Doctor Johnny's Essential Notes on the Powball Level Editor ----------------------------------------------------------- [Powball Registered Version] by John M. Feeney (Schlafflos@mindspring.com) So! You want to take a wack at making your own Powball Levels, eh? Well, though the level editor IS fairly straight-forward and relatively user-friendly, there ARE some fine points to be aware of, lest you fall into the Pit of Despair or are devoured by hungry Wormholes! Having now completed over two hundred of these levels, with several revisions thereof necessitated by the same quirks I am about to relate to you, it is my hope that I may be able to guide you to some small extent in YOUR endeavors, so that you may avoid some of these nagging pitfalls: Wormholes: ---------- @ As explained in the Level Editor Help file, wormholes OUT (the ones things come out of) must be at least 5 pixels away from any bricks. This is a minimum to insure that BALLS will consistently come through the wormholes successfully. Violate this maxim at your own risk--with less spacing, under certain conditions, balls will simply disappear! @ If you're also incorporating enemy Mines and/or Twists in your level, and you find it annoying that Mine projectiles and Twists occasionally get stuck in a wall coming out, INCREASE the wormhole-out spacing beyond the minimum. (I'm pretty sure that 8 pixels--a full brick height--is sufficient to get around this.) @ DO NOT use the XY coordinates (shown in the upper left corner of the screen) to determine adequate wormhole spacing. The stated minimum of 5 pixels is EDGE-to-EDGE distance. Instead (if you're positioning near bricks), start by putting the wormhole-out immediately adjacent to any bricks questionably close, then position out from there (I use the keyboard arrows on this for precision) a minimum of 5 pixels away. @ Wormholes IN (the ones things go into) are not restricted in their spacing, and may be placed immediately adjacent to bricks. This is probably the best way to go with wormholes you want GEMS to fall through, unless you're using Zero Gravity! Under all other settings, not spacing wormholes-in adjacent to "floor" or "ceiling" bricks allows some gems to sidle about until they disappear, or until you break the "floor" or "ceiling" (assuming it's breakable). Bricks: ------- @ A brick is a brick is a brick! Regardless of the apparent shape or dimensions, the actual size of any brick is 16 X 8 pixels rectangular, and all ball collisions respond accordingly. The fact that a brick LOOKS like a triangle or curve or a wavy piece of string does not modify interactions with it in any way. @ If you construct a level using CUSTOM bricks from a patch file (such as JMF100.POW or JMF200.POW), and those bricks occupy brick index slots that were EMPTY in POWBALL.POW (a strong likelihood!), you cannot run that level later using POWBALL.POW alone. That is, if POWBALL.EXE encounters a level which contains apparently non-existent bricks, the program exits immediately. @ Certain step-like configurations of unbreakable bricks require special consideration for bat positioning (see below). Bat Positions: -------------- @ When using "Position Player 1" and "Position Player 2", DO NOT try to manually EQUALIZE who is on top for two-player games--POWBALL does this automatically! On all even-numbered levels (2, 4, 6, ...), the bat positions in test mode and actual two-player games are exactly where you put them. BUT, on all ODD-numbered levels, POWBALL swaps the positions of Players 1 and 2 automatically for fairness! This is why, when you test an ODD-numbered level, the bats are switched (as they will be in the actual 2-player game). @ Regardless of the above, the red bat (Player 1) is always exactly where you defined it on EVERY level in a SINGLE-player game! (But note that in TEST mode on odd-numbered levels, you are actually testing the SWAPPED two-player game position with the red bat, NOT the single- player game position.) @ Be aware that bats positioned right under unbreakable bricks will lose any balls released there. Also, bats positioned close to breakable bricks above them are more subject to damage from flying shrapnel if the bricks are shot out (much more so than if they are further away). @ This one is tough to explain, but here goes. (Think of steps as you read.) If you construct a level where either of the bats IS, or can eventually BE right next to a single unbreakable (strength -1 or -2) brick -- not a wall, but a single brick or "step" -- such that the EXPOSED top or bottom surface of the bat is roughly parallel to the EXPOSED top or bottom surface of the unbreakable brick, balls may simply disappear when striking the juncture at certain angles. This is the result of a minor flaw in the brick collision logic. The best way to define such levels (to assure this doesn't happen), is to position any such bat so that its VERTICAL center (Y-coordinate) is exactly at the "brick junction" value (an exact multiple of 8). Though there are exceptions, this is the only bat position I know that under these circumstances seems totally immune to this "Slips between the Cracks" bug. BAD: | GOOD: ---- | ----- __________ | __________ | | | | | | brick | | ---------- | brick | __________ __________|__________| | | BAT | __________|__________| | || -1 / -2 | | | | || -1 / -2 | | | BAT || brick | brick | | ---------- | brick | brick | |__________||__________|__________| | |__________|__________| | | This problem does NOT occur with BREAKABLE bricks, but if you put breakable bricks over UNBREAKABLE steps, etc., such that the above is eventually possible as the bricks break, the same is still true, and bats should be positioned accordingly. (I you're not sure what I mean, construct a test level just to play with this. But be careful--sometimes the problem doesn't show up immediately, as it requires particular ball angles / deflections to show up. If you DO see it, you'll know exactly why I call it "Slips between the Cracks") This problem only occurs when there is an unbreakable brick on either SIDE of the bat. If you're simply putting an unbreakable "floor" or "ceiling" above or below the bats, these spacing limitations do not apply. (But remember, bats too close to unbreakable bricks above WILL result in lost balls if the balls are launched there.) Postscript: ----------- If you got this text file from somewhere other than Ant's Nest--the Powball WWW Home Page--it may not be the most current one. I plan to occasionally update it, if I find anything new and significant, though at this point (7APR1997) the list is fairly exhaustive. For future updates on this and my Powball patch files (JMF100.POW and JMF200.POW), plus lots of other neat stuff, keep an eye on Ant's Nest (http:/homepages.enterprise.net/conan/), where you'll see it first! Happy hunting! John M. Feeney