No Fragments Archive 12: Textmags & Docs/nf_archive_12.iso/MAGS/TEXTMAGS/3RD_DIM/3RDDM16.MSA/ROUTINES/KIT2GAME.TXT

Text File | 2004-06-27 | 11KB | 178 lines

                            THE  THIRD  DIMENSION

        3DKIT 2  TUTORIAL  GAME FOR BEGINNERS:  MISSION (IM)POSSIBLE
        ------------------------------------------------------------
                                 PART  3

In this issue we will create our First Mission Area. Once again I will try
to give a step by step explanation on how I created it.

But before this I have to explain a difference on how the game will
be made on the Amiga/Atari and on the PC.
Before starting this tutorial I already tested the different mission
areas on both the Amiga and the PC and I came to the conclusion that
on the PC I cannot combine all the mission areas in one datafile and
still let the player choose a mission at random. I discovered that
a lot of conditions for a particular area didn't work correctly anymore when
I switched to another area to play another mission. Moreover the datafile
will be greater than the memory that is allocated for one datafile. I
found a solution for that. On the PC the LoadWorld command works correctly
while on the Amiga (and perhaps also the Atari) this isn't the case.
However on the Amiga and Atari you have the possibility to increase the
buffer size and I didn't have problems with conditions not working
correctly when switching to other area missions.

So the Amiga/Atari datafile will be one large file and on the PC I
will make different datafiles for each mission that can be loaded through
the buttons in the area 'CHOOSE A MISSION' using the LoadWorld command.

For this first Mission I create a maze (something the Kit is very good at).
I use one of the new features in Kit2, i.e. Userfades. Under the General
Menu there is this Function: Edit Userfades. Click on it and you will have
the choice between nr. 10 - 15. I use nr. 10 and click on the squares
until I have a suitable fade for the walls of the maze. To me the area
has to look more "military". In order for this userfade to be effective,
I have to load in my datafile and edit nr. 10 in the way I described
above and save the datafile. I then can create the area apart from the
datafile in the way described in part 2, only when I save the area, the
Userfade is not saved with it. So it has to be defined in the datafile
itself.

I start to create my first cube (nr.2). Edit and stretch it and give it a
suitable colour (brown). Then I click on the Attributes Icon below
the edit window to edit the attributes of cube 2 and type in the nr. 10
behind 'Fadeval'. I click on 'Defaults' and type in the nr. 10. By
clicking twice on OK I am back in the edit window again. Now by copying
this cube, the next one already has the userfade nr. in its attributes,
so I only have to position it on the correct place and I do this a lot
more times until the maze is almost ready. In this way the maze is
is created with a minimum of work. Very handy is the Function Mode -
Vehicle under the General Menu. When I choose Fly1 or Fly2 I can over-
look the area from every height and angle to make the maze I already
had drawn on a piece of paper look the same. For the time being I
leave the maze without a "roof". It is easier to create other objects
in an open area. I save my area.

The purpose of this mission is to find 3 magnetic tablets to disable the
laser barriers. There are teleports that will transport the player quickly
from one place to another. Power crystals are hanging all over the place
that will give the player more power when shot. On the other hand, walking
too near to a laser barrier, the player will loose power.

First I create three cubes that will be my magnetic tablets. I stretch and
colour them, place them in the maze in such a way that you have to really
search to find them. This is easier when you draw everything on a piece
of paper. You can then also determine where the teleports have to come and
the laser barriers. In order to easily find them back when I have to make a
condition for them, in their attributes window I change the name of the cubes
in tablet 1, 2 and 3. I use hexagons for the teleports and place them at
different places in the maze. I change their names to teleport 2, 3, 4, 5,
and 6 so they will have the same figure as the entrances I create at each
teleport. As I already have an Entrance 1, I will start as from Entrance 2.
To create an entrance, stand before the hexagon, walk till you bump against
it, then make a U-turn, walk one mouseclick forwards and choose Create
Entrance from the Area Menu. For the laser barriers I will use sensors.
I place some of the sensors very near to the teleports, so when the player
is transported to another entrance, he/she will have to move quickly away from
it. Naturally I also place sensors in the neighbourhood of the tablets, and
some others here and there in the maze, a little bit at random.
I safe my area.
When making the sensors, I encounter the first difference between the Amiga
and the PC version of the Kit.
I create a sensor on the Amiga, then in its attributes menu I click on SENSOR
(the word next to DEFAULTS). This will bring up another attributes menu.
In this attributes menu I type in behind sound the number 18, behind
proc the number 6, behind range the number 1500. I leave the attribute shoot
and the speed of 50 the same. In this way I am able to create quite a lot of
sensors without having any difficulty.
On the PC however, doing this in the same way results in freezing of the
screen after creating a number of sensors. After changing the sound number
to zero and changing the shoot attribute into detect, the problems are gone.
NOTE: I will add a soundmodule to the datafile next issue.

