----------------------------
NIGHT STALKERS LEVEL EDITING
----------------------------
By Tim Nolan
Version 2 - 9/22/02

Creating and editing levels for "Night Stalkers" requires two programs (not
including any graphics program you might use to create a new tile set). It
requires StalkEd and, to a lesser extent, Transparency Editor. Note that
even though "Night Stalkers" is a Windows game, Transparency Editor is
actually a DOS program. This has a lot to do with "Night Stalkers"' origin
as a DOS game.

THE COMPONENTS OF A NIGHT STALKERS LEVEL
----------------------------------------
As currently planned, "Night Stalkers" will have eight missions. Each
mission is comprised of a variable number of scenes. And each scene begins
with either the display of the mission number or a fade-in. Each scene ends
with either a fade-out or the "Mission Clear" message. These scenes are
edited individually in StalkEd. That is what I'll be referring to when I
use the term "level" throughout this document--an individual scene or
section of a mission, not the mission as a whole. You'll learn how to
string scenes together into a mission later.

A "Night Stalkers" level is built from a tile set. The tile set must be a
.PCX image file of 256x256 size, with 256 colors. The color palette of the
.PCX file has to match that of the other tile sets in the game, at least
from color #16 on. Each tile is 16x16 pixels and is read in horizontal rows,
left to right, then top to bottom. Since you can fit 16 tiles across each
row of the tile set, and 16 tiles down each column, this would seem to
indicate that there can be up to 256 tiles in a tile set. But in reality, 
you can only have 254 tiles in a set, numbered 0 to 253. This is because the
map format reserves tile numbers 254 and 255 for special purposes. So 
anything you might draw in the 32x16 pixels in the bottom right corner of
your tile set will go unused. Take a look at nsblox1.pcx to see how a tile 
set should look.

The tile set only determines what the level will look like. To make stuff
happen in your level, you have to define what I call trigger points. When
the screen scrolls onto or past a trigger point, it makes bad guys appear. 
Trigger points can also make the screen stop scrolling, forcing the player 
to fight. Think of them as invisible tripwires that let the enemies know 
when to attack. For example, in the very first level of "Night Stalkers", 
there's a trigger point which I placed right at the leftmost edge of the 
level so that it activates immediately when the level starts. It makes the 
first rat you see leaning against the wall appear well before you actually 
reach him.

In addition to trigger points and bad guys, you can now put things like 
food, bonus items, and oil drums in your level. These are handled in thing
editing mode.

You need to select music for your level, and if you want your level to have
parallax scrolling, you need to pick some scenery for the background. And
to establish the continuity of your mission, you'll have to tell the game
engine which level to go to next.

There are also other important parameters that need to be set in almost
every level, which you do in attribute editing mode. These attributes
determine things like how much space the player will have in which to fight
and how fast parallax backgrounds will scroll.

USING STALKED
-------------
When you fire up StalkEd, you'll see what looks like an empty lot--it's a
blank level (all tile #0), drawn with a default tile set. Press N to start
a new level. It will ask you how long you want the level to be. The length
is in tiles, not pixels. Don't worry if you mess up--you can resize the
level later. For reference, the screen is 20 tiles wide and 12.5 tiles 
high--the bottom half of the last row of tiles is cut off by the bottom of
the screen. You'll probably want to change the tile set, which you do by
pressing C. It will ask you for the file name of the tile set. Include the
.PCX file extension. Remember that .PCX is the only kind of file that will
be accepted as a tile set. Other file types may cause StalkEd to crash. 
If you want to be reminded what the current tile set in use is, press 
Shift-C. You can control the on-screen cursor (the glowing box) with the
mouse. The single pixel within that box shows the precise coordinates of
the mouse, hopefully making your control more exact. The left mouse
button places a copy of the current tile in use (visible in the upper-
right corner) at the cursor's position. The right mouse button changes the
current tile to the one inside the cursor box. The up and down arrows are
used to change the current tile to the next and previous ones in the set,
respectively. The left and right arrows scroll the screen left and right.
S saves your level; L loads a level from the hard drive (must be in the
same directory as StalkEd).

