[AIR] FlashEdit - Tilebased Map Editor

hello

been working on a tile editor in Adobe AIR for the past 3 days.

3 days of fun (extreme sarcasm)

anyway, I think its at a stage where people can do some beta testing. Please post any bugs if you wish to test. Hopefully there shouldn't be any in this simple version.

Note* most functions are not working yet, such as:

clearMap
resizeMap
toggleGrid
export as2 class
export as3 class
export text
flood fill
selection
duplicate layer
undo
redo

but you can do everything else. Currently trying to create a better save dialog box which creates the extension for you. Right now, you need to save a map with the correct extension (.fem)

I would really love to know the fps you guys get (bottom left) currently its very unoptimised, some people would have a fit if they knew the rendering method I'm using. It has potential to be real bad given enough layers and a small tile size and large map window. Will need to fix that in the future :crazy:

basically, I go over every layer in correct zOrder, loop through its onScreen tiles, and copy the correct chunk from the tileset into a bitmapData. So you can see it could get very bad, I have limited the min tile size to 16 so peoples computers don't die. The good thing is I dont need to copy bitmaps every time mapData changes, just modify array values and the rest sorts itself out. And I only need 1 display bitmap.

anyway, blah blah blah, here's the setup file, If you dare ;)

you will need the runtime to install - http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/air.html (beta2)

EDIT - I have no idea how this looks on a Mac, so it may not work correctly, I have tried to follow all the steps to support them.

That's great dude. Really cool. I probably got an average frame rate of 100 fps, with photoshop and flash running in other windows while working on a 40x40 map. (pentium 4 3.6GHz, 3GB ram).
I didn't find any obvious bugs.

I'm definitely going to have to look into air. Is it really that much of a ***** to work with?

actually no, its really good, I use the plug in for CS3, haven't used flex.

The only thing which I found hard was not understating windows. For about 1 day I struggled creating those scrollPane windows you see as built in Native Windows, only to find that the windows you create cannot be placed above your main application window, I then ditched them and created scrollPane's inside one window. Only to realize then that I could have closed the main application window and kept the other custom ones open.

All in all it was just a pain figuring out how these new things work. Same as BitmapData really. I still don't know it all though. I recommend you try AIR, it was super easy to get an app started.

There is a bug right now, the windows I open (new map) (layer properties) are not closed when the application exits. So anyone using, be weary of that.

A cool feature is the ability to register a file type to your application, so you can double click a .fem file and it'll load up the application (not working yet) and I think its also possible to create an app which updates itself, not sure about that though.

Oh, and it is oh so easy to read and write to the hard drive. Thats the best feature by far.

Whats peoples opinions on AIR? do you trust it?

The Mac version of the AIR installer won't uncompress. Using third-party decompression apps I was able to whittle it down to just the .dmg, but that refused to mount. Maybe it's a Leopard thing (I got a new computer. Squize, if you're listening, it runs Polarity a lot better than my old one ;))?

Cool ( To both Polarity running more than 8fps, and for Mr M doing the AIR thing so he can explain it all to the rest of us ).

Funnily enough I've been working with Mappy loads the past 2/3 weeks and my mind drifted to doing a map editor as a way to learn air.
Think I'm being pipped at the post with everything recently, I need to be less lazy and actually just make things rather than thinking about them.

Squize.

thanks, seriously, AIR is so easy with CS3, its like just like using components except their not buggy.

check out the bottom left panel - http://livedocs.adobe.com/labs/air/1/aslr/index.html, any items with a adobe air icon are new. I really realyl want to use the clipboard, for CTRL+Z undo action :D and possibly copy and paste. So many ideas...

good thing too, is that if you want to update the app, you dont need to uninstall and re-install the new package, the package will realise it needs updating and do it for you. Or you can manually update using the Updater class :D

Yeah.... **** me. I should scrap the progress of my map editor, Flash Mapper, and move over to air like someone suggested in the thread for said editor. Of course, if I didn't love my sweet menu/window classes I used in it, I would be less hesitant to move it over to air. Not even sure how air works though, but could be fun. In the meantime I'm taking a long (probably too long) break from flash. Got my last semester at college for my Associates in Applied Science right around the corner, and going to distance myself from outside distractions for a few months. If I do any coding in flash, it will be simple, though useful, applications instead of games.

