TilemapEd, Tilemap editor for the X16

[Dacobi]

The Selection Editor and the Tileset work both so well that I wonder if you really need the Tile Editor? I think I prefer to work with the Tileset Editor even when working with single tiles.

I think for things like creating a copy of a Tile and making small changes the Tile editor would still be useful, but I guess different people will have different workflows.

I think I'm about ready to release TilemapEd 1.0.0
I just changed the Remove Tile warning dialog to have a checkbox for "Show this warning".
I can't think of anything else to change.
I've been considering a Sprite editor, with features like creating a rotation range, but that would be for version 1.2.0.

Jag bor i Kalmar i Sverige.

Jeg bor på Samsø, en lille ø i Kattegat.

Kul att vi är några från de nordiska länderna som är engagerade i detta. One day we will have a North Europe X16 convent.

We'll just have to find a place that's sort of in the center : )

[Johan Kårlin]

I saw that v 1.0 is released. Great!

Not much is needed for basic sprite support I think. The possibility of adding tilesets (spritesets?), with the sprite sizes VERA support, would be enough for a good start.

[Dacobi]

I've already uploaded the first bugfix release

I think I'll just call them sprites with the files starting at sprite0.bin, but where each sprite could have any number of frames?
Besides pixel editing the only feature I can think of would be to create a specified number of rotated frames between the original frame and 90°

[Johan Kårlin]

One thought is to first let the user make an arbitrary number of sprites where some sprites might be frames that animate a certain something. Then maybe let the user test animations by selecting the different ”frame sprites” that belong together. In an animation like an explosion, the same sprites/frames are always involved in the same order but for example a fighting character will animate by using different frames depending on how he/she moves.

Rotation is a useful feature, I have used it in my game Rally Speedway where I have cars/sprites rotated between 0 and 90 degrees consisting of 17 frames (step 5.625 deg). 0 to 90 degrees is enough because the cars are symmetrical along one axis, therefore I can flip the sprites to get a full 360 deg rotation. But if there for example would have been a motorcycle with a sidecar which isn’t symmetrical along any axis I would have needed more frames, not really sure how many but I think 32, that is frames from 0 to 180-5.625.

[Dacobi]

I thought the Sprite editor would be sort of a combination between the Tile and Tileset editor where you can choose to view/edit a single frame or all frames at once. Then there could be a function to cycle through all frames to view the animation.

The reason I started writing TilemapEd was because I was working on a racing game in the spirit of Micro Machines. I also have car sprites rotated between 0 and 90° at 10° intervals plus one for 45°.
I didn't consider sprites that aren't symmetric. The user should probably be able to choose between both 90, 180 and 360° when creating rotated frames.

[Johan Kårlin]

I thought the Sprite editor would be sort of a combination between the Tile and Tileset editor where you can choose to view/edit a single frame or all frames at once. Then there could be a function to cycle through all frames to view the animation.

Absolutely, I have just loose thoughts about this.

I didn't consider sprites that aren't symmetric. The user should probably be able to choose between both 90, 180 and 360° when creating rotated frames.

Oh, I get it, I was too quick and started thinking about rotation in arbitrary angles. I thought it sounded complicated ... Rotation in right angles is a very good start, already a bonus feature for me.

I am excited about starting working with this. It is so smooth that both TilemapEd and my game can use the same binaries with no conversion needed.

[Dacobi]

Oh, I get it, I was too quick and started thinking about rotation in arbitrary angles. I thought it sounded complicated ... Rotation in right angles is a very good start, already a bonus feature for me.

I do mean arbitrary angles, I just meant that when the user choose the number of steps/intervals they also choose if the range is between 0 and 90, 180 or 360.
The algorithm for arbitrary angle rotation is a bit complicated, but I got ChatGPT to write a function

I am excited about starting working with this. It is so smooth that both TilemapEd and my game can use the same binaries with no conversion needed.

It is rather nice how fast you can get something up and running and loaded into VERA.
I just wish I had better artistic skills.

I think the next update is going to be the ability to open/create a new project without having to restart the program.
When that's done I'll start working on sprites.

[Dacobi]

I just uploaded version 1.0.9 with the ability to close the current project and open/create a new project.

[Dacobi]

I just uploaded version 1.2.0 which has the ability to create an optional CollisionMap for TileMaps.

More information is in the main post and in the help text/dialog.

[Johan Kårlin]

I am using TilemapEd for my latest game project now, works like a charm, but (as always) I have a thought/question. The palette uses 24 bits for colors while the X16 uses 12 bits. Why not just work in the X16 format? Now, you might set two different but similar colors without realizing that they will end up being the same color on the X16.