A.C.E. 1/ACE CD 1.iso/files/docs/dune1doc.lha/Dune.doc1

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 29KB | 598 lines

            DUNE - Developer's Universal Non-programming Environment

Typed by ZIGOR of THE PUNISHERS, with help from CAPTAIN ZED.


INTRODUCTION
Developer's Universal Non-Programming Environment - DUNE - is a games writing
package  from CRL that allows you to link together pictures, animations, text
files,  music  files, sound samples and executable programs.  In the finished
product,  the user is moved from one display to another simply by clicking on
different areas of the screen.

Each  screen  is  made  up of a picture or an animation and is called a SHOT.
Sounds, text files or programs are linked to one particular shot.  You define
the  way  the  user  moves  between  one  shot  and another using BUTTONS and
AVENUES.

Writing  a game using DUNE requires no programming ability - hence the name -
although  an understanding of the way the Amiga's operating system works is a
help!

DUNE  currently works on the Commodore Amiga.  It can be used on an A500 with
one floppy drive although two drives makes it a lot easier.  It is hoped that
versions  of  DUNE will be available in the future running on PC compatibles,
the Acorn Archimedes and the Atari ST [Not now you've gone bust - Ed.]

This  documentation  refers to V2.2.  If you have an earlier version of DUNE,
please contact CRL for an update [You'll get fuck all reply - Ed.]

BOOTING DUNE
Boot  the  disk  and load the DUNE program from Workbench.  Press the Esc key
when you see the DUNE logo to get back to the control screen.

THE DUNE CONTROL SCREEN
The Control Screen is split into four windows:

The Shot Information window
The current Button Information window
A miniture of the current shot
The Score Conditional Route window (not yet implemented)

If  you're  starting a new game you need to remove any button data associated
with  the DUNE logo and define your own buttons or you may wish to get rid of
the  DUNE  logo  entirely  and  start  your  game  with  your  own picture or
animation.

SHOTS
Click  the  right mouse button and the menu bar will appear at the top of the
screen.  There are six menus - PROJECT, ACT, SHOT, BUTTON, DISK and TEST.

Select  the  SHOT  menu  and  move  the  mouse until NEW SHOT is highlighted.
Release  the mouse button to select this option.  DUNE will re-initialise and
all  routine  information will be zeroed.  The DUNE logo will remain however,
until you load in a new picture to replace it.

If  you  wish  to  replace  the  DUNE  logo with your own starting picture or
animation, select LOAD from the SHOT menu and another menu will pop up asking
you  what  you  wish to load.  Select PICTURE/ANIM and the file-selector will
ask you which picture or animation you wish to load.  Choose the one you want
and it will be displayed briefly on the screen before you are returned to the
Control  Screen.   DUNE  will  automatically detect whether you have chosen a
still  picture  or  an  animation.  The new picture or the first frame of the
animation will be shown in the Minipic window.

You  can  create  the  pictures to use in DUNE using any paint package or use
digitised  pictures,  but  they  must  be  in ILBM format.  Animations can be
created  in  DPaint  III  provided they are saved as compacted animations, or
using Photon Cel Animator.

DUNE  identifies  the different shots that make up your game by the names you
give them and saves the information associated with the shot to disk.  If you
name  your first shot "STARTSHOT" it will automatically be loaded in when you
boot  DUNE.  The name of the shot is displayed at the top of the Shot window.
To  change it, select CHANGE SHOT NAME from the SHOT menu and type in the new
name.

Whenever  you  name a shot or refer to it in Button Information, you must use
the full pathname of the shot including the disk name which it is stored on -
for example, DUNE:STARTSHOT.

As well as the main picture or animation associated with a shot, you can have
up  to three picture overlays.  A picture overlay is an ILBM picture which is
displayed  on  top  of  the  main  picture  but  with the "background" colour
transparent  so the main picture shows through, for example, putting a border
around  the  main  picture.   To  use  a  picture  overlay click on the "PICK
OVERLAY"  number.   It  will  cycle  through the numbers 1 - 2 - 3.  When the
number  you  want  is displayed, type in the name of the picture to use as an
overlay (not forgetting the disk name).

