Please help - Making a background for a platformer

Newbie & Debugging Questions
#1

In games, the backgrounds are made up of many images (tree, rock, stone, grass, water, etc) pulled from files and placed together to make the background, or the map. HOW do I do this? I’m watching Markus’ livestream right now and don’t understand how it’s done. I really need to know how to do this to make a good game, and can’t find a tutorial on the internet. I’ve seen it done like this in Pitfall 4k-

final String S = "  nnnn   nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  "
        + " nnnn     nn     nnn      nn      nn      nn      nn      nn     nnn"
        + "n    nnnn   n   nn      nn      nn   nnnn   nn      nn      nnnnnn  "
        + " nnnn   n   nn      nn     nn      nn       nn  n   nn   nnnn      n"
        + "n     nnn    n nn   n  nn   nnnnnn     nn      nn      nn   nnnnnn  "
        + "nn      nn      nnnnn       nn      nn  n   nn  nnnnn    nnnn   nn  "
        + " n  nn      nnnnn   nn  nn  nn  nn  nn  nn   nnnn   nnnnnn  n    n  "
        + "    nn     nn     nn      nn      nn      nn     nnnn   nn  nn  nn  "
        + "nn   nnnn    nnnn   nn  nn  nn  nn   nnnn    nnnn   nn  nn  nn  nn  "
        + "nn  nn   nnnnn      nn  n   nn   nnnn             nn      nn        "
        + "              nn      nn              nn       nn       nn nnnnnnnnn"
        + "nnnnnnn     nn     nn     nn      nn      nn      nn   n  nn  nnn nn"
        + " nn nnnnnn   nnnn     nn      nn     nnnn   nnnnnn nn nn nnn  nn  n "
        + "  nn      nn      nn   b  bb  bb  bb  bb  bb  bb  bb  bb  bb  bb  bb"
        + "  bbb bb bb bbbbbb                         j       jjjj    jjjjjj  j"
        + "jjjjjj jjjjjjjj                        k       kkkk    kkkkkk  kkkkk"
        + "kk kkkkkkkkooooooo oooooo   oooo     oo    ooooooooooooooo o oooo   "
        + "  oo    ooooooo  oooo o   oo           oooooooooo  ooooo     oo     "
        + "  o                          mmm    mmmmm    mmm      c      ccc    "
        + "cc cc   c   c   c   c   c   c   cc cc    ccc                        "
        + "              m             m m m            m m                    "
        + " ccccc  cccccc ccccccc ccccccc cccccc  ccccc                      m "
        + "           m  m  m          m m m             m              ccccc  "
        + "cccccc ccccccc ccccccc cccccc  ccccc                              m "
        + "            m m m            m m                     lllll  llllll l"
        + "llllll lllllll llllll  lllll                      m            m  m "
        + " m          m m m             m              lllll  llllll lllllll l"
        + "llllll llllll  lllll           fff fff fff fff fff fff lllllll f fff"
        + " f f fff f f fff f lllllll fff fff fff fff fff fff lllllll f fff f f"
        + " fff f f fff f lllllll                                              "
        + "    mmm    mm mm   m   m   m  m  m mm   m  mmmmm m  mmmm     mmmm   "
        + " mm  mm m  m  m                                         mmm    mm mm"
        + "   m   m   m  m    m     m mm   mm mmmmm    mmmm     mmmm m  mm  m m"
        + "    m m          qq qq    qqq      a      qqq    qq qq   qq qq  qq  "
        + " qq qq qqqq qq   qq qqqq qq qq   qq qqq qqq qqq qqq  qqqqq          "
        + "                                            r       rr rrrrrrrr r r "
        + "r rr r r rrrrrrrrrr                                                 "
        + "       r       rrr     r rrr r   r rrr     r rr      rr      rrr r r"
        + " rrrrrrrrrr                                                f        "
        + " kk      kkk       k       kk      kk      k      k     kk     kkkkk"
        + " k qqqqq q kkkkk  kqqqqq  qkkkkkkk                  f        kk     "
        + " kkk       k       kk      kk      k      k     kk     kkkkk  kqqqqq"
        + "  qkkkkk  kqqqqq  qkkkkkkk             d       d       dd      dd   "
