GEDIT BreakFree Game Grid Editor by Software Storm Inc. IMPORTANT!!! IMPORTANT!!! IMPORTANT!!! IMPORTANT!!! IMPORTANT!!! If you are not going to read this whole document, please at least read the IMPORTANT GUIDELINES section at the end of this document. If you do not follow these guidelines, you may create a level that will not work properly with BreakFree. IMPORTANT!!! IMPORTANT!!! IMPORTANT!!! IMPORTANT!!! IMPORTANT!!! GEDIT is used to edit the layout (grid) of a game level. Level grid files have the naming convention MAZE00.GRD where 00 is the level number from 01 to 72. All you need to know when loading a grid file is the element name or element number. Levels in BreakFree are numbered 1 - 72 and named Hydrogen through Hafnium. To run: ======= Command-line Syntax -- GEDIT [filename] If a file name is specified, GEDIT will load that grid file as the initial game grid. If there is no file name, GEDIT starts with a blank 32 by 32 grid. GEDIT must be run in the same directory as BRKFREE.MLB. BRKFREE.MLB contains many files within it. Several of those files are needed just for loading GEDIT. Once GEDIT is loaded, the level files you edit will be extracted from BRKFREE.MLB and saved as external files. Your original copy of BRKFREE.MLB will never be modified. If you ever want to restore the original grid file for a level, just erase or rename the grid file that GEDIT created outside of BRKFREE.MLB. The game will automatically revert to loading the file from BRKFREE.MLB. Once in GEDIT you will see three primary boxes or screens and a few "buttons" across the top of the screen. The buttons do exactly what they say they do. The three screens are used for selection, editing, and display purposes. The bar across the bottom of the screen is used for system messages and for text input. +---------+----------+---------+-----------+---------+-----------------+ | NEW | LOAD | SAVE | SAVE AS | EXIT | POS: coordinates| +---------+----------+---------+-----------+---------+-----------------+ | SIZE: X,Y BACK FILE: MAZExx.GRD| WALLS | | | | | | | | | | | | wall | | | palette | | | | | | | | grid | | | edit area | | | |-----------------| | | | | | current | | | wall | | | image | | | | | | | | MEM: bytes FRONT LEVEL: name | | +----------------------------------------------------+-----------------+ | status and input line | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ The large box covering the middle and left portions of the screen is usually the edit screen. This is where a grid of the currently selected level is usually displayed. The wall image selection palette and help text also appear here. The small box in the lower right corner of the screen is used for displaying the currently selected wall image. That will give you some idea of what wall you are working with. The mid-sized box in the upper right corner is usually refered to as the wall palette. Each wall is represented by a color block and name. You can move through this palette using the standard cursor movement keys. Active Screen and Cursor: ========================= You can select which screen is "active" by pressing tab to toggle back and forth between the edit and wall palette screens. A yellow border is drawn around the currently active screen. Within each screen there is a cursor (small yellow box) to indicate the active element on that screen. For instance, in the grid edit area, the cursor is on the grid position that can be modified. In the wall palette, the cursor indicates the current wall that would be put in the grid. In general, the process of editing is to select walls from the wall palette and set them in the grid using the mouse or keys. To make a grid position empty, select the "" wall, and put that in the desired grid position. When using the mouse, you may draw solid boxes or empty rectangles by drawing with the mouse button down. Hold the left button down to draw a solid box of the currently selected wall. Hold the right button down to draw the outside of a rectangle with the currently selected wall. When you choose New, the new grid will be filled with the currently selected wall. Usually, you will want to select the wall before choosing New. If you want to change the size of a grid, but want to preserve its contents, use the Copy and Paste options. You can Copy a rectangular region to a separate buffer, choose New to create a new grid with the desired dimensions, then position the cursor and press "P" to paste the saved region into the new grid. Commands: ========= You can see this list of commands inside GEDIT by pressing the F1 key. F1 -- Help screen. A -- Save As, prompts for user to enter file name to save C -- Copy, Prompts to mark two corners of area to copy to paste buffer. E -- Extract (Eyedropper), move palette to wall that edit cursor is currently on. F -- Floor, prompts user to select the floor and ceiling colors for the grid. I -- Identity (level name), prompts the user to enter a name