One of the top feature requests we've kept hearing from users is for better support for tilemap-based games. As ever, we listen carefully to what our users say about Construct 2, and as promised the latest stable release r152 introduces new features to make it much easier to design and develop tile-based games.
The new Tilemap plugin holds a tilemap, which can then be edited using the new Tilemap Bar.
The new Tilemap supports includes the following features:
- Use multiple layers of tiles (with multiple Tilemap objects)
- Edit tiles from the layout view
- Automatically nine-patch 3x3 sections of tiles with the Rectangle tool
- Change tiles at runtime and import/export tiles in JSON format at runtime
- Import and export tilemaps in the editor in TMX format
- Rotate and flip tiles both in the editor and at runtime
- Edit individual tile collision polygons from the Tilemap Bar
- Optimised rendering and collision detection to maximise performance
- Works in both canvas2d and WebGL renderers (but faster in WebGL mode), and works well on mobile too
This should be a huge productivity boost for anyone working on tile-based games in Construct 2! The features are also entirely based around the new Tilemap object, so if you aren't designing a tile-based game, you don't have to shoe-horn your free-flowing game in to a tile based engine. This should mean Construct 2 is now great for designing both retro-style tiled games as well as fluid, organic modern style games without a clear grid.
As ever we will keep improving the features we've got across future releases, but we think this should be a solid way to get going with your tile-based retro gaming plans! Download r152 now to try it out - the features are also available in the Free edition.