Non-tiled map editor

totebo

Hey,

I need a level editor that can place objects in arbitrary positions and export to JSON or similar. I keep coming back to Tiled, though, which has support for this. But it feels like it's the wrong tool, since you also have to have a tileset, which I don't need.

Does anyone know of a level/map editor that allows free placement of objects?

Cheers,

Niclas

totebo

Alternatively, has this code for Tiled support in Gideros been updated to support Object Layers and arbitrary positioning?

http://giderosmobile.com/forum/discussion/699/using-tiled/p1

pie

I don't know if that code has already been updated, "my" version is not because I didn't need it yet.
However reading lua exported tiled maps is not too hard: you could ignore tilelayers and parse only the objectgroups.
I made a dummy map with an empty tileset and 3 icons randomly placed in a object layer:
this is the relevant part of the lua file.

layers = { { type = "tilelayer", name = "layertile 1", x = 0, y = 0, width = 20, height = 20, visible = true, opacity = 1, offsetx = 0, offsety = 0, properties = {}, encoding = "lua", data = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 } }, { type = "objectgroup", name = "actors", visible = true, opacity = 1, offsetx = 0, offsety = 0, draworder = "topdown", properties = {}, objects = { { id = 1, name = "", type = "", shape = "rectangle", x = 232, y = 144, width = 32, height = 32, rotation = 0, gid = 1, visible = true, properties = {} }, { id = 2, name = "", type = "", shape = "rectangle", x = 184, y = 184, width = 32, height = 32, rotation = 0, gid = 1, visible = true, properties = {} }, { id = 3, name = "", type = "", shape = "rectangle", x = 400, y = 192, width = 32, height = 32, rotation = 0, gid = 2, visible = true, properties = {} } } } }

as you can see for each element in layers there is a type to use as filter, and each element in type "objectgroup".objects have its properties ready to be used.

take a look at tiledmap.lua in this archive, I am sure that with some if then and cut&paste you'll get what you need, and maybe it's the time that gideros gets a full featured support of Tiled maps
http://giderosmobile.com/forum/discussion/6948/tilemap-object-and-tiled-tile-flip/p1

SinisterSoft

It's easier to use a utility like this and have a routine that figures things out OR build a secret editor into the game.

totebo

Thanks guys. Yeah, I also think Tiled is the best way to go. Was hoping someone had done this before, because I am very very lazy. Now I need to do some actual work!

hgy29

Actually I did it for 'Arthur', but I am afraid it isn't generic enough to be sharable...

antix

Tiled is the best way to go. As others have said, just ignore tile layers and you will be fine.

totebo

@hgy, I suppose that's the issue. The use of those type of objects can be anything. I'm going to load specific RUBE JSON files for each object. Which is probably a tad unusual.