-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 9
Project files and project groups
Retro graphics toolkit operates in projects and project groups. Project files are very simple conceptually. They store all data including tiles (both converted and truecolor) palettes plane mapping and so on. I will use the file extension .rgp for project files but you can use whatever you want. Retro Graphics toolkit does not check file extension for project files. Project files do not support sharing. The data that was not shared will be saved in the file and when loaded appear as one project. If you have multiple projects that share data it would be better to use a project group.
Another cool feature is project groups. A project group is multiple projects in one file. When saving project groups I will use the file extension .rgg for project groups but you can use whatever you want. Retro Graphics toolkit does not check file extension for project groups. Project groups do support sharing data.
The settings/project tab contains all you need to control you project and to switch what project you are on. To add more projects you simply press Append blank project and it will do just as it said.
You can move the “Current project” slider and press “Delete selected project” to delete the selected project.
Also per project you can add text to the project describing it.
The Have (item) check-boxes do exactly what they say. If you check them that means data for that is stored. If unchecked it is ignored.
The share with (item) check-boxes allow part of one project’s data to be in another project. When editing the shared data it affects all projects that share it as the data is stored in ram only once. A copy is not made. However if you unchecked share with and it is previously checked the (formally) shared data will be copied into the currently selected project.
You are designing a game. The first project (project 0) contains the title screen the next project in the group contains the first level and so on. The second level takes place at night it uses the same art as the first level but a different palette so you press Share tiles and select project 1.
Retro Graphics Toolkit is designed to accept older versions of projects. If I change the format that will be okay as the projects store which version was used to save it. This means that if I add a new feature that adds more data that could be stored when you load the project the version will be read and attempting to read the new data will be skipped. If this involves a have option this will be deselected. For example older versions of Retro Graphics Toolkit did not support chunks so when I saved a project before adding support and I want to add chunks to an old project I will need to go to the Settings/projects tab and click on Have chunks. When you save a project the latest version will always be used. There is no point in supporting saving old project files. If there was a change I made that made Retro Graphics Toolkit worse (which I doubt will happen) instead of just using an older inferior version open an issue on github or post a message in a Retro Graphics Toolkit thread. Even better submit a pull request. Remember I am always open to pull requests.