Now that you know the basics, let's go into more detail on all the commands
that are available in the main editing mode.

MAIN EDITING MODE COMMANDS
--------------------------
Mouse: Move the cursor around the screen. If you figured out how to turn
   your computer on, you probably figured this out. :) It's just here for 
   the sake of completeness.
Left mouse button: Place a copy of the current tile at the location of the
   cursor.
Right mouse button: Changes the current tile to the one at the location of
   the cursor.
Up arrow: Changes the current tile to the next one in the set.
Shift-Up arrow: Jumps the current tile 10 tiles ahead in the set.
Down arrow: Changes the current tile to the previous one in the set.
Shift-Down arrow: Jumps the current tile 10 tiles back in the set.
Left arrow: Scroll the screen to the left slowly.
Shift-Left arrow: Scroll the screen to the left fast.
Right arrow: Scroll the screen to the right slowly.
Shift-Right arrow: Scroll the screen to the right fast.
F: Toggle info bar/full screen view. Handy if you want an unobstructed view
   of your level.
/: Clear message at bottom of screen. Useful if you need to see that last
   half-row of tiles, but the words get in the way.
N: New level. You will be asked how long (in tiles) you want the level to be.
   A level can not be less than 20 tiles long, nor more than 5041 tiles long.
R: Resize level. Enter the new length (in tiles) you want the level to be.
   If you make it longer than it was, then the space between the previous
   end of the level and the new end will be filled with tile #0. If you make
   it shorter, then all the tiles beyond the new end of the level will be
   deleted (i.e., replaced with tile #0), so be sure that you want to make
   the level shorter. Again, the level must be at least 20 tiles long and not
   more than 5041 tiles long.
Home: Jump to start (leftmost edge) of the level.
End: Jump to end (rightmost edge) of the level.
J: Jump to a particular x-coordinate of the level. You will be prompted for that
   x-coordinate. X-coordinates are measured in pixels. The x-coordinate for
   the leftmost edge of the level is 0.
T: Place a new trigger point at the current x-coordinate. You cannot place a
   new trigger point in a location where one already exists. You also cannot
   place one less than 319 pixels from the rightmost edge of the level, because
   the screen will never be able to scroll to it. Also keep in mind that trigger
   points are automatically sorted, left to right, as you place them. For 
   example, if you place a new trigger point between trigger point #2 and 
   trigger point #3, the new trigger point becomes the new #3 and the former 
   trigger point #3 becomes #4, the former #4 becomes #5, etc. There can be up
   to 100 trigger points in a level.
Shift-T: Cycle through the existing trigger points in the current level.
Ctrl-T: Jump to a trigger point of your choice. You will be prompted for the
   number of the trigger point you wish to go to.
O: Tells you which trigger point you are on, if any.
E: Edit the trigger point you are on. Of course, it only works if you are
   actually on a trigger point. See the "Trigger Point Editing Mode" section.
Delete: If you are on a trigger point, it deletes that trigger point and
   re-numbers the remaining trigger points accordingly.
\: Deletes all trigger points from the level, regardless of whether you're
   actually on one or not. Be careful with this, because I didn't program an 
   Undo feature into StalkEd.
C: Define the tile set for the current level. Remember that it has to be a .PCX
   file. The file also must be in the same directory as StalkEd (and in the
   same directory as "Night Stalkers", if you want the level to work). You have
   to include the .PCX filename extension when you type in the filename.
Shift-C: Tells you the filename of the tile set being used in the current level.
B: Define the image file that will be used as the backdrop for the current
   level. This image will only be seen in a parallax-scrolling level (see the
   city background in the first level of "Night Stalkers" for an example), but
   you have to define a background image filename for every level even if it
