How can I make a Map Editor?

[louie999]

I seem to be struggling on this one, I don't know how to make a Map Editor for my game D: anyone can give me some useful tips/help so I can make this?

[veethree]

You'll have to be more specific. How you implement a map editor can vary depending on the game. It would also help if we knew what exactly you're struggling with.

[louie999]

Well, my game is a tower defense game, the things I'm having problems with is:
1. Grid map
2. Loading a tile map
3. Saving the map

[IndieRetro]

Well, my game is a tower defense game, the things I'm having problems with is:
1. Grid map
2. Loading a tile map
3. Saving the map

Saving and loading can be very easy, I'd recommend using something like TSerial, basically what this does is converts a table into a string, which you can then save to a .lua file, and then you can directly require that file where you need it and access the data just like any other Lua table.

[davisdude]

I'm gonna beat Robin to the punch and recommend Ser instead of TSerial

[louie999]

Ok I'll try TSerial and Ser and see which suits my needs better, though I have a new problem, how can I detect which "tile" the mouse is on, not the x/y but the tile, as the map editor I'm planning to make is gonna have a tilemap..

[DeltaF1]

how can I detect which "tile" the mouse is on, not the x/y but the tile, as the map editor I'm planning to make is gonna have a tilemap..

To convert from screen x/y to map x/y coordinates, you need to divide the screen coordinates by your gridSize. For example, if your grid size is 64 pixels, then you could do this

Code: Select all

gridSize = 64

x = love.mouse.getX()
y = love.mouse.getY()

tileX = math.floor(x / gridSize) --"math.floor to round decimal answers down, so 2.11462 becomes 2 etc"
tileY = math.floor(y / gridSize)

tile = map[tileX][tileY] --"or map[tileY][tileX], depending on how your map is constructed"

doSomethingWithTheTile(tile)

(unrelated. Is there something wrong with comments in the code highlighter?

[bakpakin]

If your fine with not making a custom editor, I recommend using Tiled http://www.mapeditor.org/. It can be overly general, but it is a very good tool that exports to lua.

If you still want to make your own editor, I have a library, Editgrid https://github.com/bakpakin/Editgrid, that was made for level editors and the like. It helps for drawing fancy grids and is compatible with a couple of camera libraries.It also will autodetect the "tile" the mouse is on.

[louie999]

how can I detect which "tile" the mouse is on, not the x/y but the tile, as the map editor I'm planning to make is gonna have a tilemap..

To convert from screen x/y to map x/y coordinates, you need to divide the screen coordinates by your gridSize. For example, if your grid size is 64 pixels, then you could do this

Code: Select all

gridSize = 64

x = love.mouse.getX()
y = love.mouse.getY()

tileX = math.floor(x / gridSize) --"math.floor to round decimal answers down, so 2.11462 becomes 2 etc"
tileY = math.floor(y / gridSize)

tile = map[tileX][tileY] --"or map[tileY][tileX], depending on how your map is constructed"

doSomethingWithTheTile(tile)

(unrelated. Is there something wrong with comments in the code highlighter?

Thanks dude
@bakpakin Ok, I'll give it a try.