TIPS FOR CREATING/EDITING

WOLF3D & SPEAR of DESTINY DESIGNS

by
Warren Buss
 Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Floor Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Changing Floor Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Push Walls and Hidden Rooms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Moving vs. Stationary Guards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Moving Guards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Using "CLIPPING" to Check Up (SoD Game ONLY) . . . . . . . . . 7

The Effect of and on Activated Guards Moving About the

Floor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Effect on Play of Guard Choices vs. Design Decisions . . . . . 8

Flashing Screen Borders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Elevators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Secret Floors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Episode Endings (Wolf3d & SoD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Inaccessibility of Objects and Acquiring Bonus Points. . . . . 10

Trickery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Balance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Narrow vs. Wide passages.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Weapons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Over Designing - or Too Much of a Good Thing . . . . . . . . . 12

Wrapping it up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Debugging Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Command Line Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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INTRODUCTION

The following information is not a definitive work on this subject,

but should help most people avoid some of the pitfalls associated
with translating their WOLF3D or SoD floor design ideas into
working, error free floors.

Floor Codes

Design problems in Wolf3D and SoD seem to center around a

misunderstanding of the relationship of floor "codes", doors
(locked and unlocked variety), and hidden doors (or push walls as
some people prefer to call them). First, an explanation of the use
of floor codes.

There are a number of unique "codes" to use when mapping out a

floor. These codes are used to isolate areas of the overall floor
from one another such that enemy guards can be made to engage in a
fight or not, depending on how you assign floor codes. One of the
more common problems is failing to assign floor codes in all floor
space, or assigning them haphazardly. The results of either
practise are unpredictable, but some of the effects are:

- Certain sound effects may be missing.

- Push Walls won't always slide all the way open.
- Stationary guards become living statues and won't fight.
- Moving guards won't fight either and will move in place or in
crazy ways.
- Doors may become invisible.

Unless your floor design has a very large number of rooms, there
are usually ample unique floor codes to assign each room its own
code, although this isn't always desireable. In general there are
3 approaches to assigning floor codes, according to what you want
to accomplish.

1) Assign a single floor code to all floor space. Unless you take
other measures, this will have the singular effect of alerting
every guard on the floor as soon as the first shot is fired. This
can lead to some interesting fire-fights, but isn't always the most
desired approach because the action usually (not always) ends
quickly (either they're all dead or the player is) and he's left to
wander through a bunch of empty rooms that offer no further
challenges (or restart the level).

2) Assign a unique code to each individual room. In this scenario

guards in the next room are unaware of any developments in the
current room - unless something causes the door between the rooms
to open.

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3) Assign unique codes to contiguous or non-contiguous groups of
rooms. This offers a mixture of the above 2 approaches, but is more
controlled and often the most interesting and suspenseful strategy.

Special Floor Code and Enemy Guard Eyesight

There is one floor code that has a different effect from all the
rest. This is floor code '6a', or the code which designates a guard
as being "deaf" or "steadfast". Such a designation means 2 things:
the guard will not react to shots being fired in the area until and
unless he sees the player, then he responds just like any other
guard. But his eyesight is much better than other guards as he can
see in every direction (that isn't blocked by something) including
one square behind. These guys can even see between the cracks of
wall cubes that are joined only at the corners. (It's kind of eerie
to hear a guard sound off that can't be seen anywhere).

By contrast, guards on all other floor codes can only see straight
ahead but will be alerted regardless of their impaired vision after
the first shot is fired on the same floor code as they are
standing.

NOTE: Do not place '6a' floor codes adjacent to doors; this will
cause the doors to become invisible. (This problem has been fixed
in Blake Stone).

Changing Floor Codes

Another common error in floor design is to change floor codes when

going from one area to another but not separating the 2 areas with
a door. Doors are used as "switches". When the player moves from an
area of one floor code to another with a different floor code,
without having to open a door, the guards in the moved-into area
will not be "armed", i.e., they appear to be in a trance, until
fired at. This may be an interesting effect to create for
approaching a Super Guard, but as soon as the first shot is fired,
the player better move out of the way fast, because the "statue"
just came to life and he doesn't like having his sleep interrupted.