BUTTONS
In  order to move from one shot to another you define buttons on the screens.
When the user clicks on the button, a new shot will be loaded.

Buttons  are  polygons,  any  size or shape you like - a button can cover the
entire  screen.   There  is  no  limit to the number of buttons you have on a
shot.

To  definea  button, select ADD BUTTON from the BUTTON menu.  Move the cursor
down  to the mini-picture and click the left button where you want one of the
points  of the polygon to be.  When you move the mouse you'll see a line from
the  first  point  to the mouse pointer.  Click the left button to define the
second  point  of  the  polygon - and now you have a triangle joining the two
points  you defined and the mouse pointer.  As you add points, you'll be able
to see the kind of shape you are making.

Obviously,  a  button  must  have  at  least three points or it wouldn't be a
polygon  -  but  there is no upper limit to the number of points it can have.
Each time you click the left mouse button, another point will be defined.

To  finish the polygon, decide where the last point is going to end and click
the  right mouse button.  This defines the point joining up the last point to
the first and exits back to the control screen.

If you decide you have put a button in the wrong place on the picture, select
MOVE BUTTON from the BUTTON menu, click on the button you wish to move and it
will  disappear.  Any information you have already entered about what happens
when that button is selected will remain and you can redraw it in the correct
place.

To  remove a button altogether, select DELETE BUTTON from the BUTTON menu and
click  on the offending button.  This removes it and all data associated with
it.

If  you  add,  move  or delete a button in error, select BUTTON UNDO from the
BUTTON menu to cancel the incorrect change.

If  the button you wish to add is quite small, you may wish to draw it on the
full-screen  picture.   Select ADD BUTTON and hit the escape key to switch to
the  large picture.  Draw your polygon then hit escape again to return to the
Control Screen.

AVENUES
Once  you've  defined  a  button,  you  must  specify what happens when it is
selected  -  which new shot will be loaded and any other special effects such
as sound samples or spot animations.  This is called an AVENUE.

Each button can have up to 256 avenues with probabilities assigned to each.

Select  a  button by clicking on it in the mini-picture.  If you have already
defined  one  or  more  avenues for the button, the information for the first
avenue  will  be  displayed  in the Current Button Information window.  If no
avenues  have been defined, the information will be blank and you must add an
avenue by clicking on the ADD button.

The X and Y coordinates at the top of the window refer to the first point you
defined, counted in pixels from the top left of the picture.

To  specify  which  new shot will be loaded when the avenue is called, either
click  on  the  "ROOT/PROG" box and type in the shot name (including the disk
name) or select INSERT AVENUE from the BUTTON menu, then ROOT from the pop-up
menu.

If  you  have  more  than  one  avenue  from  a  button,  you must assign the
probability  of  each avenue being called by typing a number into the "AVENUE
CHANCE"  box.   For  example, if you had two avenues leading from one button,
each  with  a  chance of 1 there would be a 50-50 chance of one being called.
If one avenue had a chance of 9 and the other of 1, there would only be a 10%
chance of the second being called.

The  chance defaults to 0 and even if you only have one avenue from a button,
you must type a 1 in the chance box or the user will go nowhere.

You  can  edit  avenues  you have previously defined; the UP and DOWN buttons
cycle  through  the  avenues for the selected button and the avenue number is
shown.

You  can  keep  adding  avenues by clicking on the ADD button, and the DELETE
button removes the current avenue.

ANIMATIONS
If  you  load  in an animation instead of a picture, you have further options
available to you.

When  you  load  the  animation,  the  first  frame  will be displayed in the
mini-picture  window.   Any buttons you define for the shot will apply to the
whole  animation,  but the avenues that lead from the button can apply to any
or all of the animation frames.

For  each  avenue,  the number of the current animation frame is shown in the
Curent  Button  Information  Window.   Next to that is a button saying either
ENABLED  or  DISABLED.   Clicking on the box toggles between the two.  So for
each  button  you can specify which avenue might be called if the user clicks
on  the  button  while  a particular frame of the animation is on screen; you
could  have  a  button  that  will do nothing at all unless it is selected at
exactly the right point in the animation.

To  go through the animation frame by frame, select NEXT ANIMATION FRAME from
the BUTTON menu - or type the frame number directly into the box.

