SMBC Auto-Tiler

Discussion in 'Skins' started by Ryuza, Jan 12, 2011.

  1. Ryuza

    Ryuza Level 6: Lakitu

    Hey all, this is the official thread for the Auto-Tiler. The Auto-Tiler is a program I made to help take some of the tedious work out of skinning levels and to allow people to skin stages the same way they might be done in-game. You can use it to retile six different example stages quickly and easily, you just replace the tiles on the 'ctiles.png' file that comes with the program with whatever tiles you'd like to use in-game, load the program press the "Custom Tiles" button and its done.

    You can't place your own tiles wherever you like but the main use of the program at the moment is to test out custom tilesheets that would be easily compatible with SMBC. You can replace the tiles with the program and then take the stage to paint and tweak things as you like.

    Press Space to save a copy of the part of the stage you're viewing to the same folder as the program and use Left and Right to navigate the stages.

    Anyway, download it here if you'd like: Auto-Tiler

    Press F1 for help and Esc to exit.

    The program comes with 3 other files:
    btiles.png | ctiles.png | BM_ctiles.png

    BM_ctiles is a quick example I made, just delete ctiles and name BM_ctiles 'ctiles' to see an example of how the program replaces tiles in a stage.

    If anything happens to either file the program will just create new ones when you start it, so if you mess up a tilesheet just delete it and run the program to recreate it.

    This thread if mainly just for questions about the program though, so if you find any bugs or would like any features added just post here and let me know and I'll update the program.
  2. sbq92

    sbq92 Level 9: Spike Top

    I greatly appreciate this program, as I stated in the other thread. It really makes re-skinning stages a lot easier. :)

    I do think it may be necessary to include 2-tile patterns, however. I recognize the difficulty in doing so, since Left-Middle-Right and Two-Tile Repeating are two vastly different tiling patterns, but some of the games pretty much require the 2-tile pattern: from Mega Man II onward, the vast majority of the stages use the pattern; Contra uses the pattern; Ninja Gaiden (which is difficult enough already due to its complexity of stage graphics) uses the pattern on many stages.

    As I said, I definitely recognize the difficulty in trying to incorporate two different tiling systems, but if we want this to work for all characters, we may have to find a way to make the 2-tile pattern work. The only other alternative, I think, is some heavy graphics editing, which isn't out of the question, but probably isn't a preferable option (IMO).
  3. Ryuza

    Ryuza Level 6: Lakitu

    Glad to see someones getting some use out of the program :)

    I'm not sure how it would work for Jay when it comes to programming patterns in SMBC but I think I could come up with something with the AutoTiler and if Jay likes the result he can try and get it in the game. Thinking about it now though it doesn't actually seem too complicated. I'll give it a try, if I do add it there will most likely just be a check box or something added that would switch between L/M/R and Pattern mode, it'll still be the same sheet I'll just add two tiles for each theme.

    I need to finish writing a paper real quick and then I'll get started, shouldn't take too long to finish the paper or update the program though.
  4. sbq92

    sbq92 Level 9: Spike Top

    Awesome, I'm glad you're going to attempt it. :)

    I just realized that the Auto-Tiler doesn't have the hills, clouds, and bushes. I know the Auto-Tiler doesn't have all the background stuff, so I guess that's why those aren't there?

    Also, I think I have finished a tileset for Link. It could still use some touch-ups--the cloud and Bullet Bill Launcher haven't been changed yet. Try it out and let me know what you think. With this tiler, we could potentially have all these skins done within a very short time!
  5. Ryuza

    Ryuza Level 6: Lakitu

    Yeah, I decided not to add the background stuff since there aren't a lot of other games with compatible background tiles, I might add the bushes back since there are a few that could use those and the ones that can't can leave them blank. I'll probably be adding the ability to load a image as a custom background sometime soon as well as the ability to save the entire stage at once as a file.

    Anyway, is this about what you meant for the LMR vs Patterns?

