Graphics for Ziel

  I have included all the graphics for Ziel up to 10-20-97 in the original GIF
form. I then found a gif reader and had it save the files in BSAVE format for
quick and easy loading. It also saves the palette of the gif file(256 colors)
and the palette should remain consistant except for the last 16 colors used
for palette scrolling(waterfall, fireplace) and those can be altered to the
needed colors since they are not used by anything else. But you should also
be aware of the last 16 colors as not to use them unless you want the colors
to be scrolled.

  Sprt.gif -- This one contains the movements for ziel, plus a few other
things. Tile.gif -- This one contains the main overworld and cave graphic
tiles. On the right hand side of the 50 set of tiles are five objects(only
3 are filling spaces) for getable objects. These are the objects that ziel
can pick up once in per game(you can scatter them around different screens
but once you get it on the one screen, it is gone until you start over. IE
you pick up a key on one screen and can't get the key on that one screen
anymore.) Below the 50 tiles are the moveable objects. These can be bad
guys, good guys, signs, etc. How the movement is set up is(which direction
they are facing) Down,Down,Up,Up,Right,Right,Left,Left. They get 2 frames
of animation per direction. Also T2.gif -- this is the indoor tile set. The
set up is the same as Tile.gfx.

   Now that we have the gifs, we then need to convert them to bsave. Just load
up Qbasic, and run GIF2BSV.BAS. It will ask you for the graphics file name and
just enter in the name of the gif file(with out gif extention like Sprt.gif
would just be Sprt) and it will read the gif file and save as a Bsave file.
So Sprt.gif would be saved as Sprt.gfx(gif file isn't altered though, just
read.)

   How does Ziel know the difference between the different graphic sets? Well
Sprt.gfx(after you convert it) must be there. It is hard coded in the game.
But the different tile graphics are read through the set files. The set file
is basicly a file(read from the map file) telling the game which tile set to
load and how the objects will act(like if it talks, walks, good guy, bad guy,
etc.) The graphics set is the 1st line in the set file. Set file is usally
like set.1, set.2, etc.

   Now to edit the objects. Load up Qbasic and run OBJED.BAS. It will first
ask you which set file you want(best to put this in the Ziel directory.) Then
It will show a column with the 8 objects. There will be a number by each object
so just type the number of the object you want to edit. Then it will bring
you to another menu. It will show a variety of settings for the object and to
alter them just type the number of setting and it will either switch or will
ask you to enter in a value(like number of hit points). Note: that if an does
0 points of damage, you can't hit it with your sword and kill it. It defults
it as a "friendly" object and can't be killed(like people, signs, money, etc.)
When you are done setting up the object, then hit Q to go back to the original
menu. Then if you want to save the setup, then hit S, and it will ask you for
a file name. You can just hit enter to save over the file you loaded. If you
want to change the tile set(where the object graphics come from) then just hit
T and it will ask you for the name of the new tile set, and it will replace
the 8 objects with new graphics.

   That should be about it. If it seems a little confusing, just play around
with the different tools, they aren't too difficult to get use to. Have fun!
-Jay Cook (jaycook1@juno.com)
http://members.tripod.com/~ziel/ziel.htm
