Nice, does it support spritesheets? [import]uid: 53195 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131304[/import]
This looks very nice! I’ll probably buy it after I’ve played around with it a little more. Coronalabs should promote this somehow, too bad if its just forgotten in the forum [import]uid: 19086 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131305[/import]
Yes it supports simple spritesheets i.e. all frames but be the same size.
When you add an asset it prompts you with the image width and height, here you can modify these values to get the number of frames.
An asset is then created for each frame.
When using animation sequences you can specify the start frame and no of frames and the export will do the rest. [import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131306[/import]
Hi classic1144, I am currently working with CoronaLabs to get this promoted but they seem very busy at the moment so it is difficult to get responses.
Please explore it though and let me know your thoughts and suggestions. [import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131308[/import]
Can I do a horizontal scrolling platformer using spritesheets or tilesets with this? I mean a horizontally long level. I don’t know if it should load the whole map at once or load only what I’m seeing, to make it less performance expensive, no idea how it works really or what’s best for a platformer. I’m trying to decide between this, Lime and Gumbo right now. :S [import]uid: 53195 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131363[/import]
If you would like to check out some of the examples that come with Level Director before downloading it you can get them here;
http://www.retrofitproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/edd/2012/10/Examples.rar
The examples give a good feel for what can be exported from Level Director.
On a slightly different note I would like to mention one option being overlooked by some users which is the rapid copy and paste.
When you select an object hold down CTRL+[arrow key] and the object will be duplicated in that direction, this will save you loads of time when you need to repeat the same object.
SHIFT+[arrow] moves the object.
[import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131317[/import]
Can I do a horizontal scrolling platformer using spritesheets or tilesets with this? I mean a horizontally long level. I don’t know if it should load the whole map at once or load only what I’m seeing, to make it less performance expensive, no idea how it works really or what’s best for a platformer. I’m trying to decide between this, Lime and Gumbo right now. :S [import]uid: 53195 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131363[/import]
Creating scrolling wide levels was the main reason I created level director.
Lime is a great toolset but I just found the performance to slow and the tile base system too restrictive.
I then started using Gumbo but although a great free tool the lack of sprite sheets and layers again was not suited to my needs, plus I didn’t like the export.
Performance is always a problem with these types of games and generally you would use a combination of creating level data and clever code to retrieve data as needed.
It also depends on the style of game as for a simple platform type game you could place the platforms off screen as you go rather than having a fixed level.
One advantage with level director is each layer does not have to be the same width as your entire level.
So the background layer might be sky and clouds, a middle layer which could be a repetitive theme layer like trees or buildings and the foreground layer which is the game layer where all the action happens.
The export then allows you to control each layer so you can scroll them independently and you can add a user property to the layer to specify the parallax speed.
One of the examples gives an idea on how to create a simple scrolling game where the grass repeats and the trees are moved independently to give a parallax feel.
I would try it and see if it works for you, and keep your assets bigger so you don’t have hundreds of tiny display items. For example keep a tree image as a single tree rather than in lime/tiled it being made up of 20 tiles.
[import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131391[/import]
Creating scrolling wide levels was the main reason I created level director.
Lime is a great toolset but I just found the performance to slow and the tile base system too restrictive.
I then started using Gumbo but although a great free tool the lack of sprite sheets and layers again was not suited to my needs, plus I didn’t like the export.
Performance is always a problem with these types of games and generally you would use a combination of creating level data and clever code to retrieve data as needed.
It also depends on the style of game as for a simple platform type game you could place the platforms off screen as you go rather than having a fixed level.
One advantage with level director is each layer does not have to be the same width as your entire level.
So the background layer might be sky and clouds, a middle layer which could be a repetitive theme layer like trees or buildings and the foreground layer which is the game layer where all the action happens.
The export then allows you to control each layer so you can scroll them independently and you can add a user property to the layer to specify the parallax speed.
