I could have kept all three of today’s posts in one but I want to organise things into their correct categories.
I decided I wanted to do some more 3D level designing, but hadn’t really enjoyed working with Unreal Editor as much as I had hoped. I think maybe because of its genre of pc shoot ‘em up which I have never been much of a fan of. I enjoyed working with unrealEd in the way that it allowed me to explore and play around a 3D world which I had designed. Maybe it was just my inexperience with the game, the editor and the genre in general which left me feeling less than excited about the whole thing.
Anyway, yesterday I was thinking back to one of the first times I remember thinking how cool it would be to make games, and it was back probably ten years ago or so, maybe even more, when in PC Gamer or some other PC Games magazine there was an interview with someone who worked as a level designer for the Tomb Raider games. I remember there was a screenshot of the level editor of some kind which showed part of an unfinished level and (as geeky as it sounds) found the idea of playing around with the levels of Tomb Raider a really fun idea.
So I typed in Tomb Raider Level Editor, not really expecting there to be one, but was happily surprised when I found ‘Tomb Raider 4 Level Editor’ Yay :D
I have only had a quick look at it and followed a very basic tutorial which came along with it. It looks very nice though and I will hopefully get round to creating a proper level with the feel of a real Tomb Raider game at some point, but I think I’ll need to sit down and spend more time and effort on it. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any concept within the editor of importing static meshes to place within the level so this is sort of limiting, but I still think it will be a good way of getting some level design experience, as well as creating and importing textures to use within the levels.
There is also some good stuff on level design in the PDF by Phillip Campbell, a level designer for the Tomb Raider series about the structure of levels as well as giving examples of things he has done in his own levels.
Some screenshots of the level editor and the game running the level (I know it's terribly textured but it still cool).
Instructions for the editor for my flash game Wizards (WizED v1.1)
I am putting this in my blog as I don't have a website for the game set up yet, though I should do shortly. As the editor (along with the game) have been quite rushed, and since it has all been a learning experience, programming things I have not attempted before, things will not all run perfectly. I have made no attempt at error handling as of yet. If a problem arises, the game will most likely crash.
I know this game isn’t perfect, but I have worked hard on it and have learnt quite a lot (mainly that I need to learn better ways of doing things) and I hope you enjoy trying it and messing around with the editor. I know there are problems with it, and I know it can be frustrating, but I would really appreciate any useful criticism and ideas on how to improve the game and the editor. I will be working on updates now and again so hopefully the game will begin to improve over time.
The Editor
With some objects, such as the collectable stars, and mover objects, once they are placed, there is no way of removing them without starting the level design from scratch (restarting the editor). Mover objects can be drawn over with the blank tile, but this will not actually remove it from the level.
Unfortunately, for now anyway, once you have clicked the 'make' button, you will not be able to go back and edit your level using the level editor. Also, there is no way as of yet for importing levels to edit using the editor. This is something I will be adding in the next version. So before you click 'make', ensure that the level is exactly how you want it.
Block Brushes
The normal tile brushes are very easy to use and work well. Simply choose the tile (there are three different tiles available in this version of the editor, and four unused ones (red/other colours). There is also the blank tile (which has a red line through it) which is used for removing tiles you have placed. Once you have selected your tile, click and drag around on the map to place the tiles down. You can place as many tiles as you like without slowing down the game any considerable amount. If you go wrong, use the blank tile. You can use the red tiles if you wish, they will just show up as they do on the editor when playing the game (in the current version at least).
Collectable (small) Stars
The small stars are the collectable items in the game. You must have at least one of these on your map somewhere or the 'make' button wont function. Ensure that you put the stars in places that are reachable by one of the characters (in Wizards v2.2, characters can jump approximately 4 blocks high. This may vary in later versions of the game). The star brush icon is small so look at the output box at the bottom left of the screen to ensure it reads ‘Star Brush’ before clicking on the map. You can only place one star at a time, and only one in each box. In v2.2, stars are always placed in the bottom left of the box (again, may vary in later versions). Be careful placing stars as they cannot be removed in the editor. Although stars do not have to be reachable for the ‘make’ button to function, the level exit stars will not appear until all of the smaller stars have been collected in the level, meaning the level will not be completable.
Also be careful with the amount of stars that you place, as they can start to slow the game down considerably.
