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[ MapMaker Windows ]

(aka Mapmaker 5, aka MM5)

Most simple 2D games use tiles to create levels. Mapmaker 5 is a tile editor. It makes creation of tile-based maps easier.
Mapmaker 5 is NOT a generic game development package. It provides you with the map-editing tool needed to create a video game. It does not provide the actual game engine.
C/C++ source code is included. This source code shows how to read the Mapmaker 5 file format. The Mapmaker 5 file format is not that hard to figure out.

  • Works with most types of 2D tile-based games. Mapmaker supports 256 color tiles, but it's recommended that you use a resolution of 16 bit color or above when working with your MAPs, because Windows needs a few colors for itself (buttons, menus, etc.)
  • Unlimited number of tiles (governed only by available memory) and an unlimited map size (again determined by available memory)
  • Includes customizable support for:
    • Tile Animations
    • Path scripting (goto position (0,10), wait 5 seconds, goto position (18,20), wait 10 seconds, repeat)
    • Tile Stamping (make a platform and "stamp" it various places on the map)
    • Tile Patterns (brushes - repeating areas of the map, like wall or floor patterns)
    • "Overhead" Tiles (tiles that are drawn on top of the character sprites)
    • Complex trigger-target sequences (open 4 doors, drop the block over on that tile, and 3 enemies will appear)
    • Containers with lists of items (i.e. a treasure chest with 4 gems and 18 art objects contained inside).
  • Variable tile sizes between 2 and 255 pixels (including rectangular tiles)
  • Unlimited number of comments, marks, parallax fields, lists, animations, and paths.


  • Memory and disk conservative (all memory is dynamically realloc'd as need increases)
  • Customizeable to your game - NOT a "generic" game development package (you still write the code for your engine)
  • Easy-to-understand MAP file format - includes C/C++ source code to load MAP files
  • Multiple-Document Interface (MDI) - Open a whole bunch of windows and work on several things at once
  • Tile "Painting" Mode - (like what the Warcraft editor had). Paint using tile patterns, reducing "chunkiness." Very cool.
  • Drag-and-Drop editing - move and copy tiles by simply selecting them and dragging them to a new location
  • Wizard Interface - walks you through complicated procedures.
  • Dynamic MAP zooming - zoom in to 32:1 or out to 1:100 - gives you detail and "the big picture" simultaneously
  • Thumbnail view (built into status bar) for easy navigation of large maps
  • Bookmarks (Comments) allow you to mark a location and then come back to it later (they're even saved to disk!)
  • Run out of room for that one last secret passage? No problem! You can change your map dimensions on the fly!
  • Support for split-windows (window panes) - view one section of the map while editing a different section
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  • Context-Sensitive menus: with these "right-button" pop-up menus, common options are only a mouse click away!
  • Win95 look and feel (property sheets, tab controls, special buttons, etc)
  • User-positionable, fully dockable toolbars - organize your screen the way you want to
  • Tooltips and menu item descriptions ensure that you won't "get lost"
  • 3 customizeable grids help you align tiles and other components
  • Beautiful full-color printing with dynamic scaling and page spanning support (i.e. "Print this map so that it's 8 pages wide and 4 pages tall" - great for making posters of your levels :))
  • "Sketch mode" - quickly draw lines and curves to signify the general outline of a level, then go back later and fill in the tiles
  • "Post-It notes" - Stick an unlimited-length comment at a particular position on the map - when the mouse cursor hovers over it, the comment is displayed. Great when sharing a map between a level designer and an artist.
  • Autosave feature automatically makes backup copies of your work in progress. Autosave duration is user-definable.
  • Uses industry standard 256-color PCX files (any resoultion up to 1280x1024) for grabbing tiles.
  • Cooperates with the windows clipboard - cut a section of one map and paste it into another
  • 512k Unlimited multiple level undo buffer - ensures that no work is lost
  • Tile browser allows you to quickly select a tile by number, position, or appearance