X.T. Gladiators

Level Designer

Introduction

The X.T. Gladiators Level Designer program is used to design and build Arena levels for the game X.T. Gladiators.  The Level Designer allows any user to set the Arena, floor, and sky settings, and then add walls and opponents to complete a level which can then be played immediately!  The simplicity of the game level's core components guarantees that every player can quickly be cranking out new levels in no time.

Using the Level Designer

Every level follows the same basic design steps:

1. Set the Arena information, including name, location on the Level selection map, a short description, and some simple gameply settings.

2. Set the Sky sphere settings, including picking a sky texture and size.

3. Define the arena floor size and texture.

4. Set the player's location and facing.

5. Add Walls to the arena.

6. Add Opponents to the arena.

7. Save the Level to disk.

8. Generate a "manifest", which adds the new level to the list of available levels.

Following these eight simple steps, a new level can be generated and ready for play in just minutes!

Rules

Before using the X.T. Gladiators Level Designer, there are some very basic rules the must be followed for the Level Designer to work properly:

1. The Level Designer must be run in the same directory as the X.T. Gladiators game.

2. All of the media (texture files for floor, sky, walls, etc.) must be located in the .\Media subdirectory.

3. All of the created level files must be saved to the .\Levels subdirectory.

4. You must "Generate Manifest" after creating and saving a new level, for X.T. Gladiators to recognize the level as available.

Failure to follow these rules will cause the level not to load properly.

Example: Creating a new level

Using the Level Designer is a very simple procedure.  The following steps walk a new user through creating a simple, 4 wall level against a single opponent.  The techniques learned here include every step needed to create levels from simple to very complex. The level created here ("ld_demo.xtg") is provided with the game, but not included with the playable levels. You can open the demo file with XTG LD to see what the final version of the following example should look like.

Step 1: Launch the program

Run the X.T. Gladiators Level Designer (hereafter referred to as "XTG LD") from the directory where the X.T. Gladiators game is stored.  The directory should already contain two subdirectories, "Media" and "Levels".  When the program launches, it will display a 3D view of the level, which currently consists of, well, just your player!

Off to the side of the screen, you will see a set of camera and view controls.  The top controls (denoted by an eye) move the view along the 3 axes of space - X, Y, and Z.  Clicking on the eye returns the view to its default position.  The lower controls (denoted by the camera) control the angle of the view - up, down, left, right, etc.  Clicking on the camera will set the view to its "straight ahead" (i.e. along the Z-axis) position.  Practice using the controls by clicking and holding the mouse on the arrows, and watching how the view changes.

Step 2: Configure the Arena Settings

From the XTG LD menu, select "Settings/Arena...".  This will bring up a dialog window allowing you to set the basic Arena parameters.  Give the Arena any name you would like (e.g. Bob's World).  The settings entitled "Level Select ____" define how the level will look on the Level Selection screen of the game - where on the screen it is located, what picture it will display, the description.  Select any 256w x 256h image (.jpg or .bmp) for the image.  Set the X, Y coordinates to display on an 800x600 screen.  Enter any description you desire.

The remaining selections on this screen allow you to set some gameplay attributes, described here:

• Fog - sets the Distance of the fog (how far you can see).  Zero = no fog.

• Fog R/G/B - used to set the color of the fog - enter values from 0 to 255 for each (e.g. 32, 32, 192 for a bright blue fog).

• Elasticity - "Bounciness" - controls how much speed is lost on collision.  At 100%, no speed is lost - at 0%, you come to a dead stop.

• Drag - controls whether you lose speed if not accelerating, and how quickly you lose speed.

• Atmosphere - controls top speed. 50% makes for slower levels, 200% is lightning fast.

After setting these values to your liking, click OK to accept and save these values.  If you have set a fog level, the screen will show the effect.

Step 3: Set up the Skysphere

Select "Settings/Skysphere..." from the menu.  Select a texture for the sky (e.g. "simplesky.jpg") from the "Media\" subdirectory. All textures used by XTG LD must be located in this subdirectory.  Accept the default 500 value for the size of the skysphere - this means that the skysphere has a diameter of 500 units - at the floor level, it will go from X = -250 to X = 250 along the X-axis, and from Z = -250 to Z = 250 on the Z-axis.  Hit OK to accept (and watch your view change again!).

