KeenGraph galaxy
Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 5:00 am
It's mostly done, to be released with the updated and windows/linux Keengraph, but there are a few small things I'd like to get feedback on from people.
Fonts: Fonts are monochrome letters used in writing text. Each letter is a different width and height. All 'lines' of text are the same height. How should I export this? Modkeen exports as a single bitmap, black and white letters separated by dark grey. I'm currently exporting similar, on a grid of squares the same size (Like the Keen 1-3 'font' 8x8 tiles) with the color reversed (White background, black text, not white text on black)
I could also export each letter as its own bitmap, my previous coding experience has had people do this. If it is exported 'letter by letter' then it would be in separate folders for convenience (e.g. graphics\fount1\letter3.bmp)
So, one big bmp or separate letters, which is better?
Numbering: I'm numbering by chunk number, like the game does. For example, what modkeen exports as sprite 0 is chunk 124 in Keen 4 (This is how the game and patches treat it.) this won't affect anything but the number in the filename, but I think it will help those patching, they won't have to add an arbitrary number when trying to make a patch use a graphic.
Tiles: I'm currently exporting 8x8 tiles as TIL0002-3, 16x16 as 0-1 and 32x32 as 4-5, as modkeen does, since all programs produced look for these default filenames and it could be troublesome to change them. The alternative would be the old wombat game tools masked\unmasked 8x8\16x16\32x32 tiles, which describes what they are and even makes nifty filenames, but would be different from the norm. I would appreciate programmer's input on this, especially since it should be possible to change the number of tiles in Keen galaxy.
Production of TED5 files: Yes or no? (I can edit almost any game with an EGAGRAPH, and that's a lot of games. This includes extracting the levels.)
Grouting: Should I grout the tiles? (For anyone who doesn't know, divide the tileset into squares, similar to the 'grid' option in Mindbelt) This means more effort for me and I wasn't going to grout the tileset, just use a 256 color for masked tiles. I could grout or have a -grout option if there is enough demand for it.
Filenames, especially the tiles:
* Stick with modkeen 2-like filenames
* Do as Lemm suggests, and change the names of everything. I don't want to drop the 'traditional' format entirely, since I'm attached to it.
Any other suggestions and tips are welcome too, this is a new format for me.
Fonts: Fonts are monochrome letters used in writing text. Each letter is a different width and height. All 'lines' of text are the same height. How should I export this? Modkeen exports as a single bitmap, black and white letters separated by dark grey. I'm currently exporting similar, on a grid of squares the same size (Like the Keen 1-3 'font' 8x8 tiles) with the color reversed (White background, black text, not white text on black)
I could also export each letter as its own bitmap, my previous coding experience has had people do this. If it is exported 'letter by letter' then it would be in separate folders for convenience (e.g. graphics\fount1\letter3.bmp)
So, one big bmp or separate letters, which is better?
Numbering: I'm numbering by chunk number, like the game does. For example, what modkeen exports as sprite 0 is chunk 124 in Keen 4 (This is how the game and patches treat it.) this won't affect anything but the number in the filename, but I think it will help those patching, they won't have to add an arbitrary number when trying to make a patch use a graphic.
Tiles: I'm currently exporting 8x8 tiles as TIL0002-3, 16x16 as 0-1 and 32x32 as 4-5, as modkeen does, since all programs produced look for these default filenames and it could be troublesome to change them. The alternative would be the old wombat game tools masked\unmasked 8x8\16x16\32x32 tiles, which describes what they are and even makes nifty filenames, but would be different from the norm. I would appreciate programmer's input on this, especially since it should be possible to change the number of tiles in Keen galaxy.
Production of TED5 files: Yes or no? (I can edit almost any game with an EGAGRAPH, and that's a lot of games. This includes extracting the levels.)
Grouting: Should I grout the tiles? (For anyone who doesn't know, divide the tileset into squares, similar to the 'grid' option in Mindbelt) This means more effort for me and I wasn't going to grout the tileset, just use a 256 color for masked tiles. I could grout or have a -grout option if there is enough demand for it.
Filenames, especially the tiles:
* Stick with modkeen 2-like filenames
* Do as Lemm suggests, and change the names of everything. I don't want to drop the 'traditional' format entirely, since I'm attached to it.
Any other suggestions and tips are welcome too, this is a new format for me.