BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO MAKING A LEVEL by Matt Newcomb
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This tutorial and collection of maps (Lesson 1 to 18)
will get you started with building a level from the
ground up, step by step. I will explain how to do
everything found in these maps, but you should get
my individual tutorials from my page as they focus
on different parts with more depth.
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Lesson 1: The first sector. Maps 1-4
	Start Makemap and use the Spacebar to draw a
	square. Now press the Enter key on the Number
	keypad. This will take you to 3D-mode, which
	is just like the game, except enemies do not
	attack and you can't use teleporters or go
	underwater. Water will be explained later.
	Once in 3D mode you will see your room
	covered in a red and yellow grid. This
	is the default texture, and is perfectly normal.
	Point the mouse at the floor and press V twice.
	You will now see a page full of pictures.
	This is the art file. It contains all the sprites
	in the game. Use the arrow keys to move the
	selection box around the list until you see
	one that looks like a good floor texture. When
	you find the one you want, press the Enter key
	on the Main keyboard to place it on the floor.
	You will be taken back into the map and your
	floor will have the texture applied to it.
	Now point the mouse at the ceiling and select a 
	texture for it the same way. If you use a sky
	texture you will have to press P while pointing
	at the ceiling to make it Parallax. This makes the
	ceiling look like a sky. If it has a round shape,
	point at the ceiling and press Control and P at
	the same time. This will make the texture flat,
	but still look like a sky.
	Now put a texture on the walls. You can put the 
	texture on one wall and then point at it and 
	press Tab. Then point at another wall and press
	Enter to apply it to that wall. This works for 
	sprites also.

Lesson 2: Adding a room to the first sector. Maps 5-10.
	Press Enter on the Number pad to go into 2D
	mode. Pick the place you want to build a room
	and press Space to begin drawing. If you want
	to make a room that is attached to the wall
	of the main sector (like in the Lesson5.map),
	you put the mouse on the white line and press
	Insert. This will place a green vertex on the
	line. Make another one on the same wall. Now start
	drawing a line from one of these two vertexes
	and make a long rectangle ending on the second
	vertex. Put the mouse inside this rectangle
	and press Alt and S together to turn it red.
	Make another rectangle on an adjoining wall, but
	do not connect it to the first rectangle. These 
	are the walls of your room. Bring the ends of the
	walls toward each other, but leave a few spaces
	between them. Now go into 3D mode (number pad
	Enter key) and point at the floor. Press Page
	Down to drop the floor a couple of notches. You
	should see two rectangles sticking up. These are
	the walls you just drew. Point at the top of one
	and press Page Up to raise it. Press Caps Lock once
	and then press A. This will raise you up, where
	you can see the top of the wall. Raise it to the
	ceiling. If you cannot see the top of the wall
	after a certain height and it is not all the way
	up, move into it until you are sandwiched between
	the ceiling and the wall. Then point down right in
	front of you and press PageUp. Move back and the
	wall should be touching the ceiling. Do the same
	for the other wall. Press Z to go back down to
	the floor (or press CapsLock again to drop).
	Now select a texture for the walls, or leave them
	like they are. 
	Go back into 2D mode and draw a rectangle and make
	it red by pressing Alt and S with the mouse inside
	it. This is the door. Go into 3D mode and raise it
	like you did the walls and give it a door texture.
	Go back into 2D mode and put the mouse near the
	door sector and hold the Right Shift key and drag
	the mouse over the door, surrounding all four 
	corners with a purple rectangle. Let go of Shift
	and use the mouse to drag it by one corner into
	the space between the two walls. Press Shift again
	to deselect the door. Use the mouse to resize the
	door so that it fits inside the space between the
	walls without it touching the walls. Refer to the
	Lesson6.map to see what I mean. Pressing G in 2D
	mode will increase the number of lines in the grid
	which lets you make sectors very small and allows
	you to put the door very close to the walls without
	touching them. Refer to the text file included with
	the "Doors.zip" file for the different types of
	doors and how to make them. For this example, I 
	made a Swinging Door. Go into 2D mode and put
	the mouse inside the door sector and press T to
	give it a Lotag. Type the number 23 and press
	Enter. The number 0,23 should appear in the sector.
	Now press S twice in two different places to put
	down two sprites. Go into 3D mode and point at the 
	sprites and press V twice. Select the S shaped 
	sprite for both. Go into 2D mode and point at one
	sprite and press Alt and T to give it a Lotag of
	11, then press Alt + H to give it a Hitag of
	100. Give the other one a Lotag of 10 and a Hitag
	of 20. Go into 3D mode and point at the sprites
	(called Sector effectors) and press Control + Page
	Up. This will put them on the ceiling. Go back to
	2D mode and move them both into the door sector,
	making sure to put the one with the tags of 20,10
	at the end you want it to pivot from. Put the
	cursor on the sprites and press < or > to turn
	their tails to the left or right. Putting them on
	the right side and pointing the tails to the left
	makes the door swing toward you and pivot on the
	right side. Putting them on the left and pointing
	the tails to the right (as in map8) makes it swing
	away and pivot from the left.
	Make another sprite and change it to the M (Music 
	and Sound Effects). Give it a Hitag of 388 and
	Lotag of 165 (the creaking door sound) and put it
	inside the door sector.
	Make another sprite and change it to the GPSPEED
	sprite (the winged shoe) and give it a Lotag of 64.

