Creating Two Levels

Furcadia's "perspective", or point of view, is limited to a 2D environment. Because of this, there are only two axis (x,y) from which to view and create scaping in dreams. This brings up a puzzling question, "How do I add dimension and levels to my dreams?". From the Warps Tutorial we find that there is no such thing as a "Second Floor" in dreams, and a similar concept applies here. This tutorial will teach you how to manipulate "space" to create a two leveled room.

Here is the picture of the dream that we will be referring to for this Tutorial. This dream can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

The first picture depicts a completed room, with walls surrounding the floor area and a staircase to link the lower level to the upper level. The second picture is exactly the same as the first, however, the walls have been stripped to show what is really going on "behind-the-scenes". In taking away the walls, we see two rooms that appear to be on the same level with a staircase between the two.


Step One: Make the two parts shown above, starting with the lower level. After you have made the room to your desired width, line the room with a solid wall. Now, add floor tiles to the top of the wall you have just placed. This will create the illusion that there really is a "second level", even though you are working on the same flat plane of space. Once you have created the upper room, go back in and add black, unwalkable tiles (floor #161) to prevent a furre from walking off the top of the "second level" (this is shown in the second picture above). If done correctly, the two floored rooms should be two tiles of black apart.

Step Two: Now that we have our two level illusion created, let's connect the two with DragonSpeak. This is a similar technique to stairs and warps and requires four lines: two to take us up to the second level, and two to bring us back down. Placing the correct coordinates into this code is crucial in creating the two level effect.

Below is an example of the DragonSpeak needed to connect the levels, using the positions that are labeled in the picture above:

(0:7) When somebody moves into position (20,25),
(5:14) move the triggering furre to (20,20) if there's nobody already there.
(0:7) When somebody moves into position (20,21,
(5:14) move the triggering furre to (18,26) if there's nobody already there.

This code only moves the furre up the stairs if no one is standing on the spot they are going to move to. This is more practical for dreams with minimal visitors, and allows you more control over where the furre is moving. Since the second level in this tutorial is small, this is also a wise choice. However, if you create a dream with a large second level and many visitors, you may opt for this line: (5:15) move the triggering furre to (#,#), or to someplace nearby if it's occupied.


Dream Weaving Tip: When you create two levels in your dreams, you might not always want to surround them in black tile. When it comes to tidying up the corners of your rooms in a two level dream, the black corner tile may "poke through" and become an eyesore as circled in the picture below. To prevent this, use the invisible object #254 instead of floor tile #161 in these corners. This object can be placed the same as the black floor tile, and will stop a furre from walking over the edge as well as eliminate the black tile showing through.


The two level technique adds dimension and flavor to a 2D environment, and is quite easy to master once seen from the correct perspective. If you found this tutorial confusing, you can download a copy of this dream from the link below and try it out firsthand. If that doesn't help, you can always e-mail us at the e-mail address at the bottom of this page. Good luck!

TutorialTwoLevels.zip

Contact Us

Do you have a question that you couldn't find the answer to? Is there a tutorial that you'd like to see added to the MKb? If so, drop us an e-mail. The MKb is created for the Furcadian public, so in order to be effective, we need to know what information you want it to contain. If e-mail links don't work for you, just send us an e-mail at masons@furcadia.com. We look forward to hearing from you.


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