empty spaces & memories of RnD

Discussion about Rocks'n'Diamonds, Boulder Dash, Supaplex, Emerald Mine and any other BD hybrid.

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ncrecc
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empty spaces & memories of RnD

Post by ncrecc »

TheOnyxGuy wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 3:51 pm Oh, different empty spaces... whether they're exclusive to their respective engines or not, some of them may also be considered unnecessary leftovers... Which reminds me... Back when I first played R'n'D 2.0.1 (that was basically my first ever R'n'D experience which I got from a shareware DVD), it didn't have "engines" nor it had proper... engine consistency... Basically, there were indeed different kinds of empty spaces, the most prominent of which was SP's empty space. If you put at least one empty space which is not of Supaplex's own, it's not Supaplex: Murphy gets replaced by Rockford, all explosions are default R'n'D explosions and etc. Basically back then it was almost impossible to make an SP level without screwing up the empty spaces which you couldn't distinguish (char spaces were also invisible in editor back then).
...
Sorry, just had a core memory unlocked...
i will say i am a bit surprised deflektor and mindbender have their own separate empty space elements (df_empty_space, mm_empty_space) given they run in the same engine in RnD
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Holger
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Re: empty spaces & memories of RnD

Post by Holger »

All those separate empty space elements (for Mirror Magic levels or for Deflektor levels, which indeed run in the same engine, or Supaplex levels etc.) were introduced mainly to allow an 1:1 mapping of game elements in native levels and R'n'D internal levels (when converting from / to those native levels), without always having to treat "empty space" as a special case (which would always have to be mapped to the same R'n'D game element). When playing a level, all those "native empty space" elements are mapped accordingly, if required. But I do understand that this might be a bit confusing when looking at the element properties page in the level editor, or when defining custom artwork. However, for the average player, this should not make any difference or trouble. :)
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Holger
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Re: empty spaces & memories of RnD

Post by Holger »

TheOnyxGuy wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 3:51 pm [...]
Basically, there were indeed different kinds of empty spaces, the most prominent of which was SP's empty space. If you put at least one empty space which is not of Supaplex's own, it's not Supaplex: Murphy gets replaced by Rockford, all explosions are default R'n'D explosions and etc. Basically back then it was almost impossible to make an SP level without screwing up the empty spaces which you couldn't distinguish (char spaces were also invisible in editor back then).
If I remember right, this is/was a leftover from the time before/when the native Supaplex engine was introduced. Before, when detecting a level with only Supaplex game elements, some engine properties of the R'n'D engine were changed to get closer to the original Supaplex behavior. If there was even a single non-Supaplex game element detected (even non-Supaplex empty space), this mode was not used, but instead it was switched to "normal R'n'D engine, but with some Supaplex elements". So you still can have "native Supaplex", "R'n'D in Supaplex mode" and "R'n'D in R'n'D mode, with some additional Supaplex elements" even today. If you look closer (better don't do this ;-)), there is a lot of such historical cruft in R'n'D... :?

I agree that this can all be very confusing. ;-)
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