MISSIONMAKER BEOWULF

GAME-AUTHORING TOOL

INTRODUCTORY USER GUIDE

CONTENTS

KEYBOARD LAYOUTSTARTING A GAMENAVIGATIONMAKING DOORSMAKING TRIGGER VOLUMESMAKING RULESCHARACTERS, AVATARS, COMBATCREATING A PROPCREATING A MEDIA OBJECT (IMAGE)CREATING A MEDIA OBJECT (SOUND)CREATING PICKUPSCREATING SPECIAL EFFECTSADVANCED TIPS

This guide takes you through the basic stages of making a Beowulf game, introducing you to the most important tools. It doesn’t cover everything, though some additional features are introduced briefly in the final Advanced section. Feel free to experiment!. Please contact Abel Drew - a.drew@ucl.ac.uk and Andrew Burn a.burn@ucl.ac.ukwith comments and suggestions.

KEYBOARD LAYOUT

STEP 1: STARTING A GAMEClick NEW GAME. You arrive in “map mode”.Drag and drop a couple of environment blocks to start making your world.

Tip: make sure the doors of the blocks connect!

STEP 2: WORLD-BUILDING1. Make sure door edges connect. Click a room to select – then use the rotate button;

or delete if you want; or choose this room to start the game from.2. Save your game: click the SAVE button, navigate to where you want to save, name

your game and save it. SAVE FREQUENTLY! (enter name each time; or click on the previous name in the file window to use it again)

3. Click PLAY to take you into the next mode. Explore your world again! It’s not a game yet – but you’re going to build game objects and events next.

4. Click ESC to take you into EDIT mode.

STEP 3: NAVIGATION1. You’re in the game-play mode. Try moving the mouse (or laptop mouse-pad) – this

allows you to look around and orientate the first-person player.2. Now try moving backwards and forwards, left and right using EITHER the arrow keys

OR the WASD keys.3. Now try combining 1 and 2 for fluid movement. It takes a bit of practice.4. Explore the rooms – all the props, lights, objects have been placed there using the

software. Spend plenty of time getting used to moving around. 5. Press ESC to go into Edit mode; then MAP to get back to room-making.

STEP 4: MAKING DOORS1. Click the OBJECTS button at the top. Choose DOORS on the left panel.2. In the game window, face any portal. You can navigate in this window just as in

PLAY mode – but HOLD the R mouse button to look around now.3. Choose which door you want and click on it. It should appear in the doorway.4. Rename the door (always name objects or you can’t find them later).5. The door is closed by default – the next steps will show you one way to program it

so the player can open it.

STEP 5: MAKING TRIGGER VOLUMES1. Click OBJECTS again, then TRIGGER VOLUMES.2. The trigger volume is a way to program space. Here it will activate the door when

the player enters it, after we’ve made a rule (next step). It looks like a transparent blue cube.

3. It’s surrounded by a GIZMO. Use the blue arrows to move it, the coloured rings to rotate. Position the trigger volume in front of the door. The gizmo is used to position all objects so practise with it – it takes some skill.

STEP 6: MAKING A RULE1. Click the RULES button at the top; then CREATE..2. In the lefthand panel, you can program your rule – first the BLUE CONDITION

ROW; then the YELLOW ACTION row.Here, the rule will be:

IF - PLAYER – TRIGGER –TRIGGER VOLUME - ENTER

DOORS - SPIKED DOOR 1 - STATE - OPEN - TRUE

2. CONFIRM THE RULE WITH THE GREEN BUTTON3. Press PLAY to test it!

STEP 7: CHARACTERS AND COMBAT1. Choose a room where you want your character to be.2. Click OBJECTS, then CHARACTERS. Choose a character from

the list.3. Place them in position with the gizmo.4. All characters can be armed: make “ARMED” TRUE in the

properties panel.

Tip: characters can be spectral (Banquo’s Ghost!) – try the object menu!

STEP 8: AVATARS1. Click the Avatar button at the top.2. Choose a character as your avatar.3. Press Play; then Tab.4. Your avatar will drop down in front of you. Practise moving around with

him/her.

STEP 9: CHARACTERS AND COMBAT (CONTINUED)4. To make characters fight the player, set “Move

Towards” and “Aggressive” both true (just “Aggressive” and they’ll stay still and fight when approached).

5. Press PLAY – the character will attack you.6. Press “F” for Fight on the keyboard. The player’s

arms appear – left button for punch, right for block.7. MUCH BETTER – leave “Move Towards” and

“Aggressive” False – and make a rule – eg

IF - PLAYER – TRIGGER – TRIGGER VOLUME - ENTER

CHARACTER - HERO - STATE - AGGRESSIVE - TRUEANDCHARACTER - HERO - STATE - MOVE TOWARDS - TRUE1. To use a WEAPON: OBJECTS, WEAPONS, choose a

weapon, position it with the gizmo.2. Press PLAY. Pick up the weapon by hovering over it

with the yellow dot . A hand will appear, and Q FOR INSPECT (anything you typed into the object’s description box); and E FOR PICKUP.