One of the examples gives an idea on how to create a simple scrolling game where the grass repeats and the trees are moved independently to give a parallax feel.
I would try it and see if it works for you, and keep your assets bigger so you don’t have hundreds of tiny display items. For example keep a tree image as a single tree rather than in lime/tiled it being made up of 20 tiles.
[import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131391[/import]
Hi alfgago,
Another thing I meant to say that may interest you is that I’m currently testing an asset manager system in Level Director.
It simply allows you to add assets (images) and then export them.
Also in the export it has a function that allows you to spawn a new object from one of your assets and it automatically adds animation sequence, bodies and physics attributes you set up in Level Director.
This may help in an endless runner type game…
Still in testing but I’ll keep you posted.
[import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131641[/import]
That would be awesome! Love the editor, I’ll be testing it more tomorrow. And most likely buying it soon, when I’m done with some other aspects of the game I’ve been working on. ^^ [import]uid: 53195 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131660[/import]
Hi alfgago,
Another thing I meant to say that may interest you is that I’m currently testing an asset manager system in Level Director.
It simply allows you to add assets (images) and then export them.
Also in the export it has a function that allows you to spawn a new object from one of your assets and it automatically adds animation sequence, bodies and physics attributes you set up in Level Director.
This may help in an endless runner type game…
Still in testing but I’ll keep you posted.
[import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131641[/import]
That would be awesome! Love the editor, I’ll be testing it more tomorrow. And most likely buying it soon, when I’m done with some other aspects of the game I’ve been working on. ^^ [import]uid: 53195 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 131660[/import]
Until the end of November use the discount code 5OFFLD to get $5 off. [import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 132180[/import]
Good, I had just noticed the $5 price raise and almost bought it for $15. That’s what I get for doubting so much. Oh well, just bought it, thank you for the code ^^ [import]uid: 53195 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 132189[/import]
Until the end of November use the discount code 5OFFLD to get $5 off. [import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 132180[/import]
Good, I had just noticed the $5 price raise and almost bought it for $15. That’s what I get for doubting so much. Oh well, just bought it, thank you for the code ^^ [import]uid: 53195 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 132189[/import]
Version 1.6 now available for download at www.retrofitproductions.com
* New asset manager export added
* Export property added to asset.
Defaults to True for single frame images and frame 1 for spritesheets.
* ‘Export Assets’ option added to tools->options.
* ‘Export Level’ option added to tools->options.
* ‘LoadAssets’ and ‘CreateObjectFromAsset’ functions added to export LUA code.
(LoadAssets must be called first)
* Assets can now be multi-selected and deleted.
* Added new ‘AssetTest’ example project.
* Fixed issue in polygon editor where ‘round’ shape would not draw correctly for images contained in a spritesheet.
* Fixed typo in Pong example to correctly centre the ball. [import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 132451[/import]
Version 1.6 now available for download at www.retrofitproductions.com
* New asset manager export added
* Export property added to asset.
Defaults to True for single frame images and frame 1 for spritesheets.
* ‘Export Assets’ option added to tools->options.
* ‘Export Level’ option added to tools->options.
* ‘LoadAssets’ and ‘CreateObjectFromAsset’ functions added to export LUA code.
(LoadAssets must be called first)
* Assets can now be multi-selected and deleted.
* Added new ‘AssetTest’ example project.
* Fixed issue in polygon editor where ‘round’ shape would not draw correctly for images contained in a spritesheet.
* Fixed typo in Pong example to correctly centre the ball. [import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 132451[/import]
If you have had problems running the examples on a real device then it is caused by the case in the image folder name.
Change the folder name ‘Images’ to ‘images’ or in config.lua change ‘images’ to ‘Images’ and they should build and run correctly.
It is annoying that the build process does not detect issues with case.
I’ll fix this in the installer and release a point build shortly.
Thanks to ‘berry’ for bringing this to my attention. [import]uid: 175213 topic_id: 30669 reply_id: 132869[/import]