Exit Stars
A level can only have, and must have two exit stars to be able to use the make button, and for the game to load it. Ensure the stars are reachable by the characters (at the same time) to make the level completable. Although you cannot directly remove exit stars, if you have the exit star brush selected and click on the map when two exit stars already exist, then both exit stars will disappear.
Mover Blocks
Mover blocks are the big pain with the game and the editor. These need a lot of work until they are fully usable within the game. To create a moving block, click the red block to the right of the large star at the top of the screen. The output text will read ‘Mover Block. Select a tile type’. Although you must select a tile type, this is completely irrelevant as all blocks appear as block type 3 (the four brown blocks). Once a tile type has been selected, type in a number in both the text boxes beside the mover brush. The top number refers to how many blocks above the selected one the mover block will move up to, and the bottom number how for the mover block will move down to. There is no cap on the number you can enter, though errors will probably get thrown back at you if you type huge numbers (I’ve not tried).
When moving blocks move at different heights to each other, the character gets confused when landing on one and starts jumping up and down on the lower ones. This is annoying and unplayable, so I advise having all moving blocks at the same height.
There is nothing stopping a mover block moving down from the top screen to the bottom screen or vice versa. I don’t think that I have actually implemented the ability for the bottom character to use mover blocks, but this will definitely be added in the next version. As stated before, mover blocks cannot be deleted using the editor.
Editing with Text Editor
If you really want to edit the level after you have created it and found something isn’t working right, then it IS possible to open the xml file in a text editor and make changes. If you are deleting a star or mover item, ensure that you edit the ‘starNum’ and ‘moverNum’ tags near the start of the file relevant to the changes made.
When you press the make button, assuming no errors come up, the xml data for the level will appear in a text box. The text is automatically copied to the clipboard so just open up your text editor and paste it in (the file may look a bit odd but don’t worry). Save it in the Levels folder as an xml file (e.g. myLevel.xml). Now when you run Wizards2_2.exe (from the same file as the Levels folder sits) just type in ‘Levels\myLevel.xml’ or whatever you have saved it as in the text box and click ‘Load’ to start your level.
04: Reading attributes
I started making a test example just using the one row, just to see if it would work, and it wouldn't, and I got confused again, and looked over my notes, and on other pages, and wasted a lot more time :)
But I think I'm back on track again now (hopefully) and attributes is the key. It's not like the other stuff wasn't relevent, it was, but I will be expanding on it by looking at how attributes can be used to get data.
Firstly, I would just be repeating what it says HERE if I were to explain the use of attributes in XML myself.
Because I am now using attributes, the old xml file is no use. I have edited my code taking the new file's location into concideration, so you don't have to.
var xmlLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
var xmlData:XML = new XML();
xmlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, LoadXML);
xmlLoader.load(new URLRequest("http://83.170.89.79/~gibboco/
blog/tutorials/xml/test2XML.xml"));
function LoadXML(e:Event):void
{
xmlData = new XML(e.target.data);
parseThis(xmlData);
}
function parseThis(myInput:XML):void
{var blockAttributes:XMLList = myInput.row.block.attributes();
for each (var blockValue:XML in blockAttributes) {
trace(blockValue);}
}
This example simply displays the attributes of the new file in the output.
In the code highlighted orange above, myInput is the whole XML data. We are then going through the children and the children's children (row and block) getting the grandchildren's attributes. The variable blockAttributes grabs the value of all of this.
In the pink highlighted code, we are looping through each instance of a new copy of XML, 'blockValue' within blockAttributes. For each instance of blockValue in blockAttributes, it traces back the value of blockValue (outputting it on the screen).
Introduction
I am starting the XML stuff for my wizards game from scratch. Yesterday after trying several methods of getting multiple levels to load, I found out about using XML to load in data to a flash file. I used several websites to help me understand the concept (Emanuel Feronato,8 Bit Rocket and by far the most useful and easy to understand, Kirupa).
Anyway, thinking I had learnt completely how to use it, I dived straight in to adding the code into my project. This sort of worked. I am still unsure why it DIDN'T work completely. I managed to load in the level and display it on the screen, but I couldn't work out why it wasn't showing properly (the tiles were all the same, as oposed to showing the correct tile based on the number in the XML file).
