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Text File | 1995-08-23 | 17KB | 418 lines

_________________________________________________________________________ \ / \ / \ / ) ####### #### ( / /\ ### ### ## /\ \ ( /\ / \ ### ### ### / \ /\ ) \___/\ / \ / \ ### ### ## \ / \ /\ ___/ / \/ \ / \ /###### \ #### \ / \ / \/ \ ( \/ \ / ### ### \ / \ / \/ ) \ \/ ### ### \/ \/ / ) ### ### ( / \ / By Bruce Webster \ / \ ============== LEVEL EDITOR ============== CHOOSING a levelset: -------------------- The level editor starts by showing you all the levels available, just like the game itself. You may edit any existing levelset, or start a new one with "Create NEW". New levelsets may be on a leveldisk (which will be formatted for you) or in the R3 directory (for hard-disk users only - There is no room on the main R3 disk for any levelsets.) Just follow the questions given after clicking on Create NEW. You can cancel at any time (except after the disk-format has already begun!) See "Technical Details" for more info. EDITING the levelset: --------------------- A levelset is made up of a map of blocks. All the available blocks are shown on the right hand side of the screen. You use these blocks to draw with, just like in a paint program. The level itself is shown on the left. The LEFT mousebutton is used for drawing on the level, and for selecting blocks and buttons on the control panel. The RIGHT mousebutton erases whatever is under the pointer. The very top-right of the screen shows your location on the level (row and column). Under this is the name of the current level - eg "2pMission3" means two-player Mission level, number 3. The last line at the top describes the current block you are drawing with. R3 uses some clever copper instructions in order to make levels wrap around in all directions. There are some technical limitations though: You should not allow player one into a small area at the top-right of any level. Nothing too bad will happen, but a yukky line will appear on the other player's screen. This area is shown as a boxed off section every time the level is cleared (or when you start a new level). "0" line: The top of the first row (with a zero in the margin) has some restrictions. The level-editor will not allow you to place animations overlapping the "0" line and it is not possible for a player to land exactly on the "0" line (even if it is flat). You are not allowed to edit the Original.levels MISSIONS that come with the registered version of R3. That would be cheating :-). You can look at the dogfight levels, though. You can even ADD to the Original dogfight levels, by going to level 18 (level 17 is the last existing level). If you want to see some examples of mission levels, you could look at the DEMO.levels from the demo version of R3 (by copying them onto hard-disk or a level-disk). For most requestors in the editor, pressing the first letter of the word on the button is the same as clicking on the button. ie "O" for "OK", "C" for "CANCEL"... COMMANDS: ========= Button: Description: Keyboard equivalent: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Save Saves current level to disk. S A "Test" (see below) is made to make sure there are no problems with the level. If there is a problem, the level will not be saved. Goto Allows you to go to any level number, G but does not change modes. ie if you are in "1pMission4" and goto 10, you will end up in "1pMission10" < Moves down one level - > Moves up one level + (actually =) 1P Changes mode to one-player levels F1 2P Changes mode to one-player levels F2 D.F. Changes mode to Dogfight levels F3 Brush Click with LEFT mousebutton: Make new brush B Click with RIGHT mousebutton: Use brush V Allows you to cut out a brush from the level to draw with (Works the same way as paint programs). To cut out a new brush (after clicking on brush): Choose one corner (it doesn't have to be top left). Now click and hold down the left mouse button while dragging the mouse to the opposite corner. Release the button, and you ave a brush. Only the outline of the brush is shown until you draw with it. Undo Un-does the last thing you drew on the level. U CLR Clears the entire level. Note: This does NOT destroy a level if it was F10 saved. No changes are ever written to disk until you save. Palette Opens a palette requestor. Each level can P have its own unique palette. The keys "[" and "]" move up and down one colour, and keys 0 through 9 load a preset palette. Friction Opens a requestor to adjust gravity, air and F water friction for this level. Test Checks to see if there are any problems with the level - eg A mission level with no boxes to pick up would give an error. Test also draws in the waves on water. Note: A test is automatically done every time you save. ReDraw Redraws the level. R Sometimes junk from partly-deleted things can get left behind. This tidies things up. This also draws in the waves on water. OTHER KEYS: ----------- Cursor Move UP. The level is twice as high as what is shown on the UP screen. Moving up and down allows you to edit all of the level. Cursor Move Down. DOWN M Pick up the block under the pointer. This is to save time going back and forth to the block-panel. If you see the block you want on the level, just point to it and press M. X Mirrors current block OR brush in the X direction. Very handy for quickly designing large symmetrical levels. Not all blocks mirror. For example, trying to mirror the default brush of a large base will result in a jumbled mess. However, for Tri, bar, pipe and other block patterns, this is great. Y Mirrors current block OR brush in the Y direction. , Previous block. Uses the block left one from the current block. Similar blocks are grouped together, so this saves time. . Next block. 