ROLE-PLAY CLASS
Sunday October 15
by Catspaws
The topic this week is Themed Planets and How to Convert a Basic Mini into a Glorious Themed Planet. When I first saw this subject in the Idiot's Guide, I thought, "How easy! Anyone can do this." Then I met a mouse... Some people choose a mini because they don't understand the Workbench but, guess what? You have to use the Workbench and make a few modifications or your planet can't go in. The Stock Planets page explains the changes you have to make. But, if you are in the workbench anyway, why not make a few more changes so the planet fits your personality?
If you look at Mousetrap, it really is a modified Rescue planet. It has the same locations as the stock planet, except the descriptions are changed, the bar is moved to its own room, and the ducts have been turned into tunnels.
A few tips while modifying your mini:
1) Change your no-exit messages to suit your personality. If you modify the planet theme to a cheese planet, bumping into bulkheads won't fit any longer.
2) Use single paragraph descriptions. Why would I recommend single paragraphs? So you can edit them in the game and don't have to keep going back to the Workbench if you want to make changes. You can also do seasonal changes on the fly if, say, you want to hold a party.
3) Even if you are just modifying a stock mini, you really shouldn't do what I do. Write out your basic theme on paper before you go in to make changes. I don't, and then I have to go back and change something that doesn't fit when I get a new idea. Don't do that. Sketch it out on paper first. That way, too, you spend as little time in the workbench as possible.
Step-by-Step Guide to Modifying a Mini into a Theme Planet Using the Rescue Mini and Using Mousetrap in Cheese as an Example
1) Sketch out a mini-theme.
2) The workbench consists of two editors, the location editor, and the message editor. You will also need the Tesla planet checker and the fedplanetsim program. You can download all these files from the Workbench page.
3) Open the editors. Load the space.msg file into the message editor. Highlight moves then noexit in the second window then highlight and double-click the text in the second window. This will switch you to the paragraph where you can delete the message and type in your own.
4) Once you do that, and check it for typos, click 'File|Save As' and save it as space.msg IN A DIFFERENT FOLDER. (I use a folder with the name of my planet's system to avoid future confusion -in this instance, CHEESE.)
5) Click 'File|New' then load habitat.msg. Again, highlight and double-click the text in the second window, then type in your own message. (The nomove messages are messages sent to a player if they try to move in a direction not available on your planet's map.)
6) Again, check for typos, click 'File|Save As' and save it as mousetrap.msg in the same folder where you saved space.msg.
7) With the location editor, open space.loc. There is a single box there. This is the link and orbit to your system and planet. Click on it, and you can see the location name and description. Change these to your own name and description.
8) To your right is a box for Map Title. Change this from Rescue Space to Cheese Space. Then click OK above that in the middle of the directional grid. Then 'File|Save As' and save this to your new folder as space.loc.
9) Click on 'File|New' then load habitat.loc. This is the map for your planet itself. To the left is a box that says Map Title: Change the name from Habitat to Mousetrap. Leave the Launch Pad Loc # as it is. Below that is the Orbit loc #. Change it from Rescue.Rescue Space.460 to Cheese.Cheese Space.460. This is a very important step.
10) In the upper left is Location 0. This is a storage room that all planet maps must have. There are no entrances into nor exits from this location. You can, however, change the description of this room to something that will make you wish you COULD go inside. Then 'File|Save As' and save this to your folder as mousetrap.loc. We will do saves from time to time in case something happens, so we don't lose all our brilliant work.
11) There are some more boxes in the center of the map. The top one is where people land when they come to your planet. Change the name and description to suit your theme. Unless you want to move them, leave the flags -shipyard and ship repairs - as they are and click OK in the middle of the directional grid to save your location. 'File|Save' to save your location to your computer (or hold down the control key and press 'S').
12) There are seven more locations. Go through and change the room names and descriptions of each, saving regularly. You might want to move your bar from its current locations to one of the rooms to the south. To do this, switch to the Events & Properties Tab and clear the cafe/bar check box, then on the room where you want your bar, check the cafe/bar box.
13) Once you have finished, open Tesla and load your location file for your planet. Then 'Actions|Test' to see if there are any technical mistakes. If Tesla says your files can probably go into Federation, you're almost done.
14) Open PlanetSim and load your planet map. Use this program to walk around your "planet" and make sure all entrances/exits still work. I recommend you check all the boxes in the lower right window to check everything you can possibly check.
15) If you see no glaring mistakes and think your planet is ready, send it in to feedback@ibgames.com. You will be informed once your files are checked and ready to go into the game.
As you can see, it's not that complicated to turn a stock planet into a Mini Masterpiece. If you have any questions on how to convert a mini, feel free to contact me and I'll be more than happy to help you.
The Role-play Class meets every other Sunday in Chez Diesel on Mars. Be sure to stop in and join in our discussions, and share a drink with us.
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