You  can  also  have a closing animation for each avenue that will run before
the new shot is loaded in.  However, the first frame of the closing animation
MUST  be  the  same  as  the first frame of the main animation, or the screen
display  will be corrupted.  To use a closing animation for an avenue, either
type  the  file name (including the disk name) into the box, or select INSERT
AVENUE and ANIMATION from the BUTTON menu.

When  the avenue is called, the main animation will continue playing until it
cycles back to the first frame and then the closing animation will run.

SAVING THE SHOT
Once you have added all the buttons and defined all their avenues, you should
save  the  shot  to disk.  You can either save it under the name it currently
has  -  select  SAVE SHOT from the SHOT menu - or you can save it under a new
name by selecting SAVE SHOT AS and typing in the new name.

Then  select  NEW  SHOT  and  load in a new picture, change its name, add the
buttons and avenues, save it and so on.

You  can  go  back  to  a  shot  at  any time and edit any of the buttons and
avenues.   Select  LOAD  from  the  SHOT menu and select SHOT from the pop-up
menu.

TEST MODE
Once  you  have  set  up several shots, you will no doubt wish to see them in
action!   DUNE  allows  you to test your game at any point, starting from any
shot you wish.

The  TEST  menu  has two options:  TEST MODE ON and TEST MODE off.  TEST MODE
OFF  is  the  option  you have been using to make and edit the shots.  If you
select TEST MODE ON you will be taken to the current shot and will be able to
click  on various parts of the screen and see if all the right things happen.
When  you  wish  to  return to the Control Screen, simply hit ESC key and the
Test Mode will be switched off.

SOUND
DUNE  allows  you  to make full use of Sound Tracker music scores and sampled
sound.  For each shot, you can have one Sound Tracker score, one sample which
will  play  when  the  shot is loaded and a sample for each avenue which will
play when a button is selected.

The Begin Sample will play as soon as the picture associated with the shot is
loaded.   To  specify  the sample, type the name of the sample (including the
disk  name)  in the Shot Information Window or select LOAD from the SHOT menu
and  then  select  BEGIN  SAMPLE.  You can specify the sample loop - how many
times  the  sample will play - by typing the number into the box.  The sample
will  play  until  it  has  completed  the specified number of loops or until
another  sample  is  loaded.   If  you don't want the sample to start playing
straight  away you can delay it by clicking on the "DELAY FOR" box and typing
in the number of seconds.

The  Sound  Tracker  score  will  play continuously from the time the shot is
loaded  until  a  new  score  or sample is loaded in - or until it is told to
stop.

The  end sample will play as soon as the user clicks on a button to move to a
new  shot.   Each  avanue can have a different sample and you can either type
the  name  of  the  sample  directly into the box for the relevant avenue, or
select  INSERT  AVENUE from the BUTTON menu and choose SAMPLE from the pop up
menu.   As  with  Begin  Samples, you can specify the number of loops and the
delay.   The  sample  will play for the specified number of loops, or until a
new sample or Sound Tracker score is loaded.

You  can  stop a sample or Sound Tracker score from playing, without having a
new sound by typing the keyword STOP on a later shot, instead of a new sample
or score name.  Silence is golden!

If  you  can't  remember which sample or Sound Tracker score you wish to use,
you can select PREVIEW SAMPLE or PREVIEW SOUND TRACKER from the SHOT menu and
listen to the result.  When you have heard enough ,select HALT SAMPLE/TRACKER
from the SHOT menu.

Note:   The player will not play recent Tracker modules, you will have to dig
out your really old copy of Sound Tracker!!

TIME LIMITS
If  you  wish, you can set a time limit on a shot - if the user doesn't click
on  a  route  within  a  given time, they will be taken to a new shot against
their  will!   Time  limits  are  measured in microseconds (there are 999,999
microseconds  to  a  second,  which should be sufficient for anyone!) and you
enter  the number of microseconds you wish to allow into the Shot Information
Window  and  the  name of the shot to which they will be sent if they are too
late - or select EDIT TIMEOUT ROUTE from the SHOT menu and select the name of
the shot.

