Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of doc/editor


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Timestamp:
04/19/2011 01:32:01 PM (13 years ago)
Author:
Sam Hocevar
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  • doc/editor

    v1 v1  
     1= Abuse level editing tutorial =
     2
     3Version 0.1, byy Craig Redinger (car188@psu.edu)
     4
     5NOTE: Please keep in mind that this is the first release, so it isn't very
     6in depth and there may be errors, but this should get you started.
     7
     8This tutorial is intended to get you farmiliar with the abuse editor, which
     9can be extremely confusing at first. This tutorial will not explain every
     10object in detail or tell you how to use them. I'll help you with the
     11basics, after that you'll have to experiment with the objects yourself.
     12This tutorial will not explain how to make new monsters, objects, or tiles.
     13It will help you to figure out the editor and save yourself a lot of time.
     14Enough of that, let's get down to business.
     15
     16NOTE: If I want you to press a key I'll put it in brackets. Like this <m>.
     17If I want you to press shift and a key, the letter will be capitalized,
     18like this <M>.
     19
     20First, print this out so you can read it while you use the editor. Next, if
     21you have the abuse.doc file, print it out, it has a list of keyboard
     22commands and explanations of how the objects work, among other things.
     23
     24Now, start abuse in edit mode, like this:
     25
     26{{{
     27#!sh
     28abuse -edit
     29}}}
     30
     31Abuse will load and start in edit mode. By default it loads the trainer
     32level. At the bottom of the screen is a menu bar, go into the edit menu and
     33select "mouse scrolling" to turn the scrolling on. Next go in the same menu
     34and pick "add new palette." Palettes act as custom collections of tiles,
     35and put tiles where you can find them easily, without searching through the
     36foreground window. set the size as 5 high and 5 wide, enter a name for your
     37palette, and press OK. A new window should appear. Now put the tiles you
     38will be using for your level into this pallete window, you can do this 2
     39ways. The first way is to pick tiles you want to use off the screen with
     40the <`> key (it's in the upper left hand corner of the keyboard). Then move
     41the mouse cursor into the palette window you made and press the RIGHT mouse
     42button to place it in the pallete. The other way to do this: open the
     43foreground window by pressing <f>. Then place your mouse over the window
     44and press <F> 4 or 5 times to make the window wider. When you find a tile
     45you like select it with the LEFT mouse button, and place it in the pallete
     46window with the RIGHT mouse button. When you are done with a window you can
     47close it by clicking on the button in the upper left hand corner. Go into
     48the file menu and select "save palettes" you must do this whenever you make
     49a new palette. To open a palette press <p>. This will open then palette
     50picker window, you should see the name of the palette you made. Now that
     51you have made your own palette, you can use it like you would the
     52foreground window, left click on a tile to select it, and left click on the
     53game screen to place the selected tile.
     54
     55You are now ready to start your level. Go into the file menu and pick "New
     56level." When you created your palette you should have included the brown
     57blocking tile that is normally used where ever there are no walls or rooms.
     58Select this tile. Move your mouse pointer onto the game screen and press
     59<t> to flood fill the map with this tile.
     60
     61'''Hey, why's everything so dark?'''
     62
     63That's due to the lighting effects in abuse press <L> to open the layers
     64window. Press the "light" button to turn the lighting off. Now, using your
     65palette, place tiles to make a simple room, any size, but make sure it is
     66closed on all four sides. OK, this would be a good time to explain the
     67tiles. Some foreground tiles act as walls, and some act as background. The
     68ones that act as walls have bounding boxes. Open the layers window <L> and
     69press the bounds button to see the bounding boxes, your screen should be
     70filled with gray boxes. Find a tile that does not block the player, place
     71the cursor inside the room you made and press <t> this should fill that
     72room with the tile you selected. Place the cursor in the room and press <j>
     73this will move the player to the position of the mouse. Press <tab> to
     74enter play mode, you should be able to run around in the room you made.
     75Press <tab> to get out of play mode. Now make open one end of your room and
     76make a hallway, and make other rooms and passages in the same manner. It's
     77hard at first but you'll get the hang of it.
     78
     79Now, lets add some objects. Let's make a door that opens when the player
     80comes near it. Press <o> to open the objects window, to jump through the
     81list, place the pointer in the window and press shift and the letter you
     82want to jump to at the same time. Select the object SWITCH_DOOR, a door
     83will appear, you can move it around the screen with the mouse and place it
     84by left clicking. Hold down <Ctrl> while moving the object, this will align
     85the door with the tile grid, holding down <Alt> would align the object in
     86the middle of the grid. The door is 3 tiles high so it should be placed in
     87a 3 tile high opening. To make to door open and close you will need to make
     88a sensor, place it anywhere for now. Move the mouse over the word "off" the
     89sensor and press <A> to acess it's AI. You'll want the sensor to be wider
     90so set the on x distance to 100 and the off x distance to 150. Click the
     91check-mark box to close the window, the sensor should now be wider. You now
     92need to link the two objects together. Links are sensitive to direction,
     93you must link from the object that is affected by a change to an object
     94that changes ( I know this is very confusing). For example link from the
     95door to the sensor because the sensor is changed from off to on when the
     96player enters it, and as a result, the door opens. To make a link place the
     97mouse pointer over the door , now hold down <Ctrl> and move the mouse over
     98the word off on the sensor and release <Ctrl>. There should now be a gray
     99line between the two, and it should turn yellow when the mouse is over the
     100door.
