Developing a Cocos2D editor PROTOTYPING

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Developing a Cocos2D editor PROTOTYPING

(26 posts) (12 voices)

Started 2 years ago by freshworks
Latest reply from olipion

Tags:

freshworks
Member

hi,

At the moment i'am almost out of work and wanna start iphone development. Last year iv'e followed a lot of forums and espacialy cocos2d for Iphone.

I'am thinking of developing a (in the beginning) simple editor witch has to contain the following aspects:

- Adding Menu's and labels and give them a action
- Adding Scene's and layers
- Adding Sprites and possible actions
- Adding vertexes around sprites for use with box2d

All above is suggesting so if something go's wrong here, please help me correct it.

The idea is to create an editor with most of the functionality in cocos2d available and add a sample project with it, so you can always edit the Xcode project.

Ideas of the xcode project is that it will load all of the files generated by the editor. So the project will be a kind of e generic project ;)

This are just mind issue's in my head, but if people could help me walk the right way, we could probally manage to create a sort of editor for rapid game development :)

Platform: Windows or Apple. Because my development skills on apple are very tiny, probaly the better choise is Windows platform for rapid results :)

Open for ideas and shoot on it please.

Posted 2 years ago #
marcotronic
Member

Hi,
I´ve had a similar idea a while ago. This would really be a dream! Do you know "Game Maker" for the windows platform? If something like that existed for the iphone (based on cocos2D) ... man, writing something like that would make you a very rich man, I guess.

Just image you drag and drop some sprites on a virtual iPhone screen, set movements, collision behaviours, rules etc. Drag some music into the scene, drag some menus and define navigation rules with a beautiful User Interface. If you still have a windows PC available - just have a look at Game maker ( http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/ ) and see how a great cocos2D editor could look like. Even if it was able to create a fraction of the results Game Maker offers this would be a really great time saver!

Marco

PS: Concerning the platform: As you still need a Mac to deploy those things to your iPhone I guess it would really be a good idea to support the Mac platform in any case with your tool. (Every iPhone developer has a least a Mac I suppose but not necessarily a Windows PC :o) )

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

If you develop it with Flex Builder/Adobe AIR so you can release it on multiple platforms.

Unsure how well you know ActionScript 3.0 or the flash platform however but just a suggestion :)

-Robert

Posted 2 years ago #
marcotronic
Member

@Robert: yes, definitely! Flex Builder and AS 3.0 is a great idea.

Marco

Posted 2 years ago #
freshworks
Member

Developing the editor is not really the problem, the problem i'am facing is the generic Cocos2d xCode project.

I need some advice on the technical blueprint, what will be the best way to export the content from the editor and is the idea of making a generic Cocos2d xCode project fair enough ?

My Cocos2d skills are not really great, but making an editor is not really the problem.

Please help me on technical details of im/exporting and if you like to setup a project like, every help is welcome.

Some editors of like:

iTGB (garagegames) needs a lot of scripting for optimation
iPhone Retro Engine and Retro Engine Development Kit :
http://toucharcade.com/2009/07/29/christian-whitehead-on-sonic-cd-and-his-retro-engine/

Cheers,
Jespar

Posted 2 years ago #
freshworks
Member

@ Marco & Robert,

I will look at Flex Builder as soon as i have some spare time.

Cheers

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

For a Cocos2D Builder to work you would need to expand a lot on the API's already provided I believe. Cocos2D is more of a framework than anything. TGB/Unity etc.. game builders have a much more in-depth ready to go out of the box functionality.

Just food for thought. I thought about attempting such a thing but it really is a large-scale development cycle and requires an in-depth knowledge of the framework you're building it for.

-Robert

Posted 2 years ago #
riq
Key Master

I'm experimenting with cocos2d+box2d integration.
And with little effort you can have a sort of "editor":
http://blog.sapusmedia.com/2009/08/cocos2d-box2d-part-ii.html

Posted 2 years ago #
yarri
Member

Riq, any thought of using Blender instead of Inkscape? Figured the Python scripting would be perfect for you! --yarri

Posted 2 years ago #
riq
Key Master

@yarri: thanks for the tip. but to tell you the truth I don't know how to use blender.

Posted 2 years ago #
Codemattic
Moderator

wow - its very cool how you can edit the physics parameters in Inkscape. Very impressive stuff.

Posted 2 years ago #
riq
Key Master

integrating this editor would be excellent:
http://www.mekanimo.net/

I haven't tested it yet (I don't have windows machine), and from what I've seen in this video, it's a very good option:

Get the Video Plugins

Posted 2 years ago #
Steve Oldmeadow
Administrator

@riq - nice find with Mekanimo. You can export a c++ header with the box2d set up using this command.

system.createBox2DCpp("c://box2dsetup.h")

Posted 2 years ago #
freshworks
Member

I'm experimenting with cocos2d+box2d integration.
And with little effort you can have a sort of "editor":
http://blog.sapusmedia.com/2009/08/cocos2d-box2d-part-ii.html

Riq you did allready started to develop an editor, really awesome video ;)

please let me know if you are intended to go any further with it.

Posted 2 years ago #
riq
Key Master

@freshworks: what I'm doing is exploring cocos2d + physics engine (in particular box2d) integration.

The "editor" that I'm building (I'm not building any editor, I'm just using Inkscape and parsing it's output) is just a prototype. It might evolve in something more robust, or I might just drop it and use something else, like mekanimo.