Push Walls and Hidden Rooms

Push Wall placement is important. In case you don't remember, the

official versions of both games place no guards in a room entered
through a hidden door. Unlike a normal door, a hidden door is not
used as a "switch" to arm any guards on the other side. But the
problem is a bit more complicated than that.

If guards in a hidden room are somehow set in motion, they can

block the movement of the sliding door. This condition is
detectable by the sound of 2 notes for each push of the space key,
as opposed to the normal sound of trying to open a door that

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doesn't exist. (These 2 notes also sound if you try to open a push
wall from the wrong direction).

The guard(s) can be made to move away from the Push Wall and it
will open, particularly when the player moves far enough away and
can get back in a hurry before the guard does. But often, when the
wall does move, it only moves part way. As you will soon see, there
is a way to get a hidden door to move more than once. A Push Wall
will not slide over a dead body either.

The first rule of thumb when dealing with guards in secret rooms is
to be sure the secret room has the same floor code as the room
from which it is entered. In addition, the room outside the secret
room must have a normal door (locked or unlocked).

To resolve the problem of guards getting in the way of a sliding

push wall, choose one of the following three methods.

One way is to design the hidden door entrance so the door slides
side-to-side. Such a design can also permit the door to slide
forward (room permitting). You can also place an ordinary door in
the opening behind the hidden door, which has the advantage of not
having to be concerned about guards moving about in the secret
room. Its main disadvantage is that if it is used too often,
players may start to recognize the existence of this type of hidden
door configuration unless you use many such configurations that
don't have hidden doors and the one door then is disguised by being
only one among a crowd.

Another way is to use multiple hidden door object codes such that
a sliding wall will move into another hidden object code and can
thus be moved again, in any direction you choose. (The hidden door
object code can exist in open space as well as in a wall). This
opens up all sorts of possibilities. However, there's one drawback.
Extra hidden door object codes, which are often not used, can
prevent the player from getting the bonus for finding all secret
areas.

The other way to use guards effectively in a hidden room, and you
want the sliding door to move inwards only, is to make sure the
guards are standing on a "steadfast" floor code so they won't be
moving around the room.

If you want more rooms beyond the hidden room, and you want them to
have normal doors, then the floor codes of these additional rooms
must either be different from the hidden room (and not be used
elsewhere on the floor), or the guards in these added rooms must be
made "steadfast" if you want to use the same floor code as the
hidden room.

One more word about push walls. There appears to be a problem in

both Wolf3D and Spear of Destiny in that sometimes a Push wall will

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move 3 squares and the next time, only 2 squares, even when there's
unrestricted space in which to move. What this means is: to avoid
intermittent problems assume a hidden door will only ever move 2
squares, but always leave room for 3. Another way of saying it: if
you want to assume a push wall will move 3 squares, then be sure
the player can still get through if the door only moves 2 squares.

Moving vs. Stationary Guards

All guards except the Super Bosses can be made to move in a

predetermined direction and path. This device is quite useful in
creating unpredictable action upon entering a room with one or more
moving guards. Since a room is never entered at exactly the same
instant each time the floor is played, the guards will be in a
different position and may or may not see the player right away.

In addition, guards can be made to move through doors to adjoining

rooms with or without the same floor codes. This is always
interesting. While you are busy teaching manners to the guys in one
room, in walks an oaf from another, which sets off alarms in the
next room(s) with a different floor code as they will hear the
fighting and become concerned. Lesson #1: Always try to keep your
back away from all doors (including the one you entered!). By the
way, Guard Dogs are always on the move - there are no
stationary dogs. (I guess Id didn't want to design a graphic of a
dog sitting and panting for water or food - ever notice how many
rooms dogs are in that have no food or water in them? - It's a
wonder the animal rights activists haven't been on their case <g>).

