Merge ice_world.strf into worldmap.strf

[maxteufel]

This will allow us to merge the ice and forest worldmaps.

Also see https://github.com/SuperTux/data/issues/25#issuecomment-234768506 to https://github.com/SuperTux/data/issues/25#issuecomment-234769842.

[Hume2]

This would be good. Only tiles used in a tilemap have surfaces preloaded, so this shouldn't be a problem.

[Karkus476]

We need to write some script to change the ids, and avoid conflicts when merging. @tobbi reminded me on IRC that we have to keep the old worldmaps for backwards compatibility, so we don't need to change the current worldmap files, just need to make sure that we use the merged one when we create the new, combined worldmap

[maxteufel]

@LMH0013 You already seem to be using a merged version of this in one of your add-ons. Could you merge the current version of ice_world.strf into the current version of worldmap.strf, so the latter stays backwards compatible (the former doesn't need to be changed in that process and can be kept around in the repo for compatibility).

[LMH0013]

@maxteufel The "merged" tilemap in my add-on I believe is actually a prototype for the ice_world tiles. Although it would be simple enough to combine the existing files, I am unclear of the motivation. I set up ice_world separately for several of reasons: first, the artistic style differs considerably from the forest tiles and looks bad on combined maps; second, I didn't want to make the worldmap tile mappings as unwieldy as the level tile mappings; and probably most importantly, ice_world tiles are designed to be used in a fundamentally different manner, utilizing a higher complexity of layering and generally it does not play well with the older tilemaps. Keep in mind that I haven't really been paying attention to the project lately, so I may be working under outdated impressions. I don't mean to be difficult, I just don't understand the need. Plus, I need to stall since my build has not been updated in some time (although I could probably get it done without).

[maxteufel]

@LMH0013 We're currently redesigning the Forest Island (see the forest-redesign branch). We think it would be a good idea to combine both worldmaps again (similar to 0.3.0), to provide a consistent storyline. Layering is indeed a good reason to split up the worldmaps by using special-tiles and teleporters, though. On the other hand, that might look strange (partly also because water will differ on the worldmaps, with the new animated water on Icy Island).

Edit: You might want to evaluate the situation with @SuperTux/level-designers

[maxteufel]

@LMH0013 There seem to be other tiles in the ice_world.strf tileset that might be useful in a forest map - according to @Rusty-Box only piers facing downwards are available in worldmap.strf. For the new forest worldmap, we'd need upwards-facing piers as well.

[LMH0013]

@maxteufel Thanks for the clarification. I thought that in 0.3.0 the worldmaps were separate and the Forest Island was loaded upon reaching a special tile at the edge of Icy Island. I think it was removed because something in the transition broke making switching between less seamless. Might be worth tweaking up map transitions so that modification of one island doesn't affect the other.

It is true that there are some useful elements in ice_world, but look closely at them and you'll see they are pretty low-quality. The piers are just rotated versions of the original and thus have the wrong perspective. I admit, I was being lazy when I set them up. It is probably a good time to go looking for a graphics designer and do a once-over the forest map tileset (and maybe some of ice_world as well). The same sort of layering technique should probably be applied at the very least to the water and shoreline tiles. Personally, if I were doing it, I'd set up a forest_world tile mapping file in a similar fashion to ice_world. Keep it as general as possible so that custom worldmaps could easily be designed and look good. I suppose you could have one file with mapping from both islands, but I think I would suggest keeping the originals and layered separate just to keep things tidy. That would be useful for custom applications after all.