Map Editor tools

Xer0botXer0

Senpai
Hi fellow game devs, hope you're all having a great day. I'm currently working on a map editor for my game project Golemized, Just to make more sense of how the map editor works, only map editors/admins may edit maps, so once the player is admin he them presses a key 'M' and then the editor pops up.

Im trying to think about which tools would be useful in a top down rpg game, what should a map editor have ?

Some basics I've got down is 'place item at x/y position' 'update item information if available' 'move item from x/y to x/y' remove item from x'y.

What - perhaps interesting tools would you guyts have in mind if you were working on a map editor ?

Another one I've got is placing 'clip' rectangular boxes that start by mouse_x/y left click and end at mouse_x/y second click, this then creates a rectangle that prevents players from moving there, instead of uses preset sizes.

Ill have a look at already made map editors but if you're feeling creative please participate. :p
 
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Paolo Mazzon

Guest
Think of it as an image editor but instead of pixels you're working with tiles
  • Fill tool
  • Place line
  • Place rectangle
  • Remove line
  • Remove rectangle
  • Move individual objects
  • Move group of objects
  • Shift to select multiple
Just some I've thought of off the top of my head. Use modern hot keys like Del and Ctrl-Z, not the ridiculous delete button in the GM:S map editor. Just open up things like RPG Maker's editor, Tiled, and Gimp to see what kind of tools are in those pieces of software that could benefit yours.
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
I'd like some sort of 'natural brush' tool that places stuff randomly in a circle of a variable size (more likely in the center, and then gradually more rare outwards) that you could use to quickly make irregular formations (place trees etc) that LOOK like they're placed by hand but actually aren't, that could speed up the workflow quite a bit.
 

Xer0botXer0

Senpai
Yes I see, That would entirely depend on the size of the game world relative to the room size. But that sounds like something Im going to add in this case, and then i can later enable/disable the tool depending on the tree sprites.
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Maybe add a quest/mission objective editor as well :eek:
IMO that's advanced and complicated enough to warrant its own tool, not to mention that you probably want events and map layout to be separate from each other for a bunch of reasons (e.g. it's easier to maintain separable things, it's easier to add in modded quests if quests are stored separate from the map, etc).
 
Z

zircher

Guest
One way to simplify the addition of quest/mission elements is to just have a trigger object that calls a script and then let the programmer handle what happens when that script kicks off. That also increases it's flexibility for things like help tips, in-game tutorials, etc.
 
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