WingNuts and Bolts

# Air Barrier

This section details the Ground Units menu

Air Barriers are special floating air units that can have turrets and spawn enemy aircraft. They can be both stationary and mobile.

Your standard Air Barrier window.

# Graphics

To begin press "New" to make a new Air Barrier

When selecting the graphics for an air barrier, you have to ask yourself, "What kind of air barrier to I want to make?" WingNuts 2 featured 4 different types of Air Barriers. The first and most obvious where yellow non moving barriers. These did not attack and simply blocked your path. There was a version of this that moved and would fire at you. Then there were the Air Barriers that were called "Air Platforms" in the game, these were red and would fire at you and release new aircraft. The final kind of Air Barrier were bases with long moving arms that moved in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. Each of these is built differently, and not all use the same parts.

Has base image - This is selected to give the air barrier a stationary base that you build on. Choose a graphic from the menu.

Has platform image - This is selected to put a platform on top of the base. Choose a graphic from the menu.

Has unit image - When you use this, you are designing an Air Barrier that will block of areas. The Unit image is the graphic drawn between the top end and bottom end images. The base is repeated as many times as needed to fill in the space.

Has top end image - This is the graphic to be drawn at the North end of an air barrier with units.

Has bottom end image - This is the graphic to be drawn at the South end of an air barrier with units.

Base altitude - This is how far in pixels the shadow is drawn from the base, creating the illusion of 3D.

Platform altitude - This is how far in pixels the shadow is drawn from the platform, creating the illusion of 3D.

Length - This value, measured in units, is how many units fit between the Top End and Bottom End images.

Rotation point placement - If you choose a base image, you can use this value to position the base within the air barrier. Lets say with all your parts added up, the air barrier is 100 pixels long. If you choose a base point placement of 50%, the base will be drawn right in the middle, 50 pixels away from each end. This is very useful with the next part.

Rotation point placement - If you choose to have yoru platform rotating with top end, bottem end and units, you may want to change the rotation placement. This value in percentage lets you change this. If your total image becomes 100 pixels long and you want the pivot to be in the middle, a value of 50% will be right at the 50 pixel mark, making the rotation in the middle.

Draw base luminous - When this is checked, the base will be drawn with a luminous or glowing effect.

Draw units luminous - When this is checked, the units will be drawn with a luminous or glowing effect.

Has impact explosion - This is the explosion to be used when the air barrier takes damage.

Has death explosion - This is the explosion to be used when the air barrier is destroyed.

Destroy turrets proportionally to the remaining shield level - When this is checked, any turrets on the barrier will be slowly destroeyd in equal ammounts as the barrier takes damage.

Activate turret - This lets you add up to 8 different turrets to an air barrier. Check the box to add a turret and choose from the pull down menu.

X offests - This is the cordinate in pixels of the turret on the X-axis.

Y offsets - This is the cordinate in pixels of teh turret on the Y-axis.

Bearing - This is the direction the turret is facing in degrees. 0 or 360 is facing North, 180 is facing South.

On Base - When this is checked, the Turret is attached to the Base of the air barrier, and will travel with it.

Particle rate - This is the rate the particles will be displayed in particles per second. This is drawn when the Air Barrier takes damage.

Has particle trail 1 - 4 - This lets you add up to 4 different particles to be drawn when the Air Barrier is damaged.

X offsets - This is the cordinate in pixels of the particle on the X-axis.

Y offsets - This is the cordinate in pixels of the particles on the Y-axis.

Your standard Air Barrier Properties window.

# Properties

The Properties section lets you define the shield and impact settings for the air barrier.

Projectiles collide with barrier - When this is selected, projectiles such as bullets, missles and beams will impact when they hit the air barrier.

Base can be damaged - When this is checked, you can damage an air barrier.

Units can be damaged - When this is checked, you can damage the individual units of an air barrier.

Sustainable damage - This lets you set the minimum and maximum damage the air barrier can take in points.

Barrier inflicts damage on player's ship - When this is checked, the air barrier will damage the players ship by the number of points assigned.

Damage inflicted - This is the ammount, in points, of damage inflicted by the air barrier.