   doesn't have parallax scrolling. Just use DEFAULTB.PCX in these cases. Again,
   the background image must be a .PCX file, and you must include the .PCX file 
   extension when you type in the filename. There are some additional 
   requirements for background image files. If you want the background to 
   scroll, then your .PCX file must contain your background image in duplicate.
   The duplicate image should be directly to the right of the original. In other
   words, your .PCX file should be twice the width of the actual background you
   want to use, with the original background (in one half) copied to the other
   half. This may seem weird, but I made it this way to facilitate background
   wrap-around. Also, don't use a background image that totals less than 32
   pixels wide, because it will probably cause a crash. And make sure that the
   height of your background image is enough to cover all possible holes in the
   foreground, otherwise you risk a crash. Look at citybk2.pcx to see what a
   "Night Stalkers" background image should look like.
Shift-B: Tells you the filename of the background image being used in the
   current level.
X: Define the level that follows the current level. When a scene is completed,
   the computer needs to know what scene to load next. If the current level is
   the last level in the mission, type END at this prompt. Otherwise, type in
   the filename (including the file extension) of the level that is intended to 
   follow the current one. Linking levels in this manner brings individual
   scenes together to form a complete mission. You'll notice that I use the 
   filename extension .NSM (for Night Stalkers Map) on my levels, and I 
   encourage you to do the same.
Shift-X: Tells you the filename of the following level, or END if the current
   level is the last one in the mission.
G: Loads the level that follows the current level, as specified by the filename 
   shown when you press Shift-X.
M: Define the music that will play on the current level. Simply use the mouse
   to pick one from the list that pops up.
Shift-M: Tells you the name of the music for the current level.
P: Create a pattern. This is useful for walls and floors with designs that
   require a particular sequence of tiles to be repeated over and over. Look at
   the wooden floor in STALK1B.NSM to see a design that was created using the
   Pattern feature. It works like this: the pattern begins at the square where
   the cursor is and continues, left to right, along a single horizontal row,
   until it either meets a tile that is different from the one at the point of
   the pattern's origin or reaches the rightmost edge of the level. For example,
   if you have a horizontal sequence of tiles in your level that goes
   "111111112", and you start the pattern on the leftmost "1", it will keep
   repeating until it reaches the last "1" right before the "2", where it will
   stop. A pattern can consist of up to 8 tiles. When you press P, you will 
   first be prompted for the number of tiles that will be in the pattern, and
   then you will use the arrow keys to select each individual tile that will be
   in the pattern, in sequence from left to right.
A: Attribute editing mode. See the "Attribute Editing Mode" section.
I: Thing editing mode. This is where you put objects (such as food, trash cans,
   etc.) into the level. See the "Thing Editing Mode" section.
L: Load level. Type in the level's full filename, including the filename
   extension. Or just press Enter to cancel.
S: Save level. You will be prompted for a filename. StalkEd now checks to see if 
   you're overwriting another level with the same name, so you're no longer
   working without a net. You can cancel the save by typing no filename at
   all and pressing Enter.
Shift-S: Quick save. If you have loaded up a pre-existing level, or if you've
   already saved a new level you're working on, this will instantly save it with 
   the same filename it already had.
Esc: Quit StalkEd. You can only quit from the main editing mode. If you are in
   trigger point or attribute editing mode, you need to exit those modes before
   you quit.

