Word Rescue Level Format
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| Format type | Map/level |
|---|---|
| Map type | 2D tile-based |
| Layer count | 2 |
| Tile size (pixels) | 16×16 and 8×8 |
| Viewport (pixels) | 288×152 |
| Games | Word Rescue |
The format is comprised of two layers and some items (perhaps considered a third layer) with the first (background) layer having 16×16 tiles and the second (attribute) layer having 8×8 tiles.
File format
Each file begins with a header.
| Data type | Description |
|---|---|
| UINT16LE mapWidth | Width of map, in 16×16 tiles |
| UINT16LE mapHeight | Height of map, in 16×16 tiles |
| UINT16LE bgColour | Background colour (EGA 0-15) |
| UINT16LE tileset | Number in tileset filename (e.g. 0x03 == back3.wr) |
| UINT16LE backdrop | Number in backdrop filename (e.g. 0x04 == drop4.wr) |
| UINT16LE startX | X-coordinate of starting position (in 8×8 tiles) |
| UINT16LE startY | Y-coordinate of starting position (in 8×8 tiles) |
| UINT16LE endX | X-coordinate of level exit door (in 8×8 tiles) |
| UINT16LE endY | Y-coordinate of level exit door (in 8×8 tiles) |
| UINT16LE gruzzleCount | Number of gruzzles in level |
| WR_COORD gruzzles[gruzzleCount] | Gruzzle coordinates (see below) |
| UINT16LE unknownCount | ? |
| WR_COORD unknown[unknownCount] | ? |
| UINT16LE slimeCount | Number of slime buckets in level |
| WR_COORD slimeBuckets[slimeCount] | Slime bucket coordinates |
| UINT16LE bookCount | Number of books in level |
| WR_COORD books[bookCount] | Book coordinates |
| WR_COORD letters[7] | Coordinates of letters in word to spell |
| UINT16LE animCount | Number of animated tiles |
| WR_COORD animations[animCount] | Animated tile coordinates |
| UINT16LE end | 0x0000 |
The WR_COORD data type is defined as follows. As shown above it is preceded by a count, with the two fields (X and Y) being repeated that many times. If the associated count is zero, the WR_COORD structure is omitted entirely.
| Data type | Description |
|---|---|
| UINT16LE x | X-coordinate (in 16×16 tiles) |
| UINT16LE y | Y-coordinate (in 16×16 tiles) |
The background layer of map data follows next. The data is stored in a basic and quite inefficient RLE coding. Data is stored as a pair of two bytes. The first byte is a count (often one) and the second byte is the value to repeat that many times. Values (second bytes) of 0xFF refer to transparent/background tiles. After expansion there will be mapWidth * mapHeight bytes/tiles.
Immediately following this is the attribute layer, again RLE compressed in the same manner. This layer uses 8×8 tiles instead, so after expansion there will be (mapWidth - 1) * mapHeight * 4 bytes/tiles. The tiles are positioned from X-coordinate 1 (rather than 0), so it is not possible to place tiles in the first column (where x is zero). However because the tiles are 8×8, those at x=1 still overlap the 16×16 background tile at x=0.
The level entrance and exit are also specified in units of 8×8 tiles. The entrance coordinates are of the bottom-middle of where the door image is drawn, and where the player's feet will appear. The exit coordinates are of the top-left of the door image. The door image is 32×40 pixels in size.
Tile mapping
The tileset used is specified in the header (see above.) Each tileset is a 320×200 16-colour PCX file, divided up into 16×16 tiles.
The tile code in the background layer refers directly to an index in the tileset (so a value of 0 refers to the first 16×16 tile in the PCX file.)
! Describe how animated tiles work
The tile codes in the attribute layer seem to be constants:
| Value | Purpose |
|---|---|
| 0x00 | First question-mark box |
| 0x01 | Second question-mark box |
| 0x02 | Third question-mark box |
| 0x03 | Fourth question-mark box |
| 0x04 | Fifth question-mark box |
| 0x05 | Sixth question-mark box |
| 0x06 | Seventh question-mark box |
| 0x20 | Empty space |
| 0x73 | Solid tile |
| 0x74 | Standing tile (can jump up through it or press down to fall through it) |
| 0xFD | Unknown (end of layer?) |
Credits
This format was reverse engineered by Malvineous. If you find this information helpful in a project you're working on, please give credit where credit is due. (A link back to this wiki would be nice too!)