SCORING
A  game  wouldn't be much fun without some way to keep track of how well - or
how  badly!  - you were doing and DUNE provides you with ten different scores
that can be updated in a variety of ways.

If  you select EDIT SCORES from the SHOT menu, a large (and rather confusing)
window will open, showing you all the scoring information.

For  each  of  the  ten  scores you can choose whether it is displayed on the
screen  for  the  current shot.  Simply click on the word "ON" in the display
column  and  it  will  become  highlighted.   If you decide you don't want it
displayed, click on the word "ON" again and the highlighting will be removed.

If  the  score  is being displayed you can select the font that will be used.
An  example of the current font is shown at the top of the window.  Click the
right  mouse  button  to  access the menu and you will find just one option -
FONT.   This  menu  lists the available fonts, allowing you to select one and
specify  the point size.  All the scores will be displayed in the same font -
you can't use different fonts for different scores.

However,  you  can use different colours for the different fonts, but you can
only  use  the colours from the palette of the picture used in the shot.  For
each  score,  you  type  in the number for the colour you wish to use.  Since
there  is  no  easy way of knowing which number will give you which colour in
the  palette, I suggest you experiment by typing in different numbers and see
what happens!  (I suppose we will have to, 'cos of your lame efforts!  ED.)

Each  of  the  scores  can  appear  anywhere  on  the  screen  -  type in the
co-ordinates  (in  pixels)  for the correct postion.  If you wish to have any
words  associated  with  the  score,  for  example  "You  have  achieved  the
magnificent  score of XXXXX points!!" or "You have XXXXX Imperial Groats" you
will  have  to  include the text in the picture, leaving a gap for the actual
score.

For each shot, you can change any or all of the ten scores.

There  are two ways to change a score.  Firstly, if "SET" is highlighted, the
number you have typed in the "CHANGE" column will replace the previous score,
regardless of what the previous score was.

Alternatively,  if  "SET"  is  not  highlighted,  the number you enter in the
"CHANGE"  column  will  be  added to the previous score and if you prefix the
number with a minus sign, the number will be subtracted.

You  can  also  combine  the  various  scores.   For Score 1, if you type +S3
instead  of  a  number  (the  'S' must be in upper case) then the contents of
Score  3  will  be  added to the contents of Score 1 and the result placed in
Score  1.   Or if you use a minus sign, it will be subtracted.  Of course, if
"SET"  is  not highlighted, the contents of Score 3 will replace the contents
of Score 1.

You  can  combine or replace as many of the ten scores as you wish using this
method, but you must remember that the scores are updated sequentially from 1
to  10  -  so adding Score 3 to Score 1 will use the contents of Score 3 from
the  previous shot and not take account of any changes you make to Score 3 on
the current shot.

When  you  have finished editing the score data, click on the top left of the
window to close it.  To save the data, you need to save the shot.

TEXT FILES
DUNE  lets  you  display  up  to five text files on the screen for each shot.
They  all  apear  at the same time, when the shot is loaded in, on top of the
picture  associated with the shot.  They are "transparent" to the picture and
to  each  other,  so  careful  placing is needed to avoid them overlapping or
getting lost in parts of the picture.

You  can  create  the Text Files in a Word Processor or Text Editor, but they
must be saved as ASCII.

To  specify  which text files you want to use, select EDIT TEXT from the SHOT
menu.  The text window will appear.

For  each  of the five files you want to use, click on the word "NEW" and the
file  selector  will  come  up, allowing you to choose your file.  Or you can
type  the name directly into the "FILE NAME" box (as always, don't forget the
disk name!!)

An  example of the font the files will use is shown at the top of the window.
To  change  the  font,  click the right button and choose a new font from the
FONTS menu, selecting the correct point size.

All five text files will be displayed in the same font and point size.

However,  each  file  can  appear in a different colour.  Click on the "COLR"
column and type in the number of the colour you wish to use.  As with scores,
you'll have to experiment to see which number produces which shade.

You  can  also  specify  the  X and Y co-ordinates for the start of each text
file, in pixels from the top left of the screen.

Each  line  in  the text file will continue until there is a carriage return.
There's  no  word-wrap,  so  you need to put the returns in the correct place
when you type the file.

