The management of Tile Sheets, to be used when creating tile maps for platformer games, has been implemented. You can check it out if you are in the BETA.
from wikipedia about tile sets (tile sheets)
A tile set (sometimes called a sprite sheet) is collection of smaller images called tiles (typically of uniform size) which have been combined into a single larger image. Tile sets are often used in 2D video games to create complex maps from reusable tiles within the set. When a tile set based map is displayed, the tiles that are stored within it are used to reassemble the map for display. This technique is seen in games designed to run on portable systems such as Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance system or a cellular phone. Using tile sets reduces the amount of system memory required to display maps since it allows for the same tiles to be reused multiple times in a map. It also reduces amount of artwork needed for individual maps since many different ones can be created from the same tileset. In order for maps made from tile sets to appear more distinctive, games typically display them with a different tile set for each unique environment.
This method is implemented in many 2D games as well as applications meant for game creation such as Game Maker and Tiled.
Because the first game type we are gonna create at makeyourflashgame.com is a platformer game (PBE-PSK) , we have implemented tile sheet management. This is the first step in creating multi layered tile maps that will be used in the platformer game levels. (tiled tmx support)
!IMPORTANT Workspace is still in BETA, so be sure to join the beta program.
Configure your tile sheet
After you upload a tile sheet to your workspace in the tile sheet section, the first thing you have to do, is to specify the size of the tiles in your tile sheet. The system only supports square sized tiles at the moment. After you confirm your configuration, a tile matrix is placed upon the tile sheet’s image and you will be able to:
- Extract tile sheet draw elements from the tile sheet.
- Configure collision type information.
Extract tile sheet draw elements
When you select a range of tiles on the tilesheet and release the mouse button, those selected tiles form a draw element that you can configure for tile map drawing.
By extracting tile sheet drawing elements from the tile sheet, we create a list of elements that can be used to draw platformer game tile maps. You can specify how an element has to be drawn. An element can be a block or line or single, can be auto filled horizontal/vertical by center/left/right/upper/bottom/random tiles etc.
You only have to extract multi tiled elements from the tile sheet. When drawing on a tile map all single tiles of a tile sheet will always be available in addition to the drawing elements.
You can test the drawing of an element by pressing the ‘test drawing’ button.
Configure collision type information
In the platformer implementation you will have 4 collision types ( none, solid, deadly and one-way). You can draw this type information onto the tile sheet by activating the corresponding type-button to the left of the tilesheet and draw the info.
You can import or export (copy to clipboard) this collision type info (String support) by pressing the import/export button.
The string that is displayed (or that you paste and import) corresponds with the <tileMapCollision> tag from a PSK Platformer level file (Platformer Starter Kit).
!IMPORTANT Workspace is still in BETA, so be sure to join the beta program.
