Docs and Instructions...

Can someone post the manual/read me/instructions for using the World Editor online (perhaps under Add-Ons). I'd like to look at it at lunch time, but here at the office I'm... 'trapped behind gates and windows'. Also, if anyone has written their own guide or technotes/FAQs, that would be swell to have too.

I've already begun basic work on my world... and I'm happy to say it will be more fun and enjoyable than frustrating (more challenging to the mind than the fingertips).

Thanks

Jodeo

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Here's the full read-me

MASCOT/FERAZEL EDITOR README

*** WARNING -- COMPLETELY UNSUPPORTED AS-IS SOFTWARE -- USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! ***

Greetings, reader. This is the internal editor used to create all the levels for
Ferazel's Wand, a game from Ambrosia Software. It has been released to the public
due to popular demand. It is entirely unsupported and it may well crash your Mac.
However, it was reasonably usable and stable enough that I was able to make 24
Ferazel levels with it. Canny users may notice a resemblance to the Harry Editor;
they would be correct, as it is based on the same code, simply extended for the
features of the Ferazel.

Note that the editor and its graphics file must be placed in the same folder as
the game, as the editor must be able to access the Backgrounds file.

For those wondering, "Mascot" was the original codename of the Ferazel engine.

The official Ferazel website is at: (url="http://"http://www.ferazel.com")http://www.ferazel.com(/url)

Please do not contact Ambrosia's tech support with questions about the editor.
But you are free to discuss it with other users on the Ferazel web board,
which can be found here:
(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi")http://www.AmbrosiaS...bb/Ultimate.cgi(/url)

Will Oram, a Ferazel beta tester, has successfully created a few of his own
levels using this editor, and has volunteered to help with any questions
people may have. Will's email address is spamguy@crosswinds.net.

You'll note Ferazel does not have any mechanism for loading a non-standard
world. So, to play your own world, you'll need to rename your world to
"Ferazel's Wand World Data" and place it in the same folder as the game.
Make sure to keep a copy of the original world data file around.

The editor's interface is somewhat quirky and may take a bit of figuring out.
The easiest way to create your own levels is to start by duplicating the
Ferazel World Data file and changing the levels that already exist -- just
clear them out and place your own tiles and enemies there. (ResEdit
users, note that the levels are each an individual resource of type 'Mlvl'.)

The easiest way to place ground tiles is to draw a black and white picture
in a graphics program. It should be the same size as the level (you can check
the level size by selecting "Edit Level Info".) So for a level that is 200x200
tiles, you can use a 200x200 pixel picture. Black equals filled in ground,
white equals empty space. The Edit menu provides various options for
smoothing the tiles, etc. Make sure you use an actual black and white image,
not an RGB image, or the colors may not match exactly.

Level editing is intended only to be used with the full version of the game.
Strange things may happen with the demo version, I have no idea. In any
case, please buy the full version, if you haven't already, so that I can
afford enough Ramen noodles that I don't starve to death before finishing
my next game.

Remember, this is an unsupported program and it is really intended mostly
for diehard Ferazel fans. I hope you have fun with the editor.

Ben Spees (ben@mixedmetaphor.com) -- 10/26/2000

----------------------

USEFUL ITEM IDs
1290: big magic crystal, 1291: big health crystal
1292: small moneybag, 1293: big moneybag
1300: magic crystal, 1301: health crystal
1302: silver coin, 1305: gold coin, 1306: platinum coin
3201: Silver key, 3202: Gold key, 3203: Platinum key
3204: Magic potion, 3205: Health potion
3206: Fire Seeds
3207: Locket
3208: Hammer
3209: Poppy Muffin
3210: Algernon Piece
3211: Algernon Frame
3212: Algernon
3213: Gwendolyn
3214: Wooden Shield
3215: Magic Shield
3216: Gold Ring
3217: Green Ring
3218: Ice Pick
3219: Mult Crystal
3220: Light Orb
3221: Vorpal Dirk
3222: Xichrons
3223: Rez Necklace
3224: Fire Charm
3225: Mist Potion

TREASURE CHESTS
info field (0): ID of item you need to open it (such as what type of key, or 0 for none)
info field (1): ID of item that's inside the chest
info field (2): quantity of items inside

DOORS
info field (0): ID of item you need to open it (NOTE! 1-27, not 3201-3227)

ROCK BARRIER
info field (0): number of button required to open door. -2 for boss-death-activated.

