500 Game Surplus/XSurplus.iso/252/FACTORY.DOC

Text File | 1995-05-31 | 25KB | 499 lines

                                Tile Factory
                          Version 1.1  June 1, 1995

                                Nels Anderson
                              585 Edmands Road
                          Framingham, MA 01701-3088
                                    U.S.A.



USING TILE FACTORY

The Tile Factory utility allows you to make your own sets of tiles or
modify sets made by others. These tiles can be used with my solitaire
games Dragons Bane: Mah Jongg II and Second Guess. The editor supports
both SVGA (256 color mode) and standard VGA (16 color mode). You can
recognize tile sets by the file extension .TL (for 256 color tiles) and
.TLV (for 16 color tiles). Please note that these are not compatible with
my earlier EGA tile games and the tiles from those games are not
compatible with the VGA/SVGA games though they can be loaded, edited and
saved in the new format using Tile Factory.

The utility is similar to many paint programs with which you might be
familiar, though because of its specialized nature it includes less
functions. Tile Factory requires a mouse and VGA or SuperVGA graphics
(640x480, 256 colors).

The best thing to do is get Tile Factory running and experiment. You'll
find designing good tiles is quite a challenge, but it will allow you to
have your own personalized version of the game when you're done.

You might want to look at other tile sets to see some of the techniques
used. Because the drawing area is so small you often have to trick the eye
to get the effect you want. One thing to avoid is changing the sloping
sides of the tiles. Generally this will ruin the 3D effect and simply
doesn't look good when tiles are stacked up. The little triangular areas
in the upper-left and lower-right corners should also be left alone as
these are needed to make that portion of the tile see through when used
in the game.

HOW TILES ARE STORED ON DISK

First, some basics about working with tile sets. A Mah Jongg tile set
includes 42 different tiles. Eight of them are in the "wild card" suits
(normally the flowers and seasons suits) where any tile in the suit
matches any other. The other 34 tiles use the standard matching rule where
there are four of each tile on the board and the tiles must be matched
exactly to be removed. You'll want to keep the matching rules in mind when
designing tiles for compatibility with Dragons Bane: Mah Jongg II.

Second Guess only needs 36 tiles. Tiles 1 through 34 are used plus tiles
35 and 39.

All 42 tiles are stored in a single disk file. You'll need to know how the
tiles are numbered so that you store your new tiles in the proper place.
For reference, the standard Mah Jongg tile set is numbered as follows:

            Tiles 1 - 9:  suit of dots
                Tile 10:  white dragon
          Tiles 11 - 19:  suit of bamboo
                Tile 20:  green dragon
          Tiles 21 - 29:  suit of characters
                Tile 30:  red dragon
          Tiles 31 - 34:  suit of winds
          Tiles 35 - 38:  suit of seasons
          Tiles 39 - 42:  suit of flowers

GETTING STARTED

Start up "FACTORY.EXE" by typing "factory" on the command line. You can
include the name of a tile set file on the command line and that tile set
will be immediately loaded once Tile Factory starts up. Note the drawing
area on the left and the tile set display on the right. If you did not
include a tile set name on the command line the tile set displayed will be
blank, but as soon as you read in a tile set it will be shown.

The editor will automatically start up in the best available graphics mode.
If Tile Factory can run in 256 color mode it will, otherwise it will run
in standard 16 color VGA mode. If you wish you can force the editor to run
in 16 color mode by using a command line option. To force 16 color VGA
start up the editor with this command:

FACTORY -16

Please note that the space and dash are required.

Once the editor is running, along the top of the screen are a series of
menus you can select. If you're using a mouse you just need to point to
the word you want and click. If using the keyboard you can use the
functions keys (each menu is numbered sequentially so Help is F1, Info is
F2, etc.). You can also select menus by holding down the Alt key while
also hitting the first letter of the menu name; for example, you'd hit
Alt-F to open the File menu.

