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               Making .DAT files for use with Cyberbox II            
   
             

1.  All C2 levels are stored in text files named C2-##.DAT, where ## is the
    "level number" to be typed in after selecting "User-Made" in the C2 login
    screen.  I've provided a file called C2-04.DAT in this archive;  it's the
    outline of a level with nothing but the required stuff -- a starting point
    and an exit sign -- inside.  Use this as a template for the levels you
    create, if you like.

2.  Use any text editor to edit a previously made level or start a new one;
    I use the EDIT program provided with MS-DOS 5, but something like QEDIT
    would also work well.  You should not use word processors like WordPerfect,
    but if you do, use a marginless page and save in ASCII format.

3.  .DAT files contain a MESSAGE section (optional), then the word BEGIN
    (required), and then the MAP section (required).  The message section
    contains MESSAGES separated with EQUALS SIGNS ("=") on their own lines.
    Messages can be at most 7 lines long, and each line can be at most 36
    characters.  There should be no equals sign before or after the message
    section, only between messages if there is more than one. These messages
    correspond to the messages that are displayed by question-boxes A, B, C,
    and so on;  the first message corresponds to A, the second to B, and so
    on.  If you use in the MAP section a capital letter that is represents a
    message that is not defined before the word BEGIN, you will get an error
    message.  You can have at most 8 messages per level, A through H.  See the
    file C2-01.DAT for good example of messages.

4.  The MAP section maps the corresponding Cyberbox II level exactly, and
    with the same orientation.  Note that while Cyberbox boxes are square
    characters on the screen are quite a bit taller than they are wide;
    therefore the mapping in the text file should look a bit elongated
    in the vertical direction if you want the "rooms" within your level
    to appear square.  The best way to assure squareness is to simply count.

5.  Levels are 77x77 boxes in size, but it is not necessary to fill in every
    character: C2 will assume, if a line is under 77 characters long, that the
    remaining characters are blanks (spaces), or if the .DAT file is under 77
    lines long, that the remaining lines are filled with blanks.  However, if
    you go over the 77 limit in either direction you will get an error message.

6.  The following characters represent the boxes in Cyberbox II.  Any other
    symbols in a .DAT file will cause an error to be reported.

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                               Character     Character                
       Cyberbox piece:         on "land"     on "ice"                 
     Ĵ 
           "Land" alone         <space>        (n/a)                  
           "Ice" alone           (n/a)           0                    
           Blocker                 x             x  (same function)   
           Sliders:                                                   
              (Both ways,          +             1                    
               horizontal,         -             2                    
               vertical)           |             3                    
           Pushers:                                                   
              (Up,                 ^             4                    
               right,              >             5                    
               down,               v             6                    
               left)               <             7                    
           Meta-blockers:                                             
              (Up,                 u             u  (same function)   
               right,              r             r     "   "          
               down,               d             d     "   "          
               left,               l             l     "   "          
               plus sign)          *             *     "   "          
           Selectors               #             %                    
           Starting point          s             8                    
              (exactly one                                            
               per level)                                             
           Gems                    g             9                    
              (as many as                                             
               95 per level)                                          
           Exit sign               e             e  (same function)   
              (at least one                                           
               per level)                                             
           Question-mark box  A,B,C,...,H   A,B,C,...,H               
              (must be def'd                        (same function)   
               before BEGIN)                                          
     Ĵ 
       Other pieces:                                                  
     Ĵ 
           Grass                   @            n/a                   
           Heavy sliders           :             ;                    
              (four-way)                                              
           Out-of-bounds           o            n/a                  
     

7.  Do not create infinite loops, such as a meta-blocker that points to
    another meta-blocker in the opposite direction, or a loop of meta-blockers,
    or a series of meta-blockers connected in a cycle by ice.  This will cause
    Cyberbox II to crash or hang, I'm afraid, because I knew of no easy
    way to check for such evils.

8.  "Grass" and "heavy sliders" are experimental pieces that I didn't use much.
    In fact, I don't think I used grass at all.  Grass blocks all pieces except
    the token, which destroys it upon hitting it.  It's sort of the opposite of
    a selector in that sense, except it can't move.  Heavy sliders, as
    explained in level 2, can only be pushed singly and can't be pushed by
    anything but the token.  These two pieces would probably make for some
    great puzzles, but to avoid confusion I didn't make them an important part
    of the levels.

9.  If you edit any existing data files, you may want to delete any saved
    games (.C2) associated with that level.  Saved game files associated
    with level 3, for example, have filenames xxx03-y.C2, where xxx are
    initials and y is a slot number.
