Video Game Design Project 1

First, Look in the 3D GameStudio program directory for the subdirectory that contains the example game file:
techdemo.wmp (i.e., C:\Program_Files\GStudio6\work).
Make a copy of the whole "work" subdirectory containing techdemo.wmp in some other directory where you can experiment with the example (i.e., C:\My_Documents\junk\work).
Make a copy of the whole "template" subdirectory in the same directory (i.e., C:\My_Documents\junk\template).

First, run the 3D GameStudio Level Editor from your Start Menu in Windows, from the 3D GameStudio submenu.
When the Level Editor window pops up, click on the files menu and load techdemo.wmp from your copy (not the original copy in C:\Program Files\GStudio6\work).
Once the file is loaded, the result should be something similar to Figure below. If the views appear different, then zoom out or reposition the views using the mouse. It may be necessary to press the “camera move” button on the menu bar. Also, note that placing the mouse over a button causes the name of the button to be shown in the lower left of the main window frame. The upper right pane shows the three-dimensional view with shaded surfaces. The other three panes show wireframe views from the top, side, and front perspectives.

Figure 1. Level editor (WED) with techdemo.wmp loaded.

Before leaving the level editor, build the level or world by clicking the build button in the menu bar: MenuBar::BuildButton.
Select the “build level” option in the pop-up to rebuild the level for simulation, and click OK. A pop-up window labeled “Map Compiler” will indicate the progress of the compilation. It may take 15 minutes to build the game on a 2 GHz machine.
After the game is finished compiling, click the run button (exclamation point “!”) in the menu bar: MenuBar::RunButton.
An intermediate “Run Level” pop-up window will appear with a command line such as “techdemo.wdl -nx 30.” Click OK to run the program.
If all goes well, the game should appear in a new window on screen as in the Figure below.
However, it is likely that a popup window will appear indicating several missing files such as movement.wdl, messages.wdl, particle.wdl, and doors.wdl. The general procedure would be to search for the files in the C:\Program Files\GStudio6 directory and copy them to the local directory where the program is being built. Most likely, the problem can be resolved by copying and pasting the C:\Program_Files\GStudio6\template directory to the C:\My_Documents\junk directory (right along side of the work directory). If a shortcut is pasted, rename the shortcut to template, and be careful to not destroy the files there.

<>Figure 2. Initial screen when techdemo is compiled and run.

When the game window appears, it may be necessary to move the mouse to change orientation.
Pressing the arrow keys will move the player within the game.
Holding the shift key down while pressing the arrow keys will increase speed.
Other options and help can be obtained by pressing the escape key to make a hidden set of menus and options visible.
The option toggled by the F7 key is of particular interest.

The C-Script allows the video game programmer to modify many of the functions of the game.
To see the contents of the techdemo C-script file, double-click on the file techdemo.wdl in the directory C:\My Documents\junk\work\. This should automatically open the file in the 3D GameStudio C-Script Editor, as shown below.

<>Figure 3. C-Script Editor window showing the top of the techdemo.wdl script.

In the top of the techdemo.wdl script, the path statement to the template directory is “path = ..\\template.”
the path statement will cause the compiler to search in for files in a directory named template located in the parent of the directory containing techdemo.wdl.
The include statements call out other functionality needed for this particular game. The C-Script syntax is similar to C++ syntax.

Each of the players and opponents in a game are implemented as models.
These models can be created using the MED model editor in 3D GameStudio.
To see one of the models used in the techdemo example, double-click on the file elf.mdl in the directory C:\My Documents\junk\work\. The MED window should appear with contents similar to the Figure below.

<>Figure 4. MED model editor showing elf.mdl model.

In the model editor, the four panes are similar to the four panes in the level editor.
If the 3D view is too dark, the lighting can be adjusted by right-double-clicking within the 3D view and adjusting the DefaultSun and DefaultAmbient settings in the GXL Properties submenu.
By clicking the AnimateButton on the bottom menu bar, then clicking the RunPlayButton in the lower left, the 3D frame will show the animation with the wings flapping on the character.
As in the other editor, click the MenuBar::EyePositionButton to enable the mouse to move the views with the left button or right button depressed.
The frame containing 3D image of the model is constructed from the wireframes illustrated in the other three frames. The wireframe sets the basic three-dimensional shape of the model. The skin of the model is mapped onto the three dimensional wireframe to color and pattern the model. This is referred to as texture-mapping or skinning.
To see the skin that is applied to the wireframe, use the MenuBar::View::Skins command to pop up a window that shows the skin that was mapped to the wireframe.

What company made the first microprocessor, and what was the part number?
In what year was the first microprocessor made?
Whose initials "F. F." are on the die of the first microprocessor?
Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce left what company to start Intel in 1968?
In what year did Steve Russel and his team write the Spacewars game on a DEC PDP-1 computer at MIT?
In what year did Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney start Atari Computers and release the arcade game Pong (later released as for home use in 1975)?
Who was Mario named after?
What was Mario's original name?
What is the largest selling game of all time (in units shipped), and how many units have been shipped?
What company created Pac-man, and in what year?