Maps :)

Hey everyone, I am currently making a 2D game (again), but currently my guy can only jump around in the empty 640X480 screen. I don't want to hard-code a map into the game (which would really suck), but I don't want just a few rectangles for obstacles or something. So for a map format, I was thinking of how I might be able to easily edit a map and add miniscule details, and I thought of creating a 640X480 monochrome bitmap and using the "colors" to define which areas (pixels) are obstacles, i.e. you can't go through them. That way I could edit a map using Paint, and I wouldn't have to make a level editor or anything.

Is this a good idea, or should I think of something else?

More details, please?

What you suggest would be great for a maze type thing, but horrible for trying to program Super Mario World.

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great for a maze type thing, but horrible for trying to program Super Mario World.

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:D 9999 GB map!

Well, I'm aiming for a Liero-style game (ever played it? It's like a real-time Worms). So I need to be able to have the disappear-when-blown-up terrain, like in any decent Tank Wars etc. game. Everything stays on 1 screen, the 640X480 window. A couple of really small characters jump around/grapplehook/shoot, and basically try to kill each other. So it's not exactly a maze, which would be more like tiles, but it's not a side-scrolling storyline-driven game either.

Is that detailed enough?

Well to destroy your onscreen bitmap is not hard. First load in the original bitmap into memory and then as things blow up and tear up the terrain, simply remove pixels from the bitmap - and use this bitmap in your double buffer.

Ah, right! That makes sense. Although currently, I'm just using FillRect() to make a black background. But to remove and check if pixels are movable, should I be using SetPixelV()/GetPixel()? Or is there some better way of accessing the whole screen's pixels?