Lesson 3: Adding sectors. Maps 11-13
	Go to the wall where you want the other sector to 
	be accessed from and insert two vertexes. Draw a
	square and end it at the vertex you started from.
	You will draw over the white line between the two
	vertexes and it will turn red. Add vertexes to the
	walls of this sector and stretch it out to the size
	you want it. Select the appropriate textures for
	the type of room you want it to be (i.e. if it
	is an outdoor sector, select outdoorsy textures).
	Make a door sector and place it. To make a Rising
	Door like in Map12, you have to drop the sector
	out of the ceiling, which is just the opposite of
	making the first door. Give the door sector a Lotag
	of 20. It doesn't need a Sector Effector. You can
	add a MusicandSoundFX and Speed sprite if you want.
	
Lesson 4: Making a sector over a sector. Maps 15&16
	This is how I made the Above room in Map14:
	Go to the wall of the Backyard sector and insert
	two vertexes. Draw a square, ending on the one
	you start from, changing the line between the 
	vertexes to red. Stretch the square into an L shape
	and stop it before you reach the Main sector (the 
	Below Sector). Start drawing from one of the 
	points, go into the Main sector, and end the drawing
	where you started. The new sector will be white.
	Then I added a Lowering door, which is just the
	opposite of the Rising door. Give the door sector
	a Lotag of 21. Add sound and speed.

Lesson 5: Making Underwater sectors.
	Draw a square. Put the mouse in the square and make 
	it red. Press C to make a circle, moving the mouse
	to change size. Press space to draw the circle.
	Give the sector a Lotag of 1 and a sector effector
	( S ) with a Hitag of 100 and Lotag of 7.
	Make another sector THE EXACT SAME SIZE AS THE
	WATER SECTOR. This is how I did it: Draw a square
	outside of the main sector and make sure it doesn't
	connect to it. Put the mouse near the water sector
	and hold the Alt key as you drag the mouse over the
	water sector. Release the Alt key and the sector
	should be filled with green lines. Use the mouse to
	drag it into the new square and press Insert. Change
	the sector to red and give it the same Hi and Lo 
	Tags and S.E. as the first. Put the sector effector
	for the second sector on the bottom of the sector
	with Ctrl+PageDown. Lower the ceiling of the new
	sector until it matches the opening of the sector.
	You should have remembered to lower the sector 
	floor, or your pool won't be very deep. Put the
	water texture on the bottom of the part you 
	lowered from the ceiling and also on the top of the
	first sector (the top of the pool, where you get in).
	Don't forget to put out a Snorkle, or you'll drown
	when you get in the water. 

Lesson 6: Making a front yard and adding enemies.
	Maps 17 & 18.
	For these two maps, all I did was add a new sector 
	using the same procedure as before. The only
	difference is that the Sliding door gets a Lotag
	of 25 and S.E. of 15. Point the tail in the 
	direction you want it to move AWAY from.
	Put in a sprite and change it to an enemy.
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That's it. You should have enough knowledge now to make a
map of your own. You should REALLY get my tutorials for
doing all the things in Makemap, as a full-blown How-to
guide is too time consuming. If you don't want to read any
of the bigger tutorials like MMkeys, which explain in
more detail what each key does, and the various text files
that come with my maps, then you shouldn't waste your time
with Makemap. The only way to do these things is to learn
how to do them. If that's too much trouble, then just stick
with playing the game.
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This text file was written by Matt Newcomb. If you need help
or if something doesn't work right, email me and I'll try to
help.
Email:striker@
Homepage: