I am new to the forum and also new to this game engine. I’ve spent a few days playing with Defold, so far the built-in tileset editor is basic and barebone to work with, it does not have a lot of features. I am more into top-down RPG games, so I need a good tileset editor to build maps. I tried Tiled, it is difficult to work with. I am looking for a tileset editor similar to that RPG Maker, Godot4 or Unity. RPG Maker tileset editor is super user-friendly and easy to work but it is very limited to a few layers and tilesets. Godot4 tileset editor is very nice but I am not a fan of the engine. Unity’s tileset editor is nice too but I don’t like the engine. Does anyone know an alternative tileset editor that is good and is supported by Defold?
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I think Tiled is the best option. Surprised to hear you say it’s difficult to work with. Why is that?
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How about trying LDTK ( Level Designer Tool Kit by Dead Cells game creator ). It supports export as Tiled Save file which is compatible with Defold.
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The documentation is outdated, and hard to follow, the links to the pictures in the documents are broken.
There are very few tutorials and were made years ago. It seems there is a small user base.
The UI is confusing and frustrating. In order to create autotiles I have to open a new tileset in another tab, and click on the terrain sets icon to convert to terrain sets. I mean can I just convert the tileset to terrain set on the same window that has my tileset loaded? It took me a while to figure that out.
In order to set up autotiles for a block of tiles, I have to add terrain set then add terrain then mark the tiles as corner or edge or mixed then name each terrain then add the image to the terrain. To add the image is also not straight forward, need to right-click the tileset and then chose the option to add it. Then repeats all the steps above for other tiles. Even once I got all the tileset setup there is no guarantee the autotiles work correctly. That is tedious and hard to do already.
To erase the markers, there is a small button on the right corner name “erase terrain” need to click on that button. I mean, why can the button on the top toolbar, why is it on the very far right corner near the smaller button “delete terrain”? I thought “delete terrain” and “erase terrain” are the same. Took me a while to figure that out, they are not.
I spent 3 days using it and I could not get autotiles working properly so I gave up. The version I was using is 1.9.
I am not sure if you have used RPG maker before, it is the best tile map editor I have used besides layer and tilesets limitations. if you bought the maker it comes with the autotiles setup for you. To use different tiles is also simple, use any graphic editing tool and place the tiles in arrangements based on the template then import the tiles to the maker. Super easy, no need to setup anything. There is also a lot of tutorials out there. I think Rpgmaker’s tilemap editor is the best selling point of the maker. I enjoyed drawing houses, forests, landscapes…etc with it. I am sure a lot of people do.
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I believe you described your experience with Tiled and not Defold Tilemap Editor, right?
I am asking just to be sure, I still think Tiled is better than built-in Defold Tilemap Editor, especially because it has at least some auto-tiling. Auto tiling was many time requested in Defold, but it is something that could be done in many ways. Latest example by @astrochili described here is a great example.
I didn’t used though RPG Maker’s tilemap Editor, so can’t compare. I am eager check it our though 
If Tiled is not suitable for you - did you try mentioned LDTK or Tilesetter? Tilesetter is a pretty modern approach for tilesource and tilemap making and has export to Defold.
Yup, software stinks. 
A quick googling suggests that RPG Maker’s tilemaps get saved as JSON files in the project’s “data folder”, so it’s quite possible that you could keep using that and write a parser/converter to adapt its format to Defold.
Tiled has the most features, far and above any of the alternatives, as long as you can get past the learning curve of it’s rather quirky interface and workflow. You can also write some pretty advanced plugins for it to automate things and add new tools. The developer is active and the forum is active for getting help. I think it would be worth spending time learning. There is no better alternative.
There is also Ogmo Editor, but I believe it’s even simpler than LDTK (but you might like it anyway).
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@ross.grams
I’m thinking of going back to using rpgmaker tilemap editor but the caveats here, it only supports 16x16 tileset, has no support for any other engines and has no roadmap to add any new features in the future.
I am surprised no one could replicate rpgmaker tilemap editor mechanics. Not to exaggerate, even a 10 year old kid can produce a whole map in a couple of hours. The fact is, rpgmaker community has many teenagers and seasonal game developers.
As for Tiled, no I have enough, I would not want to spend any more time using it. Ogmo editor does not seem to support auto tile.
@Pawel
Yeh I just bought Tilesetter yesterday and spend a few hours using it. I also spent a few hours using LDtk. They are nice but lack many features. Tilesetter does a good job in making ground mapping or landscape, it does not seem to be able to build exterior and interior houses. LDtk needs to setup rules, I only use it for a couple of hours so I can’t tell how tedious to set up rules yet. Hopefully, it is not as tedious as Tiled when setting terrains.
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