DRAWING

Normal drawing (single dot at a time) can be done with the keyboard or
mouse. Using the mouse, select the desired color by pointing at the color
chart and clicking. Then to draw just point at the drawing area and click
on each spot where you want to draw.

Because it's common to switch back and forth between two colors, Tile
Factory remembers the last color you've selected as well as the current
one. Use the right mouse button at any time to toggle back and forth
between the current and previous drawing color.

There are a few basic drawing shapes available in addition to the simple
dot. Under the drawing area is a set of push buttons where you can select
dots, line, circle, rectangle, filled circle or box. Click on the desired
button and you'll see it push in to confirm proper selection.

When using the line or rectangles, move the mouse cursor to one end
(corner) and hold down the mouse button. Then move to the other end
(corner) and release the button. When using the circles you start in the
center and pull away until the circle is the desired size. You can pull in
any direction since the circle is symmetrical.

The seventh drawing tool is a special one. It allows you to outline an
area and then change all pixels within that area that are a specific color
into a different color. Select this tool and then outline a rectangle just
as you would with the rectangle drawing tool. When the area you want is
outlined, release the mouse button.  You'll be prompted to select the
color you want to change; point anywhere you want on the screen and click
when pointing to the desired color. Then you'll be prompted for the color
you want to change to; again you can point anywhere on the screen and
click. Now the selected color will change.

The eighth function is fill. Using this function you can fill in an area
of any shape with the currently selected color. When you select fill the
cursor will change to the word "FILL" with a little target to the upper
left. Position the target in the area you want filled and click to fill.
Using the keyboard you can fill by moving the keyboard cursor within the
area to be filled and hitting the Z key.

Fill can also use a range of colors instead of just a single color.
Instead of left clicking, click the center button (or both buttons if you
have a two button mouse). You'll be prompted for a range of colors similar
to the shade function and the area will be filled with randomly selected
colors from the range you chose.

The ninth function is text entry. Because of the small size of the tiles
only two simple fonts are used. The smaller font is 5 pixels high and the
larger one is 7 pixels high. Several different widths are available and
Tile Factory will try to use the widest characters possible given the space
available. Depending on whether you have border set on or off (from the
Text menu) the letters may go right to the edge of the tile face or a one
pixel border will be enforced.

To enter text, position the mouse to the upper left corner of where the
text should start (if using the keyboard, use the arrow keys to position
the keyboard cursor and then hit the L key). You'll then be prompted to
enter the text you want. Lower case letters are not available but capital
letters and most other characters can be used.  If the text you enter is
too much to fit in the available space you'll be told how many pixels too
wide it is and you can then adjust accordingly.

When within the drawing area, the mouse cursor snaps to the center of each
pixel when moving around or drawing dots, lines or rectangles. If you
prefer that the cursor move smoothly you can turn off the snap function by
using Snap Cursor on/off under the Options menu. For most drawing you'll
probably find the snap cursor useful as you'll be able to more clearly
tell what pixel is being pointed to.

Some people find using the keyboard useful for some drawing situations. To
draw with the keyboard move the cursor around with the arrow keys and hit
space when you want to draw a dot. If you hold down the space bar a line
of dots will be drawn in the direction of the last arrow key used.

When drawing the position of the mouse cursor is shown just below the
color selection area. If you wish to see the position of the keyboard
cursor instead, just move the mouse cursor outside the drawing area and
move the keyboard cursor with the arrow keys.

COLORS IN 256 COLOR SVGA MODE

A color bar is shown in the middle of the screen. To select a color just
move the mouse over it and click. In SVGA mode only 32 colors are shown at
a time out of the 256 colors available. The remaining colors can be shown
by clicking on the arrows at the top and bottom of the color bar.

When you select a color its number is displayed at the bottom of the color
bar. Because some colors are so similar it's often easier to reference the
number than to try to recognize a color by appearance.

