Советы по созданию и редактированию сценариев для игр Wolf3D и Spear of Destiny

Tips for Creating/Editing Wolf3D Floor Designs

Следующая информация не может рассматриваться как исчерпывающая работа по этой теме, но может помочь большинству людей избежать ряда ловушек, подстерегающих их на пути следования от формулировки идеи до изготовления нового работающего сценария, свободного от ошибок.

The following information must not be considered a definitive work on this subject, but should help most people avoid some of the pitfalls associated with translating their floor design ideas into a working, error free floor.

Это руководство не объясняет работу какой либо конкретной программы редактирования сценариев. Вы можете использовать как Mapedit версии 7.0 (c) 1992 так и старый Mapedit версии 4.1, разработанный Биллом Кирби и модифицированный Дэвидом Хантуном, Брайаном Бэйкером и Мэттом Грусоном.

This short manual does not explain the workings of any particular editing program used to transfer your design to the computer. Mapedit Version 7.0 (c) 1992 as Version 4.1, by Bill Kirby as modified by David Huntoon, Bryan Baker, and Matt Gruson, was the tool of choice for this writer.

Информация была собрана буквально по крупицам во время многих часов, проведённых за редактированием сценариев и их проигрыванием. Некоторые проектировщики не имели эти знания и поэтому не могли использовать свои программы редактирования на полную мощность и получали результаты, которые их не устраивали. Это замечание не относится к качеству формы и разметки карты сценария, а только к поведению действующих в нём лиц.

The information was gleaned from many hours spent playing and editing the custom floors. Some designers may have lacked this knowledge or their editing program wasn't full-featured and the results may have been disappointing to them. But it didn't effect the quality of their floor layouts, only the action.

Коды пола

Floor Codes

Создаётся впечатление, что проблемы проектирования концентрируются вокруг непонимания взаимосвязи между такими объектами программы, как "коды пола", двери (запертые на ключ и открывающиеся свободно) и скрытые двери. Дадим сначала объяснение кодов пола.

Design problems seem to center around a misunderstanding of the relationship of floor "codes", doors (locked and unlocked variety), and hidden doors. First, an explanation of the use of floor codes.

Имеется ряд уникальных "кодов", которые используются для разметки пола. Эти коды служат для того, чтобы отделять или изолировать отдельные области всей карты сценария одну от другой так, чтобы вражеские охранники либо вступали в бой либо нет в зависимости от того, как Вы назначили эти коды. Часто проблемы возникает из-за того, что Вы либо забываете присвоить коды пола, либо назначаете их бессистемно. В любом случае конечный результат непредсказуем, но можно получить следующее:

There are a number of unique "codes" to use when mapping out a floor. These codes are used to isolate areas of the overall floor from one another such that enemy guards can be made to engage in a fight or not, depending on how you assign floor codes. One of the more common problems is failing to assign floor codes in all floor space, or assigning them haphazardly. The results of either practice are unpredictable, but some of the effects are:

• Некоторые звуковые эффекты могут быть потеряны.
• Скрытые двери открываются не во все стороны.
• Неподвижные охранники остаются живыми статуями и не вступают в борьбу. (Это также относится к Super Guard'ам - или Boss'ам, но эти парни имеют более сложное поведение).
• Движущиеся охранники не стреляют и, либо маршируют на месте, либо идут куда глаза глядят.

• Certain sound effects may be missing.
• Hidden doors won't always open all the way.
• Stationary guards become living statues and won't fight. (This includes Super Guards - or Bosses, but these guys have an advantage).
• Moving guards won't fight either and will move in place or in crazy ways.

Если карта Вашего сценария не имеет слишком большого количества комнат, то обычно Вам хватает уникальных номеров кодов, чтобы назначить полу в каждой комнате свой собственный код, хотя это, в действительности, не является необходимым. В общем, имеются 3 подхода к назначению кодов пола, в зависимости от того результата, что Вы хотите достичь.

