Hello,
I will be hard-coding a map into my code like so:
private char[][] tiles = new char[][] {
{'x','x','x','x'},
{'x','.','.','x'},
{'x','.','.','x'},
{'x','.','.','x'},
{'x','.','.','x'},
{'x','x','x','x'},
};
I am going to make a 2D top down view (Like Link to the Past) with 16x16 tiles that I created. How can I display this and how can I have multiple areas i.e. a room?
Thanks,
Jhost
Several ways. The most basic way is to have a loop that iterates through your tile array. Inside have something that figures out what type of tile should be painted, then… Paint it.
As for several tile maps? Well, you’d have an event trigger when your player moves off the current map, that switches the current map for the new one.
Thanks. Would LWJGL be worthwhile using for this game?
I have written 2 nice classes for this. One which will read external maps (thanks to jgo for this one though!), and one who will create an image from a 2d array.
For different levels i do the following:
Create 3 different external map objects for 3 levels. Have 1 background image. Now as soon as the game starts, youll give your background image the value of an external 2d array, this array is external mab object level 1. As soon as you finish a level, you go give it the value of the second external 2d value. Etc etc etc.
Ill upload it once im on uni today, i think it suits all your needs! 
Java2D works fine for a map that small, and probably for anything larger too (depending on the tile size though). There are however some things that are potentially VERY expensive with Java2D. For example, scaling, rotating and transparency are very slow and should be avoided. If you will not be using those then you’ll have no problem with just Java2D.
Like elamre said, it might be easier to store the map in an external map file and then make a simple parser to interpret the file, if only for readability’s sake. Initializing a 2D array with all the tiles could get pretty messy once you have a large map.
Ok i dont know how much experience you have with programming, so ill just explain it basically. If anything is unclear to you, please say so!
Im using the following class to get data from an text file, and return it as a 2d array:
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.LineNumberReader;
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class MapToArray {
private final String filename;
//Simple constcructor. Taking the name of your map as argument ( in String) for example: MapToArray("level1.txt")
MapToArray(String filename) {
this.filename = filename;
}
//This function will return the 2d array of the map, in INT[][]
public int[][] getArray() throws IOException {
ArrayList<String> array = new ArrayList<String>();
int length = getLength();
int height = getHeigth();
LineNumberReader reader = new LineNumberReader(new FileReader(filename));
for (int i = 0; i < height; i++) {
array.add(reader.readLine());
}
if (array.size() == 0) {
System.out.println("Empty map");
}
int[][] numbers = new int[length][height];
int r = 0;
//Now that we have decided the size of our 2d array, we will fill it in
for (String s : array) {
toArray(s, r, numbers);
r++;
}
return numbers;
}
//Since an array is static, we must find its boundaries. This function will return the amount of characters in the map.
private int getLength() throws IOException {
int countChar = 0;
try {
LineNumberReader reader = new LineNumberReader(new FileReader(filename));
String lineRead = reader.readLine();
int length = 0;
while (countChar < lineRead.length()) {
if (!(lineRead.charAt(countChar) == ',')) {
length++;
}
countChar++;
}
reader.close();
return length;
} catch (IOException e) {
throw e;
}
}
//This will return the height of the map (the amount of lines)
private int getHeigth() throws IOException {
try {
LineNumberReader reader = new LineNumberReader(new FileReader(filename));
@SuppressWarnings("unused")
String lineRead;
while ((lineRead = reader.readLine()) != null) {
}
int height = reader.getLineNumber();
reader.close();
return height;
} catch (IOException e) {
throw e;
}
}
//This function will fill an entire row with the numbers from String s.
private void toArray(String s, int row, int[][] numbers) {
String match = ",";
String[] veld = s.split(match);
for(int i = 0; i<veld.length;i++)
veld[i] = veld[i].replaceAll(" ","");
for (int i = 0; i < veld.length; i++) {
try {
numbers[i][row] = Integer.parseInt(veld[i]);
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
System.out.println("Not a valid map!");
}
}
}
}
Ok so now we have a class which will take the map location as input, and returns the 2d array as output. Note this is NOT necessary, but it makes everything a lot easier to manage, reuse and saves up precious source code space.
so this is how we can use it:
int[][] array_map1;
MapToArray map1 = new mapToArray("level 1.dat");
array_map1 = map1.getArray();
where level1.dat contains the following:
1,1,1,1,1,
1,0,0,0,1,
1,0,2,0,1,
1,0,0,0,1,
1,1,1,1,1,
Where 1 are the walls, 2 is a table for example. Now you have the array, whats next?