for the level. (Level name is saved to the LEVELxx.GAM file immediately) L -- Load, prompts the user to enter a file to load. N -- New, initializes new grid in the size specified. O -- Origin, prompts the user to enter coordinates for the starting position. (Position is saved to the LEVELxx.GAM file immediately) P -- Paste, copies contents of paste buffer to area starting at cursor location. S -- Save, saves current grid to file already specified. T -- Time, prompts the user to enter number of seconds for the level. (Time is saved to the LEVELxx.GAM file immediately) W -- Walls, show an image pallette of walls in the main edit area. Z -- Set Zoom, prompts for new zoom setting. Tab -- Toggles between the palette and edit windows. Space -- Sets currently selected wall to grid position selected in edit window. Q, X, ESC -- Exit GEDIT. Up, Down, Left, Right -- Move cursor in either edit area or wall palette. +, - -- Zoom in/out, magnifies or shrinks edit display. Home, End -- Move to first or last pixel in current row on screen. PgUp, PgDn -- Move to Top or Bottom pixel in current column on screen. Scroll Lock -- Toggle on/off paint as cursor moves. Explanation of effects: ========================================================== WARNING - you may spoil the game if you read this section! ========================================================== There are 5 styles of walls, which we refer to as motifs: brick steel cave water hidden Each wall is named to identify the motif and wall type. The first letter of the wall name is the first letter of the motif (B, S, C, W, or H). The rest of the name indicates what type of wall it is. In the list below, the first part of the name for the wall type is shown in parentheses. Within each motif, there are 50 different walls. The walls have different effects that they produce. Hopefully, during play you have learned all the different ways that walls behave, but here are the general wall categories: impregnable walls (IMPREG) - 3 per motif. These walls cannot be destroyed. bad wall (BAD) - every motif has 1 bad wall (with a skull on it). These walls are usually positioned behind the player (on the back wall) and will "eat" the fireballs. explosion walls (EXPL) - these can be placed on a level, but they will disappear immediately when the user starts the level. They are used for animating wall explosions and are normally not placed on a level. normal walls (NORM) - walls that are destroyable, but have no extra effect. effect walls (name varies) - release objects, or affect the walls around them. animation walls (ANI) - present a continuous animation until destroyed. multi-hit walls (MULTI) - walls that must be hit multiple times to be destroyed. reserved walls (RESERV) - these walls are currently reserved and should not be used. Example session: 1) Start GEDIT. At the DOS command prompt, while in the BRKFREE directory, type: GEDIT MAZE01.GRD or GEDIT HYDROGEN or GEDIT 1 GEDIT will start, and the HYDROGEN level will be displayed. 2) Select a wall to place. KEYS: Press TAB to get to the wall palette, then use the arrow keys and page up/page down to choose a wall. MOUSE: Use the scroll buttons in the wall palette to see different walls, then choose a wall with the mouse. 3) Place the wall on the grid. KEYS: Press TAB to get back to the edit area. Use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the grid position where you want to place the wall. Press the spacebar to put the selected wall in that position. MOUSE: Use the scroll buttons (if any) to scroll the grid to the area you need. Select a grid position with the mouse. 4) Save grid. KEYS: Press S to save the grid as the current name. MOUSE: Choose the SAVE button to save the grid as the current name. 5) Exit GEDIT. KEYS: Press X to Exit GEDIT. MOUSE: Choose the EXIT button. Very Important Guidelines: ========================== - In order for the game to run within 540000 bytes, the memory needed by a grid shouldn't go above 110000 bytes. Watch the MEM: indicator in the lower left corner of the display. The amount of memory needed is different for different types of walls because of the amount of animation cells required to display the walls. - You can choose your own ceiling and floor colors for interesting effects. Press F to select new floor and ceiling colors. - Make sure that every level you design has an outside edge that is solid. This means a level should be completely surrounded by walls that cannot be destroyed (either impregnable or bad). If this is not the case, then the ball can get loose and the program may have problems. - The player starting position should be in an open space in the grid, as displayed in GEDIT. The usual starting position is in the lower right corner of the grid. Do not fill that section of the level with walls, unless you change the player starting position (origin). Also, make sure the player can get to the rest of the grid from this starting position.