100 Best Shareware & Freeware Games/100 Games.iso/Action/Meteor/BASE/HELP/MAPEDIT.TXT

Text File | 2001-01-22 | 5.7 KB | 140 lines

Editing and Making Maps

Maps are made using the Map Editor which can be accessed from the main
menu under "Tools\Map Editor".  A lot has work has gone into making the
Map Editor easy to use because I want to encourage people to make their
own maps. If you are making any of your own sprites, units or whatever
you are going to need to create a map to put them on so getting to know
the Map Editor certainly pays off.


Edit Modes

There are a number of edit modes which control what you are editing on
your map, the sub-sections below give a brief outline of these edit modes.


Placing Tiles

Maps are made up from a number of things but the base terrain is a layer
of tiles. Think of of a map as being a giant bitmap with tiles representing
pixels. Like a bitmap the terrain tiles are simpy "painted" on over whatever
existing tiles are underneath using the mouse. To select a tile click on
the "Select Tile" button on the Map Editor toolbar.

If you want to cover a large area with tiles then you can set the tile
brush size by clicking the "Set Tile Brush Size" button on the Map Editor
toolbar.

Note that the main tileset contains 1024 tiles and is global to all maps.
If you wish to make your own tiles you should first create an extended
tileset. An extended tileset adds another 1024 tiles to the tile count, you
can use the same extended tileset for several maps. The idea behind this is
that you can distribute your own tilesets with your maps without people
having to replace their main tileset.

Tiles are made using the Tile Editor.


Placing Sprites

Sprites are objects that are placed on top of the terrain, a good example
of a sprite would be a tree or a spinning radar dish. To select a sprite
to place on your map click the "Select Sprite" button on the Map Editor
toolbar.

Note that units are displayed using sprites (i.e. each unit has at least one
sprite).  Be careful not to place sprites on your map instead of units!
Units are surrounded by a red box within the Map Editor.

Sprites are made using the Sprite Editor.


Placing Units

Game units (monsters) are placed in the same way as sprites. In the Map
Editor units are surrounded by a red border. To select a unit to place on
your map use the "Select Unit" button on the Map Editor toolbar.

Units are made using the Race Editor.


Placing Power Ups

Power ups are again just "plonked" on the map like sprites and units. In
the Map Editor power ups are surrounded by a green border. To select a power
up to place on your map click the "Select Power Up" button on the Map
Editor toolbar from where a menu containing all available power ups will
appear. New power ups can not currently be created although this may
change if somebody asks me.

Placing Player Start Points

Each map has three player start points, one for the single player/player 1,
player 2 cooperative and player 2 head to head start points. When a new
map is created these 3 start points are placed near the top left corner of
the map. Player start points are not removable things, they exist on all
maps, when you place a player start point you are infact relocating it.
To select a player start point to move click the "Move Player Start Point"
button on the Map Editor toolbar and select the start point that you wish
to move from the menu, you can then just click the desired player start
location on the map.

Note that Meteor is currently single player only.  The two player start
points are there fore future expansion!


Placing Message and Creating Message Triggers

Using message triggers you can make messages appear in the centre of the
screen whenever a player walks over a certain trigger. Each map can have
a list of up to 48 strings to which you can associate message triggers
to each string. Note that message triggers do not work in head to head
games.

Using the toolbar buttons you can browse, add and remove strings from your
map's message string list. The "Select" button returns you to the main
Map Editor in "Message Triggers" mode and allows you to place message
triggers associated with the current string. The "Done" button returns
to the main Map Editor without changing the edit mode. You can have
many message triggers associated with one message string.


Map Titles and Authors

Every map has a title which is displayed on the game screen when the map
is been played in the game. To set the title of your map use the "Change
Map Title" button on the Map Editor toolbar.

The map author name is also displayed in the game along with the title.
You can set the author name (your name!) for the map by clicking the
"Change Map Author" button on the Map Editor toolbar. There is also a
"slot" for you to put your email or web site address on your map. Use
the "Change Author Email/Net Address" button on the Map Editor toolbar
to add your details if desired. You never know I may be contacting you
to ask if you want to some make maps for my next game!

Your map is your creation so you may as well take some credit for it.


Mission Briefings

Making a briefing for your map is a easy as can be.  Simply create a
text file with the same name as the map but with the ".txt" file
extension (i.e. the briefing for "start.map" will be called "start.txt"
and put it in the "maps" directory (usually in "base\maps").

Don't forget to distribute your briefing file with your map!


Shifters (Teleporters)

Shifters are simply tiles, just select 2 of the special Shifter tiles
and place them on your map (you should only have 2 of each tile per
map).

Note that that Shifters will shift any unit that walks onto them as
well as the player.  Tip: You should leave a space of at least one
1 tile all the way around a shifter so that units can actually step
off them!