3. Press E. The sword will go into your inventory or backpack. (next page).

STEP 10: CHARACTERS AND COMBAT (CONTINUED)4. This is the Backpack . Press B to open it. 5. There are three icons below the object. The one on the left is “USE”; the second is

“INSPECT: the third is “HOLD” (the weapon is held in front of the player – this gives you two more options – to drop it, or to throw it).

6. Press the USE icon. This puts you into FIGHT mode. The left mouse button will show your arm with the sword, and will make an attack move. The right button will make a blocking move.

Tip: see Combat Economies in Advanced section to manage vulnerability of opponents and player.Tip: see TARGETS and TELEPORTING in Advanced section to make objects and characters move in your game.

STEP 11: CREATING A PROP1.. Select OBJECTS, then PROPS in the lefthand panel. You’ll get all the props and can scroll through them. 2. Click on the brazier. It will appear in the live game window. It’s surrounded by the GIZMO. Practise moving it around and placing it precisely. The gizmo is used for any object, sound, image or character you create, so it’s important to get used to using it. 4. The brazier creates light – other objects that do this are wall torches and candles.5. Click PLAY, and you can see your brazier, hopefully where you placed it!5. Click ESC to get back to Edit mode.

Tip: the “Awake” setting in the properties panel for all objects means they’re visible. Set it False to make objects invisible – then a rule to make them appear under your chosen condition.

STEP 12: CREATING A MEDIA OBJECT (IMAGE)1. Select OBJECTS, then MEDIA OBJECT.,

then the MEDIA OBJECT.2. The media object will appear, with the

gizmo – decide where to place it, either now or after you’ve attached an image.

3. If you want it to give a message – eg a mission, or GAME OVER, you can type the text into the description box (or make it part of your image)

4. Click on LOAD IMAGE – and navigate to the file you want. Click OPEN.

5. To see the image, set PLAY to TRUE and it should appear. It will now play throughout the game.

6. Duration is set at -1, which means it will play all the time. See ADVANCED for other timings.

OTHER FEATURES:- You can size the object (Scale X, Scale Y)– it could become a whole wall, for example.- You can choose the FULL SCREEN version, so it can be a popup, giving the player a mission, for example.- You can make it inactive, so it’ll be invisible, then make a rule to set it ACTIVE on a particular condition.

STEP 13: MAKING A MEDIA OBJECT (SOUND)1. Follow the same first 3 moves as for STEP 9, but click on SOUND this time. Navigate

to your chosen sound file (MP3 only), and click open.2. Change PLAY to TRUE to hear it play; then back to FALSE again as you don’t want it

to play till the game needs it. You’re going to create a rule to make it play.

TIP: THE SOUND FILES ARE ALSO WAYS TO MAKE CHARACTERS SPEAK. RECORD YOUR OWN VOICE AND PLAY THEM WHEN A CHARACTER MEETS THE PLAYER.

STEP 14: MAKING RULES (again!)1. Click on RULES . Make a new rule like the one in the illustration. “Opening Lines”

is just the name of the sound file we used – your sound file’s name will appear when you use the dropdown box.

2. Put a delay in of 3 seconds so it will play three seconds after the game begins.3. Click the CONFIRM button4. Name the rule in the box at the top. .5. Go to PLAY to test it.

STEP 15: MAKING PICKUPS1. Click OBJECTS and PICKUPS. These are objects that the player will be able to pick up

and put in their inventory and use.2. Do the same things you did for making weapons (Step 7). Pickups, like weapons, can

be placed with the gizmo, sized, picked up, put in the Backpack. Create a pickup like the bag in the picture above.

3. Go to PLAY and try picking it up with the Left mouse button – a green hand will appear when you’re close. Q will let you Inspect it (read the description); E will put it in your backpack. In the backpack, you’ll see the pickup with three icons below it: USE (it will disappear), INSPECT (read description); HOLD (player holds it in front of them). Practise these moves.

TIP: pickups can be used with trigger volumes – eg the player must drop the pickup in a particular place to open a door, or play a sound file.

STEP 16: MAKING SPECIAL EFFECTS1. Click OBJECTS and EFFECTS. These are FIRE, MAGIC FIRE, ELECTRICITY, SMOKE and

BLOOD.2. Do the same things you did for making PROPS (Step 8). You can places effects to

create mood, magic and emotion in your game. Set PLAY to TRUE in the properties panel to see the effect. Or make a rule to make the effect appear during the game.