In addition, the color and its composition is shown below the drawing.
Each color is made up of a combination of red, green and blue and its
makeup is shown here. Each color can have brightness values of 0 through
63. By clicking on the arrows over and under the individual colors you can
change their values. Remember, though, that when you do this you change
every place that color is used in your tile set. You will see the change
take place immediately. Any changes you make to the color palette will be
saved with the tile set the next time you save a tile.

Colors numbered 0 through 23 cannot be changed as they are used for game
menus, etc. Color 16 is special; it is used for the "see through" corners
of the tiles. You should avoid using colors 16 through 23.

When running 256 color mode you can load 16 color tile sets (files ending
in .TLV). They will load correctly but you will not be able to save them
in 16 color mode. You can, however, convert the entire set to 256 colors
and save it as a 256 color tile set (a file ending in .TL).

COLORS IN 16 COLOR VGA MODE

As with 256 color mode a color bar is shown in the center of the screen.
To select a drawing color just point to it and click the mouse. All 16
available colors are shown at all times.

Unlike SVGA mode you cannot change the available colors. You also do not
have to worry about the see through color or other special colors. You
should, however, be sure to leave the white triangles in the corners
unchanged as these will become see through when the tiles are used in
the game.

When running 16 color mode you can load 256 color tile sets (files ending
in .TL) and they will automatically be converted to 16 colors. How well
the conversion works varies but you will at least get a usable tile set
that you can further touch up and save as a 16 color file.

MENUS

Many functions have keyboard shortcuts that are shown in parentheses after
the name of the function. You can use these keys to access functions
directly without going through the menus. A list of all keyboard shortcuts
is at the end of this document.

If using a mouse you just point to the function you want and click. If
using the keyboard you can select menus using the function keys or the Alt
key plus the first letter of the menu name. Within the menus you can
select functions by number or by using the arrow keys to move to the
function you want and the Enter key to select it.

Most of the functions available from the menu are pretty self-explanatory,
but let's cover each menu and function in detail.

HELP

Under the help function is an abbreviated set of instructions for using
Tile Factory. To move from one help screen to another click on the Next
or Prev (previous) box. To quit help click on the Quit box. You can also
use the letters shown in red for next, quit or previous.

FILE MENU

This is the menu used for disk access. The first choice allows you to
clear any current drawing and start a new tile. You'll be prompted to make
sure you mean to do this.

Save Tile allows you to save your work into a tile set file. You'll first
be prompted for the name of the file that your tile should become part of.
If you are creating a new tile set you must type in the file name
otherwise you can just click on the file name in the list. If the file you
choose is different from the last one you read in, the new file will be
read in and displayed on the right side of the screen; if creating a brand
new set the right side of the screen will be blank. Finally, you must
choose what position your tile will take. If you're editing an existing
tile and just want to put it back in the same position you just need to
click on OK. Otherwise you can either enter the new position number from
the keyboard or you can point and click on the tile on the right side of
the screen you wish to replace.

Read Tile Set allows you to read tiles from the disk. The entire tile set
is always loaded and displayed on the right side of the screen. If the set
does not contain all 42 tiles blanks will be shown at some positions.

The Load Tile function is only needed if you don't have a mouse. It allows
you to transfer a single tile from the tile set shown on the right side of
the screen into the editor. When prompted enter either the number of the
tile you want to edit or hit the Esc key to abort.

Import .PCX Picture gives you the ability to load tile faces from PCX
drawings, such as you might create with a full-featured paint program or
with a scanner. Note that this feature may not work with all .PCX files.
It may be helpful to convert images to 640x480, 256 color images with an
external utility before attempting to load them into Tile Factory.

If running in SVGA mode Tile Factory gives you three options on how the
color palette is used when importing a .PCX picture. If adding the image
to an existing tile set you should choose "Current palette" as this will
prevent your existing tiles from changing colors. This choice may cause
the picture to not look right, though, as its colors will have to be
changed to match those available in the current palette.

