notes.txt

Advanced Editor Idea (9/20/20)
------------------------------

object list files and prefab definition files will be human-readable
scripts. 

this has obvious advantages
    - future compatibility
    - less error-prone
    - easier to debug
    - more freedom to create independently
    
the engine needs to change - like the editor, it will need to be able to
both read and write object list files.  Internally it will keep
track of bitmaps and prefabs (object types) in a couple of tables.

it's preferable to identify bitmaps and object type #'s with integers.
this won't have use when saving state - it's just to make things easier
to work with in the code and (probably) more stable too.  since the
table are constructed automatically, the id's of these prefabs and
bitmaps can't be guaranteed across sessions.

bitmaps and prefabs will always have to be referenced by name in storage.
prefabs will use the convention `[prefab]` and bitmaps will use the
convention `filename.ext`.  These identifiers will be defined in the
dictionary for easy reference.

If you want to organize bitmaps further within data/bitmaps/, the
identifier will include the relative path, i.e. `tilesets/filename.ext`

not much information needs to be specified in the object list file
    prefab
    sprite info
    position
    scale/rotation
    id
    any custom information (as value/offset pairs?)
    
    
tilesets need to be placed in bitmap slots 0-63 so that they can work
with the tile attribute tables.  otherwise how that works would have to be
rethought and it'll be more complicated.

It should still be possible to load bitmaps at runtime into slots in the
table, as before.  In the scene file, you'll be able to say that you want to
load a bitmap into a specific slot rather than have the editor/engine
automatically search for and load it.

Scenes will be defined in individual scene files instead of one big file.
The format will be the same except for some utility words for user-
friendliness.  The index will be removed, now being defined by the game.
Here's an example:
scene: test-scene
    64 16 * s.w!
    64 16 * s.h! 
    0 s.layer [[
        1 4 p/  1 4 p/  parallax
        tileset: test.tiles.png 16 16 
        z" data/levels/test.test.layer-1.map001.stm" l.zstm!
    ]]
    1 s.layer [[
        tileset: test.tiles.png 16 16 
        z" data/levels/test.test.layer-2.map001.stm" l.zstm!
    ]]
;scene


Here's how the prefab definition file will look.  This is a per-project
thing.
prefab: [kevin] sprite: kevin.png 16 16 0
prefab: [duck]  sprite: duck.png  16 16 0