Unless your floor design has a very large number of rooms, there are usually sufficient unique floor codes to assign each room its own code, although this isn't really necessary. In general there are 3 approaches to assigning floor codes, according to what you want to accomplish.

1) Назначьте единый код всему полу карты сценария. Если Вы не примените дополнительные меры, это даст эффект единого возбуждения всех охранников в тот момент, как только раздастся первый выстрел. Это может привести к интересным перестрелкам, но как правило, не является наиболее желаемым подходом, потому, что действие (не всегда) быстро заканчивается или смертью всех охранников или смертью игрока и ему, если он выжил, остаётся только бродить по пустым комнатам без возможности бросить кому- либо вызов (или произвести рестарт).

1) Assign a single floor code to all floor space. Unless you take other measures, this will have the singular effect of alerting every guard on the floor as soon as the first shot is fired. This can lead to some interesting fire-fights, but it isn't always the most desired approach because the action usually (not always) ends quickly (either they're all dead or the player is) and he's left to wander through a bunch of empty rooms that offer no further challenges (or restart the level).

2) Назначьте уникальный код каждой комнате. В этом сценарии охранники ничего не подозревают о кровавой бойне, происходящей в соседней комнате до тех пор, пока, по какой либо причине, не откроется дверь между этими комнатами.

2) Assign a unique code to each individual room. In this scenario guards in the next room are unaware of any carnage in the current room - unless something causes the door between the rooms to open.

3) Назначьте уникальные коды протяженным группам смежных комнат или просто группам комнат. Это, в миниатюре, даст реализацию подхода 1), описанного выше, но с другой стороны является более контролируемым и часто приводит к реализации наиболее интересной и неожиданной стратегии.

3) Assign unique codes to contiguous or non-contiguous groups of rooms. This offers a microcosm of approach number 1) above, but is more controlled and often the most interesting and suspenseful strategy.

Специальные коды пола и поле зрения вражеских охранников

Special Floor Code and Enemy Guard Eyesight

Один из кодов пола имеет отличающийся от остальных эффект. Это пол с кодом 0x6a, или кодом, который делает стоящего на нём охранника "глухим" или "стойким". Это означает две вещи: охранник не реагирует на других охранников кричащих и стреляющих у него под носом до тех пор, пока он не увидит игрока, а затем его поведение становится таким-же, как у остальных охранников. Но его зоркость намного выше, чем у простых охранников, т.к. он видит во всех направлениях (которые не заблокированы) и даже на один квадрат у себя за спиной. Эти парни даже могут видеть между щелями стенных блоков, которые соединены только своими углами. (Жутко слышать звуки невидимых охранников, доносящиеся с большого расстояния). По контрасту с этим, охранники, находящиеся на всех других кодах, могут видеть только перед собой, но возбуждаются, невзирая на их слабое зрение, как только возбуждается какой-либо из охранников, находящийся на полу с тем-же кодом.

There is one floor code that has a different effect from all the rest. This is floor code '6a', or the code which designates a guard as being "deaf" or "steadfast". Such a designation means 2 things: the guard will not react to other guards shouting or shots being fired in the area until and unless he sees the player, then he responds just like any other guard. But his eyesight is much better than other guards as he can see in every direction (that isn't blocked by something) including one square behind. These guys can even see between the cracks of wall cubes that are joined only at the corners. (It's kind of eerie to hear a guard sound off that can't be seen anywhere). By contrast, guards on all other floor codes can only see straight ahead but will be alerted regardless of their impaired vision when other guards on the same floor code are alerted.

Changing Floor Codes

Another common error in floor design is to change floor codes when going from one area to another but not separating the 2 areas with a door. Doors are used as "switches". When the player moves from an area of one floor code to another with a different floor code, without having to open a door, the guards in the moved-into area will not be "armed", i.e., they appear to be in a trance, until fired at. This may be an interesting effect to create for approaching a Super Guard, but as soon as the first shot is fired, the player better move out of the way fast, because the "statue" just came to life and he doesn't like having his sleep interrupted.

