[Crossfire-wiki] [Crossfire DokuWiki] page added: map-making_guide

Sat Nov 25 16:42:21 CST 2006

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Date        : 2006/11/25 16:42
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Edit Summary: Initial import and incremental save of Map-Making Guide

====== Map-Making Guide ======

===== Introduction =====

==== General notes about objects and map-making ====

=== What is an "object"? ===

Objects are the "atoms" that build the crossfire game. Every item that can be seen or picked up by the player is an object. There are many more objects not visible to the players, fullfilling various kinds of functionalities. Weapons, floors, walls, monsters... those are all objects. Note that there is one big "object"-datastructure, containing a huge list of attributes. The attributes differ, but the structure is the same for all objects.

=== What is an "arch"? ===

Arches are predefined objects. They save you the hassle of writing all the common objects from scratch. There are predefined arches for food, doors, walls, monsters.. almost *anything*. In crossedit you can pick any given arch from the pickmap in the main window.

So, now you might ask yourself: "What the heck is the
real difference between arch and object?". Well, arches are only "suggestions" for certain objects in crossfire. Take the "goblin" arch for example: Goblins in CF are commonly known as small greenish monsters. But maybe, on a certain map, you want to create a goblin that is stronger than normal. You can do so by increasing the goblins strenght, and probably you'll want to change its name too. Now you have an object that is no longer identical to its original arch. But there is still a strong relation to this original goblin arch. We call this relation "archetype". The modified goblin is an object of "archetype goblin". (Note that the expressions "arch" and "archetype" have almost identical meaning and thus very often get mixed up).

=== What is an "attribute" of an object? ===

In crossedit: Put a goblin somewhere on a map. Open the attribute window and press "Dump". Now you should see a list:
"arch goblin
  name goblin
  race goblin
  face goblin.111
  animation goblin
  Wis 10
  hp 6
  ..."
Every line contains an attribute of this goblin object. "face", "name", "hp"... those are all attribues. There are HEAPS of attributes. And to make things even worse: they usually have different meanings for different object-types.
Knowing about all the attributes is the key for creating cool maps. The main purpose of this tutorial is to explain every attribute out there, in any kind of functionality.

=== What is a "map-mechanism"? ===

Okay, I made this word up. What I mean with "map-mechanism" is creating "special effects", usually with combinations of buttons/levers/altars, gates/boulders, creators.. etc. The player pulls a lever and one gate out of three opens at random. That is what I call a map-mechanism.

=== What is an "NPC"? ===

NPC means "Non Player Character". That are typically friendly guys hanging around in towns, willing to talk to you or help you in other forms. Like in most roleplay games, these folks are commonly used in Crossfire to provide the player with information about quests.

==== Object types - Adding functionality to an object ==== 

The most important attribute of an object is the "type" (a number from 1-159). The object-type determines the "purpose" of the object, the object's "functionality". Is it eatable? is it a teleporter? a rune? a key? This is set by the type of the object.

Very important: The ARCHETYPE DOES NOT AFFECT the PURPOSE of an object! I can take the food arch and make it work as teleporter, by setting "type 41". I can also take a teleporter- or door arch and make it eatable by setting "type 6".

In chapter 2. there is a list of all types that are involved in map-making. Descriptions of their most important attributes and how to use them.

For creating simple maps, you can use the predefined arches mostly as they are. But when you want to make some really cool maps, there is no other way but to read chapter 2. carefully.

==== Commonly used attributes ==== 

The following attributes are used for many different object-types: (These are only mentioned here, not in the detailed list of object-types later. Apply them to all objects where they make any "sense".)

  * "name <name>": <name> will be the name of the object, displayed to the player.
  * "title <title>": will be an object's title. Once the object is identified the title is attached to the name. Typical titels are "of mostrai", "of xray vision" etc.
  * "face <name_of_face>" selects the picture displayed for the object. Look through the arches to get an idea of existing faces.
  * "nrof <number>" determines the number of objects in one stack (for example: 100 goldcoins => "nrof 100"). You should set at least "nrof 1" for any pickable object, otherwise it won't be mergeable!
  * "weight <gramm>" makes an object weight <gramm> gramm (1000g is 1kg). Objects with "weight 0" are not pickable for players. Still, set "no_pick 1" for explicitly non-pickable objects (hey, this is opensource.. you never know ;) ).
  * "value <num>" adds a certain value to the object: It will be worth <num> times the default value from it's archetype. Value for buying/selling will be further modified by various factors. Hence, testing values in-game is usually inevitable. 
  * "material  [[<number>]]": <number> is a bitmask, containing the information of what material the object is made of. An object's material affects its likelyhood to get destroyed by certain hazards (fire/cold/acid..). Material 0 or 256 means the object cannot be destroyed at all (this is VERY important for special keys!). Read more about materials [[here.]]
  * "msg <text> endmsg": <text> is the "story" or description of the object (for the players). This should work for all pickable items in some way. For other object-types (living creatures/magic mouth..) this message has special meanings. In crossedit you can write this kind of message into the big text-frame in an object's attribute window. Add stories to all the special artifacts you create!
  * "invisible 1" generally makes the object invisible. Depending on the object-type, some can be made visible by the show_invisible spell. If in doubt, test it. Putting an invisible object under the floor always prevents it from being shown, but, in some cases, might cause malfunction to the object. You may find more detailed info about this matter in the description of the affected object types.

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