It's generally a waste of time to place moving guards in a room and

not lay out a path for them to follow, although there is a trick or
two that you can use with a moving guard who has no assigned path.
(Tricks are discussed, but not explained, in this section). Also,
unless you assign the "deaf" guard floor code to an entire room, it
doesn't do any good to put a moving guard on the deaf guard code.

Moving Guards

If you choose to have guards on the "move", you should provide them
with paths to follow (there are directional arrows for this
purpose). But there are a several points to note when laying out
paths for guards to follow.

1) Don't put dogs in the same paths with other guards. Dogs move
faster than other guards and will quickly overtake them. Since the
dogs won't be able to pass (around or through) whomever they
overtake, the movement will simply cease and all moving guards will
ultimately stand and mark time in one place (usually against some
wall).

2) Be very careful about using intersecting paths. Once again,

unless movement is synchronized, guards will eventually clash at

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some intersection and all movement will, as noted above, come to a
halt.

3) It is not possible to move more than one guard up and down a

narrow (one square wide) hallway, unless they are carefully
synchronized not to be in the narrow hall at the same time.

4) Don't start a moving guard next to an outside wall facing out.

This will generate an error when you play the level.

5) Moving guards cannot be made "steadfast" or "deaf".

Using "CLIPPING" to Check Up (SoD Game ONLY)

You can generally check on how your moving guards are doing by
turning on "Clipping" (in debugmode) and wandering through walls to
see how everything looks. Dogs are the toughest to check on. Most
guards will not be aware of your presence if a door isn't opened
somewhere (either by yourself or a guard whose path takes him
through a door). But dogs will quickly sense your presence and come
after you and will often activate any other guards in the room. If
you shoot anyone while "clipping" is on, every guard on the level
(except deaf ones) will come alive. (If there are guards in the
first room, remove them before you start the level as they will
always be active when you enter the room).

To check on dogs, you need to carefully inch through a wall (double

thick is best) and stop just as you first view the interior of the
room where the dogs are. If you're very careful they probably won't
sense your presence. If you go in a fraction too far, then it's all
over.

One final note about "clipping". You will not be able to pass
through the two thicknesses of walls that comprise the level's
perimeter. This is to prevent you from wandering outside the level.

The Effect of and on Activated Guards Moving About the Floor

An activated guard is one that is in Attack mode. Attacking

guards will mostly move to the point where the player is currently
located. Their progress in locating him can be slowed and often
stopped by complicated room patterns; by putting solid objects
(barrels, etc.) in their way that they have to move around; or by
sheer distance.

Some activated guards have a tendency to move away from an

immediate threat by going into other rooms and waiting at a door in
ambush or simply refusing to come out, waiting instead for the
player to come in. All this means is if a large body of
"overheated" guards is encountered, one way to counter their threat
is for the player to move off in some other direction. This will
often cause them to begin to scatter, and may make it easier for

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them to be engaged in ones and twos later on. Of course the main
disadvantage to this tactic is it is not known where they'll be
when next seen, unless they're in a bounded area. Always good for
a laugh though!

The other thing about guards moving from room to room while
searching is that they will often open a door into an unrelated
floor code and if a shot is fired at the time the door is open,
even more guards can become involved in the search. Heh, heh! I
love finding dogs in rooms where they shouldn't be. Took me a while
to figure out how they learned to open doors.

Effect on Play of Guard Choices vs. Design Decisions

While sitting at your computer testing a floor design, you

may not always recognize what the effect of your choice of guard
types will have on game play when viewed against your design
decisions.

As you already know, the tan guards move slowly and react the same
way. The blue SS guards are a bit quicker and more deadly (takes
3 or more shots to bring them down, depending on distance between
player and guard).

The white uniformed "officers" move much more rapidly, will swerve
to make a player miss and are more intelligent acting. Finally, the
mutants are the greatest threat of all (except for the Super
guards). The mutants move silently and shoot more quickly than all
other guards.

