Amiga Games Extra 1996 September

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Amiga Games Extra 1996 September / Amiga Games Extra CD-ROM 9-1996.iso / spiele / publicdomain / doctorstrange2 / editor < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1992-09-02 | 16KB | 536 lines

Doctor Strange 2 Screen Editor ------------------------------ (c)1995 The Ouija Board Programming by Ian West. Graphics and Music, except where stated, by Jonathan Eggelton. This game and its code should be used in accordance with the Restrictions found on the Doctor Strange 2 program disk. Introduction ------------ This section details how to load the Doctor Strange Editor and install it onto a hard disk. Installing/Loading the Editor ----------------------------- The following section details how to copy Doctor Strange 2 to your hard disk, if you have one, and how to load it. Hard Disk Installation ---------------------- If you have a hard disk the editor can be copied and loaded from it. To do this: a) If it is not already turned off, turn off the Amiga and wait for twenty seconds. This should clear any programs resident in memory. b) Remove any disks from the floppy drives and turn on the Amiga. It should now boot up from the hard disk and load the Workbench. c) Insert the Doctor Strange 2 disk in the floppy drive. d) From the Workbench double click on the DoctorStrange2 disk icon. This will open the disk. A window showing the disks contents will appear. This should show the DoctorStrange2 drawer on the disk. e) Copy the DoctorStrange2 drawer from the disk to where you want it stored on your hard disk. To do this click and hold the left mouse button on the DoctorStrange2 drawer and, while keeping the mouse button held down, drag it to the destination. Once it is where you want it to be release the mouse button. The Doctor Strange 2 game and editor should now reside on your hard disk. Starting the Editor ------------------- The editor can be started from the original disk or a hard disk, if it has been installed. To load the editor: a) If it is not already turned off, turn off the Amiga and wait for twenty seconds. This should clear any programs resident in memory. b) Insert the Workbench disk in the floppy drive and turn on the Amiga. It should now boot up load the Workbench. If you have a hard disk you will just need to turn your Amiga on. c) Open the Doctor Strange 2 drawer. This can either be found on the DoctorStrange2 disk or on your hard disk if it is installed there. d) Double click on the ScreenEditor icon. The screen editor should now load and you will be presented with the start-up screen. Start-up Menu ------------- This is the first screen you are shown once the editor is loaded up. There are three options available from it. These are as follows: Screen Amend Takes you to the Screen Amendment screen. Icon Amend Take you to the Icon Amendment screen. Quit Exits the screen editor and returns to the Workbench. The required option can be selected by moving the mouse pointer over it and clicking. Icon Amending ------------- Each of the blocks used to construct a screen in the game are referred to as icons. This screen allows you to specify what each of these icons can be used for when constructing a screen. The icons are always loaded from the icons.abk file located in the graphics directory in the Doctor Strange 2 drawer. This file is loaded at start-up. Using Icon Amend ---------------- When the Icon Amend screen appears it is laid out as follows: Top Left: Image of icon currently being edited. Left: List of icon types, and listed to the right of each type whether the icon can be used as that type or not. Right: The Quit, Load and Save buttons. Selecting Icon to Modify ------------------------ To select an icon to modify, select the image of that icon. This is done by moving the pointer over the image panel and clicking the left mouse button moves forward through icons, clicking the right moves backwards. Modifying Icon Types -------------------- Each icon can be used for any of the seven types listed below. Beside each icon type is listed whether the currently selected icon can be used as that type. To change whether an icon is available for use as a particular type then select the Yes/No button beside the type you wish to change. This will change the option to either yes or no. The available types for icons are: Background Doctor can move through icon. Wall Doctor cannot move through icon. Platform Doctor can move through icon and stand on top of it. Object If Doctor touches icon it will be disappear and may also activate/deactivate other icon on screen. Hazard If Doctor touches icon he will lose a life. Exit Exit from present screen. Switch Activates/deactivates other icon on screen. Loading/Saving Icon Types File ------------------------------ What types an Icon can be used for can be loaded/saved into the Screen Editor. To do this select either the Load/Save icon and then enter a filename. This filename should have the file extension of .typ to indicate what type of file it is. Quitting -------- To quit the Icon Amend screen and return to the Start-up Menu, select the Quit Button. Screen Amending --------------- This is where each level in Doctor Strange 2 is constructed. Each section in the game is made up of five levels and you always edit a whole section at one time. Levels Appearance ----------------- In the background of the Screen Amendment screen is the appearance of the level. Each level is constructed on a grid twenty by sixteen. In each square of this grid a background icon is placed to form the look of the level. Control Panel ------------- The control panel floats in front of the level layout. It can be moved up and down by clicking and holding the left mouse button on it and then moving the mouse up and down. The Control Panel operates in three modes,General Setup, Monsters and Icons. Each mode has its own set of options but they all have a common set. Common Mode Options ------------------- These options are common to the three modes. Level Shows the level currently being edited. By selecting this the level being edited can be changed. Clicking the left mouse button goes to the next level, clicking the right one goes to the previous level. Position Display the x and y block number of the icon under the mouse pointer. Type Displays the type of icon currently under the mouse pointer. Mode Clicking on this moves to the next panel mode. Control Panel: Icons Mode ------------------------- To add icons to a level to give it its appearance you must first be on the Screen Amend screen. From the General Setup control panel click on Mode until you reach the Icons control panel. From this you can select icons and place them on the background. By clicking on the icon type of the left of the screen it will cycle through the types. Above it the images of what icons are available for those types will be displayed. For a description of the different icon types see Modifying Icon Types in the Icon Amend section, although background, wall and platform are the three main ones for screen construction. Once you have selected the icon type you want then you can select the icon you wish to place on the background. By clicking on the icon image above the Icon Type it will cycle through the available icons for that type. Once you have the image you want then you can paste it onto the screen. To paste the icon onto the screen you just need to click on the background section where you want the icon to be. If you cannot see the area where the icon should be pasted then you may need to drag the control panel out of the way first. If the