Re: [Enigma-devel] New level format

[Daniel Heck]

Ok, I've thought about the new level format some more, here are a few
random notes:

* My initial idea was to keep the format as easy to read and understand
for humans as possible.  Of course, Johannes is perfectly right that
using characters for describing the different objects types doesn't
really cut it in the long run.  Using numbers as he proposed is
certainly more scalable, but it makes editing by hand almost impossible.
Maybe a compromise will do nicely: Use numbers for standard objects, and
character strings for user-defined objects (like objects with certain
non-default attributes).

* I never had the intention to replace the old level format in one
swoop.  That's certainly not a good idea.  The two formats will have to
co-exist for a while.  BUT: There probably will be no way to edit the
old levels in the editor once it's done.  That would be one reason to
gradually convert as many of the old levels as soon as the new format
has stabilized.

* Petr: No, your work on ant.lua has certainly not be wasted, don't
worry.  Programming the level editor will take a while, it won't replace
the hand-edited levels in the immediate future.  (As an aside, the
reason why nobody uses ant.lua may be that almost everyone else seems to
prefer cutting and pasting to learning to use your package.)

I think I will simply start to write the level editor in the next few
days and see how it works out.  For the short term, there will be no
fundamental changes to the way levels are handled.  Thanks to everyone
who contributed their opinion about the new level format.

Cheers,
Daniel

-- 
Daniel Heck                             address@hidden
Bergheimerstr. 137
69115 Heidelberg                                   tel +49-6221-656047