Marsquake level editor - Instructions
MQEd v1.00 (15 Feb 1998)
 1998 Paul Taylor

SHAREWARE AGREEMENT
-------------------

Marsquake Boom:Deluxe and its associated editor, MQEd, and use thereof, are
subject to the following rules:

* You may not alter these applications
* You may distribute these applications freely, but not for profit.
* These applications should not be made part of a compilation CD, magazine
  disk or similar without permission of the author.
* Use of this software is made entirely at your own risk. The author cannot
  be held responsible for any loss of data through use or misuse of this
  software.
* If you enjoy playing Marsquake Boom:Deluxe and using MQEd, please register
  your support for the Acorn games scene by sending by sending me 5 (five
  English pounds). Send the registration fee to :
  
  Paul Taylor
  17 Sandmoor Road
  New Marske
  Redcar
  Cleveland
  TS11 8BP
  England
  
* The above payment does not form any sort of contract, for support, direct
  supply of future versions, or otherwise.
  
Please make the effort to send me the registration fee. Just remember the
effort I've put into this software over the past two years!!

I will endeavour to solve any major bugs reported to me and make further
versions and/or patches available through my web page. This will be subject
to available time and workload.


Overview
--------

MQEd allows you to design new Marsquake episodes. An episode consists of a
mix of up to sixteen single and multiplayer levels. Background graphics can
be exported to !Paint for editing, then brought back into MQEd. MQEd outputs
episode files which can be loaded back into MQEd or into Marsquake itself.


First Steps
-----------

When MQEd is loaded, it's icon will appear on the icon bar. Clicking on this
icon will display the Edit Control window and the current level map window.
Initially, there are no background graphics or maps defined.

Alternatively, you can drag an existing episode file onto MQEd's icon. This
will also open the Edit Control and level map windows.

An episode will be held in MQEd's workspace until you quit the application,
or you choose to clear the workspace. Closing the map window or the edit
control window will not lose the data. Clicking on the icon bar icon will
reopen the windows.

Load an episode file by draggin it to the MQEd edit control or map window, or
to the icon bar icon.


Edit Control Window
-------------------

This window is sectioned into several groups, which are described here:

Level :
The name of the level currently being edited (and shown in the map window, if
open) is shown in the box here. The name can be edited by clicking in the
box with SELECT or ADJUST and typing, but you must press return to confirm
the change. Pressing MENU in this box brings up a menu listing all the levels
allowing you to choose a level to edit. Clicking on the left and right arrows
by the name box cycle through the levels one at a time. The nature of the
level can be set with the two tick boxes. When ticked, the multiplayer box
changes the level to be multiplayer, otherwise the level is for a single
player. There are a few differences between multiplayer and single player
levels, which will be described later. The active tick box indicates whether
this level is to be played when loaded into Marsquake. If not ticked, this
level will be ignored, so you can have less than the full sixteen levels
defined.

Current Tile :
This shows the tile, with a text description, that can currently be painted
onto the level map. This can be chosen from the Players, Enemies or Tiles
boxes.

Players :
These tiles indicate the starting point for the players. Only one of each may
be placed on a level. If you are editing a single player level, you will not
be able to select players 2 to 4.

Enemies :
An assortment of enemy creatures to add to single player levels only. You
cannot select enemies while editing a multiplayer level. Up to 64 enemies can
be placed on each level.

Tiles :
All the background tiles from which the levels are constructed are here.
Select a tile to paint the level map with it. Several of these tiles have
special purposes - see later.

Graphics :
The sprite file icon here can be picked up and dragged to a filer window or
an editor such as !Paint. Edit the sprites in this file, then drag the file
back to any of the MQEd windows, or the icon bar icon. Some of background
tiles have animations, so have several frames to edit. Others, eg. bonus
tiles, may be constructed automatically by overlaying standard game graphics
over the empty floor tile. IMPORTANT! Do not change any of the sprite names
or sizes, as these sprites will be ignored.


Level Map Window
----------------

This window shows a view of the level currently being edited. Paint the
currently selected tile from the edit control window (see above) onto the
level by clicking with SELECT. Clicking with ADJUST paints with the empty
floor tile, which is useful for deleting. A single player level is 19x30
tiles, while the multiplayer levels are restricted to 19x13 as scrolling is
not allowed in the multiplayer game.


Options Menu
------------

Clicking the MENU button anywhere in the map window or the edit control
window (apart from the level name box) will bring up the options menu. From
here you can save the episode or you can clear the current level. When
clearing the level, you can choose to use the currently selected tile or the
empty floor tile. All tiles on the level will then be replaced by this tile.


Icon bar menu
-------------

The menu brought up by clicking on the MQEd icon with MENU has, apart from
program information, Workspace > Clear and Quit options. The Workspace option
with its Clear sub-option causes all the currently loaded levels and graphics
to be deleted. If the current episode is unsaved, you will be warned before
it does this. The Quit option ends the program, but you will again be warned
if you have an unsaved episode.


