Because games are getting longer and some people still have old Palm Pilots with only 512K or 1M of memory.
It involves deleting things not needed for the whole of the game. You can delete Events, Talking Events and Questions as well as Submaps and Rooms, and then Stores and Guilds, also Monsters and Special Monsters. You can also delete Map changes and Warp points though they might be the least important things to delete in terms of size.
NO! If it is very non-linear so people can go everywhere and do anything at all stages of the game.
YES! If is is fairly linear and structured so there are lots of events that no longer need to play and locations that cannot be visited etc. for each part of the game.
My First level "Time Fracture" was was perfect for this because apart from the central area I had six different eras. I had two eras in each part and of course once an era had been visited you could not return.
You also need to think where to transfer from one part to another. You need a message about saving the game that they can't miss.
I had them in Time Fracture when people returned from an era on some tile they had to step on.
I definitely recommend making an ordered list of every Event etc. by name and number (maybe location though I didn't for everything - but obviously it IS number and location for map changes and warp points) and then marking against it whether it is needed for 'all' the game or only part '1' , '2' etc. I know this is an awful bore but I think it means you are less likely to delete something you shouldn't.
Give all Events pictures
With Events where you have pictures it is important to give every event a picture even if it is a blank one. (I used to use the 32x32 one in the editor for this but it kept throwing me back to a different directory so in the end I made a totally white 32x32 tile and that allowed me to return to the same place all the time!)
The reason for this is that if only some events have pictures when you delete earlier events the pictures migrate around the place in a most alarming fashion. When writing my latest level I gave them all pictures right from the start and when I have deleted events just in the normal course of writing the level they have been very well behaved.
Delete Submaps and Rooms last
When you delete later listed locations and events or whatever there aren't any problems but when you come to do part two and maybe delete swathes of earlier things you find the location will change when you delete Submaps and Rooms. I think for this reason I decided that that Submaps and Rooms should be deleted about last. The computer knows this event belongs to the fifth submap so it still puts it on the current FIFTH submap even though in the original version that was the ninth. The Editor allows you to give things names but then remembers them by sequential numbering. You will see that Submaps are numbered then Rooms follow after.
Then Reasign all locations where necessary
It is wise to check that everything is where you expected it to be before you compile the part level.
Play Test
You ought to do this to check you haven't deleted something by mistake.
Last Points
The levels all need the same name. You must have a different file name for each part but the level name in the Level Info screen must be the same.
Do tell people to 'Restore' the game rather than just play it when they start the next part.
Last updated 25 November 1999