Step 4: Set up the Floor

From the menu, select the "Settings/Floor..." option.  This opens up a window for setting the floor information.  We want a water world, so in the matrix texture box, select the "floor3.jpg" texture.  Accept the default size settings, and set the number of X and Z Segments ("Segs") to 10 - big waves!  Click OK to accept.

Step 5:  Put up some Walls!

Now we come to the most time consuming part of the project - put up the walls!  The XTG LD will let you leave open spaces for the players to "escape", so make sure to completely enclose the playing field!  For this project we'll just put up the four basic outside walls.

Select "Walls/New Wall..." from the menu.  On the dialog box that pops up, create a 200 unit long wall to use for the "north" side of the arena, as follows:
    Wall Texture: wall1.jpg
    Width: 200        Height: 20        Depth: 20
    XLoc: 0            YLoc: 10          ZLoc: 100
    UScale: 20        VScale: 2

This will create a wall 200 units wide (X direction), 20 units tall (Y direction), and 20 units deep (Z direction).  It will also move the wall 10 units up (so that its all above the floor), and 100 units back (in the Z direction).  Last, it textures the wall with a simple light gray block texture (wall1.jpg).  The "UScale" and "VScale" parameters control how the texture is applied to the wall.  By setting the values to 20 and 2, the wall will have 20 textures across by 2 textures down.  Play with the U and V scales until you are comfortable with how it changes the wall's appearance. Click "Apply" to see the change - click OK when finished.

You can now place the other 3 walls needed to create an arena, by selecting "Walls/New Wall..." and using the same texture and U/V scales as for the first wall.  Use the following sizes and locations:
    Wall 2: WxHxD = 200 x 20 x 20,  XYZ = 0, 10, -100
    Wall 3: WxHxD = 20 x 20 x 200,  XYZ = -100, 10, 0
    Wall 4: WxHxD = 20 x 20 x 200,  XYZ = 100, 10, 0

There - now you have your (fairly small) arena!

Step 6: Add an opponent

The last thing to be added is an opponent - solitaire X.T. Gladiators isn't all that much fun.  Select "Opponents/New Opponent..." to add the enemy.  In the dialog box that appears, pick the enemy color, the color of his power sphere, and the A.I. routine that the enemy will use.  The available AI's will do the following:
    None - no AI.  The alien will bounce, but not actively run or change direction
    Stupid - Runs straight forward all the time
    Defensive - Tries to run away from the nearest opponent within a certain range
    Aggressive - Turns to run directly at the nearest opponent
    Crazy - ????

Step 7: Save the Level!

From the File menu, select "Save".  This will allow you to save the file to the drive.  If you want to be able to play this level in the game, you must save the level file to the "Levels\" subdirectory.  Give it any name you want - the name of the file is not used in XTG.

Step 8: Add some Shine!

Here's the freeform part.  Add walls as obstacles, add more opponents, change the textures of the walls and floor.  To be able to Edit a wall or opponent, you must first select the object to edit by clicking on it with the mouse.  Make sure the object is not covered by the camera controls, or the program will not select it.  Once the object is selected, it will be highlighted by a bounding box.  Once the object is highlighted, the "Edit <object>..." and "Delete <object>" options become available in the menu.

Don't forget to move your player out of the center - it gives you a nice view of the arena, but it also makes you the easiest target!

Step 9: Generate the Manifest

Once you are happy with the level, you can add it to the list of available levels in the X.T. Gladiators game by generating a manifest.  Simply click on the "File/Generate Manifest" menu option, and it will search the "Levels" subdirectory for xtg level files, and create the master list.  Now, run the game, and test your masterpiece!

Advanced Topics

If you have skill with graphics and textures, you can easily add to the levels you can create by adding texture files to the "Media" subdirectory.  Texture files for the floor and walls can be any size - 256 x 256 pixel textures are supplied with the game.  In addition, the "Level Select Image:" for the level is also a 256x256 image file.  Image files can be JPEG (.jpg) or Bitmap (.bmp).

Feedback

Any comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated!  Please send feedback to dave@xtgladiators.com.