Lore And Lutes Editting Tutorial 1.00 (11/13/2002)
Written By: Andy Stone
Lore And Lutes By: Andy Stone (astone42@attbi.com)
Visit: http://loreandlutes.sourceforge.net for more information.
See copying.txt or copying for licensing information.
Anyways before you start delving into the editor I suggest you actually play what exists of Lore And Lutes to give you some idea of what the editor is currently capable of doing.
You can move around the map by using the arrow keys or the mouse, its suggested you mostly use the keyboard though. You might find these features useful for terrain placement:
Pen mode: Press the 'p' key to turn on/off the pen mode. If pen mode is on then when you move using the arrow keys the current terrain is automatically plotted below the cursor. Remember to turn pen mode off by pressing the 'p' key.
Fill: Press the 'x' key to preform a fill operation using the current terrain.
If you press the number keys you will plot rectangles, increasing as the number you press increases, of the current terrain. Specifically the number represents the radius of an inscribed circle within the rectangular area to fill with the current terrain - 1/2 tile. Just press them to figure out how it works though, you'll get it.
Image: What image file (.png, .bmp, .jpg) this terrain will draw on the screen
when seen. Pressing enter will bring up a file chooser allowing you
to pick another image file. To use the file chooser simply use the
arrow keys to change selections and the enter or space key to pick one.
Edit Image: This feature currently isn't implemented, it will bring up a 3rd party
image editor, such as the GIMP, which will allow you to edit the
image used by this terrain.
Color Red: The R value of an RGB color value which is used to represent this terrain.
This color is used for drawing zoomed out views of the map known as
gem view. For example set the color of water to blue, grass to green,
dirt to brown, etc.
Color Green: The G value of this RGB color.
Color Blue: The B value of this RGB color.
Light: How light interacts with this terrain:
(1): No Effect: The player can see through this terrain.
Examples: Grass, roads, dirt, ground.
(2): Block Light: Block light from the player
Examples: Walls, Big mountains
(3): Illuminate: Make this terrain always visible no matter what.
Examples: Magical items
(4): Small Torch: This terrain will generate a little light around it.
Example: Candles
(5): Torch This terrain will generate some light around it
Examples: Torches, light posts
(6): Lighthouse effect This terrain will generate a circular segment
of light rotating around it. In other words a
light house effect. The example is self evident.
Descr: The terrain description, what is displayed in the console to the right
when the player (L)ooks at this terrain.
All mobility obptions below:
The mobility options describe what types of vehicles can move over this terrain
and in what directions. Choosing one will bring up a more detailed list of
choices. If you're editting something go ahead and choose this, the screen that
shows up will describe how this vehicle can enter and exit onto this terrain.
The normal ticks options: Is an abritraty timing value. Each map has a certain
number of ticks per minute which is set in another
options screen.
Damage/Chance of Damage: Specifies how many hit points (HP) will be taken if
this terrain is moved on to by the player or another
creature. The chance of damage specifies the % chance.
To exit the mobility editor or the terrain editor press the escape key. To get out of any editor in fact press the escape key, remember this fact, its important!
Description: A helpful description used while editting. This description serves
only to help you keep track of what map is what.
Music File: Will allow you to choose which (.mid, .mp3, or .mod) file will be played
in the background while the player is on this map. Currently this option
hasn't been programmed in yet.
Terrain File: Will let you choose which terrain set this map willl use. Currently this
option hasn't been programmed in yet.
Ticks Per Min: The number of arbitrary timing units (ticks) are in 1 game minute.
The default is 100. You may want to change the ticks per minute to a higher
rate for maps that are zoomed in (cities, villages) and to a lower rate
for maps that aren't (outside maps). This makes the game timing more
realistic.
Default Player X: Where the player will normally enter the map from unless otherwise
specified.
Default Player Y: Where the player will normally enter the map from unless otherwise
specified.
Max Monsters: Not currently programmed in.
Chance of Monsters: Not currently programmed in.
Map to North: What map the player will move to when he exists the north border
North Border: Which Y value the north border is associated with. You should
normally set this to zero.
North Effect: Currently not programmed in. Will show what graphical special
effect is shown when the player moves off the map.
Map to South: Similiar to Map To North but for the south.
South Border: Similiar to Map To South but for the south. Normally should be set
to 99.
Sorth Effect: Not programmed in. Effect for when the player exists south.
Map to West: Similiar to Map To North but for the south.
West Border: Which X value the west border is at. Normall should be 0.
West Effect: Not programmed in. Effect for when the player exists west.
Map to East: Similiar to Map To West but for the east.
East Border: Similiar to Map To west but for the east. Normally should be set
to 99.
East Effect: Not programmed in. Effect for when the player exists east.
You may also use the more than or less than keys (< and > or , and .) to switch to the previous and next maps respectively.
And whoop de whoo! You've got a sign!
But if you ran the game as is this sign would be rather boring, you haven't written anything on it yet. To change the properties of a scripted unit, the properties for the sign in this case, select it and press enter. You can change these values:
Identifier: The identifier, which you entered earlier. Image: The image, which you entered earlier Edit Image: <Not yet implemented> Class: Class, you change which class this instance uses. (e.g. Sign, Scroll...) <Edit Daily Route>: <Not yet implemented>
Next there are options for various variables that are programmed within the script. In the case of the sign there's a text option. Select it, you'll go to a text editor. Within the editor type:
"Hi, I'm a sign!"
Press escape twice to return to the main editor, save by pressing 's', exit by pressing 'q' and 'y'. The run the L&L runner (lrun) copy the games/ folder if neccessary. Then look at your sign by approaching it, pressing 'l' and then entering the direction of the sign. If you see "Hi, I'm a sign!" in the right cnosole then you've just placed an object! Congrats!
That said go ahead and experiment with some of the other prebuilt objects.