So, this is my blog of doing all the XML walkthrough stuff in a blank project, without any of the other code or anything else confusing me. It's also sort of a tutorial, so follow it if you like. It may not be the best way of doing the thing I am trying to acheive, but I will try and explain what I am doing as I go along.
03: Creating the level tiles
For my game, I want a way of displaying tiles that look different depending on the number which appears in between each <tilecol> tag.
To achieve this I will need a for loop, which will will loop through every row, and within that loop, have a second loop which will loop through every column.
Within the second loop there shall be some code which creates each individual tile, putting it into the correct location based on its row and column position and change its frame number to the number grabbed from the xml information.
The below images show what I am aiming to do: (note: upload images)
(needs finishing)
2: Getting the information we need
Replace all the code from before with this
var xmlLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
var xmlData:XML = new XML();xmlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, LoadXML);
xmlLoader.load(new URLRequest("http://83.170.89.79/~gibboco/
blog/tutorials/xml/myXML.xml"));function LoadXML(e:Event):void
{
xmlData = new XML(e.target.data);
parseThis(xmlData);
}. function parseThis(myInput:XML):void
{
trace(myInput.tilerow[6].tilecol[2]);
}
This time, instead of tracing the xmlData in the LoadXML function, we call a function 'parseThis' which we send the xmlData to.
The above example displays the second 'tilecol' items within the sixth 'tilerow' item (shown in the pink highlighted areas).
1: Loading the XML File
I am not going to go into loads of detail about what everything does, for now anyway, just the code and what some of the bits do. I will however highlight the bits you won't need to change and the bits you will.
To load the xml file:
(Actionscript 3.0 code)
01. var xmlLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
02. var xmlData:XML = new XML();03.
04. xmlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, LoadXML);
05. xmlLoader.load(new
URLRequest("http://83.170.89.79/~gibboco/blog/
tutorials/xml/myXML.xml"));06. function LoadXML(e:Event):void
07. {
08. xmlData = newXML(e.target.data);
09. trace(xmlData);
10. }
01 to 04: Can be left alone, just sets stuff up for you (if you change 'LoadXML' on line 4, you will have to change the function name in 06 as well).
05: Loads in your xml file. This bit you need to change to the location of your xml file or use the one I have uploaded (used in the example). The kirupa example uses the url http://www.kirupa.com/net/files/sampleXML.xml which displays some info on books, which the kirupa tutorial uses for showing information.
06 to 10: The function. Can be left alone. This sets 'xmlData' to the value of the content of your XML file and displays it in the output (by tracing xmlData).
My XML file: myXML.txt (you'll need to save it as an xml file) (if you want to have it link to an internal file on your computer)
I think I’ve gone mad. I can’t for the life of me work out what I have done wrong here. The number between each <titlecol> tag gives the tile numer which should be applied to the tile when it loads. There are three tiles, tile0 (blank), tile 1 (the 2x2 blocks you can see in the image with grass on the top) and a third tile, tile 2 (a 2x2 block of the same tile without brown on). The ordering of the <tilecol> tags determines where the tiles in that row go, and the different <tilerow> determines on what row it’s column’s tiles go.
(above: the level design)
<map>
<tilerow>
<tilecol>1</tilecol>
<tilecol>2</tilecol>
<tilecol>1</tilecol>
<tilecol>2</tilecol>
<tilecol>1</tilecol>
<tilecol>2</tilecol>
<tilecol>2</tilecol>
<tilecol>2</tilecol>
<tilecol>2</tilecol>
<tilecol>0</tilecol>
<tilecol>0</tilecol>
<tilecol>0</tilecol>
<tilecol>0</tilecol>
<tilecol>0</tilecol>
<tilecol>0</tilecol>
<tilecol>0</tilecol>
<tilecol>0</tilecol>
<tilecol>0</tilecol>
</tilerow>
the xml code (sample):
(above: the three different tiles)
If it was that somehow the tile 1 tiles were obscuring the tile 2 tiles, being sized wrong or something then I could understand this, but I tested it by making the tiles on the top row ‘1,2,1,2,1,2,2,2,2’ and when I run the game it is plainly obvious that there is nothing there, it’s not putting a block down!
I don't know why I think writing a blog about it will help, but I may realize something stupid I have missed.
Well I havn't yet. Anyway I have lots more stuff to add to the blog, loads more screen shots and things, which I will get around to doing eventually.
