Here’s something new. Or rather, something very old. I introduce to you CruzEditor, my new Flash editor for the classic Kroz series of games.
Over a year ago, I made a BAR implementation file for characterizing Kroz level designs from the source code files released by Apogee in 2009. But I never really did anything with the results–until now. Pictured here is the opening scene from Lost Adventures of Kroz.
Well, the original Kroz graphics weren’t that good. The editor is still under development, and the game engine for the remake is still a ways off. I intend to re-release a modernized version of all seven original episodes, eight if you include Kingdom of Kroz II. I also want to develop some more adventures of my own and enable others to do so.
As of this point, all of the Kroz source code files now work with CruzEditor, including all ordered and all unordered levels. See the unordered levels below:
These are unordered levels, created after pushing the “Test Generate” button. If you keep pushing the button, a new random level will be generated.
Scott Miller’s original random-level generation routine was very simple. It just involved selecting a random pair of coordinates for each item that needed to be placed on the grid.
But this was problematic for those levels, like the ones shown here, that were filled wall-to-wall with enemies, walls, or other items.
Whenever a spot on the grid was not empty, the coordinates had to be rejected, and a new pair picked instead. This made the level generation process very slow for levels that ended up rejecting lots and lots of coordinates.
I decided to employ a better level generation process: the random list algorithm. With this, you treat each grid square as a list item, and have a probability (in this case, about 1 in 1,500) that any one square will be picked next for placement. Then, after placement occurs, you remove that square from the available squares, and then run a reduced probability on the rest of them. The next placement would be 1 in 1,499, the next 1 in 1,498, then 1 in 1,497, etc. all the way down to 1 in 2 and 1 in 1, if the grid needs to be completely filled up.
A smaller list like this ten-item one can help to visualize:
ABCDEFGHIJ : Pick C
ABJDEFGHI : Pick A
IBJDEFGH : Pick G
IBJDEFH : Pick E
IBJDHF : Pick F
IBJDH : Pick B
IHJD : Pick J
IHD : Pick I
DH : Pick D
H : Pick H
The algorithm is fastest if the last item in the list is moved to fill the “gap” made by removing the item selected. You could also perform a slower memory block transfer to preserve the original order, but this is moot because the list will ultimately end up shuffled.
With no rejected coordinates, it runs pretty fast.
Do you like the look and feel of this editor? I will make it available to everyone eventually. That we never had an editor for Kroz in the first place was a disappointment–a problem which I intend to remedy.