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Solarus => Bugs & Feature requests => Topic started by: solarusguest on June 18, 2016, 09:00:25 PM

Title: Version Request - Stand-alone map editor
Post by: solarusguest on June 18, 2016, 09:00:25 PM
First of all, I love the effort of the Zelda community to do something like this. Obviously a lot of work has been put into this and as a Zelda fan, I appreciate that.

Now this may be an unusual request but I would love to see a "map only" version of this software. Basically an easy way to add tilesets and sprites where them being dynamic or connected to a game engine is completely turned off and the map-making portion would become more user-friendly.

I am trying to create a map now with this software. I do not have programming experience so I've stayed out of .lua and am trying to do as much as I can with my limited ability. An analogy that may help is I'm trying to make colored circles in C++....total overkill. Now with that analogy, I could just use MS Paint. But here, I have not found another map making software that uses Zelda tilesets and sprites. That's what I'm after...not just an RPG map...a Zelda map. More specifically, a Link to the Past Zelda map (I know there's a map editor for the original Zelda game).

I've been able to get the tilesets from the expansion up and running (although I failed at getting user-created tilesets to load in a way I could use them). I can get SOME sprites into the map, but only the first "direction" of them. In other words, I can get a green rupee, but not a red one. I have tried changing the variation and blah blah blah you get the idea. I'm having a lot of trouble. This is overkill for my purposes since I have no plans to ever "play" my map. I just want to create a static version of it.

If you've ever played Warcraft 2, you're probably familiar with the map editor. That's exactly what I have in mind, except for Zelda tilesets and sprites.

So...is this possible?
Title: Re: Version Request - Stand-alone map editor
Post by: wizard_wizzle (aka ZeldaHistorian) on June 19, 2016, 04:46:59 PM
If you're just doing maps, and no actual game, then I would recommend something like Tiled. It's designed just to let you drop tiles on a map, with no programming behind it.
Title: Re: Version Request - Stand-alone map editor
Post by: Zefk on June 19, 2016, 11:20:48 PM
That is true. Tiled (http://www.mapeditor.org/) can be used to make maps and it might be able to bypass some of limits in Solarus, but it could backfire when collision is being added. The collision 8x8 blue borders will still go by 8x8. Little images with preset borders will have to be used. That is common with large Zelda trees and log tunnels.

A semi transparent white border might be good to use. I think putting the opacity to 1% might work. I never actually tried it in Solarus, but it might work. It is basically invisible at 1% opacity.
Title: Re: Version Request - Stand-alone map editor
Post by: solarusguest on June 24, 2016, 07:23:18 AM
How would I use Zelda tilesets with tiled? Is it easy to import them?

Also, can you tell me more about the collision/opacity issue? I didn't really follow
Title: Re: Version Request - Stand-alone map editor
Post by: wizard_wizzle (aka ZeldaHistorian) on June 24, 2016, 09:15:06 PM
You can use any tilesets in Tiled - there are full instructions on their website.

My understanding is that you're just making a map and not putting it in a game, right? If so, then collisions won't matter and you won't implement them at all.
Title: Re: Version Request - Stand-alone map editor
Post by: Zefk on June 25, 2016, 04:49:41 PM
Quote from: wrightmat on June 24, 2016, 09:15:06 PM
You can use any tilesets in Tiled - there are full instructions on their website.

My understanding is that you're just making a map and not putting it in a game, right? If so, then collisions won't matter and you won't implement them at all.

1. If you plan on just making maps that will not be walked on, then use tiled (http://www.mapeditor.org/).

2. If you plan on having a sprite walk on the map, then it would be best to go through basic Solarus tutorials (http://www.solarus-games.org/development/tutorials/).

Lowering the opacity is like transparency. You can see through it, but the difference is that the color will be see through. It is common for people to make backgrounds transparent instead of white. Gimp is a free program that can do this. I do this quite a bit for the text box. A common format that supports transparency is PNG (Portable Network Graphic).
(http://saf.bio.caltech.edu/PPT_G_P_I/P2PLN_opacity_ppt.png)

Lowering the opacity to 1% will basically make the color invisible, but it is still there. Collision is used to block the player from going through a tree or other obstacles.