Tileset Editor

[novhack]

I've been thinking about a tileset editor for Pixelorama for some time now. It is actually the last feature I use other software for.
My proposal consists of multiple components that would together allow users to create and edit tilesets: Tilesets Panel, Tiles Grid, Tileset Layer Groups, Tile Placement Tool.

Tileset Panel

• This panel would be displayed on the right either under or on top of the current Palettes panel.
• It displays a selector of available tilesets and under it a grid of tiles. It behaves and looks similar to Palettes panel.
• I think it should be possible to use the palette grid (separated to a generic grid component) so the Tilesets and Palettes panels could share code and behave consistently.

Tiles Grid

• Another type of grid that is displayed over the canvas.
• This grid is automatically active when tile tool is selected and it’s size depends on size of tiles in the tileset.
• It can be toggled to be visible even without the tile tool active.
• It can be toogled to display an index of a tile that was placed there with the Tile Placement Tool.

Tileset Layer Groups

• In the proposal Layers hierarchy #607 I proposed layer groups/folders for the Timeline.
• To enable users to create multiple tilesets with multiple layers in one Project I would automatically add a layer group for every created tileset.
• Tilesets are rendered on the canvas based on layer hierarchy. For instance there can be a floor tileset in the background and items tileset in the foreground.

Tile Placement Tool

• This tool is used to place tiles on the canvas.
• It is automatically activated when the user clicks on a tile in the Tileset Panel.
• User selects a tile in the tiles panel and places a reference to it on the Tile Grid over canvas.

Workflow

• User creates a new tileset in the Tileset Panel
• User adds new tiles in the Tileset Panel
• User selects a tile in the Tileset Panel - Tile Placement Tool is selected automatically and Tiles Grid is displayed
• User places tiles on the grid - individual cells in the grid are then assigned to the selected tile
• User adds a new layer to the automatically created tileset layer group
• User selects this new layer and can now draw over placed tile cels

Another features

Tileset Export

• I described a new exporting workflow in Export dialog UX enhancements #605. In this new dialog there could be a completely new tab called Tileset which would allow user to export tilesets from the Tileset Panel.

Tileset Import

• Spreadsheets should be importable as tilesets.

Tileset Presets

• There are many ways how to create autotiles like Wang tiles, 2x2, 3x3, …
• Some of them are listed in this proposal Feature : Add Auto Tiling templates #564.
• These could be added into a Create Tileset dialog.
• The appropriate amount of tiles would be created by default.
• Tilesets created with presets could display symbols describing their placement in the autotile rather than index numbers.
• We could use actual Godot autotile feature for the Tile Placement Tool.

File/Project Tilesets

• This design is counting on tilesets being a part of the project itself.
• I wonder if it would be useful to also allow users to create/transfer tilesets in the Pixelorama filesystem folder and distribute them as separate files/projects.
• This would allow users to create a tileset and then add and edit it in multiple projects.