A Superfrog editor

[Exl]

For some reason I've always wanted to see the "insides" of Superfrog levels, and recently I've accomplished that and wrote an editor for Superfrog's levels and most graphic data. With the excellent help of JOTD it can directly manipulate the data files from the CD32 version. Even the Project-F level can be viewed, which reveals something odd...

Anyway, if you want to have a look yourself or play around with it, here it is;
Installer: http://www.dvdflick.net/storage/froggy_setup_1.1.1.exe
Source: http://www.dvdflick.net/storage/froggy_source_1.1.1.zip

As mentioned above it will need a CD32 version of the game, extracted to a folder on your harddrive. But all of that is explained in the included FAQ.

I should also mention that it can export maps and the objects on it to a bitmap, which might be useful for extracting complete game maps.

[Graham Humphrey]

How fantastic - I'll have to take a look at this.

[Shoonay]

Wowzerz, now this is cool!

So, basically, with enough work I could re-design all levels?

PS: I left the CD32 version of the game in my other pants and all that... soooooooo, could someone upload only that specific folder to TheZone, please?

[Retro-Nerd]

Oops, once again with CAPS games. I pm you

[Shoonay]

Aaa, danke!

[Shoonay]

Already got it R-N, thanks. I think I can upload the folder itself if anyone wants... can I?

[Shoonay]

Very cool, works perfectly on me Viśta x64

1. Do I have to re-run the app every time I want to change the level/graphics set?

2. When I try to save what I've done, I've no idea what should be the name and have to recheck exactly what level I've got loaded in the first place.
Maybe the requester could suggest (and warn) overwriting of the exact one that was loaded?
Would be really useful in case of a simple remake all level kinda mod.

3. Will those levels actually work when saved and replaced with the original game files?

Originally Posted by Exl

Even the Project-F level can be viewed, which reveals something odd...

You mean the way the level is designed with 3 continous paths as the camera moves?
When the hero goes from left upper side to the far right upper side, he is being transported to the middle left and flies to the middle right, and so on?

[Exl]

Originally Posted by 5h00n4y

Very cool, works perfectly on me Viśta x64

1. Do I have to re-run the app every time I want to change the level/graphics set?

No, this is a bug.

2. When I try to save what I've done, I've no idea what should be the name and have to recheck exactly what level I've got loaded in the first place.
Maybe the requester could suggest (and warn) overwriting of the exact one that was loaded?
Would be really useful in case of a simple remake all level kinda mod.

Now that you mention it, that makes sense.

3. Will those levels actually work when saved and replaced with the original game files?

Of course Easiest way to test is to do as the FAQ says and mount the Superfrog CD32 folder as a harddrive under a CD32 configuration.

You mean the way the level is designed with 3 continous paths as the camera moves?
When the hero goes from left upper side to the far right upper side, he is being transported to the middle left and flies to the middle right, and so on?

You'd think so, but if you look at the rightmost part, you see a dog-like image. That never shows up in the actual game. There's also a lot of unknown specials on the lower 2 rows (which aren't displayed in the editor normally BTW).

[Shoonay]

Originally Posted by Exl

No, this is a bug.

Originally Posted by Exl

Now that you mention it, that makes sense.

Can't wait for a bugfix

Originally Posted by Exl

[...] mount the Superfrog CD32 folder as a harddrive under a CD32 configuration.

Cool, hope it'll also work on me real A1200 with 030/50 from HD.

Originally Posted by Exl

[...] if you look at the rightmost part, you see a dog-like image. That never shows up in the actual game. There's also a lot of unknown specials on the lower 2 rows (which aren't displayed in the editor normally BTW).

An actual bug in the game?



One more thing that imho would made this editor perfect...
Can I edit/add/replace tiles?

[Exl]

Originally Posted by 5h00n4y

Can't wait for a bugfix Cool, hope it'll also work on me real A1200 with 030/50 from HD.

The editor obviously works with the WHDLoad version as well, so yes.

One more thing that imho would made this editor perfect...
Can I edit/add/replace tiles?

You can export the tileset of a world (L*BM files), they are 16 by 16 pixels, 5 bitplanes, 840 subimages, 20 X count. With the right world palette of course. You can export the image, edit it in whatever program you wish, then import it again with the same settings as you exported it. If you want to modify a level's palette, you can use the palette editor. All the same goes for th sprites and level loading screens.

[Shoonay]

Awesome, thanks, I'll try that!
Oh and I forgot to say how I like the "drag&select tiles" option

If enough time on me hands I will have, more testing and questions later I will post

[Shoonay]

Bug report #1

Exporting the whole level, with the preselected options, to a bmp works well, but when I try to export the graphics, the editor hangs every time...
First I tried this with the default settings, then I've changed the Palette to the right world and it hang too.
What resolution should I choose? Is 320x256 alright?

Also, just tried the output bmp files and they're broken.

[Exl]

Exporting is also bugged. Replace the froggy.exe where you installed it with the one in here; http://members.home.nl/meuwissenth/froggy/froggy.zip
Fixes previous bugs too.

Also RE your previous point 1 (re-running the app), I misread this. You do not need to, you can just open another level from the menu. Again, see the FAQ

[Shoonay]

Cool, exporting works now, but still all I get are completely random sets of pixels...
How to export the complete pixel-exact tiles for L4MA4, for example?

[Qube]

Cool stuff Exl, does this mean you're interested in cooking up a remake?

Seems there is a remake in the works, which isn't ready yet - http://www.lithiumdream.com/

[Exl]

5h00n4y: You mean world 4's tileset? See the settings on this:

http://members.home.nl/meuwissenth/f...ggy_export.png

It exports a paletted bitmap, maybe your graphics program can't handle them? Same goes for the level bitmaps, though they are 32-bit bitmaps unlike the more common 24-bit variant.

Qube: No plans for a remake at all, that would be sooo much more work than this

[Stefan Lindberg]

Andreas Tadic was filmed by swedish television showing while he designed Superfrog levels, i don't remeber the program name but i did record it on VHS and unfortunatly recorded something else on it since i belived i was probably only one caring about this kind of stuff.
I only remeber he saying in the interview (while placing bee's on the map) something like this "and now i put out some bee's... they are enemies for the hero" while the interviewer said "just like in real life" and the both laughed

[Graham Humphrey]

By the way - if anyone comes up with some new levels please upload them

[Shoonay]

---=== EDITED ===---
Ignore that, wrong file selected...
Got it, thanks again Exl

[Exl]

Originally Posted by Stefan Lindberg

Andreas Tadic was filmed by swedish television showing while he designed Superfrog levels, i don't remeber the program name but i did record it on VHS and unfortunatly recorded something else on it since i belived i was probably only one caring about this kind of stuff. ...

A shame, would've been great to catch a glimpse of it! That said, I Googled a bit and came up with this http://legolas.mdh.se/~dat95jed/prog/?prog68000.htm - scroll down to the "Map Editor Deluxe" section, he mentions in the last paragraph that he saw the same interview and based his tile editor around what he saw.

That also reminds me, in some levels, especially L2MA1 so far, you can see where some rooms used to be in the tile pattern outside the playable area. Zoom out and look for oddities, looks like there used to be some extra areas in there. Interesting IMO.

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

By the way - if anyone comes up with some new levels please upload them.

Yes please! I haven't made much playable material yet myself, mostly modifications on existing levels. Getting a feel on how to use some tilesets (world 1 and 5, argh!) can be difficult, but playing the end-result is a lot of fun!