wraggster
July 29th, 2006, 15:55
More news from the exciting Command and Conquer for DS (http://cncds_project.livejournal.com/) Project:
Managed to squeeze some time in to do some map editor work. My job has been quite demanding lately so I've not had time to do any code on this, but I have spent some time thinking about the best way to do certain things, hence the post asking for interface feedback below (please continue to discuss ideas in the comments of the below post! You've had some great input so far).
The editor is now exporting map files (hoorah) so the next step is to load them in to the game. This should just be another afternoons of coding :D Hopefully I'll get scrolling with the D-Pad put in at the same time. Next I will have to explore the limits of the memory requirements - I need to find what the absolute maximum number of unique tiles I could use are, then apply that limit to the map editor so you cannot go over budget. I hope the limit doesn't prevent some of the original C&C maps being converted, but we'll see. I'll have to post in the forums when I come to this point on the best way to store extra tile graphics. The basic limit is under 64kb per layer, and if a C&C map uses all the possible tiles it needs something like 450kb... a little increase in memory! The DS does have 4mb though so I'm sure I can find somewhere to store it. I may have to just copy the tiles over for the portion of screen I want to draw as needed. Might cause a slight performance hit but we'll see. Any ideas let me know.
Here's a quick screenie of the map editor - very basic right now but pretty easy to expand. C&C templates aren't being used, so you have to place each tile by hand right now. It's pretty tedious because you have to find all the right bits of cliff to line them up etc. Don't worry the final map editor will use templates and be very friendly :) I didn't bother to match up all the tiles 100% so it looks a little weird in places, but oh well ;p
Screen Via Comments
Managed to squeeze some time in to do some map editor work. My job has been quite demanding lately so I've not had time to do any code on this, but I have spent some time thinking about the best way to do certain things, hence the post asking for interface feedback below (please continue to discuss ideas in the comments of the below post! You've had some great input so far).
The editor is now exporting map files (hoorah) so the next step is to load them in to the game. This should just be another afternoons of coding :D Hopefully I'll get scrolling with the D-Pad put in at the same time. Next I will have to explore the limits of the memory requirements - I need to find what the absolute maximum number of unique tiles I could use are, then apply that limit to the map editor so you cannot go over budget. I hope the limit doesn't prevent some of the original C&C maps being converted, but we'll see. I'll have to post in the forums when I come to this point on the best way to store extra tile graphics. The basic limit is under 64kb per layer, and if a C&C map uses all the possible tiles it needs something like 450kb... a little increase in memory! The DS does have 4mb though so I'm sure I can find somewhere to store it. I may have to just copy the tiles over for the portion of screen I want to draw as needed. Might cause a slight performance hit but we'll see. Any ideas let me know.
Here's a quick screenie of the map editor - very basic right now but pretty easy to expand. C&C templates aren't being used, so you have to place each tile by hand right now. It's pretty tedious because you have to find all the right bits of cliff to line them up etc. Don't worry the final map editor will use templates and be very friendly :) I didn't bother to match up all the tiles 100% so it looks a little weird in places, but oh well ;p
Screen Via Comments