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1993-11-26
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193 lines
HOW TO CREATE BETTER GAMES ON S.E.U.C.K
---------------------------------------
By ANDREW FEZ FEREDAY!
1.EDIT SPRITES
------------
I tend to use a white and two greys in my average colour set up,as they
can be used alot for metal effects or base-relief style gfx.
Always leave the first colour spare as it is only used as a background
colour for your sprites to stand out of.
Always have it as a totally different colour to what you are using in
your sprites.
Your second sprite colour is your game over colour,so think ahead incase
for example you have it black and one of your levels is black then your
score will not be visible on that particuliar level.
If you are having a black outline on your sprites or need a cockpit etc:
then use one of the remaining colours.
I always have a red/orange and yellow for explosions and the remaining
colour could be anything depending on your game in question.
I always leave sprite number 99 blank for spaces in animations or flashes
etc:
2.EDIT OBJECTS
------------
This at first is very complicated but in a while it gets easier.
If for example you want to insert you animation as an enemy,simply click
on object + sign untill you get to enemy 1,then insert the respective
frames in the windows in their order,by clicking on the sprite + sign
untill you can see your sprite animation frames in the window below.
When you can see the individual frames in any of the 17 windows,look
above the animate sign to view the animation.Alter the last frame + sign
to how many frames you require,look again at the window above animate to
see if it is alright.If your animation is for example 4 frames then place
the last frame to 3,has it always goes one frame above.If your animation
is animating too fast or slow then click on delay + or - .If you are want
for example a 360 degree walking man or tracking gun turret,click on the
animate sign,it now changes to direct with your animation windows split
accordingly.You now have in the middle,2 stand still frames,2 moving up
and 2 moving down.Then 2 moving left and right and lastly 2 for the 4
diagonals.You do all the above for player 1/2 player animations,bullets,
deaths and enemy deaths,bullets and enemies.
A FEW HELPFUL TIPS ON EDIT OBJECTS
----------------------------------
Explosions look effective in 5 - 6 frames,as when you use more,the slower
the animation.
Its wise to use a particuliar explosion for quite a few enemies as it can
help you out later on,same goes for bullets.
Use an enemy death for flashing bonus scores etc:
It also helps to copy an enemy to another object and change its enemy
bits eg: so you can different firing same enemies or faster.
3.EDIT ENEMY BITS (EDIT OBJECTS)
------------------------------
This is the fun part!
Simply alter the parameters to what you need.
eg:speed of enemy,hits to kill it,fire direction,fire rate,bullet speed,
sfx,explosion object,bullet object.
Also if you or the enemy dies on collision or if the bullet dies and the
enemy dies when hit by bullet.
4.EDIT BACKGROUND
---------------
Best thing to do first is select colours and define what you will need.
I always leave block 0 blank or black for use in still screens.
Simply click on edit blocks and start drawing some blocks.
When you first start creating a game its always best to create a brief
background to demonstrate your player sprites against.To display your
player,simply click on player limitations and then click on edit
parameters and click on player enabled + sign to make it yes,then ship
speed to 1 - 10,amount bullets,direction of fire,bullet duration,speed,
fire rate,then leave the rest untill you need to later on.Then click
out and edit play area using your joystick in the players port to how
far it can move.Then edit start position and click on screen with your
joystick where you want to start in your set play area.Do the same for
player 2 as for player 1.
A FEW HELPFUL HINTS ON CREATING GFX FOR LEVELS
----------------------------------------------
I tend to do an average of 4 levels per game and use an average of 20
background blocks per level depending on the detail needed.Its best to
think ahead of levels to come and how much detail you will need.
5.EDIT ATTACK WAVES
-----------------
To place your enemies in your game,simply click on insert enemy,then
scroll up to where on the level you want them,then press fire and it
will now scroll slow so you can exactly pinpoint the place.Press fire
and either move it around the screen or just leave it and click out.
Its best to join enemies for end of level guardians on still screens
or you can join to a moving enemy so it can have the same course eg:
formation attack waves.Becarefull when deleting enemies,especially on
joined enemies as the other moving enemies will no longer move.
