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I'm bored, so I thought I'd try my hand at doing my level editor from scratch. Anyways... those details are meaningless so let me get to the point.
Online editors are going to be needed. We don't like it, I hate it, but if we want anything done, sadly it looks like we have to do it ourselves. So, I ask, what do you want in your dream editor?
I know Zero already has one, but it's not exactly my cup of tea. I don't doubt the actual quality of it, but I think we all know it's a lot different than the offline editor in terms of layout and usage. I plan to use the same sort of system though -- editing of the file, not the level. I will draw the level manually. This will give a much more offline feel.
I'll carry on and say what I have, and what I plan to have... comment on what you like and don't like, please. (Remember, external windows are coming out soon, so don't worry about cramped space!)
> Menu or buttons? - The top of the offline editor is filled with many buttons for different actions. Save, cut, undo... so on. Do you use them enough to justify them? Or would it just be better to put them all into a compact menu system(AKA file, edit... so on)?
> Layout? - I plan to use the layout of the offline editor... you're not going to change my mind. But, I do have a very important decision to make before I get too deep in the scripting. Compact(everything in one window?), or workspace(photoshop). I was replicating the current layout when I had a great idea. Instead of putting all the tools in buttons and having to go back and forth between predefined tiles... tileset... layers, I could instead put them all in windows and allow you to hide them, resize them, move them around and make your own workspace. The core of the editor would remain the same(tabbed levels and such), however.
> Fancy Tools? - Are they really needed? Would people REALLY use separate types of brushes enough to justify the workload of adding them? Or are people happy with how tools are done in the offline editor? I plan to do little additions such as tile highlighting and such, though.
> Local loading? - I had an idea to allow Load Local, and Load Server. IE, being able to load levels from your computer, or load them from the server. The problem with local loading would be I could only load them from your Graal directory... I could probably have options that lets you specify your level directory. But either way I can't let you browse your files, so it will be restricted to one folder. Would you use it if you could only load levels from one folder?
> Extra Baggage - NPCs mainly... NPCs are a big part of levels, but they would also be very hard to implement. Should I bother with it? At the most, I could allow you to view/move them around... I don't think I'm going to worry about allowing you to edit them. So, are NPCs important enough?
> Zooming? - I might be able to add a zooming system. AKA, zoom the level in and out. I expect this would be really helpful for those with low resolutions... I certainly think I can pull it off, and I think it will be a very useful system.
Hmm... I think that's it. Oh, of course I will have layers :P I plan to do something very similar to photoshops layer window(I wish I could do previews for each layer, too much processing though). And because Graal can add and manage as many layers as you'd like, the system will be very similar as well.
Anyways, post your suggestions and what you'd like to see in an editor. |