TRIGGER POINT EDITING MODE
--------------------------
Working in trigger point editing mode is like being a movie director. You 
determine how the fights the Night Stalkers have will be staged. You specify
where they occur, how many participants there will be, and what kind of entrance
each bad guy will make.

The trigger point editing mode screen will say "TRIGGER POINT EDITING MODE" at
the top; right beneath, it will tell you which trigger point you are editing and
the x-coordinate of the current trigger point. If you have elected to hide items
from view, it will say "THINGS HIDDEN" beneath that. Down the right side of the 
screen is the list of bad guys that will appear at this trigger point, 
represented by numbers. Finally, across the bottom of the screen, you'll see the 
component of the trigger point that is currently being edited. 

Press the left and right arrow keys to select the component of the trigger point 
you wish to edit. The components are:
1. Stop scroll?
2. Max. enemies at once
3. Total enemies here
4. The list of enemies
Stop scroll?: This determines whether the level will stop scrolling here, 
   forcing the player to stay and fight. Use the up and down arrow keys to 
   toggle between "YES" and "NO". I recommend that you make most of your trigger 
   points stop the scrolling. Ultimately, all the enemies in a level must be 
   killed before the player can advance to the next level anyway.
Max. enemies at once: Most of the time, you don't want all the enemies spilling
   out at once. This actually limits the number of enemies that the game engine
   will bring into the game at once--the rest of the guys on the list will just
   have to wait until some of the guys on screen die. This is useful for 
   adjusting the difficulty of a fight. Use the up and down arrow keys to
   adjust this number. It can go as low as 1 or as high as 6.
Total enemies here: Self-explanatory. Again, use the up and down arrow keys to
   adjust this number. There can be as many as 16 total enemies at a trigger
   point, or as few as 0. Just remember that no more than 6 of them will ever
   attack at the same time.
The list of enemies: The length of the list is determined by "Total enemies 
   here". In the game, the enemies will appear in the order they are in on the 
   list, top to bottom. You will see each enemy in his starting location, unless
   that location is off screen, in which case you will see an arrow pointing to
   where he is. Press the up and down arrow keys to move up and down through the 
   list--the asterisk is the cursor that marks your place. The enemy on whom the
   cursor is (or the arrow pointing to him) will blink. The number in the left 
   column of the list denotes the specific enemy, whose name, location, starting 
   health, difficulty levels on which he appears, and starting state will be 
   written across the bottom of the screen when the cursor is on him. The number 
   in the right column is the easiest difficulty level on which that enemy 
   appears. You set this number by pressing 0, 1, or 2. 0 is Easy, 1 is Medium, 
   and 2 is Hard. Your selection will be reflected in the enemy information at 
   the bottom of the screen. Certain enemies appearing or not appearing is what 
   sets the difficulty levels apart from each other. When you make a level, do 
   try to set different configurations of enemies for each of the three 
   difficulty levels. Examine STALK1A.NSM to see how it's done. To change an 
   enemy in the list, use the plus and minus keys (not the ones on the numeric 
   pad) to move through the list of available enemies, or press Enter when the 
   cursor is on him and use your mouse to pick one from the list. 
   You can actually insert and delete enemies, with the Insert and Delete keys,
   but you can not change the number of enemies on the list without going back 
   to adjust "Total enemies here". This is why inserting a new enemy pushes the
   last one off the bottom of the list, and deleting one causes a default enemy
   to pop up in the last slot on the list.
   To set the x-, y-, and z-coordinates from which the enemy will start, press 
   X, Y, and Z, respectively, then enter the number you want at the prompt. Or
   use the numeric pad arrow keys to move him along the x- and z-axes. Press
   the numeric pad plus and numeric pad minus keys to move him up and down the
   y-axis. You can also hold down Shift while moving an enemy with the numeric
   pad keys to move him one pixel at a time. The numeric pad 5 key will place
   an enemy at the center of the screen. Here are some things to keep in mind:
   The y-coordinate for a character standing on the ground will be 0. And 
   unless an enemy is popping out of a dark doorway, alley, etc., you'll 
   probably want to start him offscreen. One more important thing to remember 
   is that the x-coordinates for enemy starting points are relative to the 
   location of the trigger point. For example, if you want an enemy to start 
   from just off the left edge of the screen, you can simply set his 
   x-coordinate to something like -40 instead of worrying about subtracting 40 
   from the x-coordinate of the trigger point. The "ENT" in the line of data at
   the bottom of the screen is short for "entrance", or how the enemy enters. 
   This is the action or stance the enemy takes when he is first activated. You
   press H to select an entrance, using the mouse to choose from the pop-up 
   list. Here is a more detailed version of the list:

