      Doctor Johnny's Essential Notes on the Powball Level Editor
      -----------------------------------------------------------
                     [Powball Registered Version]

            by John M. Feeney (Schlafflos@mindspring.com)


     So! You want to take a wack at making your own Powball Levels, eh?
Well, though the level editor IS fairly straight-forward and relatively
user-friendly, there ARE some fine points to be aware of, lest you fall
into the Pit of Despair or are devoured by hungry Wormholes! Having now
completed over two hundred of these levels, with several revisions
thereof necessitated by the same quirks I am about to relate to you,
it is my hope that I may be able to guide you to some small extent in
YOUR endeavors, so that you may avoid some of these nagging pitfalls:

Wormholes:
----------
@  As explained in the Level Editor Help file, wormholes OUT (the ones
   things come out of) must be at least 5 pixels away from any bricks.
   This is a minimum to insure that BALLS will consistently come through
   the wormholes successfully. Violate this maxim at your own risk--with
   less spacing, under certain conditions, balls will simply disappear!

@  If you're also incorporating enemy Mines and/or Twists in your level,
   and you find it annoying that Mine projectiles and Twists occasionally
   get stuck in a wall coming out, INCREASE the wormhole-out spacing
   beyond the minimum. (I'm pretty sure that 8 pixels--a full brick
   height--is sufficient to get around this.)

@  DO NOT use the XY coordinates (shown in the upper left corner of the
   screen) to determine adequate wormhole spacing. The stated minimum
   of 5 pixels is EDGE-to-EDGE distance. Instead (if you're positioning
   near bricks), start by putting the wormhole-out immediately adjacent
   to any bricks questionably close, then position out from there (I use
   the keyboard arrows on this for precision) a minimum of 5 pixels away.

@  Wormholes IN (the ones things go into) are not restricted in their
   spacing, and may be placed immediately adjacent to bricks. This is
   probably the best way to go with wormholes you want GEMS to fall
   through, unless you're using Zero Gravity! Under all other settings,
   not spacing wormholes-in adjacent to "floor" or "ceiling" bricks
   allows some gems to sidle about until they disappear, or until you
   break the "floor" or "ceiling" (assuming it's breakable).

Bricks:
-------
@  A brick is a brick is a brick! Regardless of the apparent shape or
   dimensions, the actual size of any brick is 16 X 8 pixels rectangular,
   and all ball collisions respond accordingly. The fact that a brick
   LOOKS like a triangle or curve or a wavy piece of string does not
   modify interactions with it in any way.

@  If you construct a level using CUSTOM bricks from a patch file (such
   as JMF100.POW or JMF200.POW), and those bricks occupy brick index
   slots that were EMPTY in POWBALL.POW (a strong likelihood!), you
   cannot run that level later using POWBALL.POW alone. That is, if
   POWBALL.EXE encounters a level which contains apparently non-existent
   bricks, the program exits immediately.

@  Certain step-like configurations of unbreakable bricks require special
   consideration for bat positioning (see below).

Bat Positions:
--------------
@  When using "Position Player 1" and "Position Player 2", DO NOT try to
   manually EQUALIZE who is on top for two-player games--POWBALL does
   this automatically! On all even-numbered levels (2, 4, 6, ...), the
   bat positions in test mode and actual two-player games are exactly
   where you put them. BUT, on all ODD-numbered levels, POWBALL swaps
   the positions of Players 1 and 2 automatically for fairness! This is
   why, when you test an ODD-numbered level, the bats are switched (as
   they will be in the actual 2-player game).

@  Regardless of the above, the red bat (Player 1) is always exactly
   where you defined it on EVERY level in a SINGLE-player game! (But note
   that in TEST mode on odd-numbered levels, you are actually testing
   the SWAPPED two-player game position with the red bat, NOT the single-
   player game position.)

@  Be aware that bats positioned right under unbreakable bricks will lose
   any balls released there. Also, bats positioned close to breakable
   bricks above them are more subject to damage from flying shrapnel if
   the bricks are shot out (much more so than if they are further away).

@  This one is tough to explain, but here goes. (Think of steps as you
   read.) If you construct a level where either of the bats IS, or can
   eventually BE right next to a single unbreakable (strength -1 or -2)
   brick -- not a wall, but a single brick or "step" -- such that the
   EXPOSED top or bottom surface of the bat is roughly parallel to the
   EXPOSED top or bottom surface of the unbreakable brick, balls may
   simply disappear when striking the juncture at certain angles.
   This is the result of a minor flaw in the brick collision logic. The
   best way to define such levels (to assure this doesn't happen), is
   to position any such bat so that its VERTICAL center (Y-coordinate)
   is exactly at the "brick junction" value (an exact multiple of 8).
   Though there are exceptions, this is the only bat position I know
   that under these circumstances seems totally immune to this
   "Slips between the Cracks" bug.

                BAD:                |                 GOOD:
                ----                |                 -----
                        __________  |                         __________
                       |          | |                        |          |
                       |  brick   | |  ----------            |  brick   |
 __________  __________|__________| | |   BAT    | __________|__________|
|          ||  -1 / -2 |          | | |          ||  -1 / -2 |          |
|   BAT    ||   brick  |  brick   | |  ---------- |   brick  |  brick   |
|__________||__________|__________| |             |__________|__________|
                                    |
                                    |


   This problem does NOT occur with BREAKABLE bricks, but if you
   put breakable bricks over UNBREAKABLE steps, etc., such that the
   above is eventually possible as the bricks break, the same is still
   true, and bats should be positioned accordingly. (I you're not sure
   what I mean, construct a test level just to play with this. But be
   careful--sometimes the problem doesn't show up immediately, as it
   requires particular ball angles / deflections to show up. If you DO
   see it, you'll know exactly why I call it "Slips between the Cracks")

   This problem only occurs when there is an unbreakable brick on either
   SIDE of the bat. If you're simply putting an unbreakable "floor" or
   "ceiling" above or below the bats, these spacing limitations do not
   apply. (But remember, bats too close to unbreakable bricks above
   WILL result in lost balls if the balls are launched there.)

Postscript:
-----------
     If you got this text file from somewhere other than Ant's Nest--the
Powball WWW Home Page--it may not be the most current one. I plan to
occasionally update it, if I find anything new and significant, though
at this point (7APR1997) the list is fairly exhaustive.

     For future updates on this and my Powball patch files (JMF100.POW
and JMF200.POW), plus lots of other neat stuff, keep an eye on Ant's Nest
(http:/homepages.enterprise.net/conan/), where you'll see it first!

     Happy hunting!

     John M. Feeney
