68 replies to this topic

[xfixium]

Title: Game Maker Alternative Room Editor (GMare)
Dev Tool: c# VS 2010
Language: English
Requirements: Windows, .net 2.0, OpenGL 1.1
Downloads: http://gmare.codeplex.com/

Description:
Been awhile since I posted anything like this, but from past experiences, I believe this is the right place to post something like this. GMare is an open source alternative room editor for Game Maker versions 5 through 8.1. Offering user friendly tools to create rooms quickly and easily. It also offers various import and export options.

Release Notes:
The collision editor part of GMare does not have any direction at this time, and thus does not work. It is also recommended that you back up your project if you decide to export the room to a Game Maker project file. (GMare will remind you of this before it overwrites a project) There is also some example projects to show how to import a GMare .bin from disk.

Features:
- Rooms are created in separate project files which can be shared easily within a dev team environment.
- Rooms can be exported to an image file.
- Rooms can be exported to a binary file.
- Rooms can be exported directly to a Game Maker project file. (Supports GM5 through GM8.1)
- Import room from a supported image format (.png, .bmp, .gif)
- Easy to use tools and intuitive design. Making for less mistakes when switching between tile layers.
- Pencil tool - Paints single or multiple tiles.
- Bucket tool - Fills with a single or multiple tiles. Smart fill.
- Selection tool - Cut, Copy and paste tiles where needed.
- Tile swap tool - Swaps single or multiple tiles.
- Shift tool - Shifts a single or all layers in a desired direction.
- Collision editor - For collision rectangles, and triangles. (Still in WIP)
- Layer text viewer - lists tiles in text.
- Instance editor - Sets instances based off imported objects.

Screens:
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_20.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_21.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_22.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_23.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_24.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_25.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_26.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_27.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_30.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_31.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_32.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_33.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_34.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_35.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_36.png
http://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/gmare/gmare_37.png

Thank you for your time, and I hope this tool is useful.

Edited by xfixium, 20 August 2011 - 01:12 PM.

[mcoot]

This isn't actually the correct place to post it... I'm not entirely sure where it should be posted. Maybe 'Extending Game Maker'. Request a move from a Mod.

This does look like an interesting project though, downloading it now.

[xfixium]

Thank you, I will do that. I had a similar project way back, except smaller scaled. This is where it was moved to before. lol So I thought it would be the same.

[2Dcube]

I see there is zoom =D

Can it zoom out as well?

[A saurus1]

Awe, I get a failed to init *memory address* error. I'm running WinXP.

[xfixium]

I see there is zoom =D

Can it zoom out as well?

Yes, the zoom options range from 25% to 400% magnification. It helps when you want to get the whole design into perspective.

Awe, I get a failed to init *memory address* error. I'm running WinXP.

I'm sorry it failed for you. Unfortunately I don't have an XP machine at my disposal. Though I'm not sure that error is OS specific. I'll put it on the issue tracker. Hopefully it will be resolved in the future.

EDIT: Also thank you to whom ever moved this topic.

Edited by xfixium, 10 February 2011 - 09:26 PM.

[Schyler]

It looks really nice. Good job.

[Smarty]

Very nice editor so far, intuitive enough to start working straight away. I've only shortly toyed with it, so this isn't an exhaustive list of issues and shortcomings:

• The application could do with a better task bar icon. Or any icon at all, in fact.
• I'm unsure why I must load an image file to start working on a project. I suppose it's because you wish to enforce using a tileset from the start, but this might not always be required.
• Apart from the drop-down, I'd like to be able to use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out of the room editor.
• I'd like to be able to use more than one tile set, each with their own tile size. Conversely, I'd like the grid to automatically adjust to the size of the currently selected tile or object, and a drop-down menu to readjust the size to any of the other grid sizes in use,
• I'd like the ability to show or hide instances, the background in use or any of the views.

Good job though - until YoYo Games improves their room editor, this is looking to be a very good alternative.

[xfixium]

Very nice editor so far, intuitive enough to start working straight away. I've only shortly toyed with it, so this isn't an exhaustive list of issues and shortcomings:

• The application could do with a better task bar icon. Or any icon at all, in fact.
• I'm unsure why I must load an image file to start working on a project. I suppose it's because you wish to enforce using a tileset from the start, but this might not always be required.
• Apart from the drop-down, I'd like to be able to use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out of the room editor.
• I'd like to be able to use more than one tile set, each with their own tile size. Conversely, I'd like the grid to automatically adjust to the size of the currently selected tile or object, and a drop-down menu to readjust the size to any of the other grid sizes in use,
• I'd like the ability to show or hide instances, the background in use or any of the views.

Good job though - until YoYo Games improves their room editor, this is looking to be a very good alternative.

Thank you for your input! As GMare is currently in it's alpha stages, it is still lacking in some of it's features. (eg. Collisions) The program has been used within my own dev team as something that was never completed. This is it's first public release. As for your list of suggestions:

• In the future this will be done. I haven't come up with a design I feel fits this application yet. It simply isn't high on my list at this time.
• Never really thought about it that way. This is mainly because of what the tool was used for previously.
• Agreed, originally I had it scroll the room, but had made some changes that disabled it. I still may reserve the wheel for scrolling, as the shortcut keys seem easy enough to zoom in and out on the fly. (Although I may be wrong about that)
• Multiple tilesets would mimic Game Maker better and is an excellent suggestion. Although GMare works as a traditional sectored room editor, and not a tile object based editor like Game Maker does. This gives it it's own set of pros and cons, and your suggestion would be difficult to implement for the binary exporter part of the editor. The grid seems to be a matter of preference. One user expressed that they liked that the editor did not behave in that fashion. So this probably could be handled with a flag for whatever the user desires.
• True, and really how it should have been approached from the beginning.

