#17672 - edwdig - Fri Mar 12, 2004 5:31 am
What tools does every use for level design? I'm not talking about a tile editor, but rather a full out level design tool. Something that will let me place objects on the map. Something that will let me connect different maps together.
I'm considering making a platform game (say a Super Mario Bros type of game), and want to make level design as easy as possible. I have a feeling I'm just going to have to write my own tool to do all the work, but I figured I'd see if there's any way to save some time.
#17681 - poslundc - Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:40 pm
I write all of my own tools... one of the frustrations of being a Mac user, I guess.
You're better off that way, though. Otherwise you tend to try to make your game conform to other people's tools, when it really should be the tools that conform to the needs of your game.
If I need to change the format of my data or what-have-you, I can usually whip up a PHP script or C program to do the job in 5-10 minutes.
Dan.
#17702 - ScottLininger - Fri Mar 12, 2004 8:15 pm
I build my own tools as well, using a mixture of stuff including VB, PHP, Javascript, Flash, and little C programs. It's great fun and a tremendous way to learn. I've figured out more GBA programming from building my level design/map design tools than I've ever learned from building a game.
My guess is that most homebrewers who use level editors also build them.
Like Dan pointed out, the problem is that home-built tools are so specific to a given project, that using them to achieve your own ideas is going to be frustrating.
That being said, I do think that there is a community need to have some very high level tools that make building certain types of games easier. Even the commercial tools that I've looked at that "make it easy" are built for experienced programmers, not newbies. If newbie-friendly tools do exist, I'd love to take a look at them.
#33404 - Icydemon - Mon Jan 03, 2005 1:01 am
I must agree. Building your own tools for your own games need only time and not money, except that you get expirience and that is a rule for me even when i use DirectX and C++ for PC not only for gba (i prefer to by neon lighting for my PC rather than pay 3rd party tools and rewrite the game to fit the tools)
IMHO, Tools must fit to the game not the opposite
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iCYDEMON
#33415 - sgeos - Mon Jan 03, 2005 3:41 am
| Icydemon wrote: |
| IMHO, Tools must fit to the game not the opposite |
There is nothing wrong with writing a game to fit your tools. It will restrict your game, but you'll be able to complete it faster. Completing it faster might turn out to mean completing it at all.
-Brendan
#35179 - stuleelight - Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:30 pm
Could someone post or e-mail an example of a tool and its purpose?
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#36283 - Cthulhu32 - Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:56 pm
I'm curious to how I could go about writing a map editing tool in Visual C++ .NET? It's the only real visual language I know, so I've been trying to conemplate it for a while what the best way to do this graphically would be? I was actually just going to write out my maps by hand, but also making a map editor might be nice if I release my homebrews/demos for other people to compile w/ their levels and what not. I've done Visual C++ .NET built in graphics, but honestly they suck, and I don't know if I want to spend another 5 hours on this game learning DirectX just for a map editor.
Thoughts & ideas?
#36287 - tepples - Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:40 pm
Use the Allegro library. It wraps DirectDraw and DirectInput in a cross-platform, easy-to-learn manner.
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-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.