I''ve been working on my DirectX game engine for an RPG and have gotten to the point where I''d like the main character to be able to carryout multiple tasks. Thing is, with my tilebased system it is extremely tedious to hardcode which tiles go where, especially for large scenes like towns. Each tile has to be chosen using a rectangle from a large bitmap filled with tiles, then its coordinates need to be noted and associated with an ID relating to that particular tile. The ID''s are stored in a twodimensional array that covers the entire area (several screens worth of tiles) and when the character moves the new tiles that are supposed to come on the screen are grabbed from this array and displayed. Anyways, I looked for a tool to make this process easier, but have come up emptyhanded. I''m about to start designing my own program to help make area design easier, but I''d much rather use someone elses program if at all possible, but for my needs it would have to be reasonably versatile. I''m sure other people have done exactly what I have before, so I would think there would be a good tool for this..Anyways, here''s how it would work so you know what I''m looking for: The program displays the bitmap of tiles and another empty bitmap. The user clicks on a 32X32 tile in the displayed bitmap and the upper-left hand corner of the empty bitmap becomes filled with that tile. Then the user clicks on another tile and that gets placed to the right of the first one in the nearly-empty bitmap. This process continues until the user is satisfied with his layout. During this whole process, a txt file is created that assigns ID''s to the tiles that are chosen (perhaps simply the upperleft of the tilebitmap equals 0, the one to the right equals 1..etc). This is the only thing that is actually needs to be produced by the program, because the resulting picture can now be easily displayed using only the txt file in the game engine. Anyone think they can help or have any advice for me?

It''s difficult to say what editor to use, because none exist that would be designed to your specification; you might end up using an entirely different library or a "RPG Maker" type development tool.

I''d suggest writing your own, but only include the basics of what you need to get your game complete. Once you have this done, you can easily ''upgrade'' it for later games. And the best part is, it''s all free!

I wrote my own tile editor for my game engine; I would not think of using someone else''s, because I would require a custom tool. It''s just easier to write my own (particularly because it does exactly what I want it to).



MatrixCubed
http://MatrixCubed.cjb.net

I have one that you can use I made it a while ago but it works ok. It is set to use 3 layers but I can change the code if you need it to just hangle one. You can save the maps under any extension. The tiles are 20x20 I think but I can also change the size of that. There is a scroll window where you choose your tiles and easy to use buttons. Email me if you would like to check it out.

OoMMMoO
xenog@hotmail.com

I use this map editor:
It uses Allegro, but you can make your plugin to load/save
format so your game doesn''t have to use Allegro. You will
have to download and install Allegro to compile and use
this editor though.

http://annie.kezako.net/eme/

If you can draw the map you can certainly make a map editor.
It''s easier than drawing the map. (Although I wouldn''t advise editing your level without drawing the map )

MapLayer[(Mouse.X-Camera.X)/TileSize][(Mouse.Y-Camera.Y)/TileSize].TileValue = SelectedTile;

Camera.X and .Y is the current camera position in an offset of pixels.

It may be a pain in the ass to use somebody elses map editor because it may not support some of the features you want.

Thanks guys for reading my post and offering your help and advice, I really appreciate it. Yeah, I understand how to make my own mapping program but with all the work I want to get done on the RPG i was hoping to avoid the few hours necessary to make my own. I also guess I''m a bit frustrated as I''m used to not having to reinvent the wheel (or at least not without improvements ). Anyways, I''ll continue to work on my game for another week or so and then if I haven''t found something I''ll write my own and it will be versatile. When completed, I''ll post it here in case anyone is in a similar position.