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Hi everyone,
as written in topic subject I would like to know which tools could be used to create a new game for sms. I means tile/sprite design and import from PNG, map/tile design, etc.

Any help is appreciated.

Kind regards,
S.

BMP2Tile is the tool for your image conversion needs. For map design you could use Tiled and custom exporters / converters.

sverx wrote

BMP2Tile is the tool for your image conversion needs. For map design you could use Tiled and custom exporters / converters.

Thank you. What do you mean with custom exporter? You did it by yourself? There's plugin around?

siriokds wrote

Thank you. What do you mean with custom exporter? You did it by yourself? There's plugin around?

You can write plugins for Tiled, either in JavaScript or in Python, check this.

So your level map can be processed and generate some output format that's tailored exactly to your game engine needs.

siriokds wrote

as written in topic subject I would like to know which tools could be used to create a new game for sms. I means tile/sprite design and import from PNG, map/tile design, etc.

You can try PNG2Asset from the GBDK-2020 as well. It has support for the SMS/GG.

I use Tiled, Notepad++ and Excel to manage the maps. BMP2TileGUI to generate the 8x8 tiles.

My chipset is loaded in Maxim's excellent BMP2TileGUI. There I get the 8x8 tiles that are the actual pixels (32 bytes each, 4 bits per pixel) that will be pushed in VRAM. With some manipulation with excel, I build my 16x16 metatiles dictionary with it from the tilemap screen.

My maps are 16x16 and use my metatiles. I also export it as csv. I keep the number of different 16x16 tiles under 256 so that my maps are built as arrays of chars (and not ints). This helps saving memory.

So basically :
- the map uses metatile numbers (length x height x char)
- metatiles each use 4 tiles (4 int each)
- tiles are 32 bytes and define the pixels (32 char each)

Hope this helps !

8x8_pixels_tiles.PNG (34.04 KB)

tiles

metatile_dictionary.PNG (33.78 KB)

metatiles

worldmap_definition.PNG (44.66 KB)

game_map

cireza wrote

I use Tiled, Notepad++ and Excel to manage the maps. BMP2TileGUI to generate the 8x8 tiles.

My chipset is loaded in Maxim's excellent BMP2TileGUI. There I get the 8x8 tiles that are the actual pixels (32 bytes each, 4 bits per pixel) that will be pushed in VRAM. With some manipulation with excel, I build my 16x16 metatiles dictionary with it from the tilemap screen.

My maps are 16x16 and use my metatiles. I also export it as csv. I keep the number of different 16x16 tiles under 256 so that my maps are built as arrays of chars (and not ints). This helps saving memory.

So basically :
- the map uses metatile numbers (length x height x char)
- metatiles each use 4 tiles (4 int each)
- tiles are 32 bytes and define the pixels (32 char each)

Hope this helps !

It helps a lot. Thanks.

I can try to export in CSV or Json and translate it.
Actually I need only a fixed screen editor through tiles.

For fixed screens I find it easy to either just work with images in the first place - if it’s a unique tile set for the screen - or otherwise you are in the realm of game specific data and you probably need to make some simple tools to convert or edit data as needed.

One approach I’ve been playing with recently is using a feature I added to WLA DX to support translation via .tbl files to use square Unicode symbolic characters - ✅🅿️⬆️⬅️↙️↘️⏺️⏹️👁️‍🗨️®️🟢🟡🟠🔺🔴🟣🟤🟥🟧🟨🟪🟦🟩♥️🕘 etc - to define data. It’s a bit random sometimes how it displays on certain platforms and tools, but so long as every character is square in your editor, it makes it possible to “draw” data in 2D in the text editor. Here’s an example: https://github.com/maxim-zhao/psrp/blob/master/psrp/asm/credits.asm

Maxim wrote

For fixed screens I find it easy to either just work with images in the first place - if it’s a unique tile set for the screen - or otherwise you are in the realm of game specific data and you probably need to make some simple tools to convert or edit data as needed.

