Hey guys, I have a bit of a survey to conduct. For my final year project I hope to write a map editor that outputs to an easy to use and well documented custom format (more complex than lesson 10, less complex than BSP) so that programmers can load data into their engines quickly. It may well include the source for the loader so people can drop that into their projects. It would be free, and would allow stuff like geometry creation, entity placement, applying textures to polys etc. Not too complex (initially) but will provide a base to build on. Basically i need a bit of support, i need to know that people would use this kind of program. I saw a post further down the page where someone needed just this type of thing. So would you use a program like this? Basically if there is a lot of support here, i can convince my supervisor its a good idea :D

I wouldn't use it because I develop my own editors (part of the fun to me [wink]) but, I think that if it is a well made program, many people will use it for their projects. Will this be for 3d or 2d? Either way, I say it is a great idea.

the project will live of die based on:

1. The quality of the format and its features.

2. The tool exposing at least a few of those features in a very easy to manipulate way.

3. The ease of converting to and from other formats ... you could give this a BIG jumpstart by writing a converting to/from at least ONE of the major file formats maybe midway through your project (no use doing conversion with no format, but waiting till the absolute end and noone will have used it).

It is a 3D editor. It will allow an import ASC option and it will probably have an export to .map

I have kinda cheated and coded the GUI before designing it properly :) and im going for a wings3D style interface. It should be very easy to use.

I need as many comments as possible so then i can take this thread to my supervisor so keep them coming :D

I would very much appreciate this kind of tool, but i think it should be quick and easy to use, and above all easy to understand File Format

I did a look around a while back for a decent, cheap/free editor, and I can say that the ones that looked the best for my purposes had the concept of input and output plugins. That way, if the editor didn't do something I needed to do then I could add it in a plugin and export it in my own engine format. I want to use an editor that lets me design my engine and get the information I need in my format. I don't want to have to sift through tons of information that I don't need from an existing format (anyone who's ever written an .ASE parser will know exactly what I mean) just because its the only one that gets exported from the editor.

As a uni project I'm not sure if that is a bit too big a feature but, from a supervisor's point of view, a program that has nice clean external interfaces that allows the user the freedom to add funtionality is definitely an example of a well designed piece of software. Also, the 'editor engine' and the functionality are nicely modular so adding more features can be done without breaking existing code.

Hope you get your project approved - you'll learn a lot (which, in the end, is kinda the point isn't it [smile])

I am very interested in this stuff but I'm not sure if I understand it correctly.

When I tried to develop my editor, I stumbled in two major problems:
1- CSG subsystem. It's utterly complicated in my case (1 year of development and still doesn't work at all).
2- User interface.

One of the two alone are complex things, I hope somebody'll help you because this looks a definite overkill to me as a final year university project.

Update:

I've had my meeting with my supervisor, and he's given me the go ahead. He is VERY enthusiastic and is giving me information on CSG and anything else I need. Thanks for the replies.

Luke.