And for everyone interested in trying this, here's the first tutorial on how to use the editor !
Day 1 :
Today we're going to go over the basics of using FPS maker, and by the end you'll have made the first room for your game !
It'll look something like this :
I - Installing
Installation is very straightforward. Both editor.nds and baregame.nds only use libfat and not nitroFS, which means you can place editor.nds and baregame.nds anywhere you want, but you have to place the /fpsm/ folder at the root of your card.
So installation happens in just one step : copying all your files to your cartridge and making sure fpsm is in the root directory. Ideally it should look something like this :
II - Editor basics
Now that you've installed the editor and the game engine, go on and launch editor.nds. You should be greeted by this screen :
If your screen doesn't quite look like that (most likely case would be the button icons not showing up), then you probably did not install everything correctly. Check the location of your fpsm directory and try again !
Now to go over the editor's controls :
- the D-PAD is used to move the grid around
- R and L are used to zoom in and out of the grid
- ABXY are also used, but we'll see what for later on, don't touch them for now !
So just go ahead, move the grid around and see how that works... done ? Good. There are two tool windows open (we'll see about the material window later on), so let's take a look at them.
- the first one is the file toolbar; it's very classic and straightforward :
- the second one is more interesting, and you'll be using it a lot :
So now that we've identified the basics of the editor, we can finally start making stuff !
III - Your first room
Now, the "create room" tool should be selected by default, but just in case, I'll say it : select the "create room" tool. Now point your stylus at the grid and drag it around. A rectangle appears ! This is your first room. Don't make it too big or too small, we'll keep things simple for now. (tip : to make your rooms bigger, don't forget you can pan the grid and zoom in/out; and know that you can do it while creating your room too !)
Your screen should now look something like this :
You'll probably notice some ugly colored squares appeared on your top screen (not necessarily, depending on where you placed your room). Now I can tell you : the top screen is used to visualize your map as you create and modify it. What you're seeing right now is only a temporary rendering of your room before its geometry is processed; it'll look better later on, trust me.
I can now also tell you what the ABXY buttons are for : they're used to navigate about the map preview. Go ahead, try it. Just try not to go too far.
Anyways, now that we have our first room, we can actually try the tools we have at our disposal.
- first, we'll try the most straightforward, the "move room" tool. All you have to do to use it is select it, then click on a room and drag it to where you want it to be.
- second, the "resize room" tool. This one is a little harder to use as you have to drag one of your room's corners for it to work.
- finally, the select room tool, which allows you to select a room for editing.
So do that, select your room so we can edit it ! Once selected, you should see something like this :
You'll notice two new windows just appeared. We'll only worry about one for now, the tile edit
Obviously, you shouldn't press the "delete room" button unless you want to, you know, delete your room. Let's take a look at the "select tiles" tools. Press the button and then select an area within your room. Once your done, you should have a new window :
Now you can use these tools to modify your room ! If you press the "up" button, you'll notice your tiles will go up. And if you press the "down" button, I'm sure you can guess what happens. So do that, select areas and press up/down as you see fit. I'll make stairs as an example :
As you can see, only the floor changed height, which is a problem because my stairs now head straight into the ceiling. That's why you can also edit ceiling values by pressing the "edit floor or ceiling" button. By switching to the ceiling, you can now up its height :
I'll also tell you what the "cube" button is right under the "down" button; it's actually a "make wall" button; it sets all selected tiles to walls. Walls can be recognized in the editor grid as red tiles. For example :
Now the thing is though, the preview still looks terrible and like nothing anyone would ever want to play. So let's make it nicer ! In order to do that, simply press the "process materials and lighting" button. Wait a second, and you should now see something like this :
The preview disappeared ! That's because we forgot to put lights into our room, so we'll just put one in quickly and be done. For this, we'll need the entity toolbar :
Now, just select the "create light" tool and click somewhere in your room. You'll notice a lightbulb appeared in the editor and the preview ! That's your lightsource. We'll learn how to edit it later on (a tip though : just select it with the "select entity" tool, things should be clear from there).
Now that we have a lightsource, let's press the "process materials and lighting" button again. This time it'll take a bit longer, but since the scene is simple it shouldn't be too long. Be aware though that the more complex your room and the more light sources you have, the longer processing will be. In extreme cases, it can take several minutes ! So don't panick, a long wait does not mean the editor has crashed.
Once it's done, you should have something like this :
And tadaa ! Your first room. This is all for now. In the next lesson we'll learn how to apply materials, edit lightsources, add enemies and maybe even create doors between rooms !
Appendix :
Now that you've created your room, you might want to try it. Doing so is very simple; just make sure it's been processed (unprocessed rooms aren't save, be very careful about that !), then press the "save map" button, and your map will be written to lalala.map in your fpsm folder.
Now, just close the editor, start baregame.nds and enjoy your newly created room.
I see where all that lighting thingamajiggy you got working on in DScraft paid off...
Very interested on this, but just a quick Q: What's your endgame here? Are you maybe aiming for quick and frantic (and hopefully smooth) shooting ala Metroid Prime Hunters, or something slow and steady like Call of Duty DS? I wouldn't mind anywhere between, but hopefully it's not too jittery.
ALSO: It just occurred to me, but do you intend on implementing melee? Because I can totally see a first-person dungeon romp in the works, and you have to admit, that kinda sounds awesome, doesn't it?
Not sure where this is going yet, but I have to admit I hadn't thought about a first person melee game, and it could be really fun.