If starting a new tile set you should choose "Palette from picture". This
will load the picture in its original colors and change the current color
palette to match.

The third choice is a combination of the first two. Choosing "Combined
palette" prevents any of your current tiles from changing colors while
using as many of the original colors as possible from the imported
picture. This will result in changes to your current palette, but only to
colors that had not been used in any tiles.

When you select import .PCX picture, the normal file selection box will
pop up and you should select the PCX file you want. The picture will load
and a square cursor will appear. Use the cursor to surround the portion of
the picture you want (the square is exactly the size of a tile face) and
click. You'll be switched back to the editing screen with the PCX image
now on the tile face. If you're using the keyboard you can use the arrow
keys to move the cursor around and the Enter key to select. Hit Esc to
abort.

When you're done with your tile set, use the add name function. The name
you enter will be displayed in the Info screen when playing Second Guess
and at the top of the screen when viewing the complete tile set. The name
for the currently loaded tile set is also shown at the right bottom of the
Tile Factory screen.

At some point you may wish to rearrange the order of the tiles in the set.
You can use the swap two tiles function to swap the positions of any two
tiles in the currently displayed set. When prompted, select each of the
tiles that you want swapped either by entering the tile number or by using
the mouse to point and click. If you change your mind hit the Esc key or
select "No" when asked to confirm.

Tile sets are normal files that can be copied, moved, deleted, etc. like
any other file. You can, if you wish, also delete tile sets that are no
longer needed from the file menu using the Delete Tile Set function.

If using 256 color mode you can load and save the current color palette
for use in other tile sets using functions from the File menu.

EDIT MENU

This menu allows you to do special editing functions on the current tile.
These functions are described below.

The flip functions let you reverse the image left/right or top/bottom.
Hitting the same function a second time will flip the image back the way
it originally was.

The shift functions move the image in the specified direction by one
pixel. This is handy if, for example, you want to center an image.

Sometimes when drawing you'll want to match a color already in the picture.
The Get Color function lets you select your current drawing color from
within the drawing rather than from within the color bar.  When you select
this function the cursor will change to a cross plus the word "get". Move
the cross over the color you want and click to select the new active color.

The Copy function lets you outline and copy one part of your picture to
another part. After selecting Copy move the cursor to the upper left
corner of the area you want to copy. Then hold down the left mouse button
and move to the lower right corner. When you release the button the area
inside the rectangle will be saved. You can then use the Paste function to
copy the saved image back into the tile or into another tile. You can use
Paste as many times as you wish.

The Shade function lets you take advantage of the SVGA color palette.
After selecting Shade, position the cursor at the upper left corner of the
area you want to shade then hold down the left mouse button while moving
to the lower right corner. You'll then select which color within this area
you want changed. Finally, you'll select the range of colors you wish the
area to be changed to. For example, if you select first color 24 and then
color 28 the area will be filled from the top with color 24 gradually
changing to color 28 at the bottom.

Note that the order you select the color range effects the way the shading
is done. Shading always starts at the top of the selected rectangle with
the first selected color. You can thus control whether the shading will go
from dark to light or light to dark.

If you don't want shading but just randomly selected colors within a
specific range use fill instead.

Undo is also available from this menu. Using this will restore the tile as
it was before the most recent change. The image that will be restored is
shown along the left side of the screen directly below the current image.
You can also undo by clicking directly on the previous image, or on any
other image that is below it. Up to five previous images are kept along
the left side of the screen.

OPTIONS MENU

This menu allows you to select options that affect how other functions
work. Each option can be toggled on or off. If an option is currently on a
check mark will be shown to the right of the option name.

When Tile Factory starts up it is set with snap cursor on. In this mode
the mouse cursor jumps to the center of each pixel when in the drawing
area, which ensures that you know exactly what pixel you're drawing. If
you prefer you can turn this mode off and the cursor will then move
smoothly.

When drawing with the dot tool (freehand drawing) you can have your
drawing mirrored left to right, top to bottom, or both. Toggle the
appropriate mirror settings on and off to fit your needs.

