2D Map Editor

A minimalist 2D map editor.

Create single layer 2D maps from a .png tileset.

Export maps to txt, json, lua format.

Made with love2d.

Source code available on github

Preview

Tileset from https://ansimuz.itch.io/grotto-escape-game-art-pack

Features

• Edition:
  • Resize
  • Draw
  • Erase
  • Fill
  • Tile Picker
  • Clear
• Movement:
  • Move
  • Zoom
• Display:
  • Toggle grid
  • Reset
• Import:
  • .txt
  • .json
  • .lua
• Export:
  • .txt
  • .json
  • .lua
• Set settings from editor.txt
• Tiles display as drawing palette

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Usage Instructions

This minimalist software does not provide any integrated tips or documentation, you should refer to this section if you need help.

Get started

• Linux/MacOS install love2d v11.
• Download the map editor.
• Unzip it.
• Add at least one tileset in the tileset/ directory.
• Edit the "editor.txt" file next to the map editor and change some settings to fit your need.
• Run the map editor (on Linux/MacOS either double click on the .love file or use $ love 2d_map_editor.love from the command prompt).
• Create a map.
• Export your map.
• Your exported map should now appear in the map/ directory.

Shortcuts

Keys	Description
D	Draw
E	Erase
F	Fill
Alt	Tile picker
Mouse Right	Tile picker
←↑→↓	Move
Spacebar + Mouse Left	Move
Mouse Wheel	Zoom

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Input/Output Format

A 2d map is encoded as a 2d array of numbers. Each number matches a tile from the tileset.

Considering the following tileset:

And this 2d array of number:

{
    {19, 19,  1,  4, 19},
    {21, 19,  9, 19, 19},
    {19, 19, 19, 19, 19},
    {16, 16,  6, 15, 16},
    {13, 13, 13, 13, 13}
}

We get the following map:

Importing a Map to Your Project

With Lua (5.1)

If your using the lua programming language, just require the map in your project:

local map = require("path/to/my/map")

Without Lua

Create/find a parser for the file format you want your map to be in.

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Project Status

The project is currently finished, however feel free to open an issue if you encounter one. No features will be added.

Why this Project & more...

Initialy I wanted to be able to create maps for my 2d games, I tried tiled but it's a big editor with tons of features and it was exporting maps in the json format, so I should have learned how to use the editor and use a library to parse json files.

Since I only needed single layers maps I started this little project. It was one of my first desktop application so it was very interesting on many points.

I created the map editor 2+ years ago but I never finished some features/polish but used it in multiple projects like It Alive. It's why I came back on it with the desire to make the initial idea come true. I find the project/code structure really bad now and that's a good thing, it means that my programming practices/skills have improved since. If I had to do it again now, I would do it in a much different maner. Thanks for reading.