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Zig-Zag Stairs
By Jason Harper, JasonHarper@pobox.com
From the "Missed Island" map
 ZIG-ZAG STAIRS:
(Editors Note: In the tutorial map you have just climbed the
zig zag stairs - gls) Did you notice that the platforms (other
than the ones at each end) moved by two different amounts, depending
on which end of the stairs was being raised? That effect required
two separate control platforms for each of those platforms, with
different active times.
Here's a diagram of how the stairs were built. Arrows indicate
control of one platform by another platform or by a switch: numbers
indicate the amount of vertical motion of the control platforms
(and therefore also the visible platforms adjacent to them).
Here are some general guidelines for building puzzles
of this sort:
- The control platforms should have the following flags set: Deactivates
At Each Level, Can't Deactivate Externally, Activates Adjacent On Activating,
Deactivates Adjacent On Deactivating.
- The controlled platforms should have Deactivates Never set. You might
think that this is irrelevant, since deactivation is actually controlled
by another platform, but it does make a slight difference in the distance
the platform moves. I can't explain this, but I will point out that
I couldn't get any of the puzzles based on platform control to work
just right without the Deactivates Never flag.
- Both control and controlled platforms should move at the same speed.
This makes setting the control platform's min/max heights very easy:
just make their difference equal to the distance you want the controlled
platform to move.
- To hide the control platforms on the automap, double-click on the
lines separating them from visible areas. Check 'Solid' and uncheck
'Transparent'. It also helps to locate them entirely above or below
the altitude of the visible areas.
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