So, this time I decided to take on something new: isometric maps.
Obviously I could go the easy way and use Tiled along with STi (which has an awesome implementation in Love), but I wanted to go down the hard route to see what I could learn along the way.
Finally, I present you guys with a pretty simple project where map information is stored on a simple JSON file. It currently supports ground textures and map props, such as trees or bushes or just about anything you draw and place on it.
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The JSON structure is pretty straightforward:
Code: Select all
{
"textures":
[
{
"file": "myTexture.*",
"mnemonic": "myMnemonic"
}
],
"props":
[
{
"file": "myProp.*",
"mnemonic": "myProp",
"origin" : "50|72"
}
],
"data":
[
[["myMnemonic"],["myMnemonic"],["myMnemonic"]],
[["myMnemonic"],["myMnemonic", "myProp"],["myMnemonic"]],
[["myMnemonic"],["myMnemonic"],["myMnemonic"]]
],
"general":
[
{
"name":"Map name",
"version":"string with map version",
"lighting":"255|255|255"
}
]
}
Code: Select all
Textures =-=-=
file --> The texture file to be used. Can be any image file love supports.
mnemonic --> How they'll be referred to in the data matrix. See below.
Props =-=-=
file --> Texture to be used by the prop. Can be any image file love supports.
mnemonic --> How the prop will be referred to in the data matrix. See below.
origin --> The offset for drawing the picture, so it gets drawn correctly. X and Y values separated by a pipe ("|").
Data =-=-=
The actual map data. It's a 2D matrix written with the mnemonics mentioned above. If you saw the example JSON above, you
probably already understood how this works.
General=-=-=
name --> a string with the map name.
version --> a string with the map version
lighting --> R|G|B values separated by a pipe. Used to simulate day/night color "pallete".
The code can be found on github aswell.
Attached below is a simple demo. It did perform well on my pretty old machine, but tell me if you have any problems.
Ignore the weird tree. I suck at drawing.
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I could maybe make a library out of this, but it currently uses some hardcoded paths (specifically for loading textures). I'd also need to cleanup a bit of the messy code.