One approach I’ve been playing with recently is using a feature I added to WLA DX to support translation via .tbl files to use square Unicode symbolic characters - ✅🅿️⬆️⬅️↙️↘️⏺️⏹️👁️‍🗨️®️🟢🟡🟠🔺🔴🟣🟤🟥🟧🟨🟪🟦🟩♥️🕘 etc - to define data. It’s a bit random sometimes how it displays on certain platforms and tools, but so long as every character is square in your editor, it makes it possible to “draw” data in 2D in the text editor. Here’s an example: https://github.com/maxim-zhao/psrp/blob/master/psrp/asm/credits.asm

Smart!

Actually I'm using sjasm as assembler and I'm trying to convert a game I did for another platform.

Maxim wrote

One approach I’ve been playing with recently is using a feature I added to WLA DX to support translation via .tbl files to use square Unicode symbolic characters - ✅🅿️⬆️⬅️↙️↘️⏺️⏹️👁️‍🗨️®️🟢🟡🟠🔺🔴🟣🟤🟥🟧🟨🟪🟦🟩♥️🕘 etc - to define data. It’s a bit random sometimes how it displays on certain platforms and tools, but so long as every character is square in your editor, it makes it possible to “draw” data in 2D in the text editor.

This reminds me I had used text files to draw maps. As long as you keep all the text lines at the same length you can just include them as binary data. Otherwise you can parse the lines and create the map in RAM. In either case, it's a very simple and low-tech approach, but it might be enough in many cases. For advanced stuff I still suggest Tiled, it's pretty easy to code an export plug-in after all, given you know either JavaScript or Python.

Author	Message
siriokds Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	SMS development tools Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 7:32 am
siriokds Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Hi everyone, as written in topic subject I would like to know which tools could be used to create a new game for sms. I means tile/sprite design and import from PNG, map/tile design, etc. Any help is appreciated. Kind regards, S.

sverx Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3828 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:19 am
	BMP2Tile is the tool for your image conversion needs. For map design you could use Tiled and custom exporters / converters.

siriokds Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:58 am
siriokds Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	sverx wrote BMP2Tile is the tool for your image conversion needs. For map design you could use Tiled and custom exporters / converters. Thank you. What do you mean with custom exporter? You did it by yourself? There's plugin around?

sverx Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3828 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:08 am
	siriokds wrote Thank you. What do you mean with custom exporter? You did it by yourself? There's plugin around? You can write plugins for Tiled, either in JavaScript or in Python, check this. So your level map can be processed and generate some output format that's tailored exactly to your game engine needs.

toxa Joined: 09 Aug 2021 Posts: 131	Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 4:10 pm
toxa Joined: 09 Aug 2021 Posts: 131	siriokds wrote as written in topic subject I would like to know which tools could be used to create a new game for sms. I means tile/sprite design and import from PNG, map/tile design, etc. You can try PNG2Asset from the GBDK-2020 as well. It has support for the SMS/GG.

cireza Joined: 27 Feb 2023 Posts: 136 Location: France	Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 6:07 pm
cireza Joined: 27 Feb 2023 Posts: 136 Location: France	I use Tiled, Notepad++ and Excel to manage the maps. BMP2TileGUI to generate the 8x8 tiles. My chipset is loaded in Maxim's excellent BMP2TileGUI. There I get the 8x8 tiles that are the actual pixels (32 bytes each, 4 bits per pixel) that will be pushed in VRAM. With some manipulation with excel, I build my 16x16 metatiles dictionary with it from the tilemap screen. My maps are 16x16 and use my metatiles. I also export it as csv. I keep the number of different 16x16 tiles under 256 so that my maps are built as arrays of chars (and not ints). This helps saving memory. So basically : - the map uses metatile numbers (length x height x char) - metatiles each use 4 tiles (4 int each) - tiles are 32 bytes and define the pixels (32 char each) Hope this helps ! 8x8_pixels_tiles.PNG (34.04 KB) tiles metatile_dictionary.PNG (33.78 KB) metatiles worldmap_definition.PNG (44.66 KB) game_map