   - Standing (standard entrance; the enemy will typically walk on screen
      unless he decides to do something else on his own)
   - Jumping
   - Charging
   - Walk down from upper part of screen (best used when enemy emerges from
      door, etc.
   - Walk up from bottom of screen (best used when enemy starts from off the
      bottom of the screen, i.e., starting z-coordinate > 200)
   - Double jump (will be used by rhino boss)
   - Drop from above (starting y-coordinate will have to be a negative number;
      try something like -250)
   - Leaning against a wall (This one and the next four are best used with a 
      non-scroll-stopping trigger point that activates the enemy offscreen to 
      the right)
   - Sitting (no enemies actually have any sitting frames of animation yet)
   - Kneeling, facing right
   - Kneeling, facing left
   - Kneeling, facing the screen (no enemies have this frame of animation yet)
   - Use claws to slide down the curtains (Fluffy only, and I realized that I
      didn't even make the curtains long enough for this to look good right 
      now)

   You can also change the enemy's entrance by pressing [ and ] to move to the
   previous or next entrance in the order they come in on the list. Also note 
   that not all enemy entrances have been programmed yet for all enemies. Trial 
   and error will tell you which guys can do what.
If you find that the items you've put in the level are obstructing your view,
you can hide them by hitting the I key. Hit I again to make them visible once
more. This works in all phases of trigger point editing mode. 
To move on to the next trigger point, press Tab to cycle through them. Hold 
down Shift when you press Tab to cycle through them backwards.
Trigger point editing mode is exited by pressing E again or Esc.

So, to summarize the commands for trigger point editing mode:
Left and right arrow: Select component of trigger point to edit.
I: Toggle hidden/visible items.
Tab: Cycle through all trigger points in level.
Shift-Tab: Cycle through all trigger points in level backwards.
E or Esc: Exit trigger point editing mode.
Stop scroll?:
   Up arrow: Select "YES"
   Down arrow: Select "NO"
Max. enemies at once:
   Up arrow: Increase number by 1 (up to 6)
   Down arrow: Decrease number by 1 (down to 1)
Total enemies here:
   Up arrow: Increase number by 1 (up to 16)
   Down arrow: Decrease number by 1 (down to 0)
Enemy list:
   Up arrow: Move up list
   Down arrow: Move down list
   +: Change enemy to next in list (Of course, the plus key is actually the
      equals key on most keyboards, but plus is easier to remember)
   -: Change enemy to previous in list
   Enter: Choose enemy from pop-up list
   0: Set enemy to appear on all three difficulty levels
   1: Set enemy to appear on Medium and Hard difficulty levels only
   2: Set enemy to appear on Hard difficulty level only
   X: Set starting x-coordinate for enemy, relative to x-coordinate of trigger
      point
   Y: Set starting y-coordinate for enemy (0 = on ground)
   Z: Set starting z-coordinate for enemy
   Num pad 4: Move enemy left
   Shift-Num pad 4: Move enemy left one pixel at a time
   Num pad 6: Move enemy right
   Shift-Num pad 6: Move enemy right one pixel at a time
   Num pad 8: Move enemy toward top of screen (along z-axis)
   Shift-Num pad 8: Move enemy toward top of screen (along z-axis) one pixel at 
      a time
   Num pad 2: Move enemy toward bottom of screen (along z-axis)
   Shift-Num pad 2: Move enemy toward bottom of screen (along z-axis) one pixel 
      at a time
   Num pad -: Move enemy straight up (along y-axis)
   Shift-Num pad -: Move enemy straight up (along y-axis) one pixel at a time
   Num pad +: Move enemy straight down (along y-axis)
   Shift-Num pad +: Move enemy straight down (along y-axis) one pixel at a time
   Num pad 5: Move enemy directly to center of screen
   Insert: Insert new enemy (pushes last one off bottom of list)
   Delete: Deletes enemy (moves all following enemies up and puts default enemy 
      in last slot on list)
   H: Select enemy entrance from pop-up list
   [: Move to previous enemy entrance
   ]: Move to next enemy entrance

