Just wrote a bit of code that might be useful for others. It takes a fixed width ascii file and uses it to populate a scene with prefabs. Handy for all those people doing 2D/2.5D stuff for iPhone.
Web Player: http://www.jnamobile.com/asciimaploader/AsciiMapLoader.html
Turns This:
*
#
##
#*# I
Y #
Y
========================
Into This:
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
using System.IO;
public class AsciiMapReader : MonoBehaviour {
public int tileWidth = 1;
public int tileHeight = 1;
public float xOffset = -5;
public float yOffset = -5;
public GameObject[] prefabs;
public string characters;
public string[] filePathAndName;
public bool loadFromURL;
public GUIText errorText;
private ArrayList mapObjects;
private int mapWidth;
private string map;
private WWW request;
void Start() {
// Sample loading
LoadMap(filePathAndName[0]);
StartCoroutine(WaitForSecondsThenLoadMap(7,1));
StartCoroutine(WaitForSecondsThenLoadMap(14,2));
}
private IEnumerator WaitForSecondsThenLoadMap(int wait, int map) {
yield return new WaitForSeconds(wait);
DestroyMap(0);
LoadMap(filePathAndName[map]);
}
public void LoadMap(string filePathAndName) {
if (loadFromURL) {
StartCoroutine(AsyncLoadMap(filePathAndName));
} else {
string map = ReadMap(filePathAndName);
ParseMap(map);
}
}
public void DestroyMap(float delay) {
if (mapObjects != null) {
foreach (GameObject gameObject in mapObjects) {
GameObject.Destroy(gameObject, delay);
}
}
mapObjects = null;
}
public string getMappingsAsString() {
string result = "";
for (int i = 0; i < characters.Length i < prefabs.Length; i++) {
result += characters[i] + " = " + prefabs[i].name;
if (i != prefabs.Length - 1) {
result += ", ";
} else {
result += ".";
}
}
if (characters.Length > prefabs.Length) {
result += " There are " + (characters.Length - prefabs.Length) + " unmapped characters.";
} else if (characters.Length < prefabs.Length) {
result += " There are " + (prefabs.Length - characters.Length) + " unmapped prefabs.";
}
return result;
}
private void ParseMap(string map) {
float x = 0 , y = 0;
GameObject prefab;
Object currentObject;
mapObjects = new ArrayList();
for (int i = 0; i < map.Length ; i++) {
prefab = getPrefabForCharacter(map[i]);
if (prefab != null) {
currentObject = GameObject.Instantiate(prefab, new Vector3((x * tileWidth) + xOffset, (y * tileHeight) + yOffset, 1), Quaternion.identity);
mapObjects.Add(currentObject);
}
x++;
if (x == mapWidth) {
x = 0; y++;
}
}
}
private GameObject getPrefabForCharacter(char c) {
for (int i = 0; i < characters.Length i < prefabs.Length; i++) {
if (characters[i] == c) {
return (prefabs[i]);
}
}
return null;
}
private string ReadMap(string filePathAndName) {
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(filePathAndName);
string fileContents = reader.ReadToEnd();
reader.Close();
mapWidth = fileContents.IndexOf("\n") + 1;
return fileContents;
}
IEnumerator AsyncLoadMap(string url)
{
if (request == null) {
request = new WWW(url);
}
yield return request;
if (request.error== null ) {
mapWidth = request.text.IndexOf("\n") + 1;
ParseMap(request.text);
} else {
Debug.Log("Error: " + request.error);
errorText.text = "Error: " + request.error;
}
request = null;
}
}
Specify your mapping using:
public GameObject[ ] prefabs;
public string characters;
They are mapped in order that they appear, you can get a description of the mapping using: getMappingsAsString().
Unmapped characters mean do nothing.
License is MIT, so you can do with it what you will. Credits or links to www.jnamobile.com are appreciated but not required.