I'm not planning in building a "game maker" editor (although it would be cool), I'm just trying to understand what are the needed tools to make a good game that combines cocos2d + physics engine.

Posted 2 years ago #
freshworks
Member

@riq

Oke, i will try to start a simple editor witch can do the following

- adding menu's and labels on it (with action calls)
- adding layers (unlimited) with sprites
- adding actions
- etc....

Just start building from scratch and will see where to come.

Also wanna try to include tilemaps with colission

If you have any technical details on the best way to work this out, please let me know.

Posted 2 years ago #
riq
Key Master

@steve: wow... I think I'll borrow my wife's computer to test it ASAP!.

Posted 2 years ago #
riq
Key Master

@freshworks:
I'm not sure what kind of technical details you are needing, but if you have any doubts regarding the cocos2d internals, please, feel free to ask.

Posted 2 years ago #
bradparks
Member

@riq: so did you have a chance to try the mekanimo box2d export? if it didn't work, are you planning on making your svg parser for box2d part of cocos? I searched in the forums, but couldn't find any mention of an svg parser for box2d.... thanks in advance!

Posted 2 years ago #
riq
Key Master

@bradparks: I couldn't try mekanimo yet. I'll post my feedback in this forum (a new thread, so I don't hijack this thread) as soon as I test it.

Posted 2 years ago #
blackmouth
Member

Riq,

I viewed your video showing Inkscape, tiles, and box2d prototyping. I'm very excited about this possibility.

Is the Inkscape svg parser still on the list to complete or does mekanimo seem like a more complete solution for physics prototyping? Just curious like bradparks.

Thanks

Posted 2 years ago #
riq
Key Master

@blackmouth: I'm just experimenting with cocos2d + box2d. Unfortunately I couldn't try mekanimo yet. I'll post my comments in a another thread.

Let's use this thread to discuss @freshworks's prototype.

Posted 2 years ago #
ItchyGames
Member

Hmm I am going to download that Mekanimo and give it a try right now.

Posted 2 years ago #
freshworks
Member

Just an update, still busy on witch libraries to use and probably integrate with realtime BOX2D editing.

Cheers,
Jespar

Posted 2 years ago #
manucorporat
Member

I think Cocos2D Editor should be programmed first in Objective C for Mac OS X and after for Windows. You only can develop for IPhone in Mac OS X.
riq should open a proyect in Google Code for begin the development.

This proyect is amazing.

Posted 2 years ago #
olipion
Member

I tried Mekanimo.
If I just put a box in the scene, I got the following code :

//Auto-generated by Mekanimo (www.mekanimo.net) on Tue Sep 08 17:57:42 2009
//Don't forget to add the following line to g_testEntries[] in testentries.cpp as a test entry.
//{"box2dsetup.h", box2dsetup.h::Create},
#ifndef BOX2DSETUP.H_H
#define BOX2DSETUP.H_H
class box2dsetup.h : public Test
{
public:
box2dsetup.h()
{

b2BodyDef bodyDef;
b2Vec2 initVel;
b2PolygonDef shapeDef;
b2CircleDef circleDef;
b2RevoluteJointDef revJointDef;
b2DistanceJointDef jointDef;
b2Vec2 pos;

//Box
b2Body* groundBody;
b2BodyDef groundBodyDef;
b2PolygonDef groundShapeDef;
groundBodyDef.position.Set(29.656250, -1.000000); //bottom wall position
groundBody = m_world->CreateBody(&groundBodyDef);
groundShapeDef.SetAsBox(29.656250, 1.000000);
groundBody->CreateShape(&groundShapeDef);

groundBodyDef.position.Set(60.312500, 21.875000); //right wall position
groundBody = m_world->CreateBody(&groundBodyDef);
groundShapeDef.SetAsBox(1.000000, 21.875000);
groundBody->CreateShape(&groundShapeDef);

groundBodyDef.position.Set(29.656250, 44.750000); //top wall position
groundBody = m_world->CreateBody(&groundBodyDef);
groundShapeDef.SetAsBox(29.656250, 1.000000);
groundBody->CreateShape(&groundShapeDef);

groundBodyDef.position.Set(-1.000000, 21.875000); //left wall position
groundBody = m_world->CreateBody(&groundBodyDef);
groundShapeDef.SetAsBox(1.000000, 21.875000);
groundBody->CreateShape(&groundShapeDef);

//Polygons
//rectangle1
bodyDef.position.Set(8.593750f, 39.000000f);
bodyDef.angle = 0.000000f;
b2Body* rectangle1 = m_world->CreateBody(&bodyDef);
initVel.Set(0.000000f, 0.000000f);
rectangle1->SetLinearVelocity(initVel);
rectangle1->SetAngularVelocity(0.000000f);

shapeDef.vertexCount = 4;
shapeDef.vertices[0].Set(-4.343750f, -1.500000f);
shapeDef.vertices[1].Set(4.343750f, -1.500000f);
shapeDef.vertices[2].Set(4.343750f, 1.500000f);
shapeDef.vertices[3].Set(-4.343750f, 1.500000f);
shapeDef.density = 0.015000f;
shapeDef.friction = 0.300000f;
shapeDef.restitution = 0.600000f;
shapeDef.filter.groupIndex = int16(0);
shapeDef.filter.categoryBits = uint16(65535);
shapeDef.filter.maskBits = uint16(65535);
rectangle1->CreateShape(&shapeDef);

rectangle1->SetMassFromShapes();

}
static Test* Create()
{
return new box2dsetup.h;
}
};
#endif

Posted 2 years ago #

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