CharPad 2.6.1 – What’s New?…
Public Release 19/2/20
– Fixed: There was a bug in the code that handles copy/paste between program instances.
(After using Copy it was not possible to change ie. the map dimensions).
– Added: Tile Editor – Now has the ability to select/copy/paste rectangular areas (of cells).
– Added: Example map – ‘Excursion (4×4)’.
– Changed: Made a few of the toolbar icons a bit clearer.
– Changed: The toolbars now show slightly larger icons.
– Changed: About box – adjusted the colour scheme.
CharPad is a graphics data editing tool that facilitates the production of graphics data in a format compatible with the legendary Commodore 64 home computer.
The program runs on Windows desktop using .NET technology and allows you to design character sets, tiles, fonts and maps for 2D video games and demos.
You can start a project from scratch using the built-in freehand painting tools or import and convert any existing bitmap image into a C64 compatible tile map using various tile sizes from 1 x 1 up to 10 x 10 characters (100 different sizes).
CharPad has been in development since 2003 and has been widely considered an essential weapon in modern C64 game development ever since.
It has also been shown to work well on other platforms using the Mono software for .NET compatibility.
CharPad “Thalamus” Edition is an evolution of the original CharPad tool that contains some useful additional features, most of which have been commissioned by Thalamus Digital Publishing during the latter half of 2019 to assist in the development of their own games.
This special edition is now available to the public.
New for the 2.6 version…
- Export – One-click export of all essential binaries.
- Project – Conversion from per-char to per-tile colouring.
- General – Maximum tile size is now 10 x 10.
- General – Countless code optimizations and bug-fixes.
- Compressor – Sort characters by colour (ascending).
- Compressor – Sort tiles by colour (ascending).
- Image import – Increased capacity up to 500,000 character images.
- Image import – Much faster algorithm.
- Binary/Text export – Map data by selected area only.
- Text export – Char/Tile usage statistics.
- Map editor – Box highlighting of “current” cell.
- Map editor – Area fill (solid/incremental).
- Map editor – Delete row/column.
- Map editor – Insert blank row/column.
- Map editor – Dimensions of the selected area shown in status bar.
- Tile editor – Char “Picker” tool.
- Editors/sets – Next/Previous item with keyboard shortcut (F1/F2).
- Editors/sets – Zoom level in status bar.
- Editors/sets – Zoom level shortcut (CTRL + mouse wheel).
- Sets – Mouse wheel for vertical scroll.
- Sets – Box highlighting of “current” items (left/right mouse buttons).
The “Thalamus Edition” additional features include…
- Color palette editing in RGB, HSL and YUV formats.
- Typing text directly into the Map Editor using a chosen “Key map”.
- Tile naming/tagging for coding convenience (labels/source code).
- Map Editor “Flexi-Grid” feature that allows map data to be subdivided.
- Exporting of map data in 8, 12 or 16 bit formats.
- Copy/paste between program instances.
