
                         MDESIGN DOCUMENTATION

                            By  Dan Schmidt


That's Mdesign, the "new state-of-the-art maze design auxilliary
module" (TM) for xtank, everybody's favorite tank battle game!  That's
right!  No longer must you submit to the random and arbitrary 
mazes created by xtank, mazes which are fine as mazes, to be sure, but
which somehow lack that certain sparkle, that shine, that certain
je-ne-sais-quoi that only a human being can impart to that normally
soulless object - the maze.  Now you too can unleash your imagination,
your pent-up creativity that has been longing to express itself in
that greatest of art forms - the maze.  Don't delay!  Use mdesign
today!  And, for a limited time only, receive a free heat sink!

Xtank mazes are, by default, 40 by 40 squares.  If you want a smaller
maze, just put walls around it and don't worry about the blank space
left over.  If you want a bigger maze, just pretend the squares are
twice as big.

Your primary tool in creating the maze will be that noble rodent and
pointing device, the mouse.  If you've ever used 'bitmap', you'll feel
right at home, since I ripped off the button functions from it.  But
if you haven't, don't despair, it's as easy as 1 2 3:

  1 -->    The left button creates a wall wherever the cursor happens
	   to be at the time.

  2 -->    The middle (or center, if you prefer) button toggles the
 	   wall wherever the cursor happens to be at the time.  That
	   is, if the wall was there, it will disappear, and if it
	   wasn't there, it will reappear.  It's definitely the most
	   fun button to play around with.

  3 -->    The right button deletes the wall wherever the cursor
	   happens to be at the time.  What if there isn't any wall
	   there?  Does Mdesign create a wall made of antimatter?
	   What happens when tanks hit it?  Never fear - using
	   advanced artificial intelligence techinques developed by
	   the author, Mdesign will automatically detect when you're
	   trying to delete a nonexistent wall and not let you!  Amazing!

If you want to make or destroy lots of walls without lots of wear and
tear on your button and button finger, you can keep the button
depressed!  That's right!  Keep the button down as you move the mouse
and it will do its stuff to every wall you come in contact with!  Keep
the right button down and pretend you're a wrecking ball!  What fun!

What about armor repair, fuel depots, and ammo dumps, you wonder?
Will xtank scatter them willy-nilly throughout the maze?  Of course
not.  You can tell Mdesign where to place our friends, the landmarks,
by gently depressing the appropriate key while positioning the mouse
in the desired square.  This maneuver requires two hands, so it may
take some practice, but don't despair - it will soon be second nature.
What are the appropriate keys?  I thought you would never ask!

  A   creates an 'armor repair' landmark.

  W   creates an 'ammo dump' landmark.  The W stands for 'weapon', of
      course, since A was already taken.  We could call them 'weapon
      refills' or something, but that's not what they're called in
      xtank.  But you won't have to memorize it, because all the key
      functions are displayed in a handy-dandy table below your maze!
      Incredible!  It's just our way of saying 'thank you' to you, the
      xtank community.

  F   (almost forgot about that one in the preceding excitement) 
      creates a 'fuel depot' landmark.

      (that's a space, sort of hard to see unless you squint) erases a
      landmark you created back when you were playing around with landmarks
      which you now decide isn't such a hot idea anymore.

Fine, you say, the landmarks are in the right portion of the maze, but
how about the tanks?  Do I have any control over where they start out?
Of course you do.  Just use the number keys conveniently located at the
top of your keyboard to place the tanks' initial positions.  The first
tank will start wherever you put the '0', the second tank will start
wherever you put the '1', and so on.  If, in your haste to try out
your brand-new maze, you forget to put in the starting position for a
tank, xtank will place it randomly.  That's what you deserve for being
so forgetful.  But wait, you say, why is the first tank represented by
0 instead of 1?  Isn't that confusing?  Yeah, I suppose, but it made
it easier to program.

Well, now you've been playing around with walls and landmarks for a
while and have managed to make a complete mess.  How do you clean it
up?  Easy - simply type 'E' and the entire maze will be erased so that
you can make a complete mess on a totally clean slate.  What if you
had just finished creating an incredible maze when your hand slipped
and struck the 'E' key?  Is there any way to get it back?  No, sorry.

But you could have prevented such a disaster by using the handy 'S'
and 'L' keys!  What do 'S' and 'L' do?  Save and load mazes, of
course.  When you're done creating your dream maze, type 'S' and
Mdesign will store away your maze for easy retrieval at a later time.
Just type 'L' and tell Mdesign which maze you want to load, and
presto, it will reappear before your very eyes!  Unbelievable!

If your maze has big empty spots, or if it doesn't take up the whole
screen, xtank would be unable to tell what parts of the screen you
really want in your maze, unless you gave it some extra information.
And the extra information is exactly what you provide xtank when you
use the 'I' key.  Simply put the cursor in a square that you know for
sure is definitely in the maze and type 'I' (short for 'inside maze').
Mdesign will automatically figure out all the other squares in the
maze too!  Wow! If things aren't in the right place when you play
xtank, it's probably because you forgot to use 'I'.  I warned you - 
don't blame me if you screw up.

Well, that's all you have to know in order to become a bona fide maze
engineer!  You're now ready to design the maze you always wanted to
drive a tank in, I mean in which you always wanted to drive a tank.
Have fun, and be careful out there.