Player ship collides with barrier - This option enables the player ship to run into an air barrier, this must be checked to enable damage from the air barrier.

Hitting barrier bounces player's ship - When this is checked it will cause the player's ship to be bounced back by a velocity.

Velocity impulse - This is the velocity in pixels per second that the player ship will be pushed back when colliding.

Platform motion - This lets you set the motion method of the platform. The different motion types are:

Platform motion - This lets you define the motion of the platform. This motion is independant to the motion of the entire unit. You can choose from the following motions:

- No motion - The platform does not move.
- Follows base - The platform follows the base's movement.
- Left slewing - The platform orbits the base in a left direction.
- Right slewing - The platform orbits the base in a right direction.
- Random slewing - The platform orbits the base in a random direction.
- Aim at target - THe platform aims at the player's position.

Slewing rate - this is how fast in degrees per second that the platform orbits around.

Acceleration - This value in degrees per second squared is how fast the platform will accelerate in it's orbit.

X Offset - This value in pixels is how far along the X-axis the platform is located from the base.

Y Offset - This value in pixels is how far along the Y-axis the platform is located from the base.

Base score for destruction - This is the ammount, in points the player will receive when destroying the platform.

Level score multiplier - This is the ammount to be multiplied to the score based on level number.

Yield fragments - This is no longer used, as the fragments were moved to the goodies section.

Collision detection circles - This is just like the collision zones for Enemy Craft and Player craft. To make a collision circle, click the check box next to it. You can have 16 different circles. To see the circle, you'll need to click "Collison" on the bottom left of the window. You can position the circle with the following commands:

- Use the Arrow Keys to move a circle up and down, left and right.
- Use the + (plus) and - (minus) keys to increase or decrease the size of the cirlce.
- Hold down shift while using the arrow keys to move the circle 10 pixels at a time.
- Hold down shift while using the + (plus) and - (minus) keys to increase or decrease the size of the circle 10 pixels at a time.

Collision circles can overlap, and should. To adjust a circlue, use the "Edit Circle" option at the bottom right of the window. Each numbered button corrosponds to that collision circle.

Manufacturer - This text string lets you fill in the Manufacturer of the air barrier.

Model - This text string lets you fill in the model of air barrier.

Year - This text string lets you fill in the year associated with the model of the air barrier.

Your standard Air Barrier Behavior window.

# Behavior

The Behavior section lets you define the extra abilities of the air barrier.

Player awareness distance - This is the how close you must be, in pixels, to an air barrier before it notices the player.

Can emit enemy aircraft - When this is checked, the air barrier can produce up to 4 enemy aircraft.

X offsets - This lets you choose the X cordinate for the newly spawned aircraft.

Y offsets - This lets you choose the Y cordinate for th enewly spawned aircraft.

Time between creation of aircraft - This lets you set how often, in seconds it takes for a new plane to be spawned.

Spawns goodies when destroyed - This option will have up to 4 different types of goodies spawn when you destroy the air barrier. You can choose the minimum and maximum number of goodies to spawn.

Air barrier motion - This next segment defines the movement of the air barrier.

Barrier can move - When this is checked, the air barrier will wander about the level.

Base minimum velocity - The base is the segment that moves, and brings all other parts with it. This is the minimum velocity for the base in pixels per second.

Base maximum velocity - This is the maximum velocity in pixels per second for the base.

Barrier can rotate - This option will enable the barrier to rotate as it travels around the map.

Minimum rotation rate - This is the minimum rate in degrees per second that the barrier rotates.

Maximum rotation rate - This is the maximum rate in degrees per second that the barrier rotates.

Randomize rotation direction - This will randomly select a direction for the barrier to rotate.

Has looped engine sound - This lets you choose a sound to play looped over and over.

Has damage received sound - This lets you choose a sound to play when the air barrier takes damage.

Has explosion sound - This lets you choose a sound to play when the air barrier is destroyed.

Has aircraft emission sound - This is a sound to be played when the aircraft are emitted.

Has player bounce sound - This is a sound to be played when the player bounces off the air barrier.