Tricks for Level Writers

Making events that give flags repeat

• Simply duplicate the event in question making this second version need the flag the first one gave. This can be expensive in events if the first event is actually a linked series of events. Of course those sort of events are the ones that most need repeating.

• Similar to the above but just use one event the second time to give a resume of what was said before.

  If it is appropriate to have two people to talk to at the same place.

  • Make the event that gives the flag give an extra flag say 'repeat1' and the other event give a flag 'repeat2'. Make the first event clear flag 'repeat2' and the other event clear flag 'repeat1'. Either event can be set to trigger first or both can potentially trigger first. Then each event will play in turn an indefinite number of times.

  Joining two (or more) submaps seamlessly

  I first saw this used in Adventurama and thought it was a very clever idea. The picture on the left is of the two submaps that are to be connected seamlessly by warp points. To do this you need to set up two warps one from 1 to 2 and the other from A to B. By making the road the only way you can move at that point, I only needed two warp points. You could join the maps continuously across but that would need 40 warp points to join the full width. The thin lines show the point beyond which you can see the edge of the submap. The warp off the map therefore needs to go just before this line and the return warp needs to enter one square further away from the edge so a return towards the edge throws you back onto the previous submap. You actually have to repeat the last 5 deep row of tiles on the next map, so in practice you only gain a total length of 10 tiles to your original 20. Subject to the number of warp points and submaps available this can be used to join any number of submaps together. When I used these in Z-Files I actually made sure that you could not see the edge anywhere and the two W.s show where the submaps were connected to another submap. This was to make it feel as if it might have been part of the main map.

  The remaining tricks were provided by Eric S and in some cases anotated by me with indented paragraphs. I am happy to add any tricks anyone else would like to share. Properly acknowledged of course.

  Warps

  If you put an event on top of a warp, the warp doesn't happen if the event does. You can actually take advantage of this by "protecting" warps with events, if you don't want the warp to be usable until something happens.

  The easiest way is to use an event that needs a flag but doesn't give one. When you want to reveal the warp point: clear the flag.

  Alternatively if you want to disable a warp after a certain point put an event on top of it that doesn't trigger until a certain flag has been set.

  One way doors

  • If you want it to be continuously repeatable:
    You can use a warp on the door that pushes the character back one square to where he approached the door. So from the side that the warp drops you off on, you go through the door and find yourself back where you started. But if you go through the door from the other direction, you find yourself all the way through.

    If coming from a room or submap to the outside you can make the door outside unwalkable but have a warp inside the room just where the doorway is that takes the person to just outside that door. I used this in Time Fracture for the exit to the supermarket.

  • One off one way doors can be done with a map change so that once the person has gone through a flag is set which triggers a map change which changes the door into a similar looking unwalkable tile so he cannot return.

  • Another way is to give a flag once he is through the door that triggers a talking event on the door. You cannot walk onto a square that contains a talking event.

    For these last two you could undo the effect if you unset the flags.

  Special Paths

  Ever want to do something like the second trap in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" where you have to follow a predetermined path, and you don't want the player to figure it out by trial and error? Well, unless you can keep them from saving, you can't, but you can make it very hard to guess by saving any "punsishment" until the very end.

  You can do this with warps between multiple identical rooms, one room for each step (though you should be able to merge rooms). Basically, you set it up so that at each step, the character is surrounded by warps, one (on the correct path) goes to the next room, and the other three go to the "wrong" room. The "wrong" room would have no warps, as you don't care what the character does when they get there, as long as the reward is a monster or such when they leave/open the chest/etc.

  Special monsters that you can't run from

  Can't quite be done, but you can set the run direction to be into an alcove, where the only way out is back through the special monster. As a twisted twist on this, you can set up the run direction on a tough special monster to be beyond the monster, though you'd better have a way to explain this, such as the easiest escape was between the giants legs!

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  Last updated 8 December 1999