Define Aliens for your game.

HOW TO:

				Define Aliens
				=============
				
	This is probably the most arduous task facing the prospective game designer, as it requires
	the most data to be input.
	
	Select ALIENS -> DEFINE ALIEN STATS.
	
	You will be shown a list of aliens to define. To change their name, click on the existing name
	and type the new one. You can copy an aliens name and characteristics by clicking on the
	appropriate 'COPY' button and clicking on the target space.
	
	You can also change the scale of an alien by clicking on the button near the bottom of the
	screen, then clicking on the alien in question, then typing the percentage by which you wish
	to scale the alien.
	
	NOTE: The game DOES NOT REMEMBER any previous sizes you have defined for aliens, so if you
	      scale an alien up by 200%, you CANNOT scale it down again by scaling it by 100% later on.
	      You must scale it by 50% to reduce it to the first size you gave it.
	     
	Clicking on DEFINE CHARACTERISTICS of an alien brings up the following menu:
	
1. GRAPHIC TYPE:
	
	This can be one of three main types:
		
	BITMAP
		The alien will use standard bitmap graphics converted by the OBJECTCONVERTOR
		program. The alien will only be lightsourced so far as to be made brighter in
		bright rooms and dimmer in dark rooms. This option is the one used in all other
		games of this sort.
	
	VECTOR
		If you have designed animation frames for a vector alien, you can specify that
		you wish to use them by selecting this option.
	
	LIGHTSOURCED PALETTE 1/2/3/4
		These options can be selected, but you won't be able to use them because the
		support programs for producing lightsourced graphics were not included in this
		package. Look out for a coverdisk with tutorials and support programs soon! For
		now, you'll have to be content with the options above.
		
2. [ DEFINE ANIMATION FRAMES ]

	If you are designing a BITMAP alien, consult the file
	
	HOW2-Define_Alien_Animations
	
	otherwise check out
	
	HOW2-Define_Vector_Alien_Anims
	
	AFTER YOU HAVE READ THE REST OF THIS FILE!!!
	
3. Default Behaviour

	Aliens can either walk, or fly. This can be indicated by either
	WALK RANDOMLY or FLY RANDOMLY
	being selected (click to toggle)
	
4. Reaction time

	This is the amount of time the alien must see you for (uninterrupted) before it will notice
	you and take appropriate action. If you shoot it and it doesn't die, it will immediately
	spot you. This value is measured in 50ths of a second. If your aliens are too easy, try
	decreasing this value rather than increasing hit points or whatever.
	
5. Default Movement Speed

	This is the speed which the alien wanders around at when it can't see you and is not attacking.
	5 is an average sort of speed, 10 is zippy and more than 10 is ludicrous.

6. Response Behaviour

	This is what the alien will do when it notices you; either:
	
	CHARGE			Run straight at player, biting and munching him when close enough.
	CHARGE TO SIDE		Run towards player, keeping out of line of fire, biting when close enough.
	ATTACK WITH GUN		Execute the 'attacking frames' animation, with each 'action star'
				corresponding to a bullet being fired.
	There are three more options, identical to the above but for flying aliens.

7. Response Movement Speed

	Only used in charging aliens, this governs how quickly the alien will charge.
	
8. Response Timeout

	You can make the alien 'get bored' and stop charging after a certain amount of time. IF you don't
	want this to happen, type in a nice big number like 10000, representing over three minutes!
	Value is measured in 50ths of a second.

9. Damage Taken Limit -> Retrest

	NOT IMPLEMENTED IN THIS VERSION
	
10. Damage Inflicted Limit -> Followup

	NOT IMPLEMENTED IN THIS VERSION

11. Followup Behaviour

	Once the alien has executed its attack animation, or has timed out of its response counter,
	it will 'followup'. In this mode it can:
	
	PAUSE
		Stop dead for a moment, watching you
	Approach
		Move straight towards player (but inflicts no damage when it reaches him).
	Approach To Side
		Same as above, but keeping out of line of fire.
	Approach flying
		Same as above but flying
	Approach to side flying
		Do I really need to explain?
	
12. Followup Movement Speed

	The speed at which the alien will approach you (if at all)
	
13. Followup Timeout

	Assuming the alien can still see you once this timer expires, it will attack again.
	This value is measured in 50ths of a second.

14. RETREAT BEHAVIOUR/RETREAT MOVEMENT SPEED/RETREAT TIMEOUT

	NOT IMPLEMENTED IN THIS VERSION.
	
15. NUMBER OF HIT POINTS

	The 'toughness' of the alien. Think about how tough you want the alien to be relative to
	each of your guns. Do you want it to keel over after a single shotgun blast? Then make its
	hit points less than the damage done by your shotgun rounds. Want it to soak up rockets and
	laugh chestily? Then make its hit points HUGE, so that the damage of the rocket PLUS its
	explosive force (the maximum amount of damage it can do to an alien or yourself) is much
	less.

16. Physical Height

	How tall is your alien? To make it walk on the ground, a good height to use is TWICE the SH
	(Scaled Height) of the animation frames you are using. Notice that aliens CANNOT WALK into
	rooms whose floor-ceiling height is LESS than this value, and CANNOT MOVE in rooms which
	are too short if you plonk them in there to begin with.

17. Minimum distance to walls

	Small or thin aliens can get quite close to walls, so a value of 0 will suffice. But if it's
	a fat beasty, a value of 1 or 2 will prevent it squeezing unrealisically into narrow tunnels.
	
18. Projectiles Ejected Upon Death

	Clicking on this will bring up a list of projectiles (bullets) which the alien can splurt out
	when it dies. Interestingly, you can make it spit out actual bullets (as long as they are
	VISIBLE ones) when it dies, thus allowing sneaky aliens to hemmorhage grenades as their innards
	rupture, which makes the player's situation just a little dicey...
	
	Alternatively, you can choose to click on 'Select Alien to spawn instead' and pick a type of
	alien. Upon death, the alien will spawn FOUR of the aliens you selected. Please don't be silly
	and make aliens spawn themselves, or make them spawn other aliens which in turn spawn them back.
	You'll only get annoyed playing the game as hordes of replicating aliens engulf you mercilessly.
	
19. Auxilliary Object Type:

	Click on this and select an object whose frames have been set up correctly.
	
	By 'correctly', what do I mean? Well, if you define a DECORATION object, and make it
	look like an animation of a gun barrel flash, you can use it as an AUXILLIARY OBJECT.
	At any point in any animation sequence for the alien, you can make the game paste a frame
	from the auxilliary object somewhere over the top of the alien graphic. This is how the
	muzzle flashes and glaring lights of the various alien guards were produced. Auxilliary objects
	may be BITMAP or GLARE/SHADOW, but not VECTOR. If you are not using any auxilliary graphics
	on the alien, you don't have to define this value at all.

20. Torch Brightness

	Aliens can carry 'torches', illuminating the level in front of them. A value of 30 is a reasonable
	torch brightness, whilst a value of 0 indicates no torch.
	
21. Bullet Source X and Y offsets.

	These value indicate how far from the centre of the alien its bullets should originate. This is
	largely a matter of trial and error, but remember that negative values mean the bullet comes from
	the left or the top, whilst positive values mean the right or the bottom.