Hidden Doors and Rooms

Hidden door design is critical. In case you don't remember, the official version of Wolf3D places no guards in a room entered through a hidden door. This is because a hidden door, unlike a regular door, is not used as a "switch" to arm any guards on the other side. But the problem is a bit more complicated than that.

If guards in a hidden room are somehow set in motion, they can block the movement of the sliding door. This condition is detectable by the sound of 2 notes for each push of the space key, as opposed to the normal sound of trying to open a door that doesn't exist. (These 2 notes also sound if you try to push a hidden door from the wrong direction).

The guard(s) can be made to move away from the door and it will open, particularly when the player moves far enough away and can get back in a hurry before the guard does. But often, when the door does move, it only moves part way. As you will soon see, there is a way to get a hidden door to move more than once. (Personally, I wish the Wolf3D engine had been designed to cause a sliding door to crush anything on the other side, with appropriate sound effects of course. This would be more like real life).

The first rule of thumb when dealing with guards in secret rooms is to be sure the secret room has the same floor code as the room from which it is entered. In addition, the room outside the secret room must have a normal door (locked or unlocked).

To resolve the problem of guards getting in the way of a sliding hidden door, choose one of the following three methods.

One way is to design the hidden door entrance so the door slides side-to-side. Such a design will also permit the door to slide forward, which an unsuspecting player may try to do first. This approach has the advantage of not having to be concerned about guards moving about in the secret room. Its main disadvantage is that if it is used too often, players will start to recognize the existence of this type of hidden door configuration unless you add many such configurations that don't have hidden doors and the one door then is disguised by being only one among a crowd.

Another way is to use multiple hidden door object codes such that a sliding wall will move into another hidden object code and can thus be moved again, in any direction you choose. The hidden door object code can exist in open space as well as in a wall. This opens up all sorts of possibilities. However, there's one drawback. Extra hidden door object codes, which are often not used, prevent the player from getting the bonus for finding all secret areas.

The other way to use guards effectively in a hidden room, and you want the sliding door to move inwards only, is to make sure the guards are standing on a "steadfast" floor code so they won't be moving around the room.

If you want more rooms beyond the hidden room, and you want them to have normal doors, then the floor codes of these additional rooms must either be different from the hidden room (and not be used elsewhere on the floor), or the guards in these added rooms must be made "steadfast" if you want to use the same floor code as the hidden room.

One more word about hidden doors. There appears to be a problem in version 1.4 of Wolf3D in that sometimes a door will move 3 squares and the next time, only 2 squares, even when there's unrestricted space in which to move. What this means is: to avoid intermittent problems, use one of the methods described above to circumvent it.

Moving vs. Stationary Guards

All guards except the Super Bosses can be made to move in a predetermined direction. This device is quite useful in creating unpredictable action upon entering a room with one or more moving guards. Since a room is never entered at exactly the same instant each time the floor is played, the guards will be in a different position and may or may not see the player right away.

In addition, guards can be made to move through doors to adjoining rooms with or without the same floor codes. This is always interesting. While you are busy teaching manners to the guys in one room, in walks an oaf from another, which sets off alarms in the next room or rooms with a different floor code as they will hear the fighting and become concerned. Lesson #1: Always try to keep your back away from all doors (including the one you entered!). By the way, Guard Dogs are always on the move - there are no stationary dogs. (I guess Id didn't want to design a graphic of a dog sitting and panting for water or food - ever notice how many rooms dogs are in that have no food or water in them? - It's a wonder the animal rights activists haven't been on their case ).

It's generally a waste of time to place moving guards in a room and not lay out a path for them to follow, although there is a trick or two that you can use with a moving guard who has no assigned path. (Tricks are discussed, but not explained, in this section). Also, unless you assign the "deaf" guard floor code to an entire room, it doesn't do any good to put a moving guard on the deaf guard code.