PLATFORMS
info field (0): type of platform
1: vertical
2: horizontal
3: floating
5: vertical, move when stepped on, stop otherwise
6: horizontal, move when stepped on, stop otherwise
7: vertical, move when stepped on, don't stop
8: horizontal, move when stepped on, don't stop
10: circular
11: pendulum
20: tricycle
21: bicycle
22: quadcycle
30: tilting see-saw (works for see-saw type platforms only)
for 1-30:
info field (1): range in pixels
info field (2): initial speed in 256ths of pixels per frame
info field (3): starting number of pixels into range (for circular platforms, starting angle 0-360)
50: fall-when-stepped-on platform
info field (1): ticks before falling
info field (2): pixels to fall
51: disappear-when-stepped-on platform
info field (1): ticks before disappearing
info field (2): ticks before reappearing
52: patterned disappearance platform
info field (1): duration of appearance in ticks
info field (2): duration on nonappearance in ticks
info field (3): ticks to start into the pattern

SCYTHES AND SPIKED BALLS
info field (0): type of motion
1,2: ridable platform
10: circular
11: pendulum
12: 3-D pendulum
13: 3-D circular vertical
14: 3-D circular horizontal

info field (1): range in pixels
info field (2): initial speed in 256ths of pixels per frame
info field (3): starting angle 0-360

SNOWBALLS
info field (0): starting size, 0-128
info field (1): max size, 0-128

TELEPORTERS
info field (0): sprite number of connected teleporter (from where it says "sprite #32 of 34")

ENEMIES
sentinel enemies: movement like platforms, same info used

CANNONS
(0): motion type. 0 = stationary.
101 = spinning clockwise, 102 = spinning counterclockwise
103 = spinning clockwise fast, 104 = spinning counterclockwise fast
(1): frames to stay at each rotation
(2): amount to rotate each time. 0 = eighth, 1 = quarter, 2 = half
105 = ground hit-rotatable

GROUND FIRE
(0): flame color. 0=normal, 1=bluish-purple, 2=gray, 3=purple, 4=green

SCENERY
(0): 1 for flip
(1): 1 for tint
#define kRedTint 1
#define kYellowTint 2
#define kBlueTint 3
#define kWaterTint 4
#define kSmokeTint 5
#define kDarkTint 6
#define kVeryDarkTint 7
#define kLightTint 8
#define kVeryLightTint 9
#define kGreenRotTint 10
#define kGrayscaleTint 11
#define kFlameTint 12
#define kWaterTint2 13
#define kColaTint 14
#define kPurpleTint 15
#define kGobYellowTint 16
#define kGobBlueTint 17
#define kGobIceTint 18
#define kGobPurpleTint 19
#define kGobBrownTint 20
#define kGobGrayTint 21
#define kSemiDarkTint 22
(2): 1 to put in front layer

LEVEL FLAGS
(0): 1 to change the color of tiles on liquid (e.g. make ground under water bluish)
(1): abstract backgrounds
#define kAbstractRain 1 (also causes thunder & rain sound effect)
#define kAbstractMagic 2
#define kAbstractSecret 3
#define kAbstractBoss1 4
#define kAbstractBoss2 5
#define kAbstractBoss3 6
#define kAbstractBoss4 7
#define kAbstractBoss5 8
#define kAbstractBoss6 9
(2): 1 for flipping player left at level start
(3): 1 for enlarged air current appearance
(4): 1 for river motion
(5): 1 to use 192x192 pattern tileset
(6): 1 to use entire color table for parallax background
(7): 1 for cold (painful) water; and ice level tinting
(8): 1 to not fade in music on level start

