The Level Editor Project

Author

Bastien Chatelain

bastien.chatelain@epfl.ch

Description

This program allows you to create some new Grid Levels textures for Mini-Projet 2.

In this program, a level is defined by three images:

the Behavior image has one pixel for each cell of the grid. It has w x h px size. The behavior allows you to indicate cell content or specific behavior using a defined color map
the Backgrounds image has 64px resolution which means each cell of the grid is 64 x 64 px. The final image has size W x D = 64w x 64h px. We assume the background image is static and will be painted at first for each frame.
the Foregrounds (optional) image has the exact same dimensions and uses as the background image. We assume the foreground image will be the last painted for each frame. The foreground image is generally a subset of the background completed with transparent pixels which will be painted after the dynamic elements (i.e. player). This simulate structures closer to the camera. In other words, the dynamic elements are moving between the background and foreground layer.

Get Started

In order to use the project, you can either use the prebuilt JAR file or build your own project using Eclipse or InteliJ IDE.

Level Editor is a Java Application which means it can run on any compatible OS.
Level Editor works only with .png images and specific .lve files

Prerequisites

Java 8 (JDK)
(Optional) Eclipse or InteliJ IDE
(Optional) git

Get the Source

Either download the source code or clone it into desired directory:
cd path/to/parent/directory/
git clone https://github.com/blchatel/LevelEditor.git

JAR

Ensure the "Allow executing file as program" option is enable
Run the program either by double clicking on it or using one of the following commands:
- java -jar levelEditor-v1-0-1.jar
- java -jar levelEditor-v1-0-1.jar level.lve
Notice the level editor version may be different

Eclipse

Create a new Java Project.
Uncheck the "default location" and indicate the LevelEditor folder location
The project name should automatically take the value "LevelEditor"
Be sure java jre 1.8 is used
Click on finish and you can know run the project as Java Application

InteliJ

Create new project from existing source.
Indicate the LevelEditor folder location
Continue from existing source (i.e. not from eclipse/maven model)
Click next several times until jre selection.
Ensure to use java 1.8 and click finish

Samples

Find some samples into this repertory. Feel free to use and/or edit any of them

Use LevelEditor

You can either create a new Level (File / new) or open and edit an existing .lve file
Use the proposed brushes to create the texture. The brush's background, foreground and behavior are by default directly applied on the corresponding images.
You can switch tab to see intermediate results
You can control which part of the brush is applied playing with checkboxes.
Save the Level as a .lve file

Assume you save "Level1" into "levels" directory, you get:

levels/Level1.lve
levels/Backgrounds/Level1.png
levels/Foregrounds/Level1.png
levels/Behaviors/Level1.png

The Content of Level1.lve file is typically:

Level1.lve 
Backgrounds/Level1.png 
Foregrounds/Level1.png 
Behaviors/Level1.png 
Info: 
Wall: (x1, y1) (x2, y2) 
Door: (x3, y3) (x4, y4) 
...

Which are respectively:

the filename
the relative path to background, foreground and behavior png images
some informations about the color map. Assuming the (0, 0) cell is the grid's bottom-left corner in above example, we know a wall in (x1, y1), a door in cell (x3, y3), etc.
Notice the information mapping is not used by the program.

Add new Brushes

Add your new brushes backgrounds, (foregrounds) and behaviors into the corresponding source res directory.
Notice:
- The brushes are not limited to one single cell size.
- A brush behavior can be any cell size (1x1, 1x2, 2x1, 2x2, 3x1, etc.)
- The program assumes your brushes backgrounds (foregrounds) have 64px resolution as explained above.
Run the ComputeBrushesRes program indicating as args where is the Brushes resource directory. This will compute for you the enumeration content you need to replace.
Copy the output enumeration body and replace the equivalent it into BrushesRes enum file.
Build and run again LevelEditor

The Color Map)

LABEL	HTML	Integer
Wall	0x000000	-16777216
Interact	0xffff00	-256
Door	0xff0000	-65536
Indoor	0xffffff	-1
Outdoor	0x28a745	-14112955
Water	0x0000ff	-16776961

blchatel/LevelEditor