A map editor?

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jinxtengu
Posts: 123
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:05 pm
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A map editor?

Post by jinxtengu »

Hey yo!

Hey so I know Z game editor was originally based around using procedural generation, for much of the process of building games and demos n such,
and I think this is a cool paradigm, and there's much to be said for limitations making things intereasting, and it's really cool that Z game editor is very compact, portable and non-bloaty.

Anyway, Im very very close to having finished a cool game with z game editor. My game has fairly complex levels, well akin to something using the build engine. I used the method of loading maps though txt files as that was the method included in the Z game example files (with the wolf maze example). Now I've really taken this as far as it can go, even loading multiple multiple TXTs to build multi storied maps, and it has been both a feat of engineering and something of a nightmare. I was wondering, how hard would it be to write a small program, or Add on to Z game editor, that enabled placement of models in a 3d view and then saved their positions to somekind of array? Surely not that hard? Maybe someone has already done something akin to this,
and It just escaped my attention.
Anyhow, food for thought. If I were to suggest a possible feature request, that would greatly increase the usability, for new users and old users alike,
it would be some kind of map building feature, and a dedicated way to save and load maps. 8)
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VilleK
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Re: A map editor?

Post by VilleK »

jinxtengu wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 2:37 pm Hey so I know Z game editor was originally based around using procedural generation, for much of the process of building games and demos n such,
and I think this is a cool paradigm, and there's much to be said for limitations making things intereasting, and it's really cool that Z game editor is very compact, portable and non-bloaty.
Those were indeed the initial design goals for ZGE. Thanks for appreciating that. It is not for everyone :)
jinxtengu wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 2:37 pm Anyway, Im very very close to having finished a cool game with z game editor.
Please consider posting some preview images or video. It always make me happy to see what ZGE is used for.
jinxtengu wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 2:37 pm Anyhow, food for thought. If I were to suggest a possible feature request, that would greatly increase the usability, for new users and old users alike,
it would be some kind of map building feature, and a dedicated way to save and load maps. 8)
I agree a built-in map editor would be nice to have. It could be done similar to the spritesheet and tile editor, as a separate zgeproj file. Something to consider for the future.

If you are already using text files then I assume generic map editors such as this one can export to a format that you can use directly: https://www.mapeditor.org/
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