Errr enough of the tangent but yeah, looking good Malee, though I have a feeling your editor is going to undermine the big one I vowed to make for universal map editor (ya know, iso/grid, xml/txt etc). Err...

Ok, so Mr Malee and me decided to work on some stuff together.
After some brainstorming sessions and some days of work we got quite some cool stuff cooking, so stay tuned, this is just the beginning :D

As first result of our coop we can today present alpha 2.1 of Flash Edit :)

*Grab it here:

http://www.stimunationgames.com/joyF..._alpha_2_1.zip

*New features/ improvements in this version:

-added more editing tools:
-draw circle tool
-draw line tool
-draw rectangle tool
-paintbucket (fill) tool
-tile picker tool

-improved output:
-one can see the map data in an output window now (in case one doesn´t want to save it to a file but just copy & paste the array :) )

-improved saving:
-when saving the filename is pre selected
-one can export in several formats


*Getting it running:

As before you need the Air runtime, you can get it here: http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/air.html
Once that is installed you can install the Editor :)


*Usage:
Once started up you first import a Tileset from the top menu. Then you can create a new map (top menu File>New). And yup, then you can doodle around :)

Malee you sold me out... ow.

hahaha, get passed them packages and we'll talk ;)

just dropping a line to get a subscription to this thread. a screenshot in the first post wont hurt as you don´t provide a instant online demo

yeah, you´re right, here you are :)

http://www.stimunationgames.com/medi...creenshot1.jpg

downloading now... can't wait to play with it

sweet, hope you like it :)

Can I have Transparent Tiles for overlaying please!

ps LOVE the brush...
can I have a brush fill too as well

you mean layer transparency? that could be good

Tom's the flood fill guy :D

oh and also can I have an image upload so that I can have a reference image ti lay tiles over :D eg my rough pencil drawing...

And can it write my next game for me... Im thinking with pathfinding across variable height terrain.....

i´ll work on the fill brush and yup, also on setting transparency of layers.
Having a bg image in there is a good call, too (render told me that, one, too :) )

Haha, i guess writing the whole game is a bit out of the range of what we´re going for (for now :D ) but yeah, you could probably paint your weighted heightmap terrain for the pathfinder nicely with it :)

I want to assign collision reactions based on a tile type (for my purposes I have an image like

http://www.markfennell.com/unclassif...isionTiles.png

that I use as tiles to paint over my map.

I want to be able to assign a parameter at the tilesheet level... I mean I guess I can just identify the tile at the parsing level but you know while I am making requests...

haha, yeah, i know :)
Its good, i want this to be useful to as many as possible :)
Our roadmap for the development lists these major steps as next todos:
-improve visual map editing related functionality (things like having a magnifier tool, undo and redo functionality or setting the layer transparency are summed up there)
-add project functionality (allow setting up a project with global default settings for all maps in project and also saving a project file that contains all project maps and assets)
-improve map output functionality (things like save in more file tpyes and beeing able to edit the map output, map element seperater strings etc)
-add per tile edit features (manipulate data of each tile, local per tile or map or global per map or project)

So you see we have more to do then already done (as with everything in life ;) ). Since this is a freetime project on which malee and i just work some more on each time we got some hours to spare we have no set dates for achieving these steps, but yeah, will try to get as much as possible done asap :)
As usual we´ll post updates here :)

It looks great, but it’s not working for me :(. I can load tile sets, and make a new map, but I can’t draw anything. Am I missing something obvious?

Ali

i only know of one case when that can happen, that is when your tileset dimensions are not a multiple of your tile dimensions.
I´ll work on addressing that, but yeah, for now your tilemap dimensions have to be a multiple of your tilesize.
If that is already the case and it still doesn´t work then let me know :)

Thats already the case and it still doesn't work :(.