    Working on it right now so it shouldn't be long before its done, just checking if two tiles is good enough for the patterns or if more might be better.
  6. sbq92

    sbq92 Level 9: Spike Top

    That is pretty much what I meant, except some of them have a top row, and then the pattern starts beneath. So, it could be like:

    1 | 2 | 1 | 2
    A | B | A | B

    or even

    1 | 1 | 1 | 1
    A | B | A | B

    I guess in the case of the second one, it would be easy enough to simply double up the single tile along the top.
  7. Ryuza

    Ryuza Level 6: Lakitu

    Okay, piece of cake then, I'll probably have it finished sometime soon. Any other ideas?

    I'll add both 1/2 and A/B just to give more options.
  8. sbq92

    sbq92 Level 9: Spike Top

    I think that's it for now. It looks like it will be good! :)

    CHAOS_FANTAZY Level 6: Lakitu

    Hey, wait, doesn't a ? block have three cycled frames, not two? The same with coins?

    Speaking of coins, would those be considered part of a tileset, or, because they don't change colors, they'd be unchangeable, like enemies?
  10. sbq92

    sbq92 Level 9: Spike Top

    Isn't the three-cycle just a color flashing?

    CHAOS_FANTAZY Level 6: Lakitu

    Yes, but that's beside the point: shouldn't you/the tiler have 3 different ? block sprites?
  12. sbq92

    sbq92 Level 9: Spike Top

    Do you mean the three different colors should be included in the Tiler? Flashing blocks seemed to me like something Jay would take care of.
  13. Ryuza

    Ryuza Level 6: Lakitu

    Yeah, there won't be anything animated in this really, Jay will probably have the coin blocks from each game be animated once people come up with them.

    Coins and enemies don't count towards the tiles, basically any non-interactive things in the game fit under tiles and anything that you can interact with or animate in some way would fit under objects which use sprites.

    Thats why the flag pole and a few other things aren't included as well but feel free to work on custom sprites for those to match other games. I think the only thing that won't need custom sprites for the skins would be enemies and coins, there may be more though but we'll have to wait and ask Jay some time.

    Edit: Well that took forever, lol

    Took me about 3 minutes to get the code figured out, then it took an hour to retile everything with the patterns :p

    Oh well, just make sure you guys make some cool stuff to make up for it, lol

    Enjoy! :D
  14. Please

    Please Level 6: Lakitu

    If what Jay is doing is anything related to what I am thinking of, it might be really easy to make any tile animated that wants to be.

    Jay, how difficult would it be to make any block animated?
  15. Ryuza

    Ryuza Level 6: Lakitu

    I don't think Jay will be able to reply any time soon, he just left for a trip earlier today and said he'd be a bit busy for the next 2 weeks.
  16. sbq92

    sbq92 Level 9: Spike Top

    Awesome! Thanks for the update!

    You're doing awesome work, Ryuza. Keep it up! :)
  17. Ryuza

    Ryuza Level 6: Lakitu

    Thanks :)

    Let me know if you think of anything else.
  18. sbq92

    sbq92 Level 9: Spike Top

    I've discovered an issue that may not be easily solved. When using the two-tile pattern, single-width blocks can easily look pretty bad. Likewise, if a string of land has an odd number of tiles, you run into a similar problem. It seems very much like this whole re-skinning project could end up more complicated than originally planned...

    I wonder if just creating the entire levels as images and having them inserted into the game wouldn't be a better option (if it's even possible?). That way, we could even have complex graphics as well as some simpler ones. It would mean a whole lot of work for Jay, though, probably. A bunch of recoding for platform interaction, etc.

    I'm not sure where to go with this at the moment, but I felt I should bring up this issue.
  19. Ryuza

    Ryuza Level 6: Lakitu

    I was going to suggest to Jay at once point that he simply overlay a skinned stage image over all the objects, as long as there is no background on the overlay and everything matches up it should work rather well, and simply placing the background behind the objects would complete the skin. I can't remember if I mentioned the idea to him though, I might have and there might have been a reason against it but I don't remember.

    Anyway, that problem could be a simple fix, I could just place the normal ground edge tiles in places where patterns would be cut.
  20. c2456

    c2456 Level 6: Lakitu

    Are you going to do a tutorial on it ? 2 posts until new level ! Damnit!

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