From the original topic "Presenting the drag and drop level editor for Corona SDK with Inkscape and SVG!", the tool has been finally released!

See what is possible with it and get it from the official site: http://levelbuilder.karnakgames.com.

Looks great! I'm a big fan of Inkscape, so this looks fantastic

Thanks!

That looks great, good job...

Few Q tough

* Resolution independent and scalable maps. Is this coming soon? And will it work with dynamic scaling (different res bitmaps) or are you talking about vectors here?

* Can you provide a simple Corona SDK project? It would be great to see how things are handled such as scene data, etc.

Regards,
E.

Thanks!

Resolution independent and scalable maps. Is this coming soon? And will it work with dynamic scaling (different res bitmaps) or are you talking about vectors here?
- It is the top priority item on the Roadmap, I plan to release around mid June.
- It will work with dynamic scaling, as well automatically resizing of the maps you draw in SVG, that means, scaling the vectors you draw to fit the size of the bigger graphics.

Can you provide a simple Corona SDK project? It would be great to see how things are handled such as scene data, etc.
This is also high priority. That's why the tool has a 70% discount actually, because the lack of samples. Once a sample is released, the price will rise. Note that if you buy now with 70% discount, you will still receive all samples and updates.

I grabbed it as soon as I saw the email! :)

Looks pretty cool and I have been using LevelSVG on cocos2d iphone framework so I am familiar with whole inkscape xml.

Good job and thank you! I am looking forward to the samples and future updates.

I plan to create a test project as soon as I am free... ultra busy trying to wrap up my 2nd game.

Take care!

Immediately after i saw the eMail i grabbed it,too :-)

After that i've downloaded Inkscape.But unfortunately it doesn't work on my MBP with Mac OS X 10.6.7 Snow Leopard.I use the latest stable version 0.48.1.The program window opens and then a error message pops up(internal error or something).

Hmm...anyone else here with the same problem ?

-Oliver

@aiden1004: thanks a lot! :) As you are familiar with LevelSVG, you will have no hard time with Corona SVG Level Builder.

It still misses examples and tutorials, but those are coming next.

@oliver.lecher: thanks for getting it too! About Inkscape: have you tried finding an answer in their forums?

@karnakgames

Got myself a copy today, nice work.

@lano78 thanks a lot! Enjoy.

@karnakgames, well done, I will get a copy tonight...

@karnakgames

Problem Solved! It has something to do with the color profiles on the system.After i installed an old version(v0.47) and clicked check mark "Retrieve profile from display" in the inkscape preferences and then started the new version(0.48.1) everything works without any error messages.

Great...looks amazing..but why has the price gone up already ? I thought it was on hold until the first examples were released.

Tweets like "Grab it asap, since price will keep increasing." are making me panic as I am waiting on a payment :(

Does this tool output a level in its own lua file? Will there be any issue trying to integrate this with the director class? Sorry for my lack of understanding.

This tool looked pretty cool when it was first announced but with so many other tools being released since then this one looks a little steep in the price department.

I'm sure it's gone up in just a few days?

Think I'll be holding off now...

@yuewah: thanks!

@oliver.lecher good to know, thanks for sharing. If someone gets the same problem, I'll tell that.

@Rob2 the price was just a fast launch day price. The final price $129.90, but which go just when all game templates are made. Then, per example, if you want to build a platformer, you will just copy-and-paste the templates, change the graphics and of course, adjust your levels elements. Other than that, the game programming will be all ready (including controls).

@aaaron it outputs all you drew in Inkscape in a lua table, so you can easily control them as needed. Please check: http://levelbuilder.karnakgames.com/doc/#loading. You can freely use Director. I'll even use Director to make some examples.

@cl-apps: each tool has its purpose. If you want to make a level based game of any genre (top down Racing, any kind of Platformer, Bubble Ball clone, Incredible Machine Clone, Tiny Wings clone, etc), you can't go wrong with Corona SVG Level Builder. Also once the templates are released, you won't ever program a game anymore, you will only worry about the content. I'll try to create a brainless-gamedev tool. It is not yet, since there is no template made, but once the templates and premade objects start popping up, there will be the "no-brainer" tool.

Hi karnakgames,
I just saw Level Helper: http://www.levelhelper.org/?p=11
It seems to do the same basic setup as yours for $14.99
Their next version (1.3) coming in the next couple of days will have a full game tutorial and allow you to make parallax scrolling.

I agree with @cl-apps, I think the price is a bit up there for svg level editor. My personal thought in price for your tool (since it still dependent on Inkscape), is to keep it at no more than $59.99.

I am not by any means taking any credit off what you've done which is Amazing, but just consider we're indie and not making a lot of money...even after you build a "no-brainer tool", re-creating a template to be unique with your own images and concept takes "brains" :)

Overall, the best thing would be for Ansca to build their own Corona Editor and combine all these amazing 3rd party apps features.

-RD

@rdcube: thanks for pointing that. Actually the true power of SVG Level Builder will be shown once the game templates and prefab objects are released and implemented.

What are they? Think of a game and think of plugins, then think of dragging components and your game is ready, typing only a few lines of lua code.

Example: Let's say you want to make a platformer. From scratch, you would need to develop a level manager, collisions, a pickup item programming, program the hero, the enemies behavior, gates, controls, fire, scoring, etc. Then you would need to design the levels (Level Helper enters only here).

So a Platformer Game Template will glue all of these elements + manage the levels, scoring, etc. The small elements are components which you will use for any game.

Want a racing game with a pickup item? Use the pickup prefab! And so on. Soon Corona game development will be all about worrying only about the content, not about lua programming, thanks to Corona SVG Level Builder. So if you think the saved time, $59-129 or even $300 is nothing. Since most Corona games take 5-60 days to finish and that in working hours is more than thousands of dollars. Corona SVG Level Builder will try to reduce 60 days to 1-5 days of work.

EDITED: By the way, also by no means Level Helper and Corona SVG Level Builder are equal. Each one has its strenghtness and weakness. And SVG Level Builder has something no other tool has: bezier curves as physics curves, allowing pixel perfect collisions in very complex terrains / surfaces. I mean, that doesn't apply to every game, but think the possibilities with it.

Just read through the documentation and everything you create using Inkscape becomes a physics body in Corona. How do you go about creating elements of your level that aren't physics based objects like buttons, titles etc?

I would like to create all these visually in one editor, not as an after thought in code.

Also, is creating text an option?

I've gone ahead and purchased this tool anyway since you say templates and no brain required game creation is on the way :)

@cl-apps: good point! Everything you draw is returned in a table and also you get a Display Group. Check "Getting the bodies from a SVG map" on the docs: http://levelbuilder.karnakgames.com/doc/#gettingBodies.

Then, with that you can easily create another Display Group and index it above the level group, creating Buttons, Text, etc.

Example:

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local mainGroup = display.newGroup()
local levelBodies = svg:new("levelX")
local textGroup = display.newGroup()
 
-- Create text, buttons, etc
 
-- Add everything to main group, ordering them
mainGroup:insert(levelBodies.group)
mainGroup:insert(textGroup)