The Effect of and on Activated Guards Moving About the Floor

Activated guards will mostly move to the point where the player is currently located. Their progress in locating him can be slowed and often stopped by complicated room patterns, by putting solid objects (barrels, etc.) in their way that they have to move around, or by sheer distance.

Some activated guards have a tendency to move away from an immediate threat by going into other rooms and waiting at a door in ambush or simply refusing to come out, waiting instead for the player to come in. All this means is if a large body of "overheated" guards is encountered, one way to counter their threat is for the player to move off in some other direction. This will often cause them to begin to scatter, but may make it easier for them to be engaged in ones and twos later on. Of course the main disadvantage to this tactic is it is not known where they'll be when next seen, unless they're in a bounded area. Always good for a laugh though!

The other thing about guards moving from room to room while searching is that they will often open a door into an unrelated floor code and if a shot is fired at the time the door is open, even more guards can become involved in the search. Heh, heh! I love finding dogs in rooms where they shouldn't be. Took me a while to figure out how they learned to open doors.

Effect on Play of Guard Choices vs. Design Decisions

While sitting at your computer testing a floor design, you may not always recognize what the effect of your choice of guard types will have on game play when viewed against your design decisions.

As you already know, the tan guards move slowly and react the same way. The blue SS guards are a bit quicker and more deadly (takes 3 or more shots to bring them down, depending on distance between player and guard).

The white uniformed "officers" move much more rapidly, will swerve to make a player miss and are more intelligent acting. Finally, the mutants are the greatest threat of all (except for the Super guards). The mutants move silently and shoot more quickly than all other guards.

The effect on design of using officers and mutants is important because of how quickly these latter guards can react.

When your floor design is played, the player must be given a way to defend himself, especially from officers and mutants, or be provided a way to attack without being totally overwhelmed. A niche in a wall, a narrow room with no cover, or no way to back off, is inadequate in those cases where the player will have to defend against a host of attackers. Conversely, a medium to large room with enemies everywhere, no cover afforded, and with nowhere else to go, should also be avoided.

The most critical example is designing an opening sequence which has the player standing in a room 1 or 2 squares deep and 1 square wide with the a door immediately in front. As soon as the door is opened, and a shot is fired which alerts numerous guards, the player will be overwhelmed. Particularly if the guards are officers or mutants and a better defensive position cannot be taken by moving out into a larger area.

The problem is exacerbated by how doors are programmed to open. As far as the program is concerned, the door is considered open the instant someone (the player or a guard) signals it to open. The program does not wait for the door to physically move far enough so actor and player are visible to each other. The mutant guard shoots so fast that the player won't even see the door start to move before the mutant's shot arrives to kill or maim. There's no defense except to try and kill a guard in the doorway so the door will stay open. But if nothing but officers and mutants arrive first, there is little hope of doing this. Besides, guards don't usually try to enter the room before shooting unless the player is out of sight.

Review your designs carefully and take this information into consideration. The game is played to be ultimately won by the player, not by the game's designers.

Elevators

I don't know if most people notice it, but all elevators in the official game are oriented east/west. No elevators are entered from the south or north. This is to ensure that when an elevator is entered, the control will always be directly in front of the player. (When you're hurrying, you don't want to have to stop and look for the switch!) Entering from the north or south will provide two controls on the left and right as the player enters - one of these can be safely eliminated in your designs.

Also, if you place an elevator control in a wall with a single thickness, the control will be available for use on both sides! You need to put something on the outside to prevent use of the outside control if you don't want it used, or else put a second thickness of wall behind the elevator.

Finally, when you create an elevator to go to the Secret floor, don't forget to use the floor code inside the elevator that signifies you want the player to go to the secret floor when the switch is thrown.

Secret Floors

Two things about secret floors: 1) you don't have to have one in an episode and 2) if you do have one, you need to place the elevator to the secret floor on designated floors in each episode if you want to come back to the correct floor.