LEVEL INFO
(0): amount of ambient darkness. 0-normal light, 9-almost-total darkness
(2): h offset to scroll center
(3): v offset to scroll center
(4): hurt amount of special tiles, avg. around 100 (you start with about 1500 health)
(5): slipperiness of special tiles, e.g. ice: 100
(7): water current in regular water, avg. range 300-1000
(8): parallax sprite pict ID
(9): parallax sprite scroll mult
(10): parallax sprite vPos (in px coords)
(11): altClut ID, 0 for none
(12): ripple background flag
(13): background CLUT animation effect, last 48 entries
(14): fire background info, last 48 entries of clut must contain fire table
(15): Boss point. Horizontal point where boss activates. Positive if player approaching from left.
Negative if approaching from right.
(16): autoscroll horizontal speed in 256ths of pixels/frame
(17): autoscroll vertical speed in 256ths of pixels/frame
(18): autoscroll type, 0 for off, 1 for fire
(19): global player air push, horizontal only, in 256ths of pixels/frame
(20): Secondary horizontal boss point. Negative if approaching from right. Positive if from left.6
(21): kind of background clut animation to do
(22): range of clut animation
(23): speed of clut animation
(24): clut animation amount mult (e.g. 6000 - 18000)
(25): range of top to scroll
(26): scroll speed
(27): chapter screen number
(28): chapter screen scroll info, 0 for no scroll

SIGNS
(0): Index of string in STR# resource 500 to display.

CHARACTERS
(0): Resource ID of Conversation resource to use. (Creatable with Edit Conversation command)

CONVERSATIONS

If no gotos are specified the conversation will be displayed progressing
in a linear fashion. You can think of a conversation as sort of a
very rudimentary BASIC program.

To goto a line and perform its actions but not display its text, enter
the negative of the line number in the "goto" field.

CONSTANTS

<arg>: argument specified in line action dialog

If conditions
-------------
1: true if player has <arg> coins or more
2: true if player has item of type <arg>
4: true if flag # <arg> is set
5: true if player permflag # <arg> is set to <arg2>

Action conditions
-----------------
1: remove <arg> coins
2: give player item of type <arg> <arg2: how many>
(1: silver key, 2: gold key, 3: plat key, 4: magic potion, 5: health potion)
3: remove item of type <arg>
4: set permanent flag # <arg>
5: set player permflag # <arg> to <arg2>
(1, 2, or 3)
8: permanently validate sprite <arg> on level <arg2>
9: destroy this sprite permanently

Also Emperor Ent is working on an addition at (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/emu_developers/ferazel.html")http://www.geocities...rs/ferazel.html(/url)

------------------
Don't take life too seriously, nobody gets out alive anyway.

(This message has been edited by Bob the Mediocre (edited 11-20-2000).)

Thanks, oh Mediocre one! You're contributions shall be rewarded!

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Quote

Originally posted by Jodeo:
**Can someone post the manual/read me/instructions for using the World Editor online (perhaps under Add-Ons). I'd like to look at it at lunch time, but here at the office I'm... 'trapped behind gates and windows'. Also, if anyone has written their own guide or technotes/FAQs, that would be swell to have too.

I've already begun basic work on my world... and I'm happy to say it will be more fun and enjoyable than frustrating (more challenging to the mind than the fingertips).

Thanks

Jodeo

**

I'm working on a small tutorial.

------------------
I was a Habnabit for Halloween!
To see pictures, click (url="http://"http://www.frontiernet.net/~pschaaf/ferazel")here(/url).
---------------
(url="http://"http://www.frontiernet.net/~pschaaf/andrewsworld/")Andrew's World(/url): Currently the largest set of Ferazel's Wand levels!