Hi tom.
Well I don't disagree that for programmers more complex editers are a
distinct advantage, for the reasons you describe and for changing behaviour,
however for everyone who is not! a programmer, (which comprises a large
group of people), the situation is different.
Also, just because you have an engine that doesn't have scripting, that
doesn't mean you can't create different things.
Imagine for a second that shades of doom had a level editer. You could with
this editer create entirely new maps, placing enemies where you want them
along with weapons or deciding to have the game set them at random.
That already would offer a huge amount of customization, since in a game
like shades maps make a lot of difference and the behaviour of different
enemies is tactically distinct enough for players to create some quite
unique situations, especially when you add in doors and keycards to create
maze puzzles.
Lets say however, the editer would let you do a little more. You could mod
the game's sounds and add in your own for each pack, and you could change
some of the properties of enemies, namely their affective range, what damage
they do, and what health they had.
Even if you couldn't change the weapons, this would already let you create
something quite different. You could for instance replace the mutant humans
and other sounds with human ones and create a game where you infiltrated the
hq of a criminal gang.
You could replace the sounds with robotic ones and give everyone ranged
attacks and make an sf game etc.
Even without changing the basic weaponry or capabilities of your character,
much less anything more fundamental in the engine, you could, through
changing just the environment, redesigning the layout and altering some
enemy properties, create an entirely different game from the original
shades.
This is actually how the turrican editer works on a graphical level. Same
gameplay, different enemies ad properties, very! different layout.
Of course, altering properties on a flip down menue or modding sounds isn't
necessary either for a full editer. Even if a shades editer was made where
you could only move game objects around, players could still create some
vastly different mazes and configurations of enemy position, locked doors
etc, and thus change shades of doom from a game with 9 levels who's layout
you can learn quite successfully, to a game with many more who's layout you
have to relearn with each new level pack, a challenge for everyone.
Beware the Grue!
Dark.
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