How To

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by MadMac, who is filling in for David Dunham, pictured below.

David I'm very honored to do an article for Ambrosia Software, but David is really a lazy man!

[Ed. Note: Hey now, is that really necessary?]

Creating A Room

It's easy to do. You'll need these tiles (select them in the FG tiles):

Remember that all the red parts of a wall have to be connected! Otherwise, your room will have a strange aspect!

Once you've got this, we're going to place a door. You must create an emplacement of 1 space to put it in. The door must be connected to a red wall, or when it's opened, Harry will be able to pass through the walls.

Use these FG tiles:

To get this:

This is a good place to put a door. Select "Door > Up" in the menu "Create." Then place it between the walls.

That's it! You can also put in a locked door. Instead of selecting "Door > Up" select "Locked Door > Up" to create a locked door. The created locked door will be for the blue key if you don't change anything in the info box (cmd-E).

The first info box is for the door color (0 is for blue, 1 is for yellow, 2 is for green). It corresponds to the key color: a blue key will open a blue door.

Creating Some Objects

BG tiles: these are objects which will block Harry. These are desks, staples on the ground (which will damage Harry), carpet, blue carpet, etc. See what you can do.

Usually, two parts of a BG tile have to be connected. To create a computer desk, for example, create one piece then one other piece.

Sprites: you can create plants, exploding barrels, staplers, and other miscellanea, and it's all very easy! Just select them in the menu "Create."

Now Harry has a little cool desk, hasn't he?

Tip: to create the same objects much faster, duplicate them by cmd-D.

Enemies: same as sprites, select them in the menu "Create."

Creating Messages

This is really easy too. Select "Add Message" in the menu "Sprites" (or cmd-M).

If you want your message to be in a memo, put 0 in the box "PICT resource ID." It will appear on your level as a small bubble with a "!" in it. Harry will read/say it when he walks on it.

Rendering Your Level Better

Select "Generate Wall Shadows" (cmd-H) and "Generate BG tiles Shadows" in the menu "Tiles."

Customizing and Changing the FG and BG Tiles

Step 1: To do this, you must have a little experience with ResEdit. Open the Level File "Episode 1" with ResEdit. Then, open your level with ResEdit. Your level should have 2 resources, called Hwld and Hlvl. Press cmd-K then type PICT. It will create a new resource called "PICT." Open it. On the file Episode 1, select the FG tile or BG tile you want, then copy it. Return to your level file, in the resource pict, then paste. BEWARE: you must also copy/paste the same image in black: this is called the "Mask."
Step 2: Close all the docs opened with ResEdit, then return to the editor. Open your level. Select "Level Info." You'll get this:

Enter the FG and BG tiles you want. The ID must correspond with the little number under the PICT in the resource PICT of ResEdit. If you didn't understand, ask Ben at ben@mixedmetaphor.com.

Playing Your Level

Open Harry, select "New Game In A Custom World" (or cmd-G) in the menu file, then select your world... have fun!

MadMac

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