AuthorTopic: Request for old unused tilesets  (Read 13880 times)

Offline wzl

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Request for old unused tilesets

on: December 04, 2012, 10:37:44 pm
Hello chaps,

I'm currently working on a tilemap editor. It is still in early development stage but it includes the basic feature set it needs to create a level. What i am lacking right now is a tileset for testing and demonstrational purposes. Either sidescrolling or top down view is fine, both would be awesome. It can be some older stuff you've just flying around and arent using, I just want to build a few sample maps with it, and possibly provide it with the tool if you're fine by that so people can start testing it immediately. However, I cannot offer much in return except for mentions of you/your twitter/portfolio or whatever else you'd prefer.

As for the editor I am still working on advancing the featureset to go beyond basic tile editing, mainly trigger zones and entity locations, and i am constantly trying to improve the usability and workflow and reworking the interface every now and then, as right now it looks rather... well, judge for yourself ;)



More details can be seen on the homepage, or if you want to try the current release you can download it.

Thanks for reading
wzl

Offline Volter9

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Re: Request for old unused tilesets

Reply #1 on: December 05, 2012, 01:19:46 am
I think you should add CSV format, interface of that editor looks like Tiled's. Nice Job!

P.S.: I think Java would be a better option to write on (cross-platform), I have mac, so I can't to try your editor :(

Offline Ashbad

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Re: Request for old unused tilesets

Reply #2 on: December 05, 2012, 01:32:37 am
I think you should add CSV format, interface of that editor looks like Tiled's. Nice Job!

P.S.: I think Java would be a better option to write on (cross-platform), I have mac, so I can't to try your editor :(

Written in Java != Instant portability; looking at the icon in the top left, I assume this is written in C#.  Therefore, I'd try running the editor again under Mono.

Offline wzl

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Re: Request for old unused tilesets

Reply #3 on: December 05, 2012, 01:37:10 am
Yeah thanks for mentioning, i will add CSV to the list of export formats. Although i will implement the other formats only when the core features are implemented, so i don't have to fiddle with them every time i add something to it. That would be a major slowdown in development.

I'm sorry for not providing multiplatform support yet. This is written in .net and will probably run with mono when i optimize it for that. Not sure if mac has mono or an equivalent though.

Edit: Apparently it does. If so, let me know if it works.

Offline Ashbad

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Re: Request for old unused tilesets

Reply #4 on: December 05, 2012, 01:44:46 am
I notice that XML is the chief export format; does the editor have a fixed XML file structure output, or can the exported XMLs have a customized format based on schemas?  In addition, an archaic but still widely used way of storing map data is to simply define a series of data arrays/buffers in a game's binary; will you eventually support exporting tile data to C/Java/etc. arrays that can be inserted into a .h file and used in place of an external resource file?  A feature like that would make such a tool much more useful for a wider developer's audience.

Offline wzl

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Re: Request for old unused tilesets

Reply #5 on: December 05, 2012, 02:02:51 am
I chose xml because it is easy to work with and humanly readable. I'm not familiar with different xml schemas, i'll read into it. Same with the binary export. Thanks for mentioning.

Offline Volter9

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Re: Request for old unused tilesets

Reply #6 on: December 05, 2012, 05:00:10 am
Heh, I thought that it was Object Pascal and Delphi.
Quote
Written in Java != Instant portability; looking at the icon in the top left, I assume this is written in C#.  Therefore, I'd try running the editor again under Mono.


First: Mono have troubles with keyboard events or recognizing key codes sometimes.
Second: Why not Java != Instant portability; Java designed for crossplatform stuff IMO.

I think ImageJ a good idea, but don't forget about GTK+ and Qt, they were both crossplatform too.

BTW:
Quote
In addition, an archaic but still widely used way of storing map data is to simply define a series of data arrays/buffers in a game's binary; will you eventually support exporting tile data to C/Java/etc. arrays that can be inserted into a .h file and used in place of an external resource file?  A feature like that would make such a tool much more useful for a wider developer's audience.

I think these arrays will make your code dirty or messy.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2012, 05:16:07 am by Volter9 »

Offline Redshrike

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Re: Request for old unused tilesets

Reply #7 on: December 05, 2012, 06:55:40 am
I would recommend browsing around OpenGameArt.org .  There are lots of great resources there under a variety of permissive licenses.

Offline Ashbad

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Re: Request for old unused tilesets

Reply #8 on: December 05, 2012, 10:49:13 am
Heh, I thought that it was Object Pascal and Delphi.
Quote
Written in Java != Instant portability; looking at the icon in the top left, I assume this is written in C#.  Therefore, I'd try running the editor again under Mono.


First: Mono have troubles with keyboard events or recognizing key codes sometimes.
Second: Why not Java != Instant portability; Java designed for crossplatform stuff IMO.

I think ImageJ a good idea, but don't forget about GTK+ and Qt, they were both crossplatform too.

While switching to Java could help the portability in this case, it would require a complete rewrite from scratch.  In addtion, Java is not as portable as one may think: only platforms that support the needed Java VM version and all the needed standard packages (and needed third-party packages) can be interchangeably ported between with Java.  Qt is definitely the best choice for a project like this, much easier to work with than GTK+.

Quote
BTW:
Quote
In addition, an archaic but still widely used way of storing map data is to simply define a series of data arrays/buffers in a game's binary; will you eventually support exporting tile data to C/Java/etc. arrays that can be inserted into a .h file and used in place of an external resource file?  A feature like that would make such a tool much more useful for a wider developer's audience.

I think these arrays will make your code dirty or messy.

Pretty much all old console games do it this way, and games that can't get access to resource files need to do it this way as well.  It's not a messy way of doing things, as long as you keep track of all of your data in clean, separate files and name the chunks well.

Offline wzl

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Re: Request for old unused tilesets

Reply #9 on: December 05, 2012, 05:48:56 pm
I would recommend browsing around OpenGameArt.org .  There are lots of great resources there under a variety of permissive licenses.

Thanks, i will check it out ;)


However the case, i have no intention porting this to java. The reason i chose c# is that i'm very familiar with the language and i know how it works in many aspects, so it would be the fastest and most effective language for me to use. One of the goals was to have the core functionality done in 2-3 weeks, and by the looks of it i'm pretty good on time, not sure the same thing could be said if i'd use a language i've barely used in the past. Sorry about that, but either i can make it work through mono, or not. It's a shame if it won't work, but thats just how it is.

Funny though, like 90% of the (very little) feedback i received is about not being crossplatform. Not quite what i was looking for, but oh well, certainly enlightening.