6.EDIT LEVELS
-----------
To define a level or levels simply click on edit current level map,
push down on joystick to define the start of the level and push up
for the end of the level.Then click out then click on edit level
paremeters and alter the set up eg:level 1,scroll speed 2,level type
scrolling,end of level redraw.For still screens of any sort eg:end of
level guardians,mid level guardians,simply alter duration to what you
want then level type,still then end of level redraw for end of level
guardians or continue for mid level guardians.
If you need to display for example level 1,then define a still screen
with your required duration,then define the proper level with exact
same start level gfx other than the level 1 display blocks.You could
for example have a level map in the same way.
7.EDIT IFF SOUND
--------------
This is pretty easy to use,simply stick disk 1 of SEUCK in the drive
then click on new iff sound directory and type in either sound1,2,3
then return then click on the required samples.If you need other
samples you need to put them in a directory on disk.All the parameters
are pretty self explanetory,to create loads of different sounds from
1 sample,alter the replay rate up/down,it also saves you much needed
memory for other samples.
8.EDIT PLYR LIMITATIONS
---------------------
I mentioned this earlier in the article and now you should,if your
followed these tips in order no what to do,Just alter to what you need
in your finished game.
FURTHER HELPFUL TIPS:-
--------------------
To cut down on using up all of your attack waves,place random firing
gun emplacements in set places.Parallax is artificially possible by
inserting an enemy with no collision/with collisions eg:clouds floating
by,starfields,astetroids or background.Put in incidental animation in
the sam way eg:fires,smoke from chimneys,blinking eyes,flashing lights
etc:To create atmospheric sfx eg:wind sfx.birds whistling,computer blips
,echoing,roaring aliens simply insert an enemy firing away from the
screen off screen totally to achieve this.Because of the structure of
S.E.U.C.K most released games are too hard to play due to to many bullets
or the enemy needing to many hits.Play test your game or better still
let a mate do it as youll no where the aliens appear.I am a victim to
this as my second game RAID,i concentrated solely on gfx and thus it
is very hard to get past level 1.Thankfully now,my games are alot more
playable.I think scroll speed 1 no good as you end up putting more
enemies on screen to compensate for the slowness.To create tanks or
gun emplacements that look as if they track you simply,edit the enemies
bits and change speed to 0 then insert the enemy and move it around,
holding for a few seconds at each angle.If your competant at using
utilities,then to have a black screen instead of the S.E.U.C.K game
loader then load the saved game into newzap or similiar file editor
and type in game loader to view the game loader,then delete the text.
Same for the flashing PRESS FIRE TO PLAY when your game is loaded,
simply,type in PRESS FIRE TO PLAY and change it to what you require,
though becareful not to delete any other text or files,same goes for
loader.To collect bonuses/1ups,edit enemy bits and change collision to
enemy die yes and ship,enemy and bullet die to no.
A FEW FINAL WORDS
-----------------
I hope the above tips help you in any way at all,as, S.E.U.C.K may
seem easy,but it takes a while to fully use it properly.I have been
making S.E.U.C.K games for over 3 years now,so i must know a bit on
how to get the most out of it,if you have any queries contact me on the
phone number below or write to me if you want,ill try and help out.
ANDREW (FEZ) FEREDAY
30 ERRINGTON ROAD
ARBOURTHORNE
SHEFFIELD 2
S2 2EG
TEL:-(0742)650707 - 5-6 PM WEEKDAYS
ASK FOR ANDY!
BELOW IS A LIST OF MY RELEASED GAMES AVAILABLE ON ASSASSIN GAME PAKS OR
ON THEIR OWN AVAILABLE FROM ME OR MOST P.D COMPANIES.
SERENE 1-3
RAID 1-4
SKYFLYER 1-2
SECTOR ONE
FURMYRE
BOP N PLOP
INTENSE(SECTOR ONE REBORN)
INTENSE(REBORN AGAIN(REMIX))
LATEST FEB 94 - PEEBEE(REVENGE IS CUTE).
End.
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