ATTRIBUTE EDITING MODE
----------------------
Besides the way they look and the kinds of enemy encounters within them, 
"Night Stalkers" levels also have other properties which affect how they 
behave. These properties are defined in attribute editing mode. When you enter
attribute editing mode, you will see all the attributes and their values listed
on a single screen. You move up and down in the list using the up and down 
arrow keys, and you can edit the values in one of two ways. You can either
press the left and right arrow keys to decrease and increase the values by 1,
respectively, or press Enter and type in the new value at the prompt. The
attributes of a level are as follows:

Transparency: This tells the game engine whether or not a level's tile set has
   any see-through tiles which allow a parallax-scrolling background to be 
   seen. 1 means yes, 0 means no. Also see "Using the Transparency Editor".
Relative scroll rate: This is the relative speed at which a parallax background 
   will scroll compared with the level's foreground. For example, if you set
   this number to 10, the background will scroll 1 pixel for every 10 pixels
   the foreground scrolls.
Rise rate: This is not actually used by the game yet. It would be used for
   elevator scenes in which there would be a background that scrolls vertically
   and independently from the foreground. This number would determine how fast
   the background would scroll vertically.
Start spot x, y, z: The coordinates of the spot where the player begins the
   level. In a multi-player game, the other players line up diagonally from
   this spot. Start a 4-player game to see what I mean.
How player enters: Not used by the game engine yet. This would provide for a
   variety of player entrances (walking in, leaping in, dropping in, etc.) to
   the level.
Walk to spot x (rel), y, z: Not used by the game engine yet. These coordinates
   would mark the spot for the player to head for when the level is done--for
   example, you would be able to make the player's character walk to a door at
   the end of the level to imply that the next scene takes place behind that
   door. The x-coordinate would be relative to the place at which the level
   stopped scrolling for the last time.
How player exits: Not used by the game engine yet. This would determine what
   the player's character would do upon the end of the level--for example,
   walking offscreen, jumping over a fence, etc.
Left end/Right end type, slant, offset: These determine the properties of the
   leftmost and rightmost boundaries of the level. Type defines what effects
   the boundaries will actually have on the characters--whether the boundaries
   prevent anyone from being knocked or thrown through them, whether going past
   them results in falling into a pit, whether they give characters an electric
   shock if they run into them, etc. The end type variables are not used by the 
   game engine yet--right now all level boundaries simply block characters. The 
   boundaries don't have to be parallel to or flush with the edges of the 
   screen. You can adjust the slant and offset values to create trapezoid- and 
   rhombus-shaped playing fields (great for a pseudo-3D look) and move the 
   boundaries in as far as you want. It works like this: The left end offset is
   the number of pixels the boundary will be from the leftmost edge of the 
   level (x-coordinate 0). The right end offset marks the distance in pixels
   the boundary will be from the rightmost edge of the level (x-coordinate 
   level length in tiles * 16 - 1). The right end offset, if it isn't zero, 
   will almost always be negative. The left end slant, if non-zero, produces a
   boundary which is a slanted line, starting at the intersection of bottom end
   z (see below) and left end offset and rising as many pixels as the absolute
   value of left end slant for every pixel moved to the right if left end slant
   is positive, or to the left if left end slant is negative. The same is true
   for right end slant, except that the line starts at the intersection of
   bottom end z and right end offset. A value of zero for either left end slant
   or right end slant produces a vertical level boundary. It's hard to explain
   in words, but check out STALK5A.NSM for a great example of the use of end 
   type, slant, and offset.
Top end/Bottom end type, z: Have you noticed that the street in front of the
   Happenings club is narrower than the one in Mission 1? Top end and bottom
   end z define the breadth of the space the players have to move around in.
   In other words, they determine how broad the street/hallway/room you're
   walking through is. If you walk up until you can't walk up anymore, you're
   at the top end z. If you walk down until you can't walk down anymore, you're
   at the bottom end z. Conceivably, if you set the bottom end z to be greater
   than 199, you could walk right off the bottom of the screen. Top end and
   bottom end type would be similar to left end and right end type, but the
   game engine does not use them yet either.
Color cycle low end, high end, speed: The magic of color cycling has been
   giving us pretty decent looking waterfalls, lava flows, and flashing lights
   since the early 80's. Color cycling has not been programmed into "Night
   Stalkers" just yet, but when it is, it'll work like this: Color cycle low
   end will represent the number of the color in the palette from which the
   color cycle starts, color cycle high end will be the number of the color
   that completes the cycle, and speed will be the rate at which the colors
   cycle. The colors in the palette that will be reserved for color cycles are
   #3-15.

