Following the guidelines, tips, and secrets below can help you
develop working Duke-Tag! maps with all the tricks and dynamics
you'd expect. In this file you'll find a discussion of possible
rules for Duke-Tag! This includes planning with concept
suggestions, and implementation tricks. This file also explains
how to use your own graphics and sounds and compile them into a
neat package for trading amongst your Duke-Tag! adversaries and
partners.
I. Planning your Duke-Tag!
Remember, the Duke-Tag! concept is simply a way of using
the Duke Nukem 3d game environment, rules, and the included
construction tools to create different goals for multiplayer games
of Duke Nukem 3d.
As the creator of your own Duke-Tag! game, it is up to you
to decide what those goals are. Below is a list of concepts and
possible implementations for different game goals.
A. Classic Duke-Tag! You may replicate the same
principles found in the included Duke-Tag! map (e4l10) for your
own Duke-Tag! games.
B. Capture the Flag: It might be fun to allow players
to score simply by hitting a well secured switch, after which they're teleported back to their own area. Teams will do their best to defend their switch, while sending one of their own into the opposing fort to score for their team.
C. DukeRace! Picture a race between Dukematchers.
The finish line scores a point and moves players back to the start.
Along the way are many hazards and traps players can use against
each other to keep opposing players from scoring. You must survive
the race to score or it's back to the start!
D. Run the Gauntlet: Take the race a step further!
Try a gladiator field full of dangerous obstacles - even
monsters - that players must avoid to reach the scoring zones.
Such games can be designed for any number of players.
E. One on One Classic: Scoring areas are near each
other, and players have a time limit to reach the goal. Make
sure a specific object is also required to reach the goal. Try
requiring players to use a shrinker in a mirror to make themselves
small enough to get through a crack which hides a scoring zone.
Or, make the goal only reachable with a jetpack that is given at
the beginning of the run.
II. Building your Duke-Tag!
There are some important rules you should remember when
designing a Duke-Tag! map.
A. Be Solid: It should be impossible to "break" the
map. Since switches, activators, touchplates, and the like all
can allow many activations, the designer must take into
consideration the possibility that players may not behave
exactly as you'd wish. What would happen if the player jumps
on a touchplate? What if two players cross a touchplate at the
same time? What if a switch is triggered so rapidly it
malfunctions a door? The key to success here is play testing.
Before releasing your Duke-Tag! map, make sure you test it until
you're blue in the face!
B. Be Fair: Neither team should be given advantages
or disadvantages as far as distance to goals or weapons are
concerned. Always make sure that the map is evenly balanced for
each team or player that may be in the game. If your Duke-Tag!
map will allow for more than two teams, consider what might
happen if only two teams decided to play. Block off areas that
aren't used in the game.
C. Give Options: No one enjoys only one approach to
solve a problem. Forts and zones in your map should have
multiple ways to access them. Try making the way into an area
differ from the way out. If players take the time to collect
other items (such as a jetpack or protective boots) new options
should become available to them. Also, make valuable objects,
weapons and items risky to go after. Remember, in Duke-Tag!
risky could just mean time consuming. If an RPG is away from
the action, I'll have to think twice before wasting the time
to go after it!
D. Speed: Your Duke-Tag! map should play fast,
and be fast. Don't clutter the frame rate with unnecessary
details, or catch players on jagged corners or rough edges.
In Duke-Tag! players want speed. That means that if the frames
are too low, or the player is getting caught on decorations,
it will be no fun. Go for fun factor and game play!
E. Clues/Awareness: Players need to know what is going on
when playing Duke-Tag! Clever use of signs and sounds can help
you alert your players to the activities of their partners and
their opponents. Take a look at the included Duke-Tag! map as
an example. Notice how sound cues alert all players in the game
when a run is started or a score is earned. Also notice the
signs that open and reveal the state of the map at various
points in the game. These features are important and will be
appreciated.
III. Finishing it off
Players want easy. Players want to quickly learn
the rules and easily jump in. So, assuming your Duke-Tag!
goals aren't too complex, here's how to make things easiest
for them: The entire Duke-Tag! game you create should come
in a nice neat package.
You may want to add new sounds and graphics to your
user map to meet with the theme that is in your Duke-Tag!
battlefield. You can add this new information in one nice
neat package called a group file (.GRP). You'll notice that
all of the Duke Nukem 3d Atomic Edition map, graphic and
sound information is contained in a group file called
Duke3d.grp. You may also load external group files when you
run your game. Games loaded will external group files will
use all of the information contained in them along with the
original group file info.
So, if you want to add your own sounds similar to
those found in E4L10, you may simply rename your .voc file
to the ones used in the game (grun.voc, brun.voc, gscore.voc,
bscore.voc). Then, in your map you'll call them using the
same tags on your Music SFX Sprites as they are defined in
Defs.con and User.con. You can browse these files to find
the voc names and the definition number (tag number) of
every sound in the game.
You may also use editart to add your own graphics
to your Duke-Tag! map. See the editart instructions and
information for help with that. When you have everything
you need to make your Duke-Tag! map work, you'll want to
compile it into a nice neat package - the group file.
You'll be using one of the included tools called
KGROUP. Note that you can use KEXTRACT to get information
out of a group file, and you can use KGROUP to compile
information into a group file.
The syntax for KGROUP.EXE is:
KGROUP.EXE [grouped file][filenames].
Later, you'll want to record demos of you playing
your Duke-Tag! map, write a text file explaining the rules,
and possible write a short batch file that will run Duke3d
and load your Duke-Tag! group file automatically. Then,
you may group all of these files together in a zip and
upload them to the internet, on-line service, or trade
them with your friends via floppy disk since your entire
Duke-Tag! game is compiled into one nice, neat file.