You want to draw everything on the screen. For this im not quite sure what you exactly need at this point. A class which loads the images of a tilesheet? ill just give you a simplefied version of my code:
package nl.elmar.grafics;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import nl.elmar.items.Coin;
import nl.elmar.items.Key;
import nl.elmar.items.Sword;
import nl.elmar.other.Common;
public class ArrayToGraf {
Image image;
//ignore this part
Sprite sprite = new Sprite("terrainSheet.png", 1, 15, false);
int x,y,temp=0;
//nothing here yet
public ArrayToGraf(){
}
//This function will return an BufferedImage with all the tiles drawn on it
public BufferedImage getMap(int[][] map){
BufferedImage bufferedImage = new BufferedImage(map.length*4, (map[0].length)*15, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_BGR);
Graphics2D g2d = bufferedImage.createGraphics();
g2d.setColor(Color.green);
g2d.fillRect(0, 0, map.length*4, (map[0].length)*15);
for(int heigth = 0; heigth<map[0].length; heigth++){
for(int length = 0; length<map.length; length++){
x=0;
temp = map[length][heigth];
while(temp>=10){
x++;
temp-=10;
}
y=temp;
g2d.drawImage(sprite.getImage(x, y), length*15, heigth*15, null);
}
}
g2d.finalize();
g2d.dispose();
return bufferedImage;
}
}
Now my code is probably using methods which you dont have. Im using a sprite sheet, which is much easier for me.
How you can do it, with the map i gave as example, is:
//Add the following 2 lines as variables in your class
private Image wall = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage("Map/Wall.png");
private Image table = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage("Map/Table.png");
private Image floor = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage("Map/Floor.png");
Now the computer knows what a wall looks like, and what a table looks like. But he doesnt know where to place them. So we change the for loop given in my previous class.
change this:
for(int length = 0; length<map.length; length++){
x=0;
temp = map[length][heigth];
while(temp>=10){
x++;
temp-=10;
}
y=temp;
g2d.drawImage(sprite.getImage(x, y), length*15, heigth*15, null);
}
to this:
for(int length = 0; length<map.length; length++)
switch(map[length][heigth]){
case 0:
g2d.drawImage(floor, length*15, heigth*15, null);
break;
case 1:
g2d.drawImage(wall, length*15, heigth*15, null);
break;
case 2:
g2d.drawImage(table, length*15, heigth*15, null);
break;
}
}
Why *15? you would ask. Well this is the size of each tile of yours. Im using 15 myself, but change to your liking!
So how to totally implement it?
This is how i have done it:
..... your main drawing class here...
int[][] array_map1;
MapToArray map1;
Image bckground_1;
ArrayToGraf draw = new ArrayToGraf();
Constructor(){
map1 = new mapToArray("level 1.dat");
array_map1 = map1.getArray();
bckground_1 = draw.getMap(array_map1.getArray());
}
Yes this could be smaller:
background = draw.getMap(map1.getArray(), objects1.getArray());
Now all you have to do is draw your image, its as simple as that! 
Any problems ? ask me!
dont forget to give me a medal for my hard work of explaining! 
Thanks a bunch man, I loved the explaining it helps rather than just giving out code! Just one more question, what do you mean by draw it? I’m sorry but I’m a bit of a noob in Java Game Development. There’s a medal for you . I was wondering if you would add me in skype? PM me for it and thanks again.
That’s what the ‘appreciate’ button is for. :3
However, by draw he means you have to draw the image to the screen. Mr. Kevglass of this site has a rather helpful explanation of how to do that here: http://cokeandcode.com/index.html?page=tutorials/spaceinvaders101
Just out of question, as I have found a rather interesting MapEditor ( http://sites.google.com/site/juddman/ )that saves as text files, would this be useful and could I use the code to convert this to a 2D array?
No problems at all, i find that doing both is the most effective. Sometimes people just give explanation, without a sample code. This is really frustrating if you are still not able to finish it. And only code doesnt help anybody either.
Im glad that i finally could help somebody, instead of just asking help on the forums and profit from it (which really isnt my intention btw).
Sure pm is on its way. It only seems that our timezones are totally different (as in, your day starts when im asleep, and when im posting you seem to be asleep 
).
And yes you could basicly use everything. Youll just have to find an algorithm to convert the array to the map.
You could also use Tiled, with some modifications to the array to image code. The Text to 2dArray should suit for almost everything, and shouldnt require a lot of changes for use with other programs like the one you listed. Btw did you succeed in drawing it? otherwise check these small tutorials out:
http://zetcode.com/tutorials/javagamestutorial/
I loved those, and that is what i started with.
Also uprightPath, why are they using a singleton? isnt it just much easier to make a static class with static variable? does the same thing, but then easier (and better, according to our java teacher at uni)
I added you on skype. Maybe we could work together on a game. I really think you would be good at making videos on making a java 2d game like the one I have described here from scratch. I know I would watch them!
Thanks im working on a more detailed tutorial, with better code