Attribute editing mode is exited by pressing A again or simply Esc.

THING EDITING MODE
------------------
Every object you can interact with that's not an enemy is manipulated in thing
editing mode. There are five different kinds of things: food, bonus items,
breakables, solids, and effects. Food restores health (unless health is full, 
in which case it gives points), bonus items add points to the player's score, 
breakables can be destroyed and may contain food or bonus items, solids serve 
only as obstacles--they can't be destroyed, and effects make various animated
effects happen in your level. Currently, there are very few kinds of
things you can put in your level; in fact, there are no solids or effect 
things. But you don't want to make a level without things in it--they have the 
potential to make a level come alive.
In thing editing mode, if there are any things in the level, you will see a 
list of numbers down the right side of the screen. These are the code numbers
for each thing in the level. An asterisk marks your place in the list. As you
go up and down the list of things, the view will be centered on the thing you
are now on. The up and down arrow keys will move you up and down the list one
thing at a time. The Page Up and Page Down keys will jump you up and down the
list quickly. Home takes you right to the first thing on the list; End puts
you right on the last thing. There can be up to 100 things in a level.
You can scroll the level just like in the main editing mode, with the left and
right arrow keys, holding Shift to make it scroll faster.
You place a new thing in the level by pressing the N key. There are several 
steps to putting in a new thing. First, you have to use the mouse to pick the 
type of thing you want from the pop-up menu. Then you need to place the new
thing using the numeric pad keys. This is done exactly like moving an enemy in
trigger point editing mode (see above), except that you need to press Enter
when you're finished. The next step is to choose a palette for the new thing 
from the next pop-up menu. Finally, if your new thing is breakable, you need
to pick the thing that will be found inside it when it is broken. You can pick
"Nothing", if you wish. Once a thing is in the level, you can update all its
data by hitting Enter when the asterisk is on it in the list. You can still
move it with the numeric pad keys just like before, only now you don't have to
hit Enter when you're done. Or you can update each of the thing's attributes 
individually by pressing T for type, X, Y, or Z to change the thing's x-, y-, 
or z-coordinates manually, P for palette, or K for contents. Manually setting 
x, y, and z is the only way you can place a thing outside the bounds of the 
level. You can copy the currently selected thing with the C key, or delete it 
with the Delete key. If you want to see the info for the currently selected 
thing, but it isn't being displayed, the W key will bring it up. You exit 
thing editing mode by pressing I again or Esc. Please note that when you exit
thing editing mode, all the things in the level are automatically sorted from
left to right. This is why, when you re-enter thing editing mode, you may find
your things listed in a different order from the one in which you originally
placed them.

