ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT:

This is the user's guide for a homework assignment for Game Programming class in college. I really enjoyed writing the mini-game. I think it may have been the first project where I felt that my software "came to life".

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Synopsis
Gameplay Reference
Camera Control Reference
Level Design and Debugging Reference
Screenshots

-Lee Bush, 2007

Ninja Tag User's Guide

Synopsis

Ninja Tag is a simple game and AI demonstration, with some minimal level editor functionality. You play as a Ninja that must chase and "tag" the other computer-controlled Ninjas.

Gameplay Reference

Input	Action
W key	move forward
S key	move backward
A key	straff left
D key	straff right

Spacebar	jump

Mouse Movement*	look up/down/left/right

Page Up key	fly up
Page Down key	fly down

Escape key	show Main Menu

*Note: you can also use the arrow keys to look around, but the mouse is the prefered method for better control.

Camera Control Reference

The camera can be controlled the same way as the the Hero Ninja. However only the AI can control the camera when it is tracking a Bad Guy.

Input	When Pressed Once	When Pressed Twice
F1 key	First person, following Hero	no change
F2 key	Free-Roaming Camera	no change
F3 key	Third personm following Hero	no change

F4 key	Third person, following Bad Guy #1	First person, following Bad Guy #1
F5 key	Third person, following Bad Guy #2	First person, following Bad Guy #2
F6 key	Third person, following Bad Guy #3	First person, following Bad Guy #3
F7 key	Third person, following Bad Guy #4	First person, following Bad Guy #4
F8 key	Third person, following Bad Guy #5	First person, following Bad Guy #5
F9 key	Third person, following Bad Guy #6	First person, following Bad Guy #6
F10 key	Third person, following Bad Guy #7	First person, following Bad Guy #7
F11 key	Third person, following Bad Guy #8	First person, following Bad Guy #8
F12 key	Third person, following Bad Guy #9	First person, following Bad Guy #9

Level Design and Debugging Reference

Enabling and Disabling Collision Detection

When modifying the level, you may get yourself trapped inside a box you just created. To get out press the Backslash '\' key. To reenable Collision Detection, press the Backslash '\' key again.

WARNING: Do not jump when collision is disabled, or you will fall through the floor into an abyss!

Collision Boxes

To toggle Collision Box visiblity, press the '1' key.

Creating Collision Box

To create a box, you must mark two points in space that are separated by one of the box's diagonals. To mark the first point, move the Hero Ninja's feet to the desired corner and then press the Open Bracket '[' key. To mark the second point, press the Close Bracket ']' key. The box is now created. Don't worry if the Box is not perfect; you can edit after creating it.

Modifying the Last Created Collision Box

Key	Without Shift Key	With Shift Key
8	Shift box in positive x direction	Shift box in negative x direction
9	Shift box in positive y direction	Shift box in negative y direction
0	Shift box in positive z direction	Shift box in negative z direction
i	Increase max x value	Decrease max x value
o	Increase max y value	Decrease max y value
p	Increase max z value	Decrease max z value
k	Increase min x value	Decrease min x value
l	Increase min y value	Decrease min y value
;	Increase min z value	Decrease min z value

Waypoints and Waypoint Connections

To toggle Waypoint/Waypoint Connection visiblity, press the '2' key.

Press the 'm' key to select and move to the nearest existing Waypoint. After doing this twice, for two unique Waypoint, you can press the 'c' key to create a connection between them.

The 'n' key will create a new waypoint at the Hero Ninja's feet. By default, the newly created Waypoint will be connected to the last selected or created Waypoint. To enable/disable the auto-connection feature, press the 'b' key.

Screenshots

Sneaking up on some Bad Guys.
Near the front of the Pantheon level.
Waypoints. These are the points and connections that the Bad Guys travel along. These are used for the pathfinding algorithms of their AI.
Collision Boxes. These are used for collision detection, to tell if you hit a wall or landed on a roof.
Pathfinding in Debug Mode. The green lines show you the path that the Bad Guys have chosen to take.
Camera following behind Bad Guy.
The Main Menu. You can access this by pressing escape. Use the arrow keys to select the choice you want and then press the Enter key. Pressing escape again will exit the menu.
Save Changes Menu. Before you quit the game, you are asked whether or not you want to save the changes to the level. If you choose to save changes, the following are saved: New Waypoints created New Waypoint connections created Changes to shapes and locations of existing Collision Boxes New Collision Boxes The next time you load the level, these changes will be present.