Developing an alternative to Tiled

Lime
#1

First off I will say that at the moment this is all speculative. I am considering the possibility of developing an official editor for Lime. If this were going to happen it would only be started once Lime is fully out of Beta with as many of the kinks worked out as possible.

The plan would be to develop something that could be used instead of Tiled, you would still be able to use Tiled if you wanted. This editor would just make things easier such as rotation of objects and other features of Lime that are tricky or cumbersome to use with Tiled alone.

It would probably be a paid for product, still cheap, purely because it would be quite a large undertaking. This is also why I would make sure that Tiled is still fully supported so that if people wanted to stay with it they could.

The reason I’m posting this is because I would like to know if this is something that would be desired by anyone?

Also, if it is it would naturally need to be cross platform. I have no experience with mac desktop development and don’t really have the time or inclination to become fluent in Qt to do anything with that so figured my two strongest options are Adobe Air or Silverlight. Out of the two I would prefer to use Silverlight as I am a fan of C#.

The third option would be to use Mono but I’m not sure how well that works as far as Mac and Windows cross platform goes.

What do you guys think? [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 308585[/import]

#2

I think you should make it for the iPad – I was wishing last night that I could develop maps wherever I happen to be. And a map editor isn’t rocket science so off the top of my head I can’t think it would be *too* hard to pull off on the iPad.

So, when can we have it? :wink:

Jay

[import]uid: 9440 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 30808[/import]

#3

Now THAT is a cool idea.

The best part about it is that alot of the code has already been developed, Lime :slight_smile:

How fully featured would you want it to be? i.e. would you want essentially the same experience as Tiled only on the iPad or a more trimmed down version? [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 30809[/import]

#4

I haven’t used Tiled enough to know about all the features, but for an iPad version I’d hope for a way to load multiple tile sets and create multiple layers. As long as it would export to a format that could be read by Tiled for more advanced options, I’m not sure it would need more than that.

I went looking last night and was kind of surprised that I didn’t find a tile map editor for the iPad. And even toyed with the idea that I should make one. But if you make one I’ll buy a copy. :slight_smile:

Jay [import]uid: 9440 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 30849[/import]

#5

Would prefer a cross-platform version.I have a MBP.

[import]uid: 37854 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 30858[/import]

#6

For now I am looking into developing a trimmed down editor for the iPad which then will hopefully be expandable to a more full featured version if/when Ansca allow for desktop publishing with Corona. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 30865[/import]

#7

Glad you decided to give this a go Bud :slight_smile:

Don’t see you on gtalk anymore these days :confused: [import]uid: 6981 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 31553[/import]

#8

Hey yea I’ve been pretty busy these past few weeks so have stayed off-grid, so to speak. I hope to be able to pop back on more frequently soon. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 31817[/import]

#9

If you are looking for featured suggestions.

  1. Better management/ui of tiles, currently only allowing like 7 tiles to be on your screen without scrolling is a terrible idea, it needs a better way to organize and allow you to select tiles. Perhaps maybe even groups.

  2. Mass importer, I want to be able to drag and drop a folder and have it import them all.

  3. Combine layers (this should only be an option), for example if you have a single floor tile you are working with, you can have all your objects have that floor tile underneath them which would create a single draw call.

Just a few I could think of I will add more as I think of them. [import]uid: 46343 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 32954[/import]

#10

Yea I think one feature that would be a must for a full-featured desktop version would be some kind of project viewer so that you could easily see all tiles, objects and properties etc. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 33130[/import]

#11

I would love to have an alternative to Tiled, particularly one that supports hexagonal tiles and maps–that’s coming in Lime, right?

[import]uid: 1560 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 33310[/import]

#12

Hexagonal tiles are on the eventual wishlist however as Tiled doesn’t support it yet that isn’t really a workable feature until either it does or I develop an alternative editor. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 33425[/import]

#13

Just saw this and bought a copy - iTileMaps:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itilemaps/id432784227?mt=8

At $18 it’s a little pricier than I would have expected (normal iTunes pricing has spoiled me) but it’s a freakin’ tile editor for the iPad! :slight_smile:

I poked at it but haven’t “used” it yet so I don’t have a real review yet. But it’s there if anyone else wants to take a chance.

Jay
[import]uid: 9440 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 35013[/import]

#14

I like using processing for level editors, and it’s Java so cross platform also to linux.

-Angelo [import]uid: 12822 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 35016[/import]

#15

@ J - That looks really good, will certainly keep you going until I get round to properly working on a Lime specific editor.

@ Yobonja - While that does look cool, I don’t think it will help in our case. Unless I am very mistaken. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 35017[/import]

#16

Yeah I mean you probably wouldn’t use the linux export, but it also exports to mac and windows.
-Angelo [import]uid: 12822 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 35043[/import]

#17

Can it export tilemap type things, are you able to set custom formats? [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 35055[/import]

#18

Yeah you have full access to Java, and it also provides different libraries to make things easy. For example there’s an XML library included in core processing. It’s more low low level than say flash, so you have to do more stuff from scratch, but its a nice environment for graphics. I made an isometric game in it, and I made the level editor for Blast Monkeys using it. But yeah, thinking more on it, for a nice GUI library flash is much better, since it has textfields and buttons already done for you. I haven’t used silverlight so I don’t know what they offer as far as UI elements, is it like flash?

-Angelo [import]uid: 12822 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 35058[/import]

#19

That does sound pretty cool, I will have a look into it. Thanks for the heads up about it!

I’ve not looked into silverlight fully however I think it is at least meant to be like Flash, whether it is there yet I’m not sure. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 35060[/import]

#20

No problem, its a great prototyping tool.

I Just hopped over to the silverlight site, looks pretty sweet actually. Setting it up as a standalone app seems a little involved though.

-Angelo [import]uid: 12822 topic_id: 8585 reply_id: 35064[/import]