Terrain Editing
PostPosted: 05 Nov 2011, 04:48
Are there any programs available that can edit terrain?
Thanks.
Thanks.
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PostPosted: 05 Nov 2011, 10:37
PostPosted: 05 Nov 2011, 11:48
Given that Ben is one of the most experienced map makers out there, I'm guessing that he's not enquiring about map editors 
Do you mean editing the actual terrain tile sprites? (to add new terrain types or edit the existing ones) There is no editor for that although I think the format of the files is known. It's easier to do it in the Remake as we just use compressed TGAs. If you're really interested I could show you how to do this, (you just need one of our tools to decompress the TGAs then you can edit them in Photoshop and re-compress them) but be warned that you can't add new terrain as all 256 tiles are taken. (in the map format the terrain type is 1 byte) We might eventually allow custom tilesets in the Remake as that would certainly add some variety to the game.
Do you mean editing the actual terrain tile sprites? (to add new terrain types or edit the existing ones) There is no editor for that although I think the format of the files is known. It's easier to do it in the Remake as we just use compressed TGAs. If you're really interested I could show you how to do this, (you just need one of our tools to decompress the TGAs then you can edit them in Photoshop and re-compress them) but be warned that you can't add new terrain as all 256 tiles are taken. (in the map format the terrain type is 1 byte) We might eventually allow custom tilesets in the Remake as that would certainly add some variety to the game.
PostPosted: 05 Nov 2011, 11:49
Given that Ben is one of the most experienced map makers out there, I'm guessing that he's not enquiring about map editors
Do you mean editing the actual terrain tile sprites? (to add new terrain types or edit the existing ones) There is no editor for that although I think the format of the files is known. It's easier to do it in the Remake as we just use compressed TGAs. If you're really interested I could show you how to do this, (you just need one of our tools to decompress the TGAs then you can edit them in Photoshop and re-compress them) but be warned that you can't add new terrain as all 256 tiles are taken. (in the map format the terrain type is 1 byte) We might eventually allow custom tilesets in the Remake as that would certainly add some variety to the game.
PostPosted: 05 Nov 2011, 18:26
We also open to changing the concept of fixed tiles transitions into more flexible overpainting, that can take advantage of alpha masking. E.g. like these dirt tiles are made: http://pics.gameparadigm.org/mallet/dirt_tiles.jpg
PostPosted: 06 Nov 2011, 00:25
Given that Ben is one of the most experienced map makers out there, I'm guessing that he's not enquiring about map editors
Do you mean editing the actual terrain tile sprites? (to add new terrain types or edit the existing ones) There is no editor for that although I think the format of the files is known. It's easier to do it in the Remake as we just use compressed TGAs. If you're really interested I could show you how to do this, (you just need one of our tools to decompress the TGAs then you can edit them in Photoshop and re-compress them) but be warned that you can't add new terrain as all 256 tiles are taken. (in the map format the terrain type is 1 byte) We might eventually allow custom tilesets in the Remake as that would certainly add some variety to the game.
I don't know how good I will be at this, but I want to try, so yes, I'm most interested, but I can't promise anything.
PostPosted: 06 Nov 2011, 01:03
Krom's idea might work well for grass and dirt, but mountains and water should be done by hand to get the right look. (the rocks scattered around the edge) My only concern with Krom's idea is that games like that often have very jagged and irregular edges, (when KaM terrain is so flowing) but of course we can customise to algorithm to suit KaM 
Also maybe it would always look a bit artificial, but we would have to try and tweak it to find out.
Your ideas are good Ben, but unfortunately we can't add any new tiles while remaining backwards compatible with KaM maps. (so we would have a new Remake map format that would not load in KaM, but of course KaM maps could still be loaded in the Remake) I think we should wait a while before implementing this, but feel free to make the new transition tiles whenever you like and we can start using them when the time comes
Here's an image of the current KaM tileset
Also maybe it would always look a bit artificial, but we would have to try and tweak it to find out.
Your ideas are good Ben, but unfortunately we can't add any new tiles while remaining backwards compatible with KaM maps. (so we would have a new Remake map format that would not load in KaM, but of course KaM maps could still be loaded in the Remake) I think we should wait a while before implementing this, but feel free to make the new transition tiles whenever you like and we can start using them when the time comes
Here's an image of the current KaM tileset
PostPosted: 06 Nov 2011, 03:52
It would be pretty cool to have custom "skins" available for download when the remake is complete. Sort of similar to how Minecraft has texture packs.
PostPosted: 06 Nov 2011, 10:14
Lewin, we can have these sort of tiles in number of combinations (soft-edged, hard-edged, blended or masked). Water-Grass transition could have a strip of gravel inbetween, just like in KaM.