@database "main" @width 80 @node main "MapMaster documentation Guide" @{b}MapMaster Version 1.3 @{ub} Hello welcome to the documentation for MapMaster the all new great free map editor. NEW! in version 1.3 Added cut and paste control no more screen glitches and a few other fixes NEW! in version 1.2 Ntsc and Pal compatible. C language include file with functions to use the map files included. Less flicker and faster map editing as well as some general bug fixes and cleaning up. Also make sure you pick someblocks before you start (loadblocks) and then hit saveprefs. @{" Introduction " link introduction} @{" Requirements " link requirements} @{" Installation " link installation} @{" Usage " link usage} @{" The Blocks Format " link blocks} @{" The Map Format " link map} @{" C support " link c} @{" AmosPro Support " link amos} @{" Other programs & things by me " link stuff} @{" Bugs " link bugs} @{" Future " link future} @{" Author " link author} @{b}This program is freeware.@{ub} If you are a shareware author email me a keyfile for your program as payment. :-). Or else create something wonderful for the Amiga :-). If you have any questions as to how to use this program or suggestions as to what features you would like to see just E-Mail. E-Mail- samel@telusplanet.net my WebPage featuring- Emulators my programs and animations and various other stuff is at www.telusplanet.net/public/samel/index.html @{b}MapMaster ©1997 Kelly Samel. @{ub} @endnode @node introduction "Introduction" Introduction This is a MapEditor for making graphics for games and programs. Why did I make this? Because I was not happy with the current mapeditors available MapEdit being about the best I decided to write my own. Some of the things I wanted for editing were not having the blocks covering the display, quicker pasting, more options for size of the blocks ect. What is a map editor? Its a program that allows you to edit a screen by pasting down little blocks with the mouse and allowing you to save the decription of the screen as a map file. Therefore saving you alot of work writing down hundreds of numbers. Why use a map editor? The answer is simple instead of having many 30K to 40K pictures as the backgrounds for your game why not build it up of blocks stored in a single picture and just use a simple map file to tell your game where to paste the blocks for each screen. This program is freeware. If you are a shareware author email me a keyfile for your program as payment. :-). @endnode @node requirements "Requirements" Requirements You will need an Amiga computer with about 1MB of Ram. I guess thats all you need but a harddrive is fairly essential. @endnode @node installation "Installation" Installation Just drop the drawer anywhere you like it. Easy eh? Also make sure you pick someblocks before you start (loadblocks) and then hit saveprefs. This sets which blocks to load on startup and the paths to the blocks will be differnt on your machine if you do not do this.(Resulting in a file not found message) @endnode @node stuff "Programs & things by me" Things by Me Here is a list of goodies I have released on the net and where to get them. note- There is a html document included that you can load into your web browser to download my files directly.(try it!) These files are all on aminet just use the search to find them. emullaunch.lha- A great program to launch emulators from. (My first program written in C language:) samelboot.lha- A nice Ham8 bootpic by me (212K) samelbootmac.lha- A shapeshifter version of the above (213K) GoldenCup.lha- A Animation of a nice Golden Goblet rotating about QuantumMan.lha- A Animation of a man running on a maze MusicMeister.lha- A amos .abk music player (139) RoboBlaster.lha- A old style game I made. @endnode @node usage "Usage" Usage This is a description of all of the functions that this program has. It also tells you how to use this MapEditor. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Setting your Prefs. --------------------------------------------------------------------- When you start the program the first active menu will appear after you click by the info screen. On this screen there are a number of gadgets that let you set up the type of map you wish to edit. Here is a rundown of the various gadgets. The first two gadgets allow you to define your working screen # of Colors- This allows you to choose how many colors your map shall use. You can pick from 2 to 32 colors. To edit a AGA map you must cut down your blocks to 32 colors Edit and save a map as usual and then use the higher color blocks in your own program. Resolution- This allows you to edit a map in hires or LoRes. The next two allow you to define the size of your map not the size of your blocks. # of Horiz Blocks- This is how many blocks you wish to have in the horizontal directions or from Left to Right. # of Vert Blocks - This is how many blocks you wish to have in the Vertical directions or Up and Down. The next three gadgets define the way in which your blocks will be cut out and what size they will be. Width of blocks- This allows you to set the width of your blocks in pixels. 16 is a common size but it may be as large or small as you like within reason. Height of blocks- This allows you to set the Height of your blocks 16 is a common size but it may be as small or large as you like within reason. Block Gap - This is if there are spaces between your blocks in the original IFF file. For example if you have your blocks drawn like this [] [] [] [] [] there would be a block gap of 1 because of the 1 space border between each square. [] [] [] [] [] This would have a block gap of 2 because of the 2 spaces between each square. I recommend when saving a Iff picture of your blocks to name it with its dimensions. For example if your blocks are 16X16 and have a block gap of 1 call it Blocks.16x16x1 so you know what to enter into the program. The next gadgets are for loading and saving things. Load Blocks- This will pop up a requestor and allow you to choose a iff file containing the blocks you would like to use in your map. Hit getdir if your files do not appear in the requestor. LoadPrefs- This is not needed at the moment but it will load your Previously saved prefs. SavePrefs- Saves the currently entered values as the defaults. The Go button actually starts the process of editing your map using the settings you have picked --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Editing Your Map. