Hello,
I’ve written a small level editor for Petscii Robots by The 8-Bit Guy:
https://github.com/radi0sus/robots-mapedit/tree/main
While exploring features I could implement, I came across Tiled - which, surprisingly, I had never heard of before. It’s clearly far more powerful than my little script, so I started wondering if I could use Tiled as a map editor instead.
I’ve already written a script that converts Robots level files into Tiled’s TMX format (thanks to the great documentation of the TMX format):
https://github.com/radi0sus/robots-mapedit/blob/main/lvl2tiled.py
In my approach, the map tiles are included as tiles, and everything else - robots, player, hidden objects - is represented as Objects in Tiled. But I’m unsure if this is the best way. Would using additional tile layers be a better option?
The game has specific limits:
- 28 robots
- 16 doors/transporters
- 16 hidden objects (like guns, bombs, keys, etc.)
Each object can have up to 5 properties. More details on the 8-Bit Guy website, Petscii Robots Map Editor (there is only a version for the Commodore PET).
I’m trying to figure out how to enforce those limits - for example, to prevent adding a 29th robot. Also, when a unit is deleted, it should remain in the file as a zeroed-out entry rather than being completely removed. Any suggestions on how to handle that?
I’d really appreciate your thoughts - especially on whether using Objects is the right approach, or if there’s a better alternative.
My next step would be to write another script that converts TMX files back into a Robots level.
Thank yo very much!
Sebastian