     101
     102Now, Put the mouse over the word off on the sensor and press <space bar>.
     103You should now be able to move the sensor around, place it with the door in
     104the middle of it so half of it is on each side of the door. It is important
     105to note that the players feet must be in the sensor to activate it. Enter
     106play mode and try your door, you should be able to walk back and forth
     107through it, and it should close when you are far enough away from it.
     108
     109Make some ants, pick ANT_ROOF from the object window. You can change the
     110type of weapon the ant has by holding the mouse over it and pressing a
     111number from 0 to 7. If you want to modify the health of the ant press <A>
     112to bring up it's AI screen, when you are done press the check mark box. You
     113can either link an ant to some kind of sensor or switch and it will
     114activate when the switch is activated, or you can just place it on the roof
     115and it will activate when the player walks below it.
     116
     117You'll want some weapons in your level so make some ammo. Scroll through
     118the object list and find what you want. If you aren't sure what's what just
     119try some out until you find what you want. Ammo always has the word "icon"
     120in the object name, I think.
     121
     122'''I made some objects I don't want, how do I delete them?'''
     123
     124Hold the cursor over the object and press <d>.
     125
     126'''How can I make objects faster?'''
     127
     128Use the <.> key to make the last object you selected from the object list.
     129To copy an object and it's AI settings, place the mouse over it and press
     130<C>.
     131
     132'''I want this object to face the other way.'''
     133
     134Hold the mouse over it and press <x>.
     135
     136'''This object is drawn above/below other objects.'''
     137
     138Hold the mouse over the object and use the < key and the > key.
     139
     140'''How do I use background tiles?'''
     141
     142You make them in the same manner as foreground, but remember the the
     143foreground must be transparent to see background. You'll want to turn off
     144the foreground in the layers menu when you draw the background.
     145
     146Once you've finished your level, you can add some lighting effects and view
     147changes. press <m> to toggle into map mode, you can press it again to go
     148back. To go to a certain part of the map put the mouse cursor there then
     149press <j> then <m>. While in map mode press <a> to bring up the tool bar.
     150You'll need to define areas, whenever a player enters an area, the lighting
     151can change and the view offset can change. The player doesn't have to stay
     152in an area for these to remain in effect, the will not change until the
     153player enters another area. To make an area select the box on the tool bar
     154by moving the mouse over it, you don't have to click, so make sure the tool
     155you want stays selected. Click the mouse wherever you want the upper left
     156corner of an area to be. Now pick the arrow tool. Click the upper left
     157corner of an area to move it, the lower right to resize it. Double click a
     158corner to acess th AI screen, from here you can change the offset and
     159ambient lighting. Once you're finished pick the paint brush on the tool bar
     160to go back into draw mode and close the window. Press <m> to leave the map.
     161
     162Now make some lights, press <l> then pick the light you want, resize it
     163with the arrow keys while moving it.
     164
     165Make sure you have a START_POSITION item where you want the level to begin,
     166and the two NEXT_LEVEL items where you want it to end. The top must link to
     167the bottom and the bottom must link to the top, two seperate links are
     168required. Also, you can change the AI of both to designate what level to go
     169to next.
     170
     171Before you upload your level you'll need to make a cache profile, this is
     172explained in abuse.doc.
     173
     174'''Hey wait a minute, how do I use _____ object?'''
     175
     176To use other objects experiment with them, if you are stuck, check
     177abuse.doc it describes them all.
     178
     179'''I read abuse.doc and I still can't figure out the turrets.'''
     180
     181Heres a hint, 0 degrees is pointing to the right, the degrees go around
     182counter clockwise, as in a cartesian coordinate system. The gun interprets
     183the ending angle as being counterclocwise of the start angle.
     184
     185A few hints and tips:
     186
     187 1. Save <S> often, VERY often. The editor is subject to frequent lock-ups, and I have lost countless hours of work because of this.
     188 2. Save before you enter play mode and reload <R> when you are done.
     189 3. Don't crowd the passageways together. Space them out so the player can't see a place he can't get into from where he is.
     190 4. Level editing takes practice. Your first levels will probably suck. Upload them and let others help you improve them.
     191 5. If you need to know how to do something check abuse.doc , I know it's technical and dry but it's a very good source of info.
     192
     193You use this tutorial at your own risk, I take no responsibility for any
     194damages, blah blah blah. This tutorial is property of Craig Redinger. Abuse
     195is the property of Crack Dot Com.