   submittedCodeLanguage:
     type: 'string'
@@ -175,6 +176,7 @@ _.extend LevelSessionSchema.properties,
       type: 'object'
       additionalProperties:
         type: 'string'
+        format: 'code'
 
   isRanking:
     type: 'boolean'
diff --git a/app/views/play/common/LadderSubmissionView.coffee b/app/views/play/common/LadderSubmissionView.coffee
index 4cf4b7e29..580afba8a 100644
--- a/app/views/play/common/LadderSubmissionView.coffee
+++ b/app/views/play/common/LadderSubmissionView.coffee
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 CocoView = require 'views/kinds/CocoView'
 template = require 'templates/play/common/ladder_submission'
+{createAetherOptions} = require 'lib/aether_utils'
 
 module.exports = class LadderSubmissionView extends CocoView
   className: 'ladder-submission-view'
@@ -72,29 +73,15 @@ module.exports = class LadderSubmissionView extends CocoView
 
   transpileSession: ->
     submittedCode = @session.get('code')
-    language = @session.get('codeLanguage') or 'javascript'
-    @session.set('submittedCodeLanguage', language)
+    codeLanguage = @session.get('codeLanguage') or 'javascript'
+    @session.set('submittedCodeLanguage', codeLanguage)
     @session.save()  # TODO: maybe actually use a callback to make sure this works?
     transpiledCode = {}
     for thang, spells of submittedCode
       transpiledCode[thang] = {}
       for spellID, spell of spells
         unless _.contains(@session.get('teamSpells')[@session.get('team')], thang + '/' + spellID) then continue
-        #DRY this
-        aetherOptions =
-          problems: {}
-          language: language
-          functionName: spellID
-          functionParameters: []
-          yieldConditionally: spellID is 'plan'
-          globals: ['Vector', '_']
-          protectAPI: true
-          includeFlow: false
-          executionLimit: 1 * 1000 * 1000
-        if spellID is 'hear' then aetherOptions.functionParameters = ['speaker', 'message', 'data']
-        if spellID is 'makeBid' then aetherOptions.functionParameters = ['tileGroupLetter']
-        if spellID is 'findCentroids' then aetherOptions.functionParameters = ['centroids']
-
+        aetherOptions = createAetherOptions functionName: spellID, codeLanguage: codeLanguage
         aether = new Aether aetherOptions
         transpiledCode[thang][spellID] = aether.transpile spell
     transpiledCode
diff --git a/app/views/play/level/tome/Spell.coffee b/app/views/play/level/tome/Spell.coffee
index ff2dc39e6..5d56e131d 100644
--- a/app/views/play/level/tome/Spell.coffee
+++ b/app/views/play/level/tome/Spell.coffee
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 SpellView = require './SpellView'
 SpellListTabEntryView = require './SpellListTabEntryView'
 {me} = require 'lib/auth'
-
-Aether.addGlobal 'Vector', require 'lib/world/vector'
-Aether.addGlobal '_', _
+{createAetherOptions} = require 'lib/aether_utils'
 
 module.exports = class Spell
   loaded: false
@@ -125,25 +123,8 @@ module.exports = class Spell
   createAether: (thang) ->
     aceConfig = me.get('aceConfig') ? {}
     writable = @permissions.readwrite.length > 0
-    aetherOptions =
-      problems:
-        jshint_W040: {level: 'ignore'}
-        jshint_W030: {level: 'ignore'}  # aether_NoEffect instead
-        jshint_W038: {level: 'ignore'}  # eliminates hoisting problems
-        jshint_W091: {level: 'ignore'}  # eliminates more hoisting problems
-        jshint_E043: {level: 'ignore'}  # https://github.com/codecombat/codecombat/issues/813 -- since we can't actually tell JSHint to really ignore things
-        jshint_Unknown: {level: 'ignore'}  # E043 also triggers Unknown, so ignore that, too
-        aether_MissingThis: {level: 'error'}
-      language: @language
-      functionName: @name
-      functionParameters: @parameters
-      yieldConditionally: thang.plan?
-      globals: ['Vector', '_']
-      # TODO: Gridmancer doesn't currently work with protectAPI, so hack it off
-      protectAPI: not (@skipProtectAPI or window.currentView?.level.get('name').match('Gridmancer')) and writable  # If anyone can write to this method, we must protect it.
-      includeFlow: false
-      executionLimit: 1 * 1000 * 1000
-    #console.log 'creating aether with options', aetherOptions
+    skipProtectAPI = @skipProtectAPI or not writable
+    aetherOptions = createAetherOptions functionName: @name, codeLanguage: @language, functionParameters: @parameters, skipProtectAPI: skipProtectAPI
     aether = new Aether aetherOptions
     workerMessage =
       function: 'createAether'
diff --git a/scripts/transpile.coffee b/scripts/transpile.coffee
index 5c39b414b..53e66e43a 100644
--- a/scripts/transpile.coffee
+++ b/scripts/transpile.coffee
@@ -8,9 +8,8 @@ async = require 'async'
 serverSetup = require '../server_setup'
 Level = require '../server/levels/Level'
 LevelSession = require '../server/levels/sessions/LevelSession'
+{createAetherOptions} = require '../app/lib/aether_utils'
 
-Aether.addGlobal 'Vector', require '../app/lib/world/vector'
-Aether.addGlobal '_', _
 i = 0
 transpileLevelSession = (sessionID, cb) ->
   query = LevelSession.findOne('_id': sessionID).select('team teamSpells submittedCode submittedCodeLanguage').lean()
@@ -27,23 +26,9 @@ transpileLevelSession = (sessionID, cb) ->
       transpiledCode[thang] = {}
       for spellID, spell of spells
         spellName = thang + '/' + spellID
-
-        if session.teamSpells and not (spellName in session.teamSpells[session.team]) then continue
+        continue if session.teamSpells and not (spellName in session.teamSpells[session.team])
         #console.log "Transpiling spell #{spellName}"
-        aetherOptions =
-          problems: {}
-          language: session.submittedCodeLanguage
-          functionName: spellID
-          functionParameters: []
-          yieldConditionally: spellID is 'plan'
-          globals: ['Vector', '_']
-          protectAPI: true
-          includeFlow: false
-          executionLimit: 1 * 1000 * 1000
-        if spellID is 'hear' then aetherOptions.functionParameters = ['speaker', 'message', 'data']
-        if spellID is 'makeBid' then aetherOptions.functionParameters = ['tileGroupLetter']
-        if spellID is 'findCentroids' then aetherOptions.functionParameters = ['centroids']
-
+        aetherOptions = createAetherOptions functionName: spellID, codeLanguage: session.submittedCodeLanguage
         aether = new Aether aetherOptions
         transpiledCode[thang][spellID] = aether.transpile spell
     conditions =