2D Tile Map - GameCreators Forum

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Mahoney

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Joined: 14th Apr 2008

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 18:36

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Alright. I'm learning C++ and the DarkGDK. With some help from Lilith and others, I've formulated a basic plan for a Mario Clone of sorts ( for the learning experience ).

The plan is to create an array of numbers 0 - 19. Then, a loop will read the array and fill a second array based on what number is in each piece of the array. For instance, if it finds the number "1" in ( 10, 5 ) of the first array, it will copy information about the type of tile associated with the number 1 into ( 10, 5 ) of the second array ( solid, image for sprite, damaging, etc. ). The world will be drawn off of this information.

Now, my question is, how would I go about making the program load the information for the first array from a text file? That way, I could make a text file for each world that contains a grid of numbers 0 - 19, each one representing a certain type of tile ( rock, brick, enemy, etc. ).

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Mahoney

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Joined: 14th Apr 2008

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 18:47 Edited at: 2nd May 2008 18:51

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Here's some of the code to illustrate what I mean. I would like to load the initial array from a text file. I'm very new to this, so, I apologize if it is horribly written:

struct TILE
{
	int type;
};

// Set map width and height
const int MAP_WIDTH = 20;
const int MAP_HEIGHT = 15;

// Load array to create tiles off of
int TileMap[MAP_HEIGHT][MAP_WIDTH] =
{
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 },
	{ 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 }
};

TILE Map[MAP_HEIGHT][MAP_WIDTH];

void setupScenery ( )
{
	// Set color key for sprites to bright pink
	dbSetImageColorKey ( 255, 0, 255 );

// Draw backdrop
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Mario Backdrop HQ.png", 20 );
	dbSprite ( 20, 0, 0, 20 );

// Load tiles images
        dbLoadImage ( "Data\Rock Tile.bmp", 1 );
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Brick Tile.bmp", 2 );
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Brick Tile.bmp", 3 );
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Brick Tile.bmp", 4 );
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Question Mark Tile.bmp", 5 );

int x;
	int y;
	int n;

// Transfer number in first array to type of second
        for ( y = 0; y < MAP_HEIGHT; y++ )
	{
		for ( x = 0; x < MAP_WIDTH; x++ )
		{
			Map[y][x].type = TileMap[y][x];
		}
	}

for ( y = 0, n = 21; y < MAP_HEIGHT; y++ )
	{
		for ( x = 0; x < MAP_WIDTH; x++, n++ )
		{
			if ( Map[y][x].type != 0 )
			{
				if ( Map[y][x].type == 1 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 1 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 2 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 2 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 3 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 3 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 4 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 4 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 5 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 5 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 6 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 6 );
			}
		}
	}
}

+ Code Snippet

struct TILE
{
	int type;
};

// Set map width and height
const int MAP_WIDTH = 20;
const int MAP_HEIGHT = 15;

// Load array to create tiles off of
int TileMap[MAP_HEIGHT][MAP_WIDTH] =
{
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
	{ 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 },
	{ 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 }
};

TILE Map[MAP_HEIGHT][MAP_WIDTH];

void setupScenery ( )
{
	// Set color key for sprites to bright pink
	dbSetImageColorKey ( 255, 0, 255 );

	// Draw backdrop
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Mario Backdrop HQ.png", 20 );
	dbSprite ( 20, 0, 0, 20 );

	// Load tiles images
        dbLoadImage ( "Data\Rock Tile.bmp", 1 );
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Brick Tile.bmp", 2 );
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Brick Tile.bmp", 3 );
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Brick Tile.bmp", 4 );
	dbLoadImage ( "Data\Question Mark Tile.bmp", 5 );

	int x;
	int y;
	int n;

	// Transfer number in first array to type of second
        for ( y = 0; y < MAP_HEIGHT; y++ )
	{
		for ( x = 0; x < MAP_WIDTH; x++ )
		{
			Map[y][x].type = TileMap[y][x];
		}
	}

	for ( y = 0, n = 21; y < MAP_HEIGHT; y++ )
	{
		for ( x = 0; x < MAP_WIDTH; x++, n++ )
		{
			if ( Map[y][x].type != 0 )
			{
				if ( Map[y][x].type == 1 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 1 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 2 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 2 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 3 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 3 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 4 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 4 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 5 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 5 );
				
				else if ( Map[y][x].type == 6 )
					dbSprite ( n, x * 32, y * 32, 6 );
			}
		}
	}
}

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Lilith

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Joined: 12th Feb 2008

Location: Dallas, TX

Posted: 2nd May 2008 19:37 Edited at: 2nd May 2008 19:48

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Ambitious, eh?

This is really something that needs to be done in stages. You need data in the file in order to have something to read in. Your main program aside, you'll probably want to start with a program that will let you build and test your levels. This could be in the form of a graphics screen where you have your various building images as sprites that you click and drag into position and then place the appropriate value in your array to indicate what building block has been placed in what location. When finished you can then write the binary data in the array out to the file.

+ Code Snippet

#include <fstream>


int main ()
{
   using namespace std;
   ofstream levelOut;   // create a file

   // ignoring the construction process

   // now open level file for output in binary mode 
   levelOut.open ("1.lvl", ios::binary | ios::out);  // ios::out is probably redundant
   levelOut.write ((const int* ) TileMap, sizeof (TileMap));
   levelOut.close();
}

This creates a file called "levelOut" which needs to be opened, when necessary, in binary mode so that saving it won't cause conversions for text content. With the .write() function you're telling it to take the contents at the address where TileMap begins and save sizeof (TileMap) bytes to the file. Then you close it so the buffers are flushed and the file is closed.

When you run your game you create a file for input

+ Code Snippet

   ifstream levelIn;  // create an input file

and open it for binary reading

+ Code Snippet

   levelIn.open ("1.lvl", ios::binary);
   levelIn.read ((int *) TileMap, sizeof (TileMap)); 
   levelIn.close();  // close the file

and your data should be in your array.

Mind you, this is about as detailed as I'm willing to get on something like this. Writing a fully featured game isn't as simple as creating a loop within your main () function and executing things. If you tried it that way things would get nested so deep you'd never find your way out of your jungle of curly braces. You need to use classes and functions to break your functionality down into small enough units to keep the confusion level at a minimum. Most likely your file saving functionality won't be at your main () (or DarkGDK) level but rather buried inside a function somewhere.

Edit: Though I haven't gotten to that point yet, it's safer to store your level data for all levels in one file. It helps to prevent hacking and modification of your data by not having a separate, identifiable file for each of your game components. By collecting the data in a limited number of files it makes it more difficult for someone to modify the play and thus run up high scores on games that have been reduced in difficulty.

Lilith, Night Butterfly
I'm not a programmer but I play one in the office

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Mahoney

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Joined: 14th Apr 2008

Location: The Interwebs

Posted: 2nd May 2008 20:05

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The code I posted isn't in the Main loop. It's in a separate file. The main loop calls on the setupScenery ( ); function.

I'm new to C++, so the file commands you posted are Greek to me. And as far as modification worries, I was choosing to load maps from text files for that purpose, to allow easy map modifications. I wanted something easily customized. This isn't for any purpose except a learning experience.

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Dark GDK / 2D Tile Map