When  a  carriage  return  is  reached,  the  new  line  will  start directly
underneath  the  first  line using the same X co-ordinate.  The Y co-ordinate
will  be  increased  by  the value in the "SPAC" column.  This is the spacing
between  the  top  of  one  line  and  the  top of the next.  You may have to
experiment  with  this to make sure the lines aren't overwriting each other -
particulary if you are using a large point size.

If  the text file is too long to fit in the available space, it will fall off
the  bottom  of  the  screen  but  if  you  are only missing a few lines, try
reducing the spacing or using a smaller point size.

When  you  have  finished with the Text display Window, click on the top left
corner  to  close it.  Don't forget to save the shot, or the information will
be lost!

ACTS
Buttons  are  static.   Clicking  on  a button will take the user to the same
destinsation - barring probabilities from avenue chances - no matter how many
times they do it.

However,  there is another method of moving from shot to shot that is dynamic
and  can  result in a different thing happening each time.  This is called an
ACT.

Unlike  all  the  features of DUNE discussed so far, an act is not associated
with a particular shot.  It stands alone and can be called from any shot.

Just  like shots, acts have to be named in order for them to be safely stored
on  disk.   Select  NEW ACT from the ACT menu and you will be asked to give a
name to the act.  Once again, don't forget the disk name!  Selecting EDIT ACT
NAME willl let you change it if you get it wrong.

Select EDIT ACT DATA and the Act Window will appear.

The  best way to think of an act is as a list of instructions.  A typical act
might look something like this:

                                 Top Of File
                                 DUNE:shot1
                                 DUNE:shot1
                                 DUNE:shot4
                                 GAME:dead
                                 End of File

The  "Top Of File" and "End Of File" are simply markers to help you see where
you are in the list of instructions.

DUNE uses this of instructions by working its way down it from top to bottom,
implementing the next instruction each time the act is called.

The  first time the act is called the shot specified in the first instruction
will  be loaded - in this case, shot 1 on the DUNE disk.  The second time the
act  is  called, it will go to the second instruction - again, shot 1 and the
third time the third instruction - shot 4 and so on.

When  you  first  open  the Act Window, the list will just contain the Top Of
File and End Of File markers.  The End Of File will be highlighted.

To  construct  the  list  of  instructions  that make up an act, click on the
"ROUTE  TO  ADD"  box and type in the name of the shot and then click on "ADD
ROUTE".   The  route  will be added to the list, above the highlighted entry.
You  can  add  a route anywhere in the list by clicking on "UP" and "DOWN" to
move the highlighter bar.

Click on "DELETE ROUTE" and the highlighted route will be removed.

Keep  on  adding new routes by clicking on the "ROUTE TO ADD" box and editing
the shot name appropriately.

Once  you  have completed the list of instructions that make up an act, click
on  the "ROUTE TO ADD" box and type in the name of the shot and then click on
"ADD  ROUTE".   The  route  will  be  added to the list above the highlighted
entry.   You  can  add  a  route anywhere in the list by clicking on "UP" and
"DOWN" to move the highlighter bar.

Click on "DELETE ROUTE" and the highlighted route will be removed.

Keep  on  adding new routes by clicking on the "ROUTE TO ADD" box and editing
the shot name appropriately.

Once  you have completed the list of instructions for the act, click on "SAVE
CHANGES" to save the act to disk and the window will close.

To  call  an  act,  put  the name of the act (including the disk name) in the
button avenue information, instead of a shot name.

You  can  set  up as many acts as you want and call them from any shot, using
the avenue chance to set probabilities.

If  you call an act that has finished - ie.  all the instructions in the list
have  been  carried  out - it will go back to the beginning and carry out the
first instruction again.

You can also nest acts, so that one act will call another, by adding the name
of  the act to the list of instructions for another act.  When the second act
has finished, it will return to the next entry in the first act.

At  any time, entering the keyword "SceneEnd" for an avenue instead of a shot
or  act  name  will jump you to the next instruction in the act that was last
called.

Selecting  LOAD  ACT  from  the ACT menu will load in a previously saved act,
allowing you to modify it.

