PyxelEdit as level editor - custom key/value data fields

tacoe

Sep 8, 2013 at 10:49 am

Since PE uses a tile-able canvas as its painting area (key to its brilliance) it's also almost usable as a complete level editor for 2D games. Two things might do away with the need to use something like Tiled as a 'go-between' between art and code.

1) multiple canvases per doc, using a common tileset (for multiple levels, without having to manually sync the tileset all the time)

2) ability to add generic object data to tiles in a canvas, to tiles in a tileset, and to layers. Just key-value pairs, with keys and values being plain strings. Can be used for adding your own properties to tiles (invisible? glowing? foreground? background? etc), to canvas tiles (spawn point? goal tile? special action? etc), to layers (collision? in front of actors? parallax scroll plane? etc). In addition, (2b) a value type of "tile coordinate" in addition to "string" would make this perfect for connecting, for example, a button tile to a door tile.

Just dropping the thought – I realize this might take PE in a direction you're not interested in, and that these things might be 'not quite enough' to get rid of an in-between program anyway.

zenmumbler

Sep 8, 2013 at 3:59 pm

This seems like a natural extension to the tilemap data. Currently, Tiled has supports for "objects" which are shapes with keyval pairs but the UI is so awkward that they're kind of useless.

In our game, marking positions of e.g. enemies with associated metadata would already go a long way. Other object markers could be used for pathing control etc. Right now we're adding this info manually in scripts and maybe later in an in-engine editor but for many goals basic object support would be great.

Danik

Sep 8, 2013 at 8:13 pm

Multiple canvases per doc: Interesting idea. It would require some big changes to the application but might actually not be out of the question.

Generic object data for tiles and layers: I have been thinking of adding object placement, where you can place objects at arbitrary positions and assign them properties. Preferably objects would be defined in a list much like the tileset, and instances of the objects (with individual properties) could be placed throughout the canvas. This feels like a cleaner approach than having user defined properties for tiles and layers, but I haven't thought this through completely.

hmortense

Jan 1, 2014 at 1:23 pm

I bought Pyxel Editor a few days ago, and have already made a simple importer for my projects. But the first thing I have found missing/would like to have, is multiple canvases per doc as mentioned in the above post.

I would love to be able to make all my level designs in Pyxel Edit as I have found it easy to use and easy to get data out of, wonderful export options. :) Thanks for a wonderful piece of software.

If you ever implement multiple canvases per doc, could you keep in mind an option to export all the different canvases to different files, in one go.

Have a nice day and happy new year!

Danik

Jan 1, 2014 at 2:42 pm

Thanks, I will keep it in mind. Happy new year to you too!

euphoria3k

Jan 30, 2014 at 8:54 am

Hi, i haven't purchased yet but looks brilliant and I'm definitely going to get it! One feature i would love is the object with properties! Do you have an ETA for this? cheers!

Danik

Jan 30, 2014 at 2:48 pm

Hi, i haven't purchased yet but looks brilliant and I'm definitely going to get it! One feature i would love is the object with properties! Do you have an ETA for this? cheers!

Hi there, I have no ETA for it yet. The focus is currently on more basic things like drawing, animation and palette management and I'm often busy with studies, but if I would guess I would say this summer.

KurtLoeffler

Feb 5, 2014 at 4:03 am

If there was an option to replace the tileset from a .pyxel file instead of adding tiles to the tileset, then you could do level editing in multiple documents easier. Currently if you want to update the tileset in one .pyxel file and use those tiles in another file, first you have to delete all the tiles 1 by 1, then Import Tileset From .pyxel file, then Reidentify layer tiles on each layer, which could potentially cause problems if 2 tiles look the same at any transformation.

A nice option would be to reference a .pyxel file as a tileset, so it would automatically detect changes and update the tileset.

And yeah custom objects would be really cool.

tieTYT

Feb 5, 2014 at 4:17 am

Personally I have no need for this and I would prefer time be spent on other things (assuming, which is probably a safe bet, that your time is limited). I don't see what the issue is with using Tiled at http://www.mapeditor.org/ for your level editing needs. It's already full featured and is the right tool for the job. It can do all the things the OP is requesting already. Not only that, there are a ton of libraries that already interpret .tmx files.

I think that a level editor should be used for level editing and a tile editor should be used for a tile editing. Since I can keep both programs open simultaneously, I don't get a huge advantage from having one program do both things. They work together really well.

Perhaps I'm just not seeing the advantage.

edvvardchan

Jun 5, 2018 at 1:26 pm

As a newbie, I am more favor to organize "object to brushes" as in Pro Motion NG. Furthermore the cloud can be experiment to be another tileset of cloud etc. (No concern of the workflow, just experiment, export can be done by manually move them around to tileset right)?

For example:
What tools in Pyxel can achieve something in Pro Motion, and what is missing (Like the Brush Container in Pro Motion NG)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gkuOJJvF68