Shoot em Up Construction Kit

If you've dreamed of writing the ul-timate arcade game, but you don't want to spend months learning how to program a com- puter, help has arrived. Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit allows you to design your own action games without writing a line of code — or even touching a keyboard.

Shoot 'Em Up consists of several powerful mouse-driven editors that let you control virtually every aspect of a typical arcade-style game. The Sprite Editor, for instance, allows you to create and modify your own heroes, nasties, projectiles, and explosions. Then, using the Object Editor, you can add animation by telling the program to quickly flip through a series of sprites.

The Background Editor lets you create a battlefield for your melee. The Level Editor lets you determine which backgrounds should be associated with each level of the game. Each level's backdrop can be fixed, scrolled continuously, or scrolled by the movement of your hero. With Shoot 'Em Up's Sound Editor, you can assign sounds to objects. You can use the sounds supplied with the three sample games, or add any digitized sound stored in IFF file format.

The Attack Wave Editor determines which enemies will appear on each level and the paths they will follow. If you feel like battling the Mongol hordes, large formations of individual foes can be combined to attack en masse.

The Player Limitations Editor lets you control the variables that determine the overall playability of the game. It's also a godsend for those with less than lightning-quick reflexes. Heroes can be granted additional speed, up to ten lives, and more firepower.

A Test Game option lets you try your creation without exiting the editors. There's a normal mode and a cheat mode that gives you unlimited lives.

When you're done, you can share stand-alone versions of the game with your friends. Shoot 'Em Up even lets you use any 32-color, 320 x 200-pixel picture as a title screen.

Although building a polished, playable arcade game won't take months, don't expect to knock off a masterpiece in a few hours. Creating an original game that will stand the test of repeated play may take days or weeks.