PROGRAM:        Alien Breed IV: Final Assault - Levelset Editor
VERSION:        1.0
AUTHOR:         James Vernon - TCPA
DESCRIPTION:    Levelset Editor for Alien Breed IV
MACHINES:       PC
PLATFORMS:      MS-DOS
LANGUAGE:       C, x86 Assembly
RELEASED:       December 2001


##################
## Introduction ##
##################

    Welcome to the Alien Breed IV Levelset Editor. This program is used to
    create your own entire Levelsets, complete with mission objectives, Queen
    Aliens, passcodes and more!

    There are many, many different little features of the Levelset Editor,
    therefore I haven't listed every single one here. This file will explain
    the main steps in creating your own Levelset - the rest is easy to work
    out yourself. Enjoy :)


#########################
## Starting the Editor ##
#########################

    At the DOS prompt, making sure you are in the same directory as all the
    Editor files, type the following:

    editor <levelsetname>

    levelsetname is the name of the Levelset to edit, eg. "dem" (without the
    quotation marks). The name must be 3 characters. If the Levelset already
    exists, you will be editing that, otherwise a new Levelset with that name
    will be created.


##########
## Keys ##
##########

    MAIN MENU:
        1                       Edit the levels
        2                       Help screen
        3                       Save Levelset and exit Editor
        4                       Exit Editor without saving Levelset

    For the keys used when editing levels, view the Help Screen that is
    accessed from the Main Menu of the Levelset Editor.


####################
## Editing Levels ##
####################

    When you choose to Edit Levels from the Main Menu, the main Editor screen
    will come up. To view all the keys for this screen, select the Help
    Screen in the Main Menu.

    Using the arrow keys you can scroll around the Level. You can place
    tiles, which includes enemies, pickup items, etc. You also set starting
    and finishing positions, etc.


#############
## Enemies ##
#############

    Placing enemies in your Levels is easy. Simply select the enemy you want
    to place from the Tileset and press [SPACEBAR] to put the tile in your
    Level. When the player walks around the Level and that tile scrolls onto
    the screen, the enemy becomes active. Note that the enemy trigger is then
    removed from the Level, so each enemy trigger works only once (the
    exception being Security Guards - see below).

    For repetetive enemies, use Alien Holes. There are two types: open and
    closed. Open holes are active from the moment the Level is started, and
    enemies will come out of these holes on a regular basis (only when the
    hole is on-screen). Closed holes do nothing until the player walks over
    them. When this happens, after a few seconds the hole opens up and begins
    producing enemies in the same fashion. You can have up to 10 open/closed
    holes in a Level.

    Security Guard triggers work the same way as open Alien Holes in that
    they produce Security Guards on a regular basis (only when they are
    on-screen). You can have up to 5 Security Guard triggers in a Level.


###############################
## Objectives and Countdowns ##
###############################

    This is where Level design becomes a little more complex but provides
    more fun for the player ;) Two variables are used here, both shown just
    above the viewing screen in the main Editor screen. These are Time and
    Objectives.

    Firstly, we'll look at the Objectives counter. Put simply, this is a
    counter for how many Objectives need to be completed before a Level can
    be finished. If this counter equals either 0 or 1, then when a player
    walks over the finish point (shown by the dark grey box), the Level will
    be finished. When it equals 1, the countdown will be commenced.

    The Objectives counter is affected by certain events. When one of these
    events occur, it decrements by one. These events are:

        - Queen Alien being defeated
        - Fire Door being closed
        - Power Dome being shot
        - Auto Destruct Button being walked over
        - Bomb being triggered

    Note that it ISN'T changed when an egg is shot. Note also that once the
    Objectives counter reaches 1, it will stay at that value for the rest of
    the Level.

    It can also be used to make the countdown begin after a certain number of
    frames have passed since the Level was begun. See Levels 2 & 3 in the
    demo Levelset notes for examples on how to use the Objectives counter.

    The Time counter is simply what the Time will begin at when the
    Objectives counter reaches 1. This can be any value between 0-255.


##################
## Queen Aliens ##
##################

    These can be the hardest thing to get exactly right the first time, but
    after a couple of tries they are easy to work out.

    In order to explain how to use them, I will use Level 4 from the demo
    Levelset as an example. Firstly, note the size of the room that the
    Queen Alien will be in. The width (horizontal size) doesn't matter, but
    the height (vertical size) does. The height must be 10 tiles, excluding
    walls. This is because the Queen Alien is hardcoded and how far down the
    screen is moves can't be modified. If the room isn't the right length,
    the game shouldn't crash but it probably won't work exactly as you intend
    it to work. Note also that the trigger (either the Q1, Q2 or Q3 tile)
    should be on the bottom row of the room.

