Custom Tile/Level Editor in Java

Newbie & Debugging Questions
#1

So I’m planning on making a tile-based survival game in LWJGL. (Yep I’ve finally been converted to pure LWJGL I guess I’m kicking Slick2D to the curb) Right now the game runs off of maps that are arrays of numbers:


int[][] map = {
				{1,1,2,2,2,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{1,2,2,2,2,2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{1,1,2,2,2,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{1,1,1,2,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
				{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
		};

I want to make a custom level editor so I don’t have to do all this number crap. Any technique I can use?

I would need a program that could load images into it and make those arrays. Or should I use a program that is especially made for my game, something that already has all the tiles I need in it? I don’t know. I just need a little counsel on this before I blow into a huge editor and break something.

#2

You could import an image which is translated to a two dimensional array.
Where color Z is translated into 1, color X into 0 and Y into 2.

You dont need a program that do the conversion, it could be done in a single method.

public static int[][] encode(String imagePath)
{
         //.... Code
}

I have done similar for my game.

Also, to save RAM, you should use byte array instead of int array.

#3

The editor is essentially a GUI around a few simple functions:


tileIDs -> tileMap
tileIDs + tileImages -> tileSet
tileID + tileSet -> tileImage (for the display)
tileMap + tileSet -> file

Add the reverse of a few of those, a way to display and manipulate the underlying collection, and you have an editor.

#4

So whats wrong with Tiled?

LibGDX can even render Tiled maps.

#5

If you’ve got to the point where you can display a tile map in your game, start making an ‘edit mode’ inside your game. have a currentlySelectedTile, when ever the mouse is clicked, change the grid space to that tile. use +/- keys to change which tile youre drawing with. F1 to save, F2 to load. Thats enough functionality to get quite a lot of mapping done, and you can expand and alter it as you need to.

#6

Should be a buffered image, for polymorphism. And you could automatically generate noise for a random level generator. (OpenSimplexNoise here: https://gist.github.com/KdotJPG/b1270127455a94ac5d19)

Also, to load a javaIO File -> buffered image is [icode]ImageIO.read(…file);[/icode]

#7

What does this even mean?

If anything it should be a 1D array or Byte/Int/X Buffer :point:

Sure, store as a image file for convenience, but as soon as you load in the image grab the data buffer and use that.

#8

I just mean you shouldn’t load the image using a string, or even a file really. So you can generate a buffered image elsewere and still make a map out of it. I wasn’t talking about the return type, sorry for the confusion. xD

#9

Ts’all good.

Nowadays I just have almost anything not performance-critical as Streams. So convenient and easy to read.