Re: [pygame] Level editing thoughts

[Shandy Brown <sjbrown@xxxxxxxxx>]

You might want to check out the most recent version of Glarf.  It has the
ability to launch the editor while you're playing.  Just click on the
screen with your mouse while in-game.

sjbrown

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006, James Hofmann wrote:

> I've been thinking about how I could build an "above-average" level editor,
> something that goes beyond tilemap drawing or placing a bunch of objects at
> various coordinates and dictating their behavior through property lists.
>
> I decided that in-game hooks to the editor would be the most interesting
> option, primarily for sequences where you want a timed script of events such as
> in-game cutscenes, "patrolling" actors, etc.: You could press a record button
> while playing, walk around a little, press a second button to denote some
> non-movement event(talking, shooting, etc.), and then when you're done with
> your recording, the data would be instantly included in the editor in a format
> that could be easily tweaked, such as a system of waypoints.
>
> To do the "instant" part means some interface between game and editor has to
> occur. The way I'm planning on implementing this cleanly is to use a namespace.
> A paradigm I already use frequently is to make a file "glo.py" containing one
> or more empty class declarations, and in every other project file include
> "import * from glo" so that the classes function globally.
>
> Perhaps even better is that in this case, I can do more with the class than
> leave it empty; the editor data will need to be saved and loaded and that
> functionality can become a method....so that the game, when instructed to do
> so, may load the current editor data, manipulate it, and save it - and the
> "play" process could remain seperate from the "edit" process while
> synchronizing the pertinent data. Having this interface present means that I
> could make "in-game tools" for "in-game content" and leave the static parts
> like drawing the scene and assigning properties in the static mode, in the
> editor.
>
> It seems like a really simple idea now, yet so few games try to do something
> like this with their editing tools. They always make you do everything within
> the editor, with the "test" mode only for testing. I wonder why that is?
>
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