Level Editor attempt

[wally4u]

I'm going to try and make a nice level editor for hooptie.
This will be my first Cocoa code (apart from the turorials) so bear with me.

[BobbyWatson]

There is already one editor going on, done my jnikolai. I'm also working on something similar (school project). If John could provide some information on how he does his, I'd be very interested to read them, I have my own ideas going on, but I'm curious to see how he does it :)

[wally4u]

Well I was planning/ doing a attempt to make a drag and drop lvl editor for hooptie.
A floating window with the tiles and sprites that you can drag onto the grid.
But if there is allready a editor i'm not going to do someones work all over again.

[flipflop]

Hehehe, glad to see people are interested in doing a level editor! :D

I'm still plugging away at mine and plan on working several hours this weekend. I will probably hold off on developing an "easy" way of adding new images just to get something out there for feedback on the UI. I also want to add the code base to CVS so I don't loose the code like I did last time. :rolleyes:

I have an implementation question though, in regards to the level properties: Time Limit, Teleport Period, Bubble Period and Speed Adjustment. Are their any constraints on these values or can they be pretty much any value? I guess my question is, should I use an NSSlider with a well known min and max value or a simple text box?


- John

[furballphat]

jnikolai - are you the person who runs SilverStreak software? There is an editor available there (which was also on the MacWorld cover CD), which is open source but does not seem to be related to the Inkubator project.

[flipflop]

Nope, that's not me. Do you have any more details about the editor?


Originally posted by furballphat
jnikolai - are you the person who runs SilverStreak software? There is an editor available there (which was also on the MacWorld cover CD), which is open source but does not seem to be related to the Inkubator project.

[furballphat]

The web site is http://24.97.192.74/silverstreaksoftware/
This guy entered HunterCard into uDevGame last year. Other than that I don't know much about him.

[Kjurtyl]

The guy that did the other editor for Hooptie is forum member rjz5874, although at last count he was only a guest. His editor was posted a while back on the Hooptie Forum, dig and you shall find.

As for your question with level properties, John, there doesn't appear to be any restrictions on the values per se. Even though, I think sliders would be nice and the time value really shouldn't be lower than 50 nor higher than 200. All the levels done so far keep with that range, and I find 50 a little too short; 180 a little too long for a level when I play.

The other properties vary differently, so it is hard to tell whether a slider or text box would be good in their case. Here's a list of the values and how they change for Hooptie's internal levels, and Alan's extra levels. You can assume a range through those, maybe adding a bit of extra headroom.

time limits: 180,180,180,60,110,90,50,70
teleport period: 20,40,20
bubble periods: 24,16,20,15,5,20,10
speed adjustments: -4,-4,-4,-2,-2,-1,-4

I imagine if you code well it could be modified later, yes?

- Kjurtyl

[flipflop]

Thanks for the list Kjurtyl. I figure I can toss the min, max and default values for the sliders in a properties file so we can edit them w/o a recompile.

I hope the code is done well! :D
If not, I'm sure we will hear about it. ;)

[rjz7584]

Hey, it's Robert here, owner of Silverstreak Software.
Which, instead of remembering that IP address, you can now find at *gasp* http://www.silverstreaksoftware.com!

My editor got into the MacWorld cover cd? WOW! Which issue was this? I'll have to find it. (I subscribe to MacWorld, so I don't get the CD, that's only at the newsstand, as I understand it.) If someone wants to sell me theirs, get in touch.

You can mail me at the address found on my website if you want more information. I don't get around these forums much, but I try to keep up.

My level editor has the source available, so feel free to use it as a starting point and make it better.
It is separate from the main project because I don't feel I have the time to commit fully, but feel free to run with what I have now.

Actually, I have about 17 Mac OS X programs all with source available, and I'm working on another two right now, (another game and a screensaver) so please check it out.

As far as anything else about me, http://www.smoonstore.com/coretext/infoaboutme.html
Not that you really care.... :-)