Tile Lattice - Public Beta and Development Thread, A Level framework and editor for MMF2

As you might guess from above, Tile Lattice is a level editor that I've been working on since mid-August (although I didn't do much after September). My goal is to create a tile-based level editor for games that's both powerful and easy to use, and to provide a loading template that's easy enough to copy into your game without also being obtrusive to you or the rest of your engine.

So far, I've added support for 3 layers of tile (collision mask, background, and foreground), and support for adding active objects to the frame, to which you can assign unique variable data. There's also some frame options and a zone editor, which allows only portions of levels to be loaded at once, keeping you well within MMF2 limitations. As I continue to work on the editor, I'll be adding several new components, such as door/pipe linking and backdrop/parallax, as well as improving existing tools.

The Beta
I'm releasing a beta of the editor so that I can get feedback from the people who are interested in using it in future game projects. I'm interested in any suggestion you have, be it adding a new tool, or changing how an existing tool works to make it more logical, or new components that should be part of the level format. And of course, I want all the help I can get in squeezing out any of the obscure bugs that will make our lives miserable.

THIS IS NOT INTENDED FOR PRODUCTION USE AT THIS TIME. Do not ask me to help you integrate the beta into your game right now, as the loader is still underdeveloped, and important areas may change pending the feedback I get. If you're still stubborn, the loader MFA and Lua script is available for viewing, but the amount of learning you would have to do to use them in their current state is tremendous. However, I will be making my best effort to maintain backwards compatibility with the level file format, so barring extraordinary circumstances, it should be possible to use levels that you design now in the future.

Missing / Incomplete / To-do

• Still missing door/pipe/etc linking support
• Still missing background/parallax support
• Undo/Redo does not work for all actions (Currently does not support zones, frame properties, or complex tile properties [drag, fill, mass delete] )
• Will eventually add support to add new objects to the editor through the editor, rather than editing the profile.ini

Download
Current Version: 0.9 (released 1/3/2008)
Download Tile Lattice Beta
Two example level files are provided: level.lev and level2.lev

The main editor is lattice.exe, the example loader/viewer is loader.exe. PLEASE read the help file that comes in the zip (F1 in lattice.exe), because it lists all the different subtle features, shortcuts, controls, etc that I have not mentioned in this topic. Please do not ask me questions about using the program until you have read the help file.

Thanks for trying out the beta, I hope this turns out to be a useful tool for more than just myself.

Once again, thank you RII. I'm definitely going to see what more this version can bring than the last one.

The additions aren't huge from what I sent you. Mainly undo/redo support and a couple usability changes suggested by Someguy.