DukeEdit, Halcyon Days and what I
   want to accomplish with my game

Welcome to the November issue of Point & Click. This column is about my opinions on games as a long-time gamer, the gaming industry and the people involved, and much more.

This month I'll be discussing DukeEdit, the shareware program from John Inman that allows you to create your own custom Duke Nukem 3D maps that everyone (both Macintosh and Windows users) can enjoy. I'll also be talking about Halcyon Days, an HTML book by James Hague of Dadgum games. Halcyon Days "is the first collection of in-depth interviews with the creators of the great classic games for the Apple ][, Atari 800, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Vic 20, Intellivision, Odyssey 2, and arcades." Finally, I'll be discussing my abilities to create games and what I want to accomplish by creating a game.

DukeEdit

DukeEdit is a level editor for DukeNukem 3D and is the only one available for the MacOS. You draw maps and add objects (enemies, weapons, ammo, etc.) from a top-down perspective. All of the details of a level are handled through dialog boxes. It's not as difficult as you may think. DukeEdit is very well organized and you won't get confused or lost.

Below is an example of a map in its entirety. You are able to magnify and move the map around to have a closer look at a particular portion.

Included with DukeEdit is a tutorial that leads you through creating a very simple level. It by no means explains all of the options that are available to you. However, it does give you a feeling for the procedures that must be followed to create levels. I learned a lot from doing the tutorial. I find the interface of DukeEdit to be very clean and friendly. Everything is laid out well and I had no trouble finding the options that were described in the tutorial. It's a great interface and it makes creating levels a lot easier than it otherwise could be.

I found that there's a high learning curve to understanding how to create Duke Nukem levels. That's not the fault of DukeEdit, but of 3D Realms (makers of Duke Nukem). If you're serious about creating high-quality Duke Nukem levels, then I recommend taking a look at two resources that are recommended by John Inman: The Duke Nukem 3D Level Design Handbook, by Matt Tagliaferri, available at bookstores and is $19.99 at http://www.amazon.com/, and the Map Editing FAQ 1.4 available online at http://www.dukeworld.com. Duke World has lots of information, maps, total conversions, news, and much more, so stop by even if you aren't interested in creating levels. These two reference guides are written for Build, the DOS level editor, so you'll have to translate their references to DukeEdit. Nonetheless, they are still good sources of information.

In conclusion, DukeEdit is an excellent program and definitely worth downloading and paying for. You can download it at the Mac 3D Total Action web site at http://www.contact.net/judo/new.html. There's a lot of information about other 3D games at this site so it's definitely worth bookmarking. DukeEdit is shareware and costs $20.

Halcyon Days

To know where we are, it is always wise to look back at where we began. This is what Halcyon Days provides to those who play or design games. It is a series of interviews with people who designed, programmed and created games on the earliest computers. These include the Apple ][, Atari 800, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Vic 20, Intellivision, Odyssey 2, and arcade machines.

It's an eye-opening experience to read about the tricks programmers had to do in order to make their games run on machines running at a speed of 1 Mhz. Considering that I have a 200 Mhz PowerMac, I am humbled at how far we have come in so short a time. Halcyon Days also describes the shortsightedness of the business executives who couldn't understand that games could be profitable.  It tells about the people who couldn't make a living at creating games because their games were illegally obtained. It chronicles the trials and tribulations of the people who were at the beginning of the gaming industry and who paved the way for what we have now. It was an eye-opener for this somewhat-jaded writer.

As I read the designers' opinions of games, mine were changed. Some were reinforced while others were altered. I feel as though my knowledge of games has increased due to Halcyon Days. I recommend that everyone who is interested in the gaming industry get Halcyon Days. It's a fascinating read.

My First Game Ideas

I've been taking stock of my abilities and what I can bring to a game. I'm not much of an artist so my first game won't be visually exciting. Considering that I will do most of the art in ClarisWorks 5, I don't expect high quality. While I can play several musical instruments, I don't consider myself much of a musician. Therefore my first game won't have any music. I am good at sound effects because I constantly hear everything that goes on around me. What I do have is experience playing games and a tendency to analyze every aspect of my gaming experiences. I also have a background in computer programming, so that part will be both fun and a great learning experience. I think I have what it takes to make a game, although it might not be commercially viable. People today are very demanding of game quality, and I don't have the knowledge right now to satisfy their demands. I also don't have a lot of the software or hardware that the professionals do. I can't make Quicktime movies, because I don't have a video camera or the software necessary. I also don't have any 3D graphics programs or high-end painting or drawing applications. 

I suspect many of you are in the same situation as I am. What will make the game worth playing will be the game world and its obstacles. Hopefully, the game I create will be interesting enough that someone will want to step in and redo the graphics and add music. I can only hope. Plus, I've been saying to other people (and to myself!) that I will make a game. It's time to get off my duff and actually do it. It's time to put all of the theories that I've formulated over the past few months into practice. After all, that's the best way to find out if your theories will stand up to the test of reality.

Since I'm going to create a first-person adventure in SuperCard, I'll need a plot. What I'll have to do is write a story out of which I'll later create a game. I really want the player to come away from my game with the knowledge that they've learned something. I  don't just want a series of puzzles but an actual plot that the player gets involved in. I don't know how yet. Who's the main character? What is the game world? I honestly have no clue at this point, but that's something to think about for next month's Point & Click.

Next Month in Point & Click...

I have no idea what I'm going to write for next month, so it will be a surprise.  I'm confident that it will be as thought-provoking and interesting as my other columns have been. If you have any comments, feel free to write me at the email address below. Semper Mac!

             Erica J. Marceau
              erica@applewizards.net
              http://members.aol.com/MacSierra/

   

                                          http://www.applewizards.net/