(note: I am using Adobe Contribute CS3 to edit this blog. I previously tried using Microsoft Word which DOES have the ability to edit blogs, but I couldn't get it to upload images, and I found that other people had this problem by googling my problem. However, I am having the same problem with Adobe Contribute although I can't see anything on the internet about similar problems).
$query = "INSERT INTO example1 (Date, Name, Subject, Comment, URL) VALUES (CURDATE(), '$Name', '$Subject', '$Comment', '$URL')";
<table width="200" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align = "center">The 'id' is what the php code looks at and gets the data from. The finished php file for the file looks like this:
<tr>
<td width="100">Username:</td>
<td><input name="username" type="text" id="username"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100">Subject:</td>
<td border = "0"><input name="subject" type="text" id="subject"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100">Comment:</td>
<td><input name="comment" type="text" id="comment"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100">URL:</td>
<td><input name="url" type="text" id="url"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100"> </td>
<td align = "right"><input name="add" type="submit" id="add" value="Submit"></td>
</tr>
</table>
<html>Note that the entire php section is placed within the html tags. However, the file must still be saved as a php file for it to work. Ensure that the id's in the html section towards the end are the same as the values for the defined variables such as $Name, $Subject etc. I have emphasized these in bold.
<head>
<title>Add New Comment</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body>
<?php
if(isset($_POST['add']))
{
$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbuser = 'root';
$dbpass = '';
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) or die ('Error connecting to mysql');
$dbname = 'test1';
mysql_select_db($dbname);
$Name = $_POST['username'];
$Subject = $_POST['subject'];
$Comment = $_POST['comment'];
$URL = $_POST['url'];
$query = "INSERT INTO example1 (Name, Subject, Comment, URL) VALUES ('$Name', '$Subject', '$Comment', '$URL')";
mysql_query($query) or die('Error, insert query failed');
$query = "FLUSH PRIVILEGES";
mysql_query($query) or die('Error, insert query failed');
echo "Comment Added <br><br>";
$query = "SELECT Name, Subject, Comment, URL FROM example1";
$result = mysql_query($query);
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))
{
echo "----------------------------------- <br>" .
"Name: {$row['Name']} <br>" .
"Subject: {$row['Subject']} <br>" .
"Comment: {$row['Comment']} <br>" .
"URL: {$row['URL']} <br>";
}
mysql_close($conn);
}
else
{
?>
<form method="post">
<font size="1" face="Arial">
<table width="200" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align = "center">
<tr>
<td width="100">Username:</td>
<td><input name="username" type="text" id="username"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100">Subject:</td>
<td border = "0"><input name="subject" type="text" id="subject"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100">Comment:</td>
<td><input name="comment" type="text" id="comment"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100">URL:</td>
<td><input name="url" type="text" id="url"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100"> </td>
<td align = "right"><input name="add" type="submit" id="add" value="Submit"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</font>
</form>
<?php
}
?>
</body>
</html>
$query = "INSERT INTO example1 (Name, Subject, Comment, URL) VALUES ('Bob', 'Hey', 'Once upon a time, the end', 'http://chrisgibbo.blogspot.com')";
mysql_query($query) or die('Error, insert query failed');
<?php
$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbuser = 'root';
$dbpass = '';
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) or die ('Error
connecting to mysql');
$dbname = 'test1';
mysql_select_db($dbname);
$query = "INSERT INTO example1 (Name, Subject, Comment, URL) VALUES ('a', 'b', 'c', 'd')";
mysql_query($query) or die('Error, insert query failed');
$query = "SELECT Name, Subject, Comment, URL FROM example1";
$result = mysql_query($query);
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))
{
echo " Name :{$row['Name']} <br>" .
"Subject : {$row['Subject']} <br>" .
"Comment : {$row['Comment']} <br>" .
"URL: {$row['URL']} <br>.<br>";
}
?>
$dbuser = 'root';Things you may have changed which may be causing you problems: If you have set up a username and password for your database, change these accordingly under "$dbuser = " and "$dbpass = ". Also, if you didn't call your database "test1" then type whatever you did call it under "$dbname = ". Also ensure there are ";"'s at the end of every line where it is needed.
$dbpass = '';
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) or die ('Error connecting to mysql');
$dbname = 'test1';
mysql_select_db($dbname);
?>
<?phpnotes: you must put ";" at the end of echo "Hello" to show
echo "Hello";
?>