You can attach a procedure to a sensor and as we have already 5 (control)
procedures, this one will become nr. 6 and is valid for each sensor. So in
each sensor's attributes menu I add the nr. 6 behind proc, and under the
Conditions Menu I create another Procedure, nr. 6. I do not edit it yet.
This will come later on. I safe my area.
I create a flexicube and edit it with the Point tools, to the left in the
Edit tools window. You can see a small rectangle on the spot where you are
able to edit it and you can move this rectangle to different spots of
the flexicube by clicking on next. By turning the cube around you can see
what the effect is on another side of it and from there edit it. When the
shape is as I want it, I give all sides of it different colours. In its
attributes menu I click on the word FADE  OFF until FADEBOUNCE appears. I
click on defaults and do the same. From now on the flexicube fades in and
out and will act as a power crystal. I need quite a lot of these and they
all will have to contain the same condition. So first I give this one its
condition:              IF SHOT?
                        THEN DESTROY (49)  this flexicube
                        ADDVAR (100,V31)   add 100 points to Power
                        SOUND (18)=PC  SOUND (3)=Amiga/Atari
                        ENDIF
When I copy this flexicube, the copy already contains the condition and the
only thing I have to do is change and fill in the number of this particular
flexicube to be destroyed. I copy the flexicube a lot of times, adjusting
the condition, and place them all over the maze. Then I save my area.

The next thing I have to do is create a few exits, which are invisible
at the start of the mission, and become visible when the player has
picked up all three magnetic tablets. Therefore I create 3 cubes,
colour them black and place them in the neighbourhood of the 3 tablets.
I copy another two of them and place them somewhere in the maze. In
their Attributes Menu I make them all invisible both in the current and
the default window, and change their names in exit 1 up till 5. In order
for them to become visible at the right moment, I will need to make
a local condition which will be done in the next issue.

NOTE: I discover another bug on the PC, i.e. the attribute 'I' (invisible)
      is not given in the edit information window of objects. When you
      want to look at (or edit) its attributes, this should be given next
      to the particular object you want to edit. On the Amiga the character
      I is present.

Having created every object I need in the area, I copy one of the walls
of the maze, flip it and make a "roof" over it, by moving it on top of
the maze cubes and stretching it in all directions until it covers the
whole area. Then I lower it down until it touches the other cubes.
I save my area again.

Making an area as described above will never be perfect the first time.
You will discover this most of the time when all conditions are present
and you start to playtest your datafile.
As I test the above area, I soon discover that I need another sensor,
some power crystals and even some walls to make the maze a bit more
difficult. When copying or creating objects in a "close" area it is
sometimes necessary to remove the object above your head, otherwise the
other objects will appear somewhere high above it in the sky and you cannot
lower them to the ground.
That reminds me of another thing that can happen when creating a room
with a ceiling (for instance a barn which is open on one side).
When you save it as an OBJECT and load it in an area again, you are
not able to walk into it. When you save everything as an AREA, however,
clear the screen and load in the area again, you now are able to walk into
the room. This also happens when creating for instance a stairway.

On this disk the following datafiles are present:

       For the Amiga/Atari: missiona.3wd with border Mission.iff
       For the PC         : mission.3wd  - This is only the Choice area
                            mission1.3wd - This contains the first mission
                                           area
                            with border Mission.lbm

For now the files for the PC are not yet combined through the LoadWorld
command. You have to load mission1.3wd as a separate datafile. Next issue
I will explain how to combine them through the LoadWorld command.
You have to use the 'Gotoarea' function to go to area 3, Entrance 1
of the datafile on AMIGA/ATARI.
Next issue I will explain how to add a condition to button 1 and the
attached procedure.

Next issue we will add conditions, sounds and animbrushes to this first
mission.



                                             Mieke