Hi there, I’ve a bit confused about the differences between sprite sheets and tiled maps/layers. I’ve worked quite a bit with sprite sheets and don’t see how tiled maps are able to be different, when you would use them instead of/alongside sprite sheets, and so on. Thanks!
Tilesets are a type of spritesheet, and the sprites (tiles) within them are expected to be put together side by side into some larger shape rather than used in isolation or as part of a sequence of images (i.e. an animation; although tiles can also be animated)
Tilemaps are arrangements of tiles forming meaningful shapes and patterns, such as environments or puzzle layouts. Layers allow layering multiple tiles to create a broader range of visual effects.
Although tilesets are technically a type of spritesheet, the term “spritesheet” usually refers to non-tileset spritesheets, i.e. ones where the sprites are expected to be used for purposes other than tilemaps, such as character animations and VFX.