In the last post I mentioned having thoughts about building my own level editor. These thoughts became increasingly hard to ignore, so I decided to give it a shot. After thinking about making it in another programming language as that would probably be easier than making it in GMS2, I decided on using GMS2 anyway. That way I can bake it into the game if I'd like to, or use it in future games I might make in GameMaker. Since I'm near the stage where I'm going to start making all the levels this would be the best time to make the editor, so all my work effort has been towards that.

I'll get some screenshots of it when it's a bit closer to finished    

Progress

• I started building my own level editor!
• Level editor support for brushing objects
• Level editor support for selecting placed instances
• Level editor support for configuring object variables/settings
• Level editor support for starting directions of an instance
• Level editor support for deleting instances
• Level editor support for dragging around the grid with the mouse
• Level editor support for zooming in and out

Thoughts

• It's hard making an editor when you hate programming GUIs. If I had used another language I could've used some premade framework for GUI, but yeah.
• GameMakers lack of structs or objects are making themselves known when trying to set configurations on different instances/objects. But I'm getting used to using the available map- and list functions in a similar way!
• One of the strongest points in deciding to make this is also the fact that the game can have a community around it post-release, where players are free to create levels and share with others. I really hope that adds some extra value and playtime for potential players. It's also fun to mess around with the systems, so it would be fun to see what levels people can make.
• A concern I have now is that I'll have to make the editor look kinda nice if I want people to use it later on. Or I make it serviceable for now and brush it up just before release.
• It's fun with a change of project for a little while, even though it is an extension of the game in a way.