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Once you have pushed the go button you can begin to edit your map. The left mouse button will paste down the currently selected block onto the screen. The Arrow keys or Joystick allow you to move your map around the screen. The Right mouse button brings up your selection screen. From here you can choose a new block and perform other various actions as follows. The Left mouse button will select a new block for editing. To scroll further down your blocks use the Up Down arrow keys or the Joystick. New - This allows you to start a new map and will bring you back to the starting screen to enter new values. ClearAll - This will fill your entire map with the currently selected block. Its good to do this when you first start your map to lay down the background. Random - Creates a random map. Doesn't work well yet. LoadMap - Lets you choose a premade map from a file Requestor. Press GetDir if your files do not appear. SaveMap - Lets you save your map using a fileRequestor. I suggest saving your maps with a .map extension. LoadBlocks- Lets you load in a differnt set of blocks. Reprint - Redraws the Display if it gets messed up. Usually not needed. SavePreview- Lets you save a preview of the currently shown portion of the map you are editng as a iff. SaveBlocks- Lets you save the current block set as a iff. Quit- Quits the program. SaveIcons- This saves a AmosPro Icon bank to be loaded into your Amos programs for if you would rather use the icon bank than use a block cutting routine. GrabArea- This allows you to grab a area of blocks to paste. Click on the upper left corner and then the lower right corner of the section you want to cut, then paste as usual. Picking a new block will get rid of the cut piece. The other things on this screen do not function yet. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ @endnode @node blocks "The Block Format" The Block Format The blocks you use to build up your map must be rectangular shaped and all the same width and height. They can be in a 2 to 32 color Iff file in the standard screen dimensions of 320x200 for Lores use or 640x200 for Hires use. They must be evenly spaced and put from left to right as far as they will fit evenly. Look at the example blocks included. There may be a gap in between each block as long as it is even all around them. They do not have to fill the whole page but must go from left to right as far as possible without cutting them off on the right side. The blocks will be cut from left to right and the first block on the left will be block 1 and each block after that will go up by 1. Eg. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 @endnode @node map "The Map Format" The Map Format The map format used by MapMaster is very simple. Its a plain Text file that has a listing of all blocks used in your map by there number. Each listing is moved down 1 line by hitting the newline key (return) this is done to seperate the numbers and make them easy to read with any programming language. Your program must handle getting the blocks and pasting them down in the correct places this is fairly easy to set up in a loop. There is some example code for AmosPro in the Amos drawer for doing this. I am still working on C versions of the example code. If you know what would be the best way to do this in C then E-Mail me. Its best to store the map data in an array of some kind. In Amos- Dim map(width*Height) In C- char map[width*Height]; Example. w= block 1 o= block 2 wwwwwwwwww wwooooooww woooooooow woooooooow wwooooooww wwwwwwwwww if this is your map and you save it this is the way the save file would look. If you would like another save format with more info or stored differently E-Mail and I'll see what I can do. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 Ect... @endnode @node c "C support" C Support Look in the C support drawer for full C language support files and a simple example. @endnode @node amos "Amos Support" AmosSupport There is some source code in the AmosCode drawer in this archive that can help you to load in the maps cut the blocks from a iff picture and paste them to the screen. Just include them in your own programs for easy use of the map files. You may change the code as you see fit but my name must be in the credits if you use the code. @endnode @node bugs "Bugs" Bugs I think there might be a few little bugs yet but its pretty good. E-Mail me if you have problems and I will try to fix it. Email- samel@telusplanet.net It does not support AGA but you can just cut down the colors of your blocks and then save them as a temporary file. Then the maps you produce can still be used on your AGA program even if it doesn't look quite right in the editor. @endnode @node future "Future" Future If you have any ideas/Suggestions for future versions of this program E-Mail them to me and I will try to implement them. I would like to support AGA but this is very difficult in AmosPro maybe I will recode it in C someday. If you know how to do AGA in AmosPro mail me. E-Mail: samel@telusplanet.net @endnode @node author "Author" Author Hi my name is Kelly Samel and I have been using the amiga for almost 3 years now and will be continuing to use it for many years to come. I like to do Raytracing in Imagine programming in AmosPro and now C as well as play games and various other things like painting going on the net ect. Feel free to e-mail me and tell me if you like this program. Or if you have any docs or knowledge that would help a new guy get better at programming in C, mail me as well. my email is- samel@telusplanet.net my WebPage featuring- Emulators my programs and animations and various other stuff is at www.telusplanet.net/public/samel/index.html @endnode