    When the player walks over a Queen trigger, the following happens:

    1. The trigger is removed from the Level.
    2. The tile shown in the yellow box at the top-right of the Editor screen
       is placed where the yellow box in the Level is located.
    3. The specified Queen (depending on which trigger is used) appears 9
       tiles above and vertically parallel to the player.

    When the player defeats a Queen Alien, the following happens:

    1. The tile shown in the brown box at the top-right of the Editor screen
       is placed where the brown box in the Level is located.
    2. The Objectives counter is decremented by one.

    The keys to change the yellow/brown box stuff are shown in the Help
    Screen. That's all there is to Queen Aliens.


##########################
## Miscellaneous Things ##
##########################

    Each Level (except the first) can have a Passcode. This must be 5 letters
    in length. Set the Passcode by pressing [CTRL]+[F3].

    A Level can be of two types: normal or hatchery. The only difference is
    this: on normal Levels, if a pickup item is picked up, a blank tile is
    put in place of it, however, on a hatchery Level, the hatchery tile is
    put in place of it. Toggle the type using the [TAB] key.

    The Hole Alien is which type of alien comes out of Alien Holes on that
    Level. This can be either the normal alien or the strong one. Toggle this
    using [CTRL]+A.

    You can view a map of most of the Level at once by pressing [CTRL]+[F4].
    Then use the [Up]/[Down] keys to scroll up and down. Press [ESC] to
    return to the main Editor screen.

    Pressing [CTRL]+S on the main Editor screen will save your Levelset. To
    quit without saving, leave the main Editor screen by pressing [ESC] and
    select choice 4 at the Main Menu.


###########################
## Example Levelset: DEM ##
###########################

    The Levelset DEM is an example Levelset that shows how to use most of the
    important features of the Levelset Editor. It contains 4 Levels, each
    which demonstrate a different particular feature.

    Level 1 just contains a very basic Level. The main feature of this Level
    to look at is the finish, which in this case lies over an Air Duct.
    Normally, walking over an Air Duct would cause the player to die,
    however, because the finish point lies over one of them, when the player
    walks over this Air Duct, he doesn't die, he finishes the Level. Try
    putting the finish point over one of the other Air Ducts (by pressing
    [CTRL]+[F2] over an Air Duct) and check the effect in the game.

    Level 2 simply demonstrates have the countdown timer starting after a
    certain number of frames. This is done using the Objectives counter
    (shown above and to the right of the viewing screen). If this counter is
    set to 51, the countdown timer will begin 1 frame after the Level is
    started. If it is set to 162, it will begin after 112 frames. This works
    for any value over 50. Use different values for the Objectives counter
    (set using [CTRL]+[F7] & [CTRL]+[F8]) to see how long it takes for the
    countdown timer to begin.

    Level 3 has some enemies, open/closed holes, a Fire Door, a Power Dome,
    an Auto Destruct Button and coloured keys/doors. Note the value that the
    Objectives counter is set to (4). This is the number of objective
    affecting triggers plus 1. Each time a Fire Door is closed, a Power Dome
    shot or an Auto Destruct Button is walked over, the Objectives counter
    decrements by 1. When it gets to a value of 1, the countdown timer
    begins. Put other Power Domes, etc. in the Level and modify the
    Objectives counter accordingly and see if you get the right value.

    Level 4 has a Queen Alien and shows all that you need to know about using
    them in your Levels. This is explained in the "Queen Aliens" section of
    the docs.


#####################
## Version History ##
#####################

    See readme.txt for Version History on both the game and the Levelset
    Editor.


#####################
## Future Versions ##
#####################

    See readme.txt for Future Versions ideas for both the game and the
    Levelset Editor.


################
## Disclaimer ##
################

    This program is written in a combination of C and x86 Assembly for
    MS-DOS. It should work with Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000 although I
    suspect that it might not work with Windows 2000.

    It should not harm your PC in any way - however if it does I take no
    responsibility for the consequences of running this program on your
    computer.


###################
## Closing Notes ##
###################

    Once you complete a Levelset, please upload to it to ticalc.org and/or
    email it to me and I'll put it on my website. My website has a page that
    is dedicated to Levelsets for Alien Breed IV.


Alien Breed IV: Final Assault - Levelset Editor
Version 1.0
Copyright (c)2001 TI-Calculator Programming Alliance
Written and Programmed by James Vernon <james@calc.org>
ICQ#: 71589304
http://jamesv.calc.org
http://tcpa.calc.org
