SLED is a level editor for Stigma. If you don't know what Stigma is, download the shareware version from Imperial; you will need to have this installed to run this editor. Since the tile graphics file is part of the copyrighted Stigma package, I have not included it here; just make sure that stigma.gfx is present in a \app\stigma directory.
Regarding file locations: Stigma will search all available drives for its level file, in the order M:, A:, B:. However, once it finds the level file it will expect all the other game files to be on the same drive. I suggest that file editing be done on M: or a RAM pack, since the file will be "churned" extensively; and the game should be run from an external pack. Whatever you do, do not edit files on a flash disc with this program! Your free space will vanish.
The program is mostly self
explanatory. It has two modes: the level view and the editor itself. In the level view, level parameters can be changed, and levels can be moved, added and deleted. Use the cursor up/down keys to move between levels; shift+cursor will move the level up or down the stack. (Due to the structure of the data file, updates of levels early in a large file may take some time. Levels can be moved around the file with Psion
S, and it may be easier to leave them at the end until their final position is set.)
Levels can be merged from other level files using Psion
M; several insertions, appends and duplications may be made at once by using Psion
Shift
I, A or D respectively. To launch Stigma with the current level file, hit Psion
Shift
P. All functions other than the shift+cursor movement of levels are duplicated on the menus. To enter the editor, hit the diamond or enter key.
The editor is driven mainly by the cursor keys, which move the cursor over the level view. An overlay window shows the current type of tile; this may be toggled (Psion
W). The Enter or Space key will place the tile in the current location. Shift+cursor keys will expand the cursor area, allowing multiple tiles to be placed at one time. (Due to OS limitations, the cursor cannot be expanded beyond 10 tiles' width,) Control+cursor keys will change the tile in the overlay; Psion
G will pick up the tile under the cursor and use it as the current tile; and hitting Tab will pop up a window with all available tiles. (This is the only function not on the menu.)
The level start and exit must also be placed. Hitting Psion
S or Psion
E will move the cursor to the current start or exit; move the cursor to the new site, then hit Return or Space.
Psion
F will fill the level with the currently selected tile, and Psion
V will restore it to its state before editing began.
When editing is complete, hit diamond again to update the level file; or hit Psion
N and Psion
P to change to the next or previous levels in the file (with update), or Psion
J to jump to a numbered level.
Level design
It's very easy to build impossible levels. Why bother? Levels that are likely to consume lives before it's clear how to approach them
aren't paticularly clever. The most rewarding sort, and the hardest to design, is probably like 11Doors or 20Doris, based on locks and one
way doors.
The apparently blank tiles to either side of the magnet in the tile window form its attraction field; check the tile ID for directions. Note that a magnet on its own won't do anything. And surely no
one would use an attraction field without a magnet. ;
Problems
If the file has less than 20 levels, Stigma will crash when it attempts to access the absent records. I suggest that you append blank levels to your own files in order to avoid crashes. If you let Stigma crash, the best times won't be saved.
I strongly recommend that you use the built
in launcher to handle multiple level files. Just open the file and hit Psion
Shift
P to play it. High scores and records will be preserved (in the same directory as the new level file). A backup of the original level file, original.lev, will be created the first time you invoke the launcher.
Copyleft
This package is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence. This means that: you may copy the entire package freely, but may not charge for it; you may not distributed versions of the package with modified, missing, or added files.
Any questions, comments or suggestions regarding this package are welcome.
Thanks
To Michael "Flash" Ware of Proteus Developments, for writing Stigma in the first place.
To the Beta Tester With No Name. No comment.
Future development
I'd appreciate suggestions on features that could be added to the program. Any comments are welcome.
I recently had a chance to look at a preview of Psion's upcoming commercial release of Stigma (on display at Live
'95), and some code has been modified to improve compatibility with this; once it's been formally released, I shall check it and issue a maintenance release if necessary.
History
(22/9/95) was written entirely during the more sober portions of a trip to the Oktoberfest.
(3/10/95) was written at the request of The Beta Tester With No Name; the excuse is the fixing of a number of small bugs, but there is also some added functionality (tile ID) and a built
(.txt)