siriokds Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 6:36 am
siriokds Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	cireza wrote I use Tiled, Notepad++ and Excel to manage the maps. BMP2TileGUI to generate the 8x8 tiles. My chipset is loaded in Maxim's excellent BMP2TileGUI. There I get the 8x8 tiles that are the actual pixels (32 bytes each, 4 bits per pixel) that will be pushed in VRAM. With some manipulation with excel, I build my 16x16 metatiles dictionary with it from the tilemap screen. My maps are 16x16 and use my metatiles. I also export it as csv. I keep the number of different 16x16 tiles under 256 so that my maps are built as arrays of chars (and not ints). This helps saving memory. So basically : - the map uses metatile numbers (length x height x char) - metatiles each use 4 tiles (4 int each) - tiles are 32 bytes and define the pixels (32 char each) Hope this helps ! It helps a lot. Thanks. I can try to export in CSV or Json and translate it. Actually I need only a fixed screen editor through tiles.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 6:44 am
	For fixed screens I find it easy to either just work with images in the first place - if it’s a unique tile set for the screen - or otherwise you are in the realm of game specific data and you probably need to make some simple tools to convert or edit data as needed. One approach I’ve been playing with recently is using a feature I added to WLA DX to support translation via .tbl files to use square Unicode symbolic characters - ✅🅿️⬆️⬅️↙️↘️⏺️⏹️👁️‍🗨️®️🟢🟡🟠🔺🔴🟣🟤🟥🟧🟨🟪🟦🟩♥️🕘 etc - to define data. It’s a bit random sometimes how it displays on certain platforms and tools, but so long as every character is square in your editor, it makes it possible to “draw” data in 2D in the text editor. Here’s an example: https://github.com/maxim-zhao/psrp/blob/master/psrp/asm/credits.asm

siriokds Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 7:14 am
siriokds Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Maxim wrote For fixed screens I find it easy to either just work with images in the first place - if it’s a unique tile set for the screen - or otherwise you are in the realm of game specific data and you probably need to make some simple tools to convert or edit data as needed. One approach I’ve been playing with recently is using a feature I added to WLA DX to support translation via .tbl files to use square Unicode symbolic characters - ✅🅿️⬆️⬅️↙️↘️⏺️⏹️👁️‍🗨️®️🟢🟡🟠🔺🔴🟣🟤🟥🟧🟨🟪🟦🟩♥️🕘 etc - to define data. It’s a bit random sometimes how it displays on certain platforms and tools, but so long as every character is square in your editor, it makes it possible to “draw” data in 2D in the text editor. Here’s an example: https://github.com/maxim-zhao/psrp/blob/master/psrp/asm/credits.asm Smart! Actually I'm using sjasm as assembler and I'm trying to convert a game I did for another platform.

sverx Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3828 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:41 am
	Maxim wrote One approach I’ve been playing with recently is using a feature I added to WLA DX to support translation via .tbl files to use square Unicode symbolic characters - ✅🅿️⬆️⬅️↙️↘️⏺️⏹️👁️‍🗨️®️🟢🟡🟠🔺🔴🟣🟤🟥🟧🟨🟪🟦🟩♥️🕘 etc - to define data. It’s a bit random sometimes how it displays on certain platforms and tools, but so long as every character is square in your editor, it makes it possible to “draw” data in 2D in the text editor. This reminds me I had used text files to draw maps. As long as you keep all the text lines at the same length you can just include them as binary data. Otherwise you can parse the lines and create the map in RAM. In either case, it's a very simple and low-tech approach, but it might be enough in many cases. For advanced stuff I still suggest Tiled, it's pretty easy to code an export plug-in after all, given you know either JavaScript or Python.

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