2d map editor

[Colin]

i'm looking for an editor that would work similar to lets say corel draw, but obviously much simpler, basically allowing you to create quads but also texture them, (multi texturing would be nice) it would require a plugin system that i could write an exporter to a custom format, it would be used for creating 2d overhead maps for an rpg style game (i dont have much time on my hands, hence i require a premade editor for now) also would be nice a *special* tagged quads that could be detected in the export plugin as collision areas etc, which then the export plugin could build a map format for my game engine. anyways hope someone could help, if there is no such editor etc, if anyone would be willing to create such a thing i'd be willing to pay them. please let me know.

just an extra note on the special quads, would be good if new tags could be added, they could be marked with a tags such as collision, door, water, hole and so on.

[pstudio]

If you're simply looking for a map editor then maybe Tile Studio or Tiled will do what you need?

http://tilestudio.sourceforge.net/
http://www.mapeditor.org/

[Colin]

hi thanks, however not quite what im looking for, basically what i need is a 2d perspective 3d editor, ground level will always be 0, the editor should look down over the map but should be able to paint quads, and set special tags to quads/objects, such as collision areas etc, it would also be great if it could load in 3d models, my engine is actually a dx 3d engine, but it is for a top down rpg game, buildings and so on, probably even the character will be a 3d model (very low poly model), obviously the editor does not need to be very advanced in terms of rendering, even if it loaded a top down shot of a 3d model and painted it as a layer that would be fine, the plugin i would write would handle the 3d models at load point in game etc...

so i am still interested in finding someone that would be willing to create such an editor. i could provide furthur details if someone is interested.

[WILL]

You set your bar fairly high my friend.

I doubt that many would jump to make your editor for you. What you ask is a bit of an indie development faux pas. You may end up having to do the work yourself. Especially with the amount of features you are asking for.

Paying is an option that opens doors, but you may have to set a price before you get offers however there may be more 'other language' freelance developers that would be willing at sites like freelancer.com and so on.

What I could recommend to you as a, maybe temporary, solution is to take an existing 2D editor's output data (such as Tile Studio) and create a small converter program (or just do this right in your game engine at load time) which will generate your quad and texture data and save it to a separate file that would be more easily loaded into. You then would have to generate a set of sprites to represent your 3D terrain and heights along with your walls and other such spaces. It might be crude at first, but it'll give you something to work with to test your game engine and gameplay until you have time to get yourself a nicer editor.

If I may ask, why style of visuals are you planning on for your top-down RPG? Are we talking something surreal like '3D Dot Game Heroes' or something more dynamic like a top-down 'Neverwinter Nights'?

[Colin]

hi Will, yes i am beginning to plan on writing my editor myself, actually it is not a massive amount of work i probably can get something together in a week, but its actually getting a week spare, as for writing a converter and so on it would be more bother than it is worth, the game is going to be i guess yes like neverwinter nights but topdown, 3d because of leaning as running which will give the 3d feel to it, sandbox like gameplay, mission generator for continuous gameplay, i will probably however add a non-linear story also.....

since i have my engine already written probably it is best for me to write the editor anyways since its just a case of loading and placement of layers and then outputting the layers as a single layer/map file. if i start with it maybe i will post some screeners

-Colin