A question about GMA games
So I never asked this before and tried to find an answer via forum search becahse I thought someoen else had; apparently not (or I mis-searched). Anyway, most GMA-based games have a keystroke to send the map of the current level to a file. I did this and tried opening it and found a curious structure (for level 1 of SOD):
19 ggggggggggggggggggg
18 gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag
17 gaggggggggggggggggg
16 gag a ag
15 gag gag
14 gagggggggggggggggg
13 gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaX
12 ggggggggggggggggg
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1 I am assuming that each number in the left column is an X coordinate. (Correct me if I am wrong.) As I write this I am playing the game, so am retracing my steps back to the original starting point.
So now I'm there, right up against the (bottom left?) corner of the map. According to the W key, that's coordinates 18, 18. Checking the map file on the 18th x coordinate, I see that the 19th character is a 'g', and so is the first. This must logically mean that 'a' is an 'open passage'. Sidestepping to the bottom right brings me to coordinates 18, 18, again. (That does make me wonder if passages are a row of coordinates; the X or left/right axis seems to be ignored when sidestepping left and right, whereas the Y axis seems to be acknowledged by the game.)
Taking a few steps forward, I have just determined that a single coordinate is exactly 5 steps in the Y axis. Strangely, the game lists the coordinates backwards as a (y, x) pare, and not as an (x, y) pare (I think).
Now for the first door in this passageway. Its at 9, 18. Checking on the 18 coordinate in the file, I see an 'a', so that must not be right. Scrolling down to the line starting with 9, I see all spaces.
This is where I am confused. Mu questions ultimately boil down to:
1) A 'g' (lowercase) means a wall. An 'a' (lowercase) means an open area. What does a space mean?
2) Is the file organized with the left-hand column being X coordinates?
3) What does a 'X' indicate?
Checking on this level, the elevator is at 15, 2. However, scanning that row of the file, I (again) see all spaces. I am quite confused. I would appreciate it if someone could help me figure this file out -- it would be awesome to build a parser/generator for them just for the hell of it.
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