                 ________________
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    <_Ż__Ż_>   <  W E L C O M E ! )
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Hi, volunteers!
You installed this stuff? You're reading this document? You're gonna read the other documents too? Well,
it seems like you wanna join the elite of the Master Creating SoP designers - wise choice!

1. What do you need...
------------=*°Ż*~,.,*°
What you need to create a full-working SoP addon episode?
Well, see the list:

-QuickBasic experience: nearly none, but you should know what programming is
-computer: the designer's edition works on all computers on which SoP can be run
-OS: The designer environment requires a >= Windows95 environment, just like the game when it's run in
 MIDI mode.
-disk space: calculate the size of a full episode for each project
-fantasy: quite a lot, AND:
-some time to spend with this stuff, 'cause it's not a five-minute-work to create a SoP addon.

2. How it's done
------=*°Ż*~,.,*°
How do you create a game with these DATfiles, MAPs, editors and WAV/SPR/MID media?

A SoP episode is made of the following customizable components:
-CMDfiles = whenever you plan to include some complex action into the game, you'll need a CMD macro.
-MAPs = the 'level' files, these files contain the structure of the world in which Holger lives.
-DATfiles = list/cfg files that contain important data about the behavior of different game elements.
-SPRites = the GFX of the game. When you make your first step into SoP designing, you should use default
 GFX at first.
-WAV sounds, MID music = the audio part of the game, may be edited with any conventional editor.

That's it.

When you know, HOW to customize these components, you're a fully grown-up high-standard professional
SoP game designer.

But how, how, how is this done?

Well, like you should have seen, there are several txt files in this directory.
These files will describe you the way of doing the job, as long as you're ready to read them.
You'd rather read the documents in the order I wrote them, which is:
 1.CMDHelp.txt (as you might guess - help on CMD programming)
 2.MAPEDIT.txt (help on the MAP editor/MAP editing)
 3.DATFiles.txt (help on several DATfiles - guessed it, uh?)
 4.SaveGames.txt (help especially on SavGames)
 5.Sprites.txt (some information about the sprite system)
 6.Definitions.txt (predefined feature description and problem handling information)
 7.UNITS.txt (Help on enemies, UNIfiles)

The other files, 'Don't forget.txt' and 'stupid.txt' contain some extra information that you should al-
ways keep in mind.

Note: The headers of the WAV files delivered with 'SoP' are modified in the following way: The words
'RIFF WAVE' are turned into 'BIFF WAVE'. This has been done for only one reason: We didn't want every
stupid idiot able to play the 'winning' WAVs etc. before reaching the related goal in the game. You may
convert the header in the same, or in any other way to make the WAVs unreadable for normal audio apps.
The header is skipped by the game, so all files must have 11025/8bit/mono format. (you may give them a
higher frequency to 'pitch' them.

Note too: I finally decided to add no extra tutorial MAP or CMD files. You can learn all you need from
the txt files and the existing original game MAPs/CMDs. Don't forget that you can contact us when there
is still something more you want to know.

3. The 'designer.exe' SoP designing environment
-------------------------------------=*°Ż*~,.,*°
After I had finished all help files, I decided to create a special, kinda comfortable application to
help the SoP designers a little bit. The designer environment contains the following features:

-CMD editor, special text editor with special features for CMD programming
-AutoMAP editor, makes automap editing easier
-SaveGame editor for debugging and designing reasons
-Sprite editor, allows you to modify / create sprites
-UNI file editor, makes enemy creating easier

To start the designer environment, run designer.exe from your project folder.

4. When you're finished
-------------=*°Ż*~,.,*°
You've finally made it? Finished? Really? Well, in this case, process the following steps:

-You may remove unused SPRs, MIDs and WAVs, but MAKE SURE that they are not required by the game.

-Test your episode, meaning ALL PATHS and everything the player can do. If there's a secret PowerUp,
 that will only appear all 5 hours, you'll have to wait 5 hours and, if it doesn't work, fix the bug
 and test it again.

-Give your SoP episode a name and render a nice logo for it. You should replace the original SoP cap-
 tion by your own logo. Just change the GRAFIK\BILDER\MENU1.BMP and DON'T FORGET that you're only
 allowed to use the first 80 color attributes! If you use more colors, your monitor may explode and
 you'll have to re-install Windows.

-Here's one thing you may also do: Modify the LOGO.PCX in the main game folder. You could, for example,
 add an overlay of your own logo. The only conditions are: The Master Creating Merlin mustn't be covered
 and the MASTER CREATING letters mustn't be removed or modified. Note: also in this picture, you may
 only use some of the first few color attributes (I don't exactly know how many, better test it!) ;)

-What you should also do: add a '.x' suffix to the version number in VERSION.DAT. (e.g.: 1.2.Sokke)
 Of course you can replace the 'x' by any text that describes your episode. (This will also help future
 patch programs to identify the game)

-Don't forget to edit the README.TXT in the game directory. Add some extra comments, credits etc.
 Note the ASCII text format!

-Now, in the end, remove all designer, HELP, temporary files, including:
 HELP          (folder including the developement kit txt files)
 designer.exe  (SoP designer environment)
 automap.cht   (uncovered AutoMap)
 design.sts    (designer mode setup file)
 spredit.tmp   (sprite editor temporary file)
 sprsvr.exe    (sprite BSAVE DOS module - can anybody tell me how to write a VB BSAVE routine?)
 mapedit.exe   (MAP editor)
 mapedit.tmp   (MAP editor temporary file)
 preloadf.exe  (preload list file refreshment tool, better run it once more before removing it)
 sprsvr.pif    (PIF file for the BSAVE DOS module)
 *.dll         (all dlls except vbrun300.dll may be deleted)
 *.ocx         (also the ocx files are only required by the designer)

-You could also edit the icon of the Shadow of Power.exe (and rename the EXE file). If you own an icon
 editor like 'Axialis AX Icons' you may modify the icon. The better way is to ZIP the game, your icon
 and we'll recompile the VB MIDI MCI module for you. The main advantage of this method is that we can
 also change the appearance of the startup window for you, the episode name and the background image.
 Send us the needed files and we'll include them. 

-How to publish? Well, our new HomePage will soon include an AddOn episode site (as soon as there are
 some cool ones) and you can upload your episode on your own website and send us a link (and some fur-
 ther information perhaps). We'll add a link to AddOn, your HomePage and e-mail address (if you want).
 Of course we'll also comment your work and give it a fair rating.

---
contact us:     mail@master-creating.de
Homepage:       www.master-creating.de
contact me:     clemens@master-creating.de
contact merlin: jb@master-creating.de

Do NOT contact us if you...
...want to complain about grammar or spelling mistakes etc. in the help files
...are going to raise trouble because of 'ripped' gfx again
...think we would release any source code. We won't.
...want us to create any sprites for you.