        + "  ddd     ddd     dddd   ddddd   eeeee   eeee     ee     bbbb   bbbb"
        + "bb bbb  bbbbb    bb                   aa     aaaa   aa aaa  aaaa a  "
        + "aaaaaa  aa aaa  aaaa a  aaaaaa  aa  aa  a aa a  a aa a  a aa a   a  "
        + "a     aa           nnnn    n  n    n       n    nnnn  n n nnnnn nnn "
        + "                                                                    "
        + "                                    nnn n n n n n n nnn nnn n     n "
        + "n   nnn            nnnn n     nnnn nn nn n n  nnnn n  nn n n  nn n n"
        + "n n            n            nn n nn n  n n  n  n nn              nn "
        + "       nnnn       n   n n n  nn n n nn  n nnn   n nn    n n         "
        + " n   n  nnn  n   n n nnn n n n n n n n n n n       n               n"
        + "nnnnnn n         nnn n n n   n n nnn n n   n n n nnn n            n "
        + "nnn   n n n   n nnn   n   n   n   n                                 "
        + "       nnn n  nn n nn nn n nnnnn n n nnnnn n  n         nnn nnn n n "
        + "  n nnn nnn n n n   nnn nnn                                         "
        + "                                          aa      hh      hh    h   "
        + "    s ss    ssss     ssss     sss     sss     ss     ooo    oooo    "
        + "oo o    o  o    oo o     o o     o o    oo o       o       o       o"
        + "       oo          aa      hh h    hh h    h  h    ss s    ssss    s"
        + "s      ss      ss      ss      ss      oo ooo  oooo oo oooo  o  oo  "
        + " oo                                                           aa    "
        + "  hh      hh      h       ss      ss      ss s    ssss    sss     ss"
        + "      ss      oo      oo      oo      oo      oo      oo      oo    "
        + "  ooo     o       oo              aa      hh      hh      h       ss"
        + "      ss     sss     sss s   sssss   ssss     ss      oo      oo    "
        + "  ooo     ooo     o o   ooo o   o   o   o    oo      o              "
        + "      aa      hh      hh      h       ss      ss      ss      ss    "
        + "  ss      sss     sss     oo      oo      ooo      ooo     o o   ooo"
        + "oo   o o     o o       o       oo             aa      hh      hh    "
        + "  h       ss      ss      ss      ss      sss     sss     ss      oo"
        + "      ooo     oooo    o oo   oo  o   oo o    o  o    o   o   o      "
        + "  o               aa      hh      hh      h       ss      ss     sss"
        + "     sss s   sssss   ssss     ss      oo      ooo    ooooo   oo oo  "
        + "oo   o  oo   o oo    ooo       o                          aa      hh"
        + "      hh      h       ss      ss s   sssss  sssss   s ss    s ss    "
        + "  ss      ooo     oooo oo oo o  ooo  o   oo  oo                     "
        + "                   ";

Help please!

-Nathan

#2

umm, I’m not entire sure how you want to do it. but I can tell you that you probably shouldn’t use code from a 4k, cause that code won’t be veryg ood, it will jus tbe very small.

I would imagine you can just use a big image, and then scroll it across as you move, just like you scroll everything else.

#3

My best example is Minecraft; it’s just a single dirt image, a single grass image, etc, and they are put together to make the world.

#4

I’m kind of surprised that zeroone didn’t use any kind of RLE compression for that map, but then again Pitfall4K looks like a pretty complete port already, so why bother.

You don’t use a big image, you simply render tiles in a grid slightly larger than your visible area, and translate slightly in the opposite direction of movement on every draw. I believe slick2d comes with some demos including a scrolling tile map.

Minecraft is a completely different type of game. Forget about minecraft.

#5

How can I do this? Could you at least link me to the example code?

#6

https://bob.newdawnsoftware.com/repos/slick/trunk/Slick/examples/org/newdawn/slick/examples/scroller/Scroller.java