Tile Level Editor
by William Finlayson · in General Discussion · 08/07/2003 (8:40 pm) · 7 replies
I was wondering if any of you kind people out there could take a look at this tile mapping tool I wrote, and comment on it? Anything is welcome, functionality/design improvements, bugs, and whatever else you want to say.
iswda.bounceme.net/editor.zip
I am a programmer, so ignore the tile graphics, and please focus on the tool :) This is my first go at writing a level editor in Java, so Im not sure what functionality is standard to tile map editors. I tried to make the object system as generic as possible, so things like power-ups/enemies can be placed also. Every object with a list of properties, which are modified in a pop-up in the editor. Unfortunately, the only object I have atm is a spawn-point, which has no properties :P
It requires a JRE to run, tested on 1.4, but 1.2 upwards *should* work. Please post your JRE version, OS, and machine spec. The class to run is LevelEditor.
Thanks.
iswda.bounceme.net/editor.zip
I am a programmer, so ignore the tile graphics, and please focus on the tool :) This is my first go at writing a level editor in Java, so Im not sure what functionality is standard to tile map editors. I tried to make the object system as generic as possible, so things like power-ups/enemies can be placed also. Every object with a list of properties, which are modified in a pop-up in the editor. Unfortunately, the only object I have atm is a spawn-point, which has no properties :P
It requires a JRE to run, tested on 1.4, but 1.2 upwards *should* work. Please post your JRE version, OS, and machine spec. The class to run is LevelEditor.
Thanks.
About the author
#2
08/07/2003 (10:32 pm)
That looks really good, thanks for the pic. Did you align the monsters to the map tiles, or allow them to be placed anywhere?
#3
08/07/2003 (10:35 pm)
They can be placed anywhere.. you left click and drag them.. you can right click to edit their properties. (you can middle click to place tiles under them.. which can come in handy) I'm gonna be starting on a new version of it soon to integrate shaders for our new PDA game.
#4
Sorry to quiz you like this, but why did you do it in Java? I went for it because of the speed that a GUI can be developed. It did prove to be a bit of a pain though, as everyone using it needed to get the JRE.
Im fair impressed with the shot you gave me, the art looks very good/detailed for a PDA game, I take it it's for a Windows device?
08/07/2003 (10:46 pm)
Thanks, I was wondering how to handle object placement and how to manage everything with the mouse.Sorry to quiz you like this, but why did you do it in Java? I went for it because of the speed that a GUI can be developed. It did prove to be a bit of a pain though, as everyone using it needed to get the JRE.
Im fair impressed with the shot you gave me, the art looks very good/detailed for a PDA game, I take it it's for a Windows device?
#5
1. I dont like MFC
2. I could develop it in Java quickly (took less than a week)
3. I like Java
4. I needed something that ran on windows and linux
it is for the Pocket PC (which is like the windows XP of windows CE :) ) and it is also for the Zaurus which runs embedded linux.
That shot actually shows the larger art of Jack the Uni-Psychle v1.1. We redesigned the art for Jack the Uni-Psychle Second Edition ( v2.0 ) and I orginally wrote a editor for linux that I did all of the Jack v1.1 levels in and I wrote this new editor (which is tons better than that original editor :) ) for Jack 2.0. Here is a screenshot of it - www.discordstudios.com/media/screen01.jpg
Also all of the objects in the editor there are read in from a text file in the editor's directory. I tried to stay away from hardcoding it for Jack as much as possible. It saves and reads binary level files that Jack can read (really the only hardcoded for Jack part. I was gonna use plugin type system but I just needed to get it finished quickly for our update).
I am happy with the speed of it and right now its only an internal development tool so I wasn't worried about the JRE issue.
-Tim aka Spock
08/08/2003 (12:33 am)
I chose java because:1. I dont like MFC
2. I could develop it in Java quickly (took less than a week)
3. I like Java
4. I needed something that ran on windows and linux
it is for the Pocket PC (which is like the windows XP of windows CE :) ) and it is also for the Zaurus which runs embedded linux.
That shot actually shows the larger art of Jack the Uni-Psychle v1.1. We redesigned the art for Jack the Uni-Psychle Second Edition ( v2.0 ) and I orginally wrote a editor for linux that I did all of the Jack v1.1 levels in and I wrote this new editor (which is tons better than that original editor :) ) for Jack 2.0. Here is a screenshot of it - www.discordstudios.com/media/screen01.jpg
Also all of the objects in the editor there are read in from a text file in the editor's directory. I tried to stay away from hardcoding it for Jack as much as possible. It saves and reads binary level files that Jack can read (really the only hardcoded for Jack part. I was gonna use plugin type system but I just needed to get it finished quickly for our update).
I am happy with the speed of it and right now its only an internal development tool so I wasn't worried about the JRE issue.
-Tim aka Spock
#6
Ahhh, so Jack is your creation? Very nice, very reminiscent of Earth Worm Jim, which in my opinion is one of the best games ever to hit a console. Great work...
John.
08/08/2003 (7:29 am)
Spock,Ahhh, so Jack is your creation? Very nice, very reminiscent of Earth Worm Jim, which in my opinion is one of the best games ever to hit a console. Great work...
John.
#7
-Tim aka Spock
08/08/2003 (10:13 am)
Yes, we have two current Titles Jack the Uni-Psychle Second Edition and Decoder for Pocket PC. Both can be seen at www.discordstudios.com. We also have two older games for the Zaurus, Jack the Uni-Psychle 1.0 and The Hunter Project. But Currently our work on the Zaurus is halted until I can buy a license for Qtopia.-Tim aka Spock
Associate Tim Newell
Max Gaming Technologies
In case you want to see some others :)
-Tim aka Spock