The effect on design of using officers and mutants is important

because of how quickly these latter guards can react.

When your floor design is played, the player must be given a way to
defend himself, especially from officers and mutants, or be
provided a way to attack without being totally overwhelmed. A niche
in a wall, a narrow room with no cover, or no way to back off, is
inadequate in those cases where the player will have to defend
against a host of attackers. Conversely, a medium to large room
with enemies everywhere, no cover afforded, and with nowhere else
to go, should also be avoided.

One of the more critical examples is designing an opening sequence

which has the player standing in a room 1 or 2 squares deep and 1
square wide with the a door immediately in front. As soon as the
door is opened, and a shot is fired which alerts numerous guards,
the player will be overwhelmed. Particularly if the guards are
officers or mutants and a better defensive position cannot be taken
by moving out into a larger area.

The problem is exascerbated by how doors are programmed to open. As

far as the program is concerned, the door is considered open the

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instant someone (the player or a guard) signals it to open. The
program does not wait for the door to physically move far enough so
actor and player are visible to each other. The mutant guard
shoots so fast that the player won't even see the door start to
move before the mutant's shot arrives to kill or maim. There's no
defense except to try and kill a guard in the doorway so the door
will stay open. But if nothing but officers and mutants arrive
first, there is little hope of doing this. Besides, guards don't
usually try to enter the room before shooting unless the player is
out of sight.

Review your designs carefully and take this information into

consideration. The game is played to be ultimately won by the
player, not by the game's designers.

Flashing Screen Borders

From time-to-time you may experience a phenomenon referred to as

"Flashing screen borders". This condition can occur in both Wolf3D
and SoD right after B.J. has been killed. When the playing screen
comes back up for a restart of the level, the "playing field" will
have gotten smaller, but a border will exist out to the original
screen size and it will be flashing. (This can occur in either the
commercial games or home-grown designs). At game time, the player
can immediately expand the screen to its original size and continue
the game.

However, there are a couple of things a designer can do which will

eliminate the problem. 1) Make sure all perimeter walls are 2
thicknesses deep. 2) Reduce the overall number of rooms in the
design. Smaller floor designs tend not to have the "flashing"
problem.

Elevators

I don't know if most people have noticed it, but all elevators in
the official game are oriented east/west. No elevators are entered
from the south or north. This is to ensure that when an elevator is
entered, the control will always be directly in front of the
player. (When you're hurrying, you don't want to have to stop and
look for the switch!) Entering from the north or south will provide
two controls on the left and right as the player enters - one of
these can be safely eliminated in your designs.

Also, if you place an elevator control in a wall with a single

thickness, the control will be available for use on both sides! You
need to put something on the outside to prevent use of the outside
control if you don't want it used, or else put a second thickness
of wall behind the elevator.

Finally, when you create an elevator to go to the Secret floor,

don't forget to use the floor code inside the elevator that

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signifies you want the player to go to the secret floor when the
switch is thrown. (This is floor code '6b'). However, don't use
this code in any other elevator including the secret floor, or the
episode cannot be completed.

Secret Floors

Elevators to secret floors must be placed on designated floors in

both Wolf3D and SoD. In WOLF3D, the floors that must have elevators
to the Secret floor are 1, 1, 7, 3, 5, and 3 for episodes 1 through
6 respectively. In SoD, it is the 4th and 12th floors. In both
games these floor choices are to make sure the player will return
to the correct floor when the Secret floor is completed. Floor 10
is always the secret floor in Wolf3D. Floors 19 and 20 are the two
secret floors in SoD.

Episode Endings (Wolf3d & SoD)

Episodes in Wolf3D end in 1 or 2 ways, depending on your choice of

Super Boss. If you use Hans or Gretel Grosse, upon their death they
will drop a gold key which can be used to open a door to a room
where Endgame Triggers must be placed. B. J. must walk over them
for the episode to end. All other super bosses (Dr. Schabb, Hitler,
Otto Giftmacher, and Gen. Fettgesicht) will cause the game to end
with an appropriate "Death-Cam" scene as soon as they are dead.