If you decide not to have a secret floor, when the ninth floor is exited (the so-called "boss" floor) the player will find out it was really the secret floor, which only means the 10th floor becomes the "boss" floor. So you need to lay out your floors accordingly.

It is possible to place an elevator to the secret floor on every floor in an episode. However, if you did this for episode one, each time, upon return from the secret floor, the player would be back on floor #2 (which would get a bit tiresome after a while). Elevators to secret floors for all episodes should be placed on the following floors within episodes 1 to 6, respectively: Floors 1, 1, 7, 3, 5, and 3. This way the normal progression of floors will work right.

Inaccessibility of Objects and Acquiring Bonus Points

There are, obviously, 2 approaches to playing Wolf3D. One approach is for the player to get through a floor quickly enough to beat the Par time so as to get some bonus points. Such an approach automatically ignores the need to kill all guards, find all hidden doors, and get all the treasure. These last three items constitute the other approach, i.e., taking time to kill everyone, open all doors and get all the treasure, which also earns bonus points. (Once in a great while, a player might be able to do both!)

If you design a floor that makes it impossible to award bonuses for using the latter approach, then you have chosen to award only those who use the former approach of getting in and out as quickly as possible. How do you do this? By making treasure, guards and hidden doors inaccessible. One other way is to use the Pacman ghost on any level except the secret floor. The "ghost" is considered to be a guard, but is invincible. No matter what guards are used on the secret floor, the player will be awarded 15,000 bonus points just for getting there and out. There is nothing wrong with denying bonus points in chosen situations. This is just to make you aware when designing a floor what the effects of your choice will be.

Trickery

The official version of Wolf3D employs no "tricks" to fool you. However, if you design and edit enough floors, you'll soon learn about the "tricks of the trade". Guards can be made to walk through walls (which the player can then walk through). Objects can be made transparent, and so forth. Although Wolf3D purists will probably argue the point, I personally think a trick or two adds a new, and interesting element to the game as long as it's done sparingly. It's probably fair to warn the potential user of your custom floor that you've added a trick or two without telling them what or where.

I began this section by stating the official version has no tricks. This is true if you discount built-in "errors". The distributor of the official version of Wolf3D insists that some floors are not completely playable on purpose. I.e., hidden doors were deliberately misplaced so you can never enter the area behind. There are one or two more "impossible" situations built in. This explanation fails to account for why so much design work went into an area that you can't get into if no one was ever intended to see a map of the area. Or why the official hint book urges you to enter an area that is unenterable.

Balance

When designing a floor, you should strive to achieve a balance among the various skill levels. For example, don't overload with skill 1 & 2 guards, nor fail to add skill level 4 guards. With the latest additions to Mapedit Version 7.0 by David Huntoon, Brian Baker, and Matt Gruson, it is now possible to quickly see not only what the balance looks like from the STATS, but you can individually view the placement of all skill level guards. Plus you can isolate the display of treasure, ammo, and health items, and Super guards (bosses).

Narrow vs. Wide passages.

This'll seem obvious to you old hands. But for those just creating their first floor(s), it is probably worth reminding you that creating narrow passages slows the player who wants to set a record for going from entrance to exit. Of course, every player who uses that same hallway will have the same problem, but it's worth considering. Interestingly enough, a narrow passageway seems to make it a bit easier to nail "Arnold" if he's forced to follow the player down the passage. The reason is, a narrow passage creates an environment for a better aim and actors that are hit squarely will not be able to shoot back if they can't move out of the way.

Why do narrow passages slow progress of the player? Any enemies hidden in niches off a narrow hallway will impede movement by just being there. The player won't be able rush by them without engaging them in battle. If you want to hide someone off a long hallway, place him at least two squares deep or widen the hallway, if possible.