General Editing Notes
---------------------

Blockages can be placed manually on the level, but you needn't do so. When
the level is played, blockages are placed randomly on all empty floor tiles.

Bonus tiles are automatically covered with blockages.

Single player levels must contain an exit point, marked with the exit force
field beam. When all blockages and enemies are removed, this beam is released
allowing the player to walk over it's tile. As this signals the end of the
level, all single player levels must have at least one.

If the level contains Spryt enemies, then the level must also contain a
plasma protection suit, otherwise the level cannot be completed.

You can interleave single player and multiplayer levels in the editor if you
want to. When loaded into Marsquake, they will be seperated into two groups
and played in the order they appear.


Multiplayer Levels
------------------

Marsquake restricts the scrolling of multiplayer levels as there is more than
one player on screen at a time. If the screen scrolled, you may lose view of
one of the players. Hence, the level size is restricted to 19x13 tiles. When
the multiplayer level option is chosen in the edit control window, the level
map will be resized to reflect this. Also, any enemies that may have already
been placed on the level will be removed. You will be warned before it does
this. Multiplayer games cannot include enemies, so no enemies can be selected
for placement on the level.

Important! Please remember to set starting positions for all four players!


Single Player Levels
--------------------

If you are changing a level definition from a multiplayer level to a single
player level, there are two main changes. First, the level size will be
increased to 19x30 tiles, and secondly, players 2 to 4 will be removed from
the level if they are present. Only player 1 can be placed in a single player
game, but do remember to place player 1 somewhere on there! Also remember to
add an exit point - at least one exit force field tile.


Special Tiles
-------------

There are 31 general purpose background tiles which can be defined. All of
these are blocking, ie. will prevent a player from walking over them. They
have sprite names of the form bgnd1..bgnd31. The other tiles have additional
purposes, which you should bare in mind when editing.

Description : Empty floor
Sprite name : floor
Purpose : The standard tile to be used as empty floor. Bonus tiles are built
using the empty floor tile graphics.

Descriptions : Horizontal pipe, Vertical pipe, Pipe intersection, Pipe bend,
Pipe end left, Pipe end right, Pipe end top, Pipe end bottom
Sprite names : pipe_h, pipe_v, pipe_c, pipe_ul, pipe_dl, pipe_ur, pipe_dr,
pipe_l, pipe_r, pipe_u, pipe_d
Purpose : Use these to construct pipe networks. The player cannot walk over
them but the blast from an explosion can carry into one of the pipe ends to
all other pipe ends. Pipe connectivity is worked out by tracing how the pipe
ends are connected together, so make sure pipe_h remains as horizontal pipe
and so on, otherwise you'll have something that looks right, but Marsquake
will be unable to link the pipe up properly.

Descriptions : Left/Right/Up/Down conveyors
Sprite names : convey_l, convey_l2, convey_l3, convey_l4
               convey_r, convey_r2, convey_r3, convey_r4
               convey_u, convey_u2, convey_u3, convey_u4
               convey_d, convey_d2, convey_d3, convey_d4
Purpose : Slide a bomb in the direction the conveyor is moving. The conveyor
graphics have a four-frame animation in each direction.

Description : Blockage (x4)
Sprite names : block1, block2, block3, block4
Purpose : Blockage to be destroyed by bombs. Four to choose from.

Descriptions : Extra flame, Extra bomb, Mega bomb, Rebound bomb, Flower bomb,
Push ability, Throw ability, Mystery bonus, Plasma suit
Sprite names : <none>
Purpose : Bonus tiles to be collected by players are automatically hidden
under blockages in the game. The graphics are generated from the empty floor
tile.

Description : Fuel spillage
Sprite name : fuel
Purpose : When a player springs a fuel leak, as the result of picking up a
bad mystery bonus, this tile is used to represent fuel spattered areas. It
can also be placed as part of a predefined level feature. When in contact
with fire or explosion, this tile will burn. Bombs will slide randomly on
fuel spills.

Description : Exit force field
Sprite names : ex_l1, ex_l2, ex_l3, ex_l4
               (ex_op1, ex_op2)
Purpose : This four-frame animated tile is the exit trigger for the level.
Once al blockages and enemies are removed from a single player level, the
animation swaps to the addition two-frame animation (ex_op1, ex_op2), letting
the player walk over the tile, signalling the end of the level.

Description : Hard Space
Sprite name : <none>
Purpose : Represented by an empty floor tile with a small 'H' in the top left
corner, this tile behaves just like normal empty floor tiles, apart from when
the level is being prepared for a new game. At the start of a game, blockages
are added randomly to the level in empty floor tiles. You can prevent it from
placing blockages in a specific area by using Hard Space tiles instead of
normal empty floor tiles. The 'H' is not visible in-game!

Description : Grating
Sprite name : grating
Purpose : A player standing on a grating tile is safe from any fuel leak
fires, even if this player is the source of the leak.