icon you wish to paste is already on the background then clicking the right mouse button over that section of background will recall the icon and make it the current pastable one. Adding Objects -------------- Objects can be collected by Doctor Strange and in turn can activate different icons on the screen. These should be placed after the backgrounds are constructed as when they are collected the background behind them remains intact. To add an object select the Icon Type of Object and then select the object image you wish to paste. Doing this will also activate the panel to the right of the Icon Type. This panel is used to set the following things. The score given by collecting the object, the sound made when the object is collected, and whether another icon is activated when the object is collected. Starting at the bottom of the panel, the first item is the objects score. By clicking on this you can change the score. This will always jump is steps of one hundred. The next item is the sound the object makes. This is from the sound bank that the game will load when run. By clicking the left mouse button it will cycle forwards through the sounds. By pressing the right mouse button it will play that sound. The next item is what type of icon will appear on screen when the object is collected. This can only be a piece of background, a platform, a wall or an exit or no icon. By clicking on it it will cycle through the available options. If an icon type other than none is selected then you can amend the icons image by clicking on it. You can also specify where it will appear by clicking on the x and y co-ordinates once and then clicking on the background at the position where it should appear. To place the object click on the background where it is to be located. If you need to amend the object then clicking the right mouse button while the pointer is over it will recall the object. You may then make any required amendments to it. Once this is done then the object must be put back onto the background by clicking on its location or all the changes will be lost. There is a limited to how many objects can be placed on the screen and a bell will sound when this limit is reached. Adding Switches --------------- Switches activate an icon on another part of the screen and make it appear/disappear. They are adding in exactly the same way as objects expect the icon type of switch should be selected. Adding a Hazards to a Level --------------------------- Hazards will kill Doctor Strange if he comes into contact with them. To add a hazard select the icon type of hazard and then select the hazard image you wish to paste. To place it on the background click on the position on the screen where the hazard is to appear. There is a limited to how many hazards can be placed on the screen and a bell will sound when this limit is reached. Adding Exits ------------ For Doctor Strange to finish a level an exit must be located on the screen. This can either be on the screen when it is started, or alternatively appear when an object is collected. If the exit is to appear when the level is started then to add the exit select the icon type of exit and then select the exit image you wish to paste. To place it on the background click on the position on the screen where the exit is to appear. There is no limited to how many exits are on a screen but they all lead to the next level. Other Options ------------- By clicking on the game mode panel the screen will be shown as it is in the Doctor Strange 2 game. This area can be moved around by using the joystick. By clicking on game mode again it will return to normal. The control panel can be hidden by clicking on the Hide panel. To return the control panel click any button on the mouse. Control Panel: General Setup Mode --------------------------------- For each level you must set the start position of Doctor Strange and the time limit that the level must be completed in. This is done from the General Setup mode of the control panel. This is the initial mode when Screen Amend is entered. Setting Start Position ---------------------- The starting position of Doctor Strange is set by clicking on the Start panel and then moving the pointer over the block where he is to start. Clicking the mouse will select that block as the start position. Setting Time Limited -------------------- To set the time limit for a level click on the time panel. By clicking the left mouse button the time will be increased, clicking the right it will be decreased. Loading/Saving Sections ----------------------- Sections can be loaded and saved so that they can be edited and loaded into the main game. To load a section clicking on the load panel. This will bring up a file requester asking for the location and name of the section. Select the directory where the file to be loaded is located and double click on the file to load To save a section is done by clicking on the save panel. The is will bring up a file requester asking for the location and name of the section to save. Select the directory to save the file and type the name of the file. The default file extension of .scr should be used on files as this is what the load/save option uses as a filter. Quit ---- The quit the screen amend section and returns to the main menu. This does not lose the section currently being edited and returning to screen amend will show this screen. Control Panel: Monsters Mode ---------------------------- Moving hazards can be added to each level. A hazard will always follow a fixed path or stand still. Up to ten moving hazards can be added to a level. Adding a Monster ---------------- To add a monster to a level follow these steps. Select the monster number to amend by clicking on the Monster panel. This will cycle through the ten monsters. The monsters form can be changed by clicking on the image of the monster. Beneath the monster panel is the monsters strength panel. A monster can be either invincible or shootable. If they are shootable then they will be stunned by Doctor Stranges Splurge Gun. Some monsters cannot be shootable and this option will not be able to be changed. By clicking on this is will switch between the two states. The next panel down the screen is the monsters score. This is only relevant if the monster can be shot because a monster will is shot can be collected. This can be changed by clicking on it. It will change in steps of one hundred. The next panel down is the sound the monster makes when collected. Again this is only relevant if the monster can be shot because a monster will is shot can be collected. This sound comes from the sound bank that the game will load when run. By clicking the left mouse button it will cycle forwards through the sounds. By pressing the right mouse button it will play that sound. A monster can be in three states. Not-active, static and straight. If a monster is static it will not appear on the screen, if it is static then it will not move and if it is straight it will follow a straight path. The position of the monster, and its movement, is set by the start and end panels. This can only be changed is the monster is static or straight. They can be changed by clicking on the panel and then moving the pointer to the background block to either start/end. By clicking on the block that panel will be set. Amending a Monster ------------------ A monster can be amended by selecting it and then changing the relevant parameters. Other Bits ---------- By clicking on the view button then control panel will disappear and the monsters will start following their paths. By clicking the mouse the control panel will reappear.