Ali

hm, ok, that´s weird, hm, what´s your tilesheet dimensions and which tilesize did you pick?
Also did you do it in this order: ?
-open app
-press "tilesets">import tileset
-choose "File">New (set settings and press ok :) )
-choose tile on the right window
-choose editing tool on the left
-draw

My tile sheet is 600 wide and 25 high, chose 25 as tile size.

I did everything in that order. I did notice that the end of my tile set is cut off a bit though when viewed in the tile window, which would make it an "uneven" width. Not sure if that could cause the problem.

Hope this helps you fix it :)

Ali

Thanks,yeah, malee already spotted the possible reason for that issue and i´ll work on it and post an update then (after some sleep, though, i worked the half day and the other half spent playing tons of games to judge em all and write comments for that mochiads contest judging thing ;) )

didnt work :(

"This application requires a version of Adope AIR which is no longer supported. Please contact the application author for an updated version."

i installed "air_b3_win_121207.exe"

this was made in air beta 2

they would need to update it to 3 or you need 2.... most likely you'll need 2.

when is the update coming. I love this program hehe.

wow its very use full I can save in XML format save great time hope to see the latest version. thanks

i haven't worked on this project for 6 weeks, I left it with tomsamson after I took a holiday, not sure what the progress is, but I will continue to develop it if Tom hasn't already. Bit busy as always, but I'll try to fit it in.

*probably next time I gotta do a tilebased game ;)

EDIT - will have to fix the app for the new beta version.

sir I found a bug on your editor after I uploaded and used the image I uploaded new tile image and the current map I created is missed up with the new image that i uploaded hope this help in your future revision of the editor

yeah,last time i worked on it was to add the editing tools, got piled up under work since then, too.
I´ll work on porting it to the latest air beta once i´m done with the current client project i´m busy with.

its been a while i got to touch the ed, jumped from one client project to the next as usual..
Anyway, opened it up today since i had to edit some tilebased maps so i made the ed work in the latest air release.
Beside that i fixed a few issues here and there, the only real new addition right now is that now next to the properties of a layer there´s a slider for setting the alpha of the layer which can be useful when editing maps made up of multiple layers :)
Will doodle some more on it since i need some more features for something but yeah, you can already download it here:
http://www.stimunationgames.com/joyF..._alpha_2_2.zip

excellent, I was thinking about this the other day when making the pinball editor. How one could make a editor suite specially designed for flash games. :)

really should add an about tab, to keep track of versions.

^^yeah,cool idea on the editor suite, had that one, too, sadly always few spare time for such stuff :(
And yup, the about tab is a good idea, we should add that :)
Well, the next "bigger" feature i want to add is creating/editing a project config file so that one can edit several maps for a game without always having to re enter the same config specs for each map again.

The editor looks great. As you maybe already know, I launched a website with games, level editors and user generated content, and I was wandering if I could use this editor. Is there an open source licence for it ?
How complicated would it be to turn this AIR app into a Flash app, and resizing it to 500x440 ?

AIR IS Flash. It's just a SWF player with very easy way to package up your Flash as a "desktop application". If you install an AIR app and then look in the directory, you will see it's all SWFs.

hm,not exactly. you´re right with the part that its a wrapped swf,just like when you use a standalone wrapper like zinc etc. But its more than a usual swf in the sense that there are several api commands only available with air, like saving files locally (coming as usual flash functionality with f10) and window/shell/native application type stuff.
so yeah,you couldn´t just export the app as it is and have it work as swf app, you´d have to remake the custom air functionality with what´s available in usual flash only AS api and then (right now pre f10) use some serverside solution for saving the maps etc.

So that leads me to reply to Sietjp:
Yeah, one could port the app to usual flash swf export,just would be some work porting the custom air functionality as said above.
Malee and me haven´t really talked about a licence type or making it fully open source yet, generally speaking i like the idea of having it also be usable online and for any game though, so yeah, we´ll talk about it :)

yeah, i'm fine with creating it open source. But I want to work on a new version with a very different interface. Fix the components and make it more Application like.