What you do is run a loop for your XYZ and you create events to compare the current XYZ loop indexes and see if that position on the array has a corresponding value/string attached to it.
What I do is:
Start of frame | run loop z (z Dimension times)
on loop z | run loop x (x Dimension times)
on loop x | run loop y (y Dimension times)
Then add an event for each type of object to create.
on loop y
+ (Compare two general values) (Array)StringatXYZ (loop index X, loop index Y, loop index Z) = "ball"
> Create ball object at 0,0
> Set ball's position to loop index x * 32 (or whatever tile/unit size), loop y * 32
See, the loops are running a 'ghost' run of every XYZ position on the map. They aren't really moving the array (therefore, don't use "Current Array Position" in any formula, as the array is sitting at 0,0 or 1,1), so eg at any one point in the 3 loops, the indexes for those loops could be zLoad: 1, xLoad: 5, yLoad:10 and at that exact position in the map you might have that ball object, therefore it will create it during the yLoad.
I don't think it matters whether you use x or y index for loading event. Eg. it could go in order of start loop zLoad, then yLoad, then xLoad and for creation it happens on xLoad.
Originally Posted by AndyUK It's not much of a burden if you reuse editors for different games. Although i know thats not always possible.
In my experience, carrying it to different games is what makes it a burden. Burden as in something clunky, slows me down, and would be easier if I could drop it. When I make a sequel, it's usually because I found a whole bunch of ways I could do things differently and want to remake the engine. If I had to design the engine to suit the editor, it's a bit of a burden there.
Just like things like AI, the level editor thing depends on what the game needs.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Originally Posted by nim To answer the question in the subject,
I don't know if Pain > Gain. It depends on how much enjoyment you get out of working on your game's foundations before designing it.
But I do know that Pain = Not Un-checking The "Base 1 index" Box
I sometimes do or don't do this, it just means when you convert your array position to pixel position, you go (X(Array)-1)*32 or to array position it's Object's X / 32 + 1.
Whether or not an editor is worth making all depends on the end product, the level. I found that knowing how you want your levels to be constructed (and deconstructed/loaded by the game) really helps to make the editor. For example, I know I want my levels to be layered, so I first chose the way I want level data to be saved: Because it's layered, on top of X,Y data, the natural choice was an array. But I also knew that the Z-index would be mostly empty, so an array for level data would be bloated and potentially take a bit of time to load.
If I had went with arrays from the outset, and later decided that they would be inefficient and hard to accomodate certain features, then I would be left with a format that was clunky to work with. I actually did settle on arrays, but I use more than 3 dimensions. If I had coded my editor to only handle three then I would probably have to recode the entire editor to support the extra dimensions!
Originally Posted by AndyUK It's not much of a burden if you reuse editors for different games. Although i know thats not always possible.
In my experience, carrying it to different games is what makes it a burden. Burden as in something clunky, slows me down, and would be easier if I could drop it. When I make a sequel, it's usually because I found a whole bunch of ways I could do things differently and want to remake the engine. If I had to design the engine to suit the editor, it's a bit of a burden there.
Just like things like AI, the level editor thing depends on what the game needs.
I guess it helps if like me, your games reuse the same basic engine too lol.
I don't see why remaking an editor is really a problem, it doesn't take that long to do anyway because you will be spending most of the time on the actual engine and using that editor to create levels.
I've done several, I think they are definitely worth it. It allows much greater flexibility for your game as far as levels go. You only edit one master frame and load levels into it...it's great.
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