Summary of thing editing mode commands:
Left arrow: Scroll screen to the left.
Shift-Left arrow: Scroll screen to the left fast.
Right arrow: Scroll screen to the right.
Shift-right arrow: Scroll screen to the right fast.
Up arrow: Move up thing list one slot.
Down arrow: Move down thing list one slot.
Page Up: Skip one screen's distance up the list.
Page Down: Skip one screen's distance down the list.
Home: Skip to first thing on list.
End: Skip to last thing on list.
N: Add new thing to level.
W: Display info on currently selected thing.
C: Copy currently selected thing.
Delete: Delete currently selected thing.
Enter: Update all attributes of currently selected thing.
T: Update thing type
X: Update thing x-coordinate manually
Y: Update thing y-coordinate manually
Z: Update thing z-coordinate manually
P: Update thing palette
K: Update thing contents (works for breakable items only)
Num pad 4: Move thing left
Shift-Num pad 4: Move thing left one pixel at a time
Num pad 6: Move thing right
Shift-Num pad 6: Move thing right one pixel at a time
Num pad 8: Move thing toward top of screen (along z-axis)
Shift-Num pad 8: Move thing toward top of screen (along z-axis) one pixel 
   at a time
Num pad 2: Move thing toward bottom of screen (along z-axis)
Shift-Num pad 2: Move thing toward bottom of screen (along z-axis) one 
   pixel at a time
Num pad -: Move thing straight up (along y-axis)
Shift-Num pad -: Move thing straight up (along y-axis) one pixel at a time
Num pad +: Move thing straight down (along y-axis)
Shift-Num pad +: Move thing straight down (along y-axis) one pixel at a time
Num pad 5: Move thing directly to center of screen
I or Esc: Exit thing editing mode

VALUES OF PICK-UP ITEMS
-----------------------
FOOD
Yogurt: +20 health
Sandwich: +50 health

BONUS ITEMS
Gem: +5000 points

So, that covers all the features of StalkEd. Now, let's move on to the
Transparency Editor.

USING THE TRANSPARENCY EDITOR
-----------------------------
If you're going to make a level with a parallax-scrolling background, the
computer needs to know which parts of the foreground are transparent and allow
the background to be seen. To do this, you make a transparency map for your
tile set in Transparency Editor.

Launch Transparency Editor (transpa2.exe), which, as I mentioned before, is a
DOS program. Press T to load your tile set. Just as in StalkEd, you need to
include the .PCX file extension when you type in your filename. Press the up 
and down arrow keys to scroll the tile set up and down. You will need to do 
this to see all 256 tiles (but remember that only 254 are usable), because the 
screen can only show up to 240 full tiles at a time. You'll notice a box-
shaped cursor, like in StalkEd, and a number (0, 1, or 2) superimposed over 
each tile. The cursor is moved with the mouse. Here's what the numbers mean:
0: Completely transparent tile. This tile will not be drawn at all by the game
   engine, and you'll be able to see the background image through it.
1: Opaque tile. You won't be able to see the background at all through this
   tile.
2: Partially transparent tile. The game engine will partially draw this tile,
   leaving out all pixels of color #0. You'll be able to see the background
   through the parts that aren't drawn. A chain-link fence is a good example
   of this kind of tile.
You change each tile's transparency number by typing that number with the
cursor over that tile. When you're done, press S to save. The program will
automatically save the transparency map for your tile set with an assigned
filename which is the same as the tile set's filename, except that the .PCX
filename extension is replaced with a .TRA extension. You don't really need to
know this, though, because if the "Transparency" attribute is set to 1 in your
level, "Night Stalkers" will automatically search for the .TRA file 
corresponding to your tile set as your level is loaded. When you're ready to
quit Transparency Editor, just hit Esc.

And that completes the documentation for StalkEd and Transparency Editor. If
you have any questions or suggestions for improvement, send them to me at
tjnolan@earthlink.net. I wish you luck in designing levels, and most important
of all, have fun!

-Tim Nolan