Monster Maker

Monster Maker

Release type: Retail (Game-Maker suite)
Release date: 1991 (original release)
Author: Oliver Stone
Related tools: Palette Designer, Block Designer, Character Maker, Map Maker, Integrator, Xferplay

.Produces and edits .MON format files. Programmed by Oliver Stone.

Version history

1994 - Version 3.00

LOGIC: Sprites in Xferplay layer on the Z axis as follows:
- Character sprite on top.
- Higher-number monsters in the MON file have priority over lower numbers. So Monster #2 will always appear on top of Monster #1 and monster #63 has priority over everything except the character.

LOGIC: Each monster can have up to 20 frames of animation, each of which can last for 256 ticks.

LOGIC: When plotting monster movement, every click of the line represents one block of distance. So if your path goes three clicks left then three right, it will move three blocks to the left then return to its starting position.

LOGIC: For speed, the number (e.g., a speed of 1) refers to pixels traveled per tick. So a speed of 1 means one pixel per tick; a speed of 20 therefore means one block.

BUG: Occasionally at death a particular monster in a given set will birth a particular other monster, without this behavior ever having been specified. For instance, when monster #34 (the character's sword) dies it will always turn into monster #6 (a slime creature). The workaround here is to figure out precisely which monster is birthed, and to leave that slot in your monster set blank -- or to set it to a more desirable monster.

BUG: Often monsters do not die exactly on cue, so when plotting a timed monster death try extending the duration of the final animation frame a few ticks beyond the monster's calculated lifespan. Otherwise, before death the animation might wrap back around to the first frame for a tick or two.

BUG: When a monster is birthed from a newly deceased monster, the first frame of the new monster's animation sequence will tend to only last a single tick, no matter how long of a duration you may specify. Workaround: simply add a second frame, identical to the first, which lasts your intended length, minus one.

BUG: When using a monster who dies after the end of its path: if the monster also changes into another monster upon death, then the new monster seems to be affected by the course of the previous monster's path, almost as if it has a momentum flag. The only known workaround is to avoid combining these features, and instead to set up a chain where at the end of its path the first monster kills a camouflaged static monster, which in turn births the intended child monster.

TECHNIQUE: To make monsters with multiple hitpoits, just chain together several identical (or slightly different) monsters, such that when one dies it turns to the next in the sequence.

TECHNIQUE: To achieve variable damage with your weapons (i.e. Weapon 2 does more damage to a monster than weapon 1), have the more powerful weapon spout another monster of an equal power level on death. This second weapon monster will also collide with the target monster, effectively doubling the damage that you deal per blow.