In Spear of Destiny, each super boss (Trans Grosse in level 5;

Barnacle Wilhelm in level 10; Ubermutant in level 16; and Death
Knight in level 18) drops a gold key so B.J. can get to the
elevator to go on to the next floor. Except in level 18, when the
"Spear" is found, B.J. is transported to the final level to meet
the Angel of Death who must be killed before the game can end.
Missions 2 and 3 of SoD do not differ except for the names of the
super bosses.

Inaccessibility of Objects and Acquiring Bonus Points

There are basically 2 approaches to playing SOD. One approach is

for the player to get through a floor quickly enough to beat the
Par time so as to get some bonus points. Such an approach
automatically ignores the need to kill all guards, find all hidden
doors, and get all the treasure. These last three items constitute
the other approach, i.e., taking time to kill everyone, open all
doors and get all the treasure, which also earns bonus points.
(Once in a great while, a player might be able to do both!)

If you design a floor that makes it impossible to award bonuses for

using the latter approach, then you have chosen to award only those
who use the former approach of getting in and out as quickly as
possible. How do you do this? By making treasure, guards and hidden
doors inaccessible. One other way is to use the Pac-Man Ghost guard
on any level except the final one. The "ghost" is considered to be

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a guard, but is invincible. No matter what guards are used on the
secret floor (or "boss" levels), the player will be awarded 15,000
bonus points just for getting there and out. There is nothing wrong
with denying bonus points in chosen situations. This is just to
make you aware when designing a floor what the effects of your
choice will be.

Trickery

The official versions of Wolf3D and SOD employ no "tricks" to fool

you. However, if you design and edit enough floors, you'll soon
learn about the "tricks of the trade". Guards can be made to walk
through walls (which the player can then walk through). Objects can
be made transparent, and so forth. Although purists may debate the
point, I personally think a trick or two adds a new, and
interesting element to the game as long as it's done sparingly.
It's probably fair to warn the potential user of your custom floor
that you've added a trick or two without telling them what or
where.

Balance

When designing a floor, you should strive to achieve a balance

among the various skill levels. For example, don't overload with
skill 1 & 2 guards, nor fail to add skill level 4 guards.

Narrow vs. Wide passages.

This'll seem obvious to you old hands. But for those just creating
their first floor(s), it's probably worth reminding you that
creating narrow passages slows the player who wants to set a record
for going from entrance to exit. Of course, every player who uses
that same hallway will have the same problem, but it's worth
considering.

Why do narrow passages slow progress of the player? Any enemies

hidden in niches off a narrow hallway impede movement by just being
there. The player won't be able rush by them without engaging them
in battle. If you want to hide someone off a long, narrow hallway,
place him at least two squares deep or widen the hallway, if
possible.

Weapons

If you design a series of floors, be sure to leave a machine gun on

several of the floors (also a chain gun). Don't assume that all
your floors will remain together. Also, when someone has to start
a floor over after being killed, they need to find a machine gun in
a hurry. (I know, they should've remembered to save their game at
the start of each level, but....)

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You can either hide a machine gun somewhere, or else place an SS
guard near the start. When he's killed, he'll drop his machine gun
for the player to pickup. Extra weapons become ammo if not needed.

Over Designing - or Too Much of a Good Thing

While there's a limit on the number of static objects (anything on

the floor except walls and guards) that can be placed on 1 floor
(399), if you try to place too many in one room/area, the game will
suffer from screen background clutter. This means that actors that
are in a room with too many other objects will literally be
invisible, as will some of the objects, depending on the angle of
vision of the player. This is also true if too many actors come
streaming out of a room. You'll lose sight of 1 or more as your
display screen will not be able to refresh quickly enough to catch
all of them moving through the door.

