|
|
|
This thread is locked; no one can reply to it.
|
| What should a good map editor have? |
|
Dario ff
Member #10,065
August 2008
 |
So I'm coding up my map editor, which maps are composed from several sprites. It's a 2D side scroller, so I don't need many fancy 3D functions. What I'm asking is, for people that had experience in developing games with different map editors, which are the features that speed up and improve the building? I implement any idea I come up with like "I wish I could press X and do Y.". I've put copying and pasting with CTRL+C and CTRL+V, multiple selection of objects, and rotating, scaling, and moving them like a "Group". You can zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, and press a button to reset the camera. Each object's stats can be edited with a window, as well as map details. I think something like a "Test" mode is trivial, so I can see my results quickly. Also, what debug information you consider very useful to see(and edit if necessary) when developing maps? TranslatorHack 2010, a human translation chain in a.cc. |
|
furinkan
Member #10,271
October 2008
 |
Old console games/Starcraft use combos. Usually they combine 16 8x8 tiles into a combo. This makes for faster map building. The drawback is that you have to manage your combos separately. |
|
Felix-The-Ghost
Member #9,729
April 2008
 |
Have a context sensitive help dialog. When you have 'x' tool selected, display text on the bottom of the screen -- a summary of the tool. When the mouse is over a certain item, display a certain message below. I've only done this to an extent but it's a greeat idea so anyone who has played the game can start the editor and learn as they go (instead of reading a bunch of docs) It's hard to say what else without seeing the game. ============================= |
|
23yrold3yrold
Member #1,134
March 2001
 |
My editor usually shows up in a primitive form in my game. In the little shooter I'm making now, I can place a single solid tile with a left mouse click, and clear a tile with a right click, so I can edit and save the map as I play. This works if the game is paused or unpaused. When I like the layout, I open the map in my proper editor and apply proper graphics. If I were to be real fancy, I could place enemies too and save that info in a script. -- |
|
X-G
Member #856
December 2000
 |
Native GUI. Absolutely required. -- |
|
ixilom
Member #7,167
April 2006
 |
Undo/redo ? If the maps are rather large/complex, you could when in "test"-mode, be able to point out a single object with the mouse and get it's "ID". Then you could easily in the editor search for that "ID" and correct whatever didn't look/work right in the "test"-mode. Layers? CTRL-1 to 9 to select, alt-1 to 9 to toggle visibility. ___________________________________________ |
|
Dario ff
Member #10,065
August 2008
|
furinkan said: Old console games/Starcraft use combos. Usually they combine 16 8x8 tiles into a combo. Also known as auto-tiles. My game doesn't use any kind of tiles, so I don't think it'd be of much use, but it's a good suggestion. Felix-The-Ghost said: When you have 'x' tool selected, display text on the bottom of the screen -- a summary of the tool. When the mouse is over a certain item, display a certain message below. This. I plan to get other people using the editor, so I should help them with dialogs that explain the tools most of the time. 23yrold3yrold said: My editor usually shows up in a primitive form in my game. I used to do this in the past, but now I'd prefer to go with a test mode. Feels less messy to me. X-G said: Native GUI. Done, otherwise I'd go crazy remembering lots of hotkeys. ixilom said: Undo/redo ? I wonder why I didn't think of this? This is one of the best features I should implement, it'd be a life saver. Quote: Layers? CTRL-1 to 9 to select, alt-1 to 9 to toggle visibility. Useless, since the objects have their own z, but I'll think of toggling the visibility of layers in future tile-based games. Thanks everyone for the tips, much appreciated. Keep'em coming! TranslatorHack 2010, a human translation chain in a.cc. |
|
Felix-The-Ghost
Member #9,729
April 2008
|
It'd be nice to know what kind of things are in your game before we suggest something (ie if your game has flowing water, there can be an option to simulate the flow) ============================= |
|
Dario ff
Member #10,065
August 2008
|
Felix-The-Ghost said: (ie if your game has flowing water, there can be an option to simulate the flow
You prick, are you browsing secretly my hard drive? I don't know why Undo/Redo was erased from my mind. It'll certainly make map-making really easier. An overview of the map, it's several 2D sprites that are positioned in the map. These sprites have their own Z, so layers are not necessary. I'm also going to add some named waypoints for referencing them via scripts, and I'll probably add water areas. TranslatorHack 2010, a human translation chain in a.cc. |
|
Slartibartfast
Member #8,789
June 2007
 |
The ability to select multiple objects and then group them, and make every function that works on an object work on a group too. (copypaste, cut, delete, move, have map scripts treat object groups as single objects etc.) ---- |
|
Felix-The-Ghost
Member #9,729
April 2008
|
dario ff said: You prick, are you browsing secretly my hard drive? ... It's hard to say what else would be a useful addition for something I've never seen. ============================= |
|
Dario ff
Member #10,065
August 2008
|
Just joking Felix, I was planning to implemenet water in the game(mainly because it has realistic physics). I've been kind of busy these days and didn't code up too much, but I'll start tomorrow adding up everything. There's a fairly old thread I started some months ago about the project. Since then I stopped working on it because of holidays, and some weeks ago I decided to start on it for once and for all. I'll post and show off when I have something worthwhile for the allegroids, like I did with the showoff of my animation system. TranslatorHack 2010, a human translation chain in a.cc. |
|
|
I thought you remembered Undo / Redo but that's because you were talking about copy+pasta and they're KB shortcuts 