Added some remarks on portal vaults.

git-svn-id: https://crawl-ref.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/crawl-ref/trunk@7563 c06c8d41-db1a-0410-9941-cceddc491573

1 files changed, 22 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/crawl-ref/docs/level_design.txt b/crawl-ref/docs/level_design.txt
index 744a71445d..ec3ca511ae 100644
--- a/crawl-ref/docs/level_design.txt
+++ b/crawl-ref/docs/level_design.txt
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ use:
  float.des    - floating vaults
  hells.des    - hell entrances, Geryon's vestibule, Coc:7, Tar:7, Dis:7, Geh:7
  hive.des     - hive entrances, Hive:4
+ icecave.des  - the ice cave portal vault
  lab.des      - labyrinths exits and flavour vaults
  lair.des     - lair entrances, Shoals:5, Swamp:5, Snake:5, Slime:6
  large.des    - all regular vaults which have ORIENT:encompass/northwest etc.
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@ use:
  mini.des     - minivaults (no ORIENT line at all)
  orc.des      - orcish mine entrances, orc only vaults
  pan.des      - vaults of the Pan demon lords, Pan minivaults
- portal.des   - portal vaults entrances
+ sewer.des    - the sewer portal vault
  temple.des   - Ecumenical Temples, and Temple entrances
  vaults.des   - entrances for the Vaults, and Vaults:8
  zot.des      - vaults for the Zot branch and the maps for Zot:5
@@ -1266,10 +1267,26 @@ portal vaults in the following steps (no compilation is necessary):
 
 Before going into the details of portal vault creation, some words about
 their uses: Portal vaults are different from branches in that they are
-not guaranteed. Furthermore, there is only one go at a portal vault - if
-you leave, it's gone for good. Finally, you can apply special rules to a
-portal vault, like enforcing maprot. Bazaars and labyrinths are typical
-examples.
+not guaranteed. Also, there is only one go at a portal vault - if you 
+leave, it's gone for good. You can apply special rules to a portal vault,
+like enforcing maprot.
+Portal vaults can be particularly thematic, using specialised monster 
+sets, fitting loot, coloured dungeon features etc. Avoid death traps; 
+it is no fun to enter a vault, unable to leave and be killed outright.
+Randomise in order to provide fun and reduce spoiler effects. For portal
+vaults, it is desirable to have several different layouts (ideally each
+of the maps has some randomisation on its own). Often, it is a good idea
+to skew the map distribution: e.g. with four destination vaults, weights
+like 40,30,20,10 might be more interesting than 25,25,25,25.
+
+Portal vaults can be particulary thematic, using specialised monster 
+sets, fitting loot, coloured dungeon features etc. Avoid death traps; it
+is no fun to enter a vault, being unable to leave and be killed outright.
+In order to provide fun and reduce spoiler effects, randomise. For portal
+vaults, it is desirable to have several different layouts (ideally each 
+of the maps has some randomisation on its own). Often, it is a good idea
+to skew the map distribution: e.g. with four destination vaults, weights
+like 40,30,20,10 might be more interesting than 25,25,25,25.
 
 In order to test a portal vault, you can either use PLACE: D:2 for an
 entry vault, or use the wizard mode command &L for conjuring up the entry.
@@ -1363,7 +1380,6 @@ lot of duplicated header statements. This can be lessened using lua.
 Define a lua block right at the top (after your comments) as follows:
 
 {{
-
 function generic_portal(e)
   e.marker([[O = lua:one_way_stair { desc = "A portal to places unknown",
                                      dst = "generic_portal",
@@ -1371,7 +1387,6 @@ function generic_portal(e)
   e.kfeat("O = enter_portal_vault")
   e.colour("O = magenta")
 end
-
 }}
 
 Instead of the MARKER and KFEAT lines introduced above you now just use