There is a tendency for designers to load up a room or rooms near

one of the Super Bosses with ammo and first aid so the player has
a chance of surviving. As long as the player keeps these objects to
his/her back, there usually won't be a problem. But if the player
backs up too far and exposes lots of objects on the floor between
himself and the actor, the actor may flicker on and off the screen.
Not good!

One other example worth mentioning is a room filled with barrels

that are placed so as to provide an intricate pathway through the
area. Depending once again on the angle of view, many of the
barrels will disappear from view. As the player turns they'll
reappear. Any actors on the other side of the room will be
invisible until the player can get closer (if he/she survives that
long).

So if you find you've got a room like those described above,

redesign it to limit the objects to a smaller area of view. Use
walls for partitioning off parts of the room or use smaller rooms,
or just eliminate some of the objects by placing some of them
elsewhere if you think you need them all.

Wrapping it up

It is hoped the above tips will help you design your floors with
greater confidence and fewer errors. At least you should be able to
recognize the symptoms when, for example, you come across a guard
in a trance, or doors open and close without sound.

Floor designing isn't difficult, only time consuming. Just get out
a large sheet of graph paper and grow your design. Then use the
MAPEDIT program to transfer your design to the screen. You can skip
the graph paper and start designing at your computer if you want.
Next, test it, fix it, test it, fix it, etc., etc., until you're
satisfied with the results. This is obviously an oversimplified

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explanation. Your floor has to be saved to disk, then merged into
the GAMEMAPS file of a running game to test it. It is very helpful
if you can have a friend test your floor designs. Often times
problems that you haven't encountered when testing your own design
will show up on someone else's computer.

All floors occupy an area 62 x 62 squares in which to layout your

designs. (The actual area is 64 x 64; the extra 2 squares in either
direction are the perimeter wall which has to be there. You can add
designs to it and change its color if you want). Try to leave some
space for your name to be added somewhere, and a floor title, if
you want one.

Debugging Codes

Often referred to as Cheat codes by those who will probably never

use them for any other purpose, these codes can help you when
debugging any floor in any episode.

To enter Debug Mode use one of the following commands and

parameters depending on the game and version number:

Wolf3d -goobers (Version 1.1 and later)

Spear -debugmode (all versions)

Now begin or restore a game. While in the game, press and hold the
Left Shift, Alt, and Backspace keys. You should see a message
displayed stating the debugging keys are now available.

Hold down the Tab key while pressing one of the debug keys.

B - changes border color

C - displays statistics
E - Ends the games
F - displays current coordinates (X,Y) of B.J.
G - God mode (invincibility)
H - hurt yourself (-16% health deduction)
I - free items (health, ammo, increased score, and next weapon
M - displays memory usage
N - toggles "clipping on/off (SoD only)
P - pauses the game
Q - quit directly to DOS
S - toggles slow motion on/off
T - displays graphics & sounds of game. Esc to exit
V - ??
W - warps to any level.

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Command Line Parameters

NOWAIT - Automatically skips several screens at game start

BABY - starts game at skill level 1 (Can I play daddy)
EASY - starts game at skill level 2 (Don't hurt me)
NORMAL - starts game at skill level 3 (Bring 'Em on)
HARD - starts game at skill level 4 (I am Death Incarnate)
TEDLEVEL nn - start game at any episode and level. 'nn' is
episode & level numbers minus 1

For example, to go to the 2nd episode, level 5 of Wolf3D, enter:

-tedlevel 14
and to go to the 1st episode, level 9 of Wolf3D, enter:
-tedlevel 8
To go to level 13 of Sod, enter:
-tedlevel 12
Note: there is only one episode in SoD so double-digit numbers are
used only for the level number. If you enter "-tedlevel 20" to get
to the 21st level (Angel of Death), the floor number shown in the
game will be number 18 as the level is really an extension of level
18.

By default, unless you specify a skill level (see above), you will
start the game at skill level 2.

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