Tech

/**** FILE UNDER CONSTRUCTION ****/

/**** Epiphany Map File Description ****/
// by denever

A map file is written in EMDL, which stands for:

Epiphany
Map
Definition
Language

EMDL has some easy commands.

<command> <object> [(X,Y)];



# this is a comment in EMDL

Command set:

set variable value;
   ^        ^
how to use variables:
name      example: set name "ciao"; it sets name of map
author    example: set author "denever"; it sets author of map 
minscore  example: set minscore 23; it sets minimum score needed to win level
maxtime   example: set maxtime 125; it sets countdown timer

The objects that you can put on a map are:

empty
player
grass 
steel
emerald
boulder
sapphire
exit
explosion
red_door
blue_door
green_door
yellow_door
red_key
blue_key
green_key
yellow_key
flintstone
peperon
peperon_up
peperon_right
peperon_down
peperon_left
brick
wood
tomato
tomato_up
tomato_right
tomato_down
tomato_left

# How to put an object onto a map
# x is row number of map matrix
# y is column number of map matrix 

put <object> (x,y); 

example: 

put player (1,1);

# How to put a line of objects onto a map
# x1,y1 is the position of the beginning of line
# x2,y2 is the position of the end of line

line <object> (x1,y1)(x2,y2); 

example: 
line emerald (1,2)(1,20);


# How to put a rect of objects onto a map
# h is height of rect
# w is width of rect
# x y is position of upper left corner

rect <object> (x,y)(h,w); 

example: 

rect peperon (3,3)(4,4);



You can't use a map without a player or exit or both.

Remember to write:

put player (x,y);
put exit (x1,y1); 

at the end of map file, because these entities can be unintentionally overwritten
by others!

But without an overwrite check you can also make strage effects on a map.

Example:

rect grass (2,2)(12,12);
rect peperon (3,3)(10,10); # note that this line overwrites previous
rect grass (4,4)(8,8); # idem
rect sapphire (5,5)(6,6); # idem  

try to write this in a map file and feed it to epiphany....
:)))


Of course, there are some limitations:
	-	there must be only one player per map;
	-	there must be only one exit per map;
	-	map borders are automagically made of steel;
	-	map width and height must be 32 (but it really no matter, as epiphany 0.5.0 do not use this value);
	-	the numbar of maps is hardcoded into an header... sorry, I'll fix it in the next release :)

ciao

giuppe <giuseppe.da@gmail.com>
denever <denever@users.sf.net>
PS: Send us your maps!! We want to play them... and maybe to insert them into the game :)