Level Chooser

[Coder_For_Life22]

What is the best way to go about displaying different buttons for the user to select lets say a menu of about 50 levels?

How would i place all of the buttons on the scene?

Any one have suggestions on how to do this?

[jaym]

The same method is used in most mobile games.

You've got X amount of chapters, usually found in a row which can be selected via touch. Once a user selects a chapter, a grid of levels opens up, usually something like 3x5 or so. 50 levels would be a stretch to fit in one screen without it looking too cluttered.

Take a look at angry birds, stupid zombies, etc. They can give you an idea of how to layout a level select scene.

[Coder_For_Life22]

Thanks Jaym.

This is exactly how i would like to layout my levels. But this thing is would i have to actually place each and every level icon specifically in its location or is there a better way to place them automatically?

[Mathew]

For loop and you are done.

[jaym]

psuedo-code:

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Using java Syntax Highlighting

1. final int COLUMNS = 5;
2. final int ROWS = 3;
3. final int PADDING = 5;
4.  
5. int x = 0;
6. int y = 0;
7.  
8. for(int i = 1; i <= ROWS; i++){
9. for(int o = 1; o <= COLUMNS; o++){
10.     Sprite tile = new Sprite(x * o, y * i, ...);
11.  
12.     x += tile.getWidth() + PADDING;
13. }
14. y += tile.getHeight() + PADDING
15. }

Parsed in 0.031 seconds, using GeSHi 1.0.8.4

[Coder_For_Life22]

Thanks jaym!

That really opened things up!

[Coder_For_Life22]

jaym quick question..How would i go about getting it to create a new row when it gets to the egde of the screen?

[jaym]

you can add a if statement inside your column loop, such as:

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Syntax: [ Download ] [ Show ]

Using java Syntax Highlighting

1. if(x > cameraWidth - tileWidth) break;

Parsed in 0.030 seconds, using GeSHi 1.0.8.4

[Coder_For_Life22]

Thanks. one more question.

is it better to have a seperate .png file for each level icon? or is there a better way to save resources?

[Mathew]

Obviously one level icon + new Text object for number, placed on level icon, instead of loading XX images, it would be madness.