[Smarty]

As GMare is currently in it's alpha stages, it is still lacking in some of it's features. (eg. Collisions)

What exactly do you mean by 'collisions'? Collision masks for platform areas? Do you prescribe some kind of implementation for these, and if so, which?

Agreed, originally I had it scroll the room, but had made some changes that disabled it. I still may reserve the wheel for scrolling, as the shortcut keys seem easy enough to zoom in and out on the fly. (Although I may be wrong about that)

Scrolling by mouse wheel makes sense when reading a page of text, but not so much for more dynamic dimensions such as large rooms have. And I'd much prefer e.g. hold a key and press and hold the mouse to be able to drag the view around. The zooming by mouse is useful because it doesn't take a selection from a drop-down box, and because it allows you to quickly zoom in and out more interactively and stop when I've reached a convenient zoom level - looking at the drop-down box I'm not immediately sure what level of magnification I would need.

Obviously, all this may be left configurable for the end user...

[xfixium]

What exactly do you mean by 'collisions'? Collision masks for platform areas? Do you prescribe some kind of implementation for these, and if so, which?

Wow, originally masks were EXACTLY what I was using this feature for. However I didn't take into account the maximum size of surfaces for graphics cards. Which could cause unexpected problems for users. So, I have it around but it is not functional as of yet. Still wondering what I could do with it. This basic idea could work for it though: http://gmc.yoyogames...howtopic=463645

Scrolling by mouse wheel makes sense when reading a page of text, but not so much for more dynamic dimensions such as large rooms have. And I'd much prefer e.g. hold a key and press and hold the mouse to be able to drag the view around. The zooming by mouse is useful because it doesn't take a selection from a drop-down box, and because it allows you to quickly zoom in and out more interactively and stop when I've reached a convenient zoom level - looking at the drop-down box I'm not immediately sure what level of magnification I would need.

Obviously, all this may be left configurable for the end user...

Definitely some sound reasoning there, and I think I will apply those in the next release. Thank you.

Edited by xfixium, 12 February 2011 - 12:17 AM.

[M_I_Soft]

Seems great from the first impressions. Would be nice to be able to create a room without tiles though as has been previously mentioned (had to create a blank image the size of my normal rooms to get it started.
Don't seem to be able to get the export to GM working though as I'd love to test that out. When I go to export it doesn't show any rooms listed in the selection window so doesn't allow me to complete the export.

Other than that I'm still playing with it but it does look very very good so far and potentially a perfect replacement for the inbuilt room editor - being able to zoom is a godsend!

[xfixium]

Seems great from the first impressions. Would be nice to be able to create a room without tiles though as has been previously mentioned (had to create a blank image the size of my normal rooms to get it started.
Don't seem to be able to get the export to GM working though as I'd love to test that out. When I go to export it doesn't show any rooms listed in the selection window so doesn't allow me to complete the export.

Other than that I'm still playing with it but it does look very very good so far and potentially a perfect replacement for the inbuilt room editor - being able to zoom is a godsend!

In the future the image requirement will not be a factor. Though if you just have an 16 x 16 image file, it would be good enough to start the editor. The GM Export is an issue, thank you for your feedback. This has been fixed, so that the actual room parent node is visible, and able to accept a room on an empty project. However, if the project you wish to export to has existing rooms, and they are not shown, then that is a bug, and will require me to look into it further.

As for the next release, planned features:

- Brush made from tile selection
- Save brushes in a list for use, and select from a context menu when editing tiles
- Panning with a hand tool (Press H key and drag with mouse)
- Zooming with mouse wheel option
- Tile properties tool. Able to change the blend color, angle (90 degree increments), and scale (For Flipping) of tiles

Edited by xfixium, 18 February 2011 - 02:59 PM.

[Fruckert]

Is there a tool to clone instances, including their instance creation code?
Because if so, consider me sold.

[xfixium]

Is there a tool to clone instances, including their instance creation code?
Because if so, consider me sold.

It has standard cut, copy, paste, and delete. Which copying (ctrl + c, or right click then Copy) does include the creation code. You can then paste (ctrl + v or right click then Paste) as many instances as you like into the room.

Edited by xfixium, 18 February 2011 - 06:33 PM.

[thedyingdragon]

Wow ... I don't know why but for some reason I decided to take a look at this topic (I think the name intrigued me)
And upon first reading I had doubts but damn I downloaded and to my surprise it was AWESOME!!!

very very nice job!!!

you say this was built in C# could I get the source of this?

Keep It Up!!!!

Edited by thedyingdragon, 18 February 2011 - 08:38 PM.

[xfixium]

Wow ... I don't know why but for some reason I decided to take a look at this topic (I think the name intrigued me)
And upon first reading I had doubts but damn I downloaded and to my surprise it was AWESOME!!!

very very nice job!!!

you say this was built in C# could I get the source of this?

Keep It Up!!!!

The source is available where you downloaded it. Codeplex is an open source community. Click the link provided on the first post again, then just click the Source Code tab, and then under Latest Version, click download.

Edited by xfixium, 18 February 2011 - 11:34 PM.

[thedyingdragon]

The source is available where you downloaded it. Codeplex is an open source community. Click the link provided on the first post again, then just click the Source Code tab, and then under Latest Version, click download.

Oh wow I can't believe I missed that link
anyway I got the source
Thanks

[xfixium]

Funny enough, your not the only person to ask me where the source is.

[B Factory LLC]

Excellent program and GUI. Nice work; may use this.