6. Map Items

This chapter takes you on a tour of the Item Palette, explaining what each group of items is for, and pointing out any special considerations associated with their use.


Starting Positions

 

When WolfEdit 1.0 was released, it seems many people couldn't tell what these symbols were meant to represent. So I'll spell it out: they're top views of a man holding a pistol out in front of him. They're used to specify the initial position and orientation of the player.

You can only place one of these on the map at a time. If there is another one already present, it is automatically removed.


Objects

These items are pretty straightforward and self-explanatory.

 

Decorative items: puddle, drum, table, lamp, chandelier, tree, flagpole, pot plant, urn, bones, light, bow, armour, cage, tub, pillar, barrel, dead guard.

 

Health items: Dog food, food, first aid kit, extra life.

 

Gold and silver keys which open the correspondingly-marked doors.

 

Treasures: Cross, goblet, chest, crown.

 

Weapons: Rifle, machine gun, flamethrower, rocket launcher.

 

Ammunition: Clip and box of pistol/rifle rounds, backpack, flamethrower fuel, rockets.


Enemies

 

Guard, SS soldier, dog, officer, mutant.

 

Hans Grösse, Dr. Schabbs, Trans Grösse, Übermutant, Death Knight (fires rockets), Mecha-Hitler, Hitler without suit.

 

Ghosts. (If you haven't seen these before, it's because you haven't found the secret PacMan spoof levels in the scenarios that come with Wolfenstein.)

Each of the enemies come in two varieties, selected by commands in the Enemies menu:

       Plain        Enemies like this will come after you as soon as they hear you.

       Ambush  Enemies like this will not attack you until they can see you.


Ordinary Walls

 



All four sides of these wall blocks have the same texture.


Special Walls

       Handrail

This is the handrail which is found on the sides of the lifts in the Wolfenstein levels. It will only look like a handrail when seen from the north or south side. From the east or west side it will look like a Lift Control Panel (but won't work like one).

       Outdoors

From the north or south, this wall block appears as a daytime landscape. From the east or west, it appears as a night sky.


Doors

There are four types of door, each of which comes in two orientations, for a total of eight door items. The four types are:

            Plain door

            Doors requiring gold key

            Doors requiring silver key

            Lift door

The lift door doesn't have to be used for lifts – it's just another style of door.

When placing a door, you should choose one with the appropriate orientation, as illustrated below.

                                               Door for north-south passage
 

                                                                                        Door for
                                                                                        east-west
                                                                                        passage


Don't place a door so that it opens directly into a wall. This may sound like an unnecessary piece of architectural advice, but people have been known to do it, and it doesn't work properly.


Lifts

Lifts are created using the Lift Control Panel items. Note that these items will only look like lift control panels when seen from the east or west side. From the north or south side they will look like handrails (but will function like lift controls).

       Lift Control Panel

This lift leads to the next floor in the sequence. If this is the last floor, activating the lift will end the game.

       Alternate Lift Control Panel

The destination of this lift is set using the Alternate Next Level menu of the Level Info dialogue (from the Edit menu). If no destination has been set, activating this lift will end the game.


Secret Doors

 

These items are used to create secret doors – those innocuous-looking walls which move back when you push on them, and open up new and exciting territory (well, it's up to you to make the territory exciting).

To create a secret door:

1) Place a wall block of the type you want.

2) Place a secret door arrow on top of  the wall block.

3) Place another wall block of exactly the same type  two squares away in the direction of motion. This is the “destination block”, the place the secret door will end up after it's been opened.

Step 3 is important. If there is no destination block, it's in the wrong place, or it's not the same wall type as the secret door block, undesirable effects may occur, ranging from the secret door not being displayed properly to a crash.

As a consequence of these rules, a secret door cannot be placed less than two squares away from the edge of the map.

Here's an example of how to place a secret door properly:

 







Don't let the player see the back of a secret door before it's been opened, because it won't look right.