Version 2 mapmaking guide

[The Purple Panzer]

I thought it would be good to try to put together as comprehensive a guide as we can about how to use the new map elements. At trepan's suggestion, this is a Wiki page, at (after a move by Tim Riker):

http://bzflag.org/wiki/MapMaking

My idea is that this should be shared authorship, cooperatively written by people as they figure things out. I'd like to have it contain as many examples as possible, along with the sorts of practical wisdom that one gets while actually getting things to run.

To start it off I've included the information that's in the man page for bzw. I tried to establish some organization for the document, but that can change. I put in a section for version 1 map objects, as they still may be present in version 2 maps, but I didn't have the time to write anything there. (I'll be traveling a bit for the next two weeks, so I wanted to get something started, even if it's incomplete).

I put in the title for a FAQ section, my intent was a place to discuss how one implements certain neat things (moving sidewalks, objects that kill you, physics, etc.).

My hope is that this will evolve into a good complete reference for even novice mapmakers; so I encourage everyone who has wrestled with v. 2.0 to add whatever you can. Personally I've had mixed to poor luck, with bzfs often telling me I've made various terrible errors in my map files.

(Wiki isn't hard to use, though it may take you a few minutes to figure out - don't give up.)

Even somebody going through this forum and related fora and putting in the tidbits of wisdom into the wiki page would be great. I don't think I'll have the time before I start traveling for the latter half of this month.

[toaster]

Great start, very nicely done, Purple Panzer. Thanks!

This, combined with the other docs that have been created so far, is rapidly becoming a solid resource.