THE DISK CACHE
DUNE  will  set  up  a disk cache and keep the shots you have used in memory,
thus  saving  the time it takes to pull pictures and samples off disk.  There
is an option to clear the cache in the DISK menu.

AVENUE PREFIXES
When  you  type  the  information  for  an  avenue  into  the  Current Button
Information  Window,  if  you  prefix  the  name  of  the  shot or act with a
circumflex  (^), DUNE will add it to a stack.  The stack can contain up to 50
different  avenues.   Then,  on  another  shot, typing in the keyboard RETURN
instead  of  a  shot or act name will retrieve the avenue from the top of the
stack, removing it from the stack.

You  can  also run executable files from within DUNE.  Instead of the shot or
act name, type the name of file you wish to run (including the disk name) and
prefix  it  with  an  exclamation  mark  (!).  This means that if you wish to
include a section in a DUNE designed game that could not be written with DUNE
itself, you can jump into a previously written program.  When the program has
finished  running,  you  will  be  returned  to the shot that the program was
called  from.   This  is  also useful if you wish to use DUNE as a shell from
which to run other programs.

HINTS AND TIPS
Before  using DUNE, should design the game on paper and decide which pictures
you  are  going  to use for each shot and more importantly, what name you are
going to give each shot.  Otherwise you will get confused when you set up the
avenues  and  risk  forgetting  which  avenue leads where or getting the shot
names wrong.

Put  the  pictures  for  a DUNE game onto the same disk that you are going to
save  the  shot  onto  -  and the same goes for music files, samples and text
files.

To  minimise  confusion  when  using the file selector, make full use of file
extensions  to  distinguish between pictures, shots, acts, etc - or keep them
in seperate directories on the disk.  Recommended file extensions are:

                 .PIC - Picure
                 .ANM - Animation
                 .SHT - Shot
                 .ACT - Act
                 .SAM - Sample
                 .STR - Sound Tracker

Test  your  game  every time you finish setting up a new shot.  If it doesn't
give  you the results you expected, check you have spelt the shot or act name
in the routing box correctly and that you have included the disk name.  Check
you haven't left the avenue chance to zero.

When you have finished writing your game using DUNE, CRL will compile it into
a working game. (Ha!! Some chance!  Ed.)

THINGS TO COME *
*(Not from CRL, now they've gone bust!  We shall add them here anyway,
 for a laugh!!  Ed.)

DUNE  is  still under development and each version will contain new features.
The following enhancements will be implemented soon.

OVERALL TIME LIMIT - You will be able to specify an overall time limit within
which the user must have reached a particular point in the game.

SCORE  CONDITIONAL  ROUTES - You will be able to add conditions to the routes
based  on the current score - for example if Score 1 is greater than or equal
to 50, use this avenues otherwise use that avenue.

DISK  SWAPS  -  You  will  be  able  to specify how you wish disk swaps to be
handled  and  there  will be the capability to add a sampled voice asking the
user to insert the required disk.

If  you  have  any ideas for features you would like to see in DUNE or if you
think any feature could be made easier to use contact CRL.

THE MENUS/KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Most  of  DUNE's  menu options have keyboard shortcuts which are shown beside
the  menu  options.   They are accessed by pressing the Amiga key at the same
time as the appropiate letter (In the brackets).

PROJECT
Edit Global Data                Not yet implemented
Quit DUNE                       (Q)

ACT
New Act
Edit Act Name
Load Act
Edit Act Data

SHOT
New Shot                        (N)
Change Shot Name                (C)
Load...
       Shot                     (L)
       Picture/Anim             (I)
       Begin Sample             (7)
       Sound Tracker            (K)
Save Shot                       (S)
Save Shot As                    (A)
Preview 8SVX Sample             (8)
Preview SoundTracker            (P)
Halt Sample/Tracker             (H)
Edit Time Out Route             (Y)
Edit Scores                     (0)
Edit Text                       (X)

BUTTON
Next Anim Frame                 (=)
Add Button                      (B)
Move Button                     (M)
Delete Button                   (D)
Insert Avenue...
       Route
       Animations
       Sample
Button Undo                     (U)

DISK
Clear Cache

TEST
Test Mode On                    (T)
Test Mode Off                   (O)

End.