TEXT MENU

The first three options let you choose whether text you enter will be left
justified, right justified or centered. A check mark will indicate which
choice is currently selected.

Two fonts are available, the smaller one being 5x5 pixels and the larger
5x7 pixels. Choose the font you want from this menu. The currently
selected font will be indicated with a check mark.

When entering text using the text tool you have a choice on how close to
the edge the text will be entered. Text usually looks best if there is a
border around it at the edge of the tile face. However, if you have a long
word that you wish to display you might want to disable this border to
make the text fit. Try entering text first with the border enabled, but if
you only need one or two more pixels to make it fit you can turn the
border off and try again.

SPECIAL MENU

This menu accesses special functions that will not be used often.

There are many tile sets available for my older tile solitaire games. The
tiles were drawn in a 640x350 pixel, 16 color mode. The Special menu
allows you to load and convert these tiles to VGA or SVGA format.

The Load EGA Tiles function simply loads an old style tile set. These
tiles are 40x40 pixels whereas Tile Factory tiles are 40x55, so an area at
the top of the tile is filled in. Tile Factory attempts to fill with a
color that will match the rest of the tile.

If simply loading the tile sets does not produce a pleasing result two
options are available to modify tiles. The first simply centers the tile
face image in the new, larger tile. In many cases this is all that's
needed to use an older tile set.

However, the aspect ratio of old and new tile sets is quite different so
many old tile sets look "squished" when loaded into Tile Factory. An
option is available to scale old tiles to the new format. This will
correct the aspect ratio, but quite often you'll need to do additional
editing to make the tiles look good.

Note that the center and scale functions work on the entire tile set as
currently displayed on the right side of the screen.

With so many colors available it can be hard to keep track of which ones
you've actually used. The Color Usage Graph function displays a chart of
all colors with line height indicating frequency of use for each color.
You can move the cursor into the chart to get exact values for colors of
interest. The color number, what the color looks like, and how often it is
used in your tile set are then shown. You can also use the chart to select
a new color for drawing. Point to the color you want and click. The cursor
will move to the Done button; click again to close the window and the new
color will be selected.

Share Your Creations!

If you develop any tile sets you'd like to share please upload them to the
support BBS (Xevious: 508-788-6951) or mail them to the author on a
diskette. I'd suggest that you include a text file describing your tile
set. If you do include a text file give it the same basic file name as the
tile set file; for example, the tile set MYTILES.TL would have a text file
MYTILES.TXT. You should also include your name in both the tile set itself
and in the text file. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Many Tile Factory functions can be accessed from the keyboard. Below is the
complete list of keys and their function.

                   Key  Function
          ------------  ------------------------------------
           F1 or Alt-H  Help
           F2 or Alt-I  Info
           F3 or Alt-F  File Menu
           F4 or Alt-E  Edit Menu
           F5 or Alt-O  Options Menu
           F6 or Alt-T  Text Menu
           F7 or Alt-S  Special Menu
          F10 or Alt-Q  Quit (exit Tile Factory)

                     X  New (clear tile)
                     S  Save Tile
                     R  Read Tile Set
                 Alt-L  Load Tile Into Editor
                     P  Import .PCX Picture
                     N  Add Name To File
                 Alt-D  Delete Tile Set
                     Q  Quit (exit Tile Factory)

                     <  Flip left to right
                     >  Flip top to bottom
                     -  Shift Right
                     +  Shift Left
                     ^  Shift Up
                     |  Shift Down
                     G  Get Color
                     U  Undo
                     L  Use the letter function (enter text)
                     Z  Use the fill function

                     #  Snap Cursor on/off
                     M  Mirroring left/right on/off
                 Alt-M  Mirroring top/bottom on/off
                     T  Text Border on/off

                                  - - - - -

   Tile Factory is copyright 1995 by Nels Anderson.  All rights reserved.