Weapons

If you design a series of floors, be sure to leave a machine gun on several of the floors (also a chain gun). Don't assume that all your floors will remain together. Also, when someone has to start a floor over after being killed, they need to find a machine gun in a hurry. (I know, they should've remembered to save their game at the start of each level, but....)

You can either hide a machine gun somewhere, or else place an SS guard near the start. When he's killed, he'll drop his machine gun for the player to pickup.

Over Designing - or Too Much of a Good Thing.

While there's a limit on the number of static objects (anything on the floor except walls and guards) that can be placed on 1 floor (400), if you try to place too many in one room/area, the game will suffer from screen background clutter. This means that actors that are in a room with too many other objects, will literally be invisible, as will some of the objects, depending on the angle of vision of the player. This is also true if too many actors come streaming out of room. You'll lose 1 or more as your display screen will not be able to refresh quickly enough to catch all of them moving through the door.

The secret floor of Episode 4 of the official game is a perfect example of this. When the player waits in the hidden room on this floor for all 74 officers to come for a visit, they'll arrive too fast for the screen to keep up and before you know it they're shot from behind and they didn't see anyone go by.

There is a tendency for designers to load up a room or rooms near one of the Super Bosses with ammo and first aid so the player has a chance of surviving. As long as the player keeps these objects to his/her back, there usually won't be a problem. But if the player backs up too far and exposes lots of objects on the floor between himself and the actor, the actor may flicker on and off the screen. Not good!

One other example worth mentioning is a room filled with barrels that are placed so as to provide an intricate pathway through the area. Depending once again on the angle of view, many of the barrels will disappear from view. As you turn they will reappear. Any actors on the other side of the room will be invisible until the player can get closer (if he/she survives that long).

So if you find you've got a room like those described above, redesign it to limit the objects to a smaller area of view. Use walls for partitioning off parts of the room or use smaller rooms, or just eliminate some of the objects by placing some of them elsewhere if you think you need them all.

Wrapping it up

It is hoped the above tips will help you design your floors with greater confidence and fewer errors. At least you should be able to recognize the symptoms when, for example, you come across a guard in a trance, or doors open and close without sound.

Floor designing isn't difficult, only time consuming. Just get out a large sheet of graph paper and grow your design. Then use the Mapedit program to transfer your design to the screen. Next, test it, fix it, test it, fix it, etc., etc., until you're satisfied with the results. This is obviously an oversimplified explanation. Your floor has to be saved to disk, then merged into the GAMEMAPS file of a running game to test it.

All floors occupy an area 62 x 62 squares in which to layout your designs. (The actual area is 64 x 64; the extra 2 squares in either direction are the peripheral wall which has to be there. You can add designs to it and change its color if you want). Try to leave some space for your name to be added somewhere, and a floor title, if you want one.

What To Do With Your Designs

If you already have 1 or more floor designs or would like to try your hand at creating them, I would like to include your designs in another episode of another package like this. You will get full credit for your work by having your name placed in the floor design (if it isn't already there) as well as listed in the credits section of the manual. If you want to include any hints, put them in a small file for inclusion in the manual.

Your designs will not normally be tampered with unless something in them presents a problem. You will be contacted to see what you want to do, or you can trust me to resolve the problem for you. Actual inclusion into an episode will depend on, among other things, factors such as complexity and originality, as judged by myself. You will be informed if your design needs more work before being included. The current 60 floor package did not always meet the above criteria, but it was a start.

All designs remain the property of their designer, but cannot be withdrawn after distribution. You're free to include your designs in any other form, but I reserve the right to exclude them from my package, if appropriate.

Cost of transmitting or mailing the file to me will be borne by you. Diskettes will be returned if you include sufficient postage (usually two 29 cent stamps are enough for one diskette). Contact me in advance for my mailing address.

Перевод:
Виталий Филатов © 2001
Vitaly Filatov © 2001

Warren Buss
Compuserve ID: 71044,3477
Prodigy ID: HNHM14A