3. You can also attach them to targets (see TARGETS in Advanced section). If you attached fire to a character for example, it would surround them and move around with them. You can also TELEPORT them from one location to another (see TELEPORT in Advanced section).

MORE ADVANCED TIPS

MULTIPLE CONDITIONS AND ACTIONS. In the Rule Editor, you can combine different conditions and actions , eg:

IF PLAYER TRIGGER TRIGGER VOLUME ENTER OR MUSIC STATE PLAY

DOOR STATE OPEN TRUE AND ENEMY STATE AGGRESSIVE TRUE

Active states. ‘Active’ (in the object properties panel) means an object is ready to use in the game. It also means, if it is a visual object, that it is visible. So you can set objects ‘inactive’ if you want them to be invisible in the game, and make a rule to make them ‘active’ when something happens, so they can magically appear; or only appear when the game needs them.This is also useful if you want to stop something happening more than once – eg, you can make a trigger volume inactive once it has triggered a sound file you only want to hear once.

/continued

MORE ADVANCED TIPS: Lighting

You can change the lighting of your game in many ways. Start with a simple change from day to night. 1. Select the Objects menu; then Edit.2. Select the Game Controller, and click on Game.3. Scroll down till you get to Daytime Sky. Change TRUE to FALSE. It’s night!

/continued

TARGETS AND TELEPORTING1. TARGETS can be set in the properties panel for pickups, characters, weapons and

special effects. Then rules can be created for when the object moves towards the target. Here, the rule will make the warrior character walk towards a trigger volume in the next room.

2. TELEPORTING is similar – but in this case the object will disappear and reappear at the target. Here, the rule makes the Purse pickup teleport to a trigger volume target already set in the properties.

ECONOMIES. The three coloured bars in the Play screen are programmable economies. They can be edited in the GAME menu. Select OBJECTS, THEN EDIT and GAME (NB – you have to be in EDIT mode – in CREATE, the game object won’t be visible, because you can’t create a game object).

You’ll see many possibilities for setting these economies. They can also be named –Economy 1 is by default the player’s health (this can’t be changed, though it can be re-named); economy 2 could be ‘conscience’, or ‘ambition’, or ‘sympathy’, or ‘knowledge’ –and so on. You can decide on the opening levels, and then program events in the game to raise or lower them. So you could set ‘health’ very low, then make rules to give the player additional health points when they own and use specific pickups, such as the potion.

/continued

COMBAT ECONOMIESYou can manage the vulnerability of opponents by balancing their health setting against their vulnerability to specific weapons. In this example, the Barbarian Male has a Start Health of 10. His vulnerability to Weapon type 1 is 1 – so it will take 10 blows of this weapon to kill him. Weapon 2 – vulnerability 2 – so 5 blows; Weapon 3 – vulnerability 5, so 2 blows. So if you create different weapon types for the player’s weapons, and different vulnerabilities for the opponents, you can set up interesting combat mechanics for your game. Of course you can also program rules to change these – to increase or decrease opponents’ health, for example.

TIMINGS FOR MEDIA OBJECTS. When you made the Image object (Step 9) you noticed that the DURATION was set at -1, meaning it will play all the time. Some image objects may only need to play briefly however – you might want an image to pop up and give the player a mission – FIND GRENDEL’S MOTHER!, or FOLLOW THE RUNES!. To do this, set PLAY to FALSE. Set the DURATION for how many seconds you want it to play in the game. To make it play FULL SCREEN, set this true in the panel. Then make a NEW RULE to make the image play in the game – eg,

IF SCROLL STATE OWNED BY PLAYER

MISSION STATE PLAY TRUE

PICK-UPS. Can be used in many ways to trigger events. You could make a rule so that when a pick-up is OWNED BY PLAYER a door opens, a character becomes aggressive, a sound or image object plays, an object is set active. Or you can program the USE of the pickup. Here, it’s the broken sword hilt. You could set ECONOMY 1 (player’s health) to 50 in EDIT / GAME; then EDIT PICKUP, choose the pickup, and set ECONOMY 1 VALUE to 20. Then when the Player clicks the USE icon on the sword-hilt, economy 1 will go up by 20. You can also choose how many uses your object has.

/continued

BLANK ROOM. There is a blank chamber with grids on the walls. You can create images to ‘stick’ in the walls, floor and ceiling. Just create media (image) objects (Step 9) using your own choice of images, place them against the surfaces using the gizmo, and size them in the properties panel. There’s a portal in each wall. You can either leave this uncovered, so the player can pass through to the next room; or ‘cut out’ a door in your image by making an area transparent (eg in Photoshop), to make your own portal.