0...9 Load a default palette. There are 10 predefined palettes. This also works while in the palette requestor. Q Esc QUIT the level-editor. LEVEL OBJECTS: ============== COLLECTABLES: ------------- Fuel: Refuel unit, marked "FUEL": Infinite supply of fuel for any player who lands on it. Fuel capsule, marked "F": Increases fuel once only. Shield: Energy disc: Boosts shield once only. Full Repair: Completely re-energizes shield and repair damage, but only once. Money: Gives 400c once only. Stand: A "Stand" block is the same height as money,shield and fuel capsules. If placed either side, stands make landing on any of these easier. Boxes: Boxes come in three sizes (weights). They can be placed anywhere on the ground in mission levels, so long as the object they are sitting on is land-on-able. Some blocks are called land-on-able, but more that just those can be used. Not all flat surfaces are OK, because some can be damaged by bullet-fire (and once the ground is bumpy, it cannot be landed on). For upside boxes, the underside of the square above must be land-on-able. Keys: You need these for locked doors. There is only one kind of key. Keys can be above OR below any land-on-able square. It may not look quite right in the level-editor, but the game itself will reposition the key so that is is correct. If a key is vertically between two solid squares, it is no longer considered a collectable key, and is ignored. All of the above objects copy the background square above them (or below for upside-down things). For example, a box under water looks silly in the level editor - a black square in the middle of the water. In the game however, the water is copied under the box. This happens with all background patterns. SPECIAL BLOCKS: --------------- Bases: There are five kinds of bases - including one upside down. Each player has a base which they start from. Bases are described as "Player Base". Hint Arrows: These are ignored by the game - they are simply meant to help the player figure out what to do. By convention, arrows indicate where a player should go FIRST. Fans: Blows players. These animate. Gravity objects: These pull players towards them. They have a large radius. Exploding blocks: These small white blocks explode. Removable pillars: These spotty pillars can be shot away, or rapidly removed with missiles. Deflectors: Any ammunition bounces off deflectors. Useful for puzzles, shooting round corners, etc. FireAtStart: These fire four bullets - up, down, left and right - at the very start of the level. Useful in conjunction with deflectors. DOORS: Locked doors: Just draw the left-hand frame of a locked door, and the door will appear. The right-hand doorframe is not compulsory. Of course, KEYS are needed before the players can get though one of these. Push-button doors: RUSTY doors need to have a BUTTON square nearby to activate them. When you place a RUSTY door, a circle will appear in all possible locations for a corresponding button. Automatic doors: These come in three varieties. Two way ("+"), One way (arrow) and 1-player only (symbol) Choose a door frame and draw it on the level. Usually, the same symbol is placed above AND below a door - if the top of the door exists, the bottom is ignored by the game. Clicking more than once causes a door to toggle open/closed. This sets the starting position for the door. Bullet Gate: This gizmo opens and closes when BUTTONs in line with it are shot, allowing the player to shoot through it. Tiny circles appear, showing all possible places that a button will activate the gate. Lifts: Lifts help transport you up and down treacherous passageways. To make a lift, draw a vertical line with the "Lift SHAFT" block. The lift will start at the top of this shaft. A lift shaft cannot cross the "0" line. The right-hand side of the lift shaft is not compulsory. To make a lift start at the BOTTOM, remove one block from the lift SHAFT (anywhere between the top and bottom). You can think of this as "chopping it in half, so the lift falls down to the bottom". Well, I thought it made sense at the time. ;-) The lift platform itself is NOT shown in the level-editor. Teleporters: A bright teleporter (marked 'T') will teleport anything (ammo or players) to a dark-coloured tele-receiver. Teleporters are counted from the top of the level (the "0" line) down, running across each row. The first teleporter found is matched up with the first tele-receiver, and so on. If there are the same number of teleporters and receivers, each teleporter links up to its corresponding telereceiver. If there are more teleporters than telereceivers, all of the excess teleporters will go to the last telereceiver found. Eg: If a level has five teleporters and only one receiver, all of the teleporters will go to the same place. If there are more telereceivers than teleporters, the last teleporter will go to each of the telereceivers in turn. Briefly, teleporters and receivers are matched one-to-one until one of the two run out. Then, a one-to-many link is made with any leftovers. Just try out a few combinations. Water: Water has buoyancy, against the direction of gravity. The water-wave animation is five blocks wide. This means that the surface of water should always be a multiple of five blocks wide. Pressing the TEST or REDRAW button draws in the water-waves. If they overlap any walls or look silly, you may have to change the width of the surface area. Enemies: You have probably met most of these playing the game at some stage: DOME gun: Likes to stay closed and protected Missile launcher: Launches just one missile. Missile tube: Launches lots and lots. Blippy gun: Shoots in two directions. Note that the body of this gun is added when you place the top part. Dish gun: Dangerous. Dishes can be protected by placing "dish-protectors" in adjacent squares of them. These allow dish-bullets through, but do not allow the player to hit the dish! Chain gun: Very dangerous. Chain guns can move down five blocks from their starting position. Make sure you leave this area blank. MultiRocket: Truly horrific, nasty, evil enemy. Clamper: These cannot be shot, and do not do much damage. They are just a hassle. Radio gun: Shoots a ring of bullets. The radio gun itself is indestructible. However, to power it, it needs a radio POWER block, placed somewhere to the right of the base of the radio gun. The radio POWER is easy to kill, but can be placed behind walls. Wire will automatically be drawn between the radio gun and the POWER unit (even over walls, etc.) in the game, but NOT in the level editor. If you want to be REALLY mean, you can join up to _FOUR_ POWER blocks to one Radio gun. Technical Details ----------------- You should NOT have too many enemies (or other animations) too close together. If too many enemies are placed in a small area, some will not shoot - making them sitting ducks for the players who just rack up points. It is best to have only about four enemies firing at once. You can increase the difficulty by giving them cover (surrounding walls that make the guns difficult to shoot). For example, you can use dish-protectors for dish guns. You can put semisolids or removable pillars in front of bullet-firing guns and Missile tubes can be recessed into walls. Each level set has its own directory, containing up to 99 of each kind of level (1player, 2player and dogfight). Every level is saved as a separate file. The level editor updates a file called "desc" when saving. "desc" tells the game how many 1player, 2player and dogfight levels there are. If this file is missing, the level editor will re-create it. A Level-Disk contains a normal level-set directory, along with a ships directory. The ships directory holds all ship data so that no disk swapping is required during the game.