Flash Scroll Engine: Super Tiles (Part 2)
This is based on Strille's tile based tutorial.
How big can be the map using Super Tiles? Actually I don't know, but this is the largest one I cared to lay out before I decided it's large enough for the stuff I want to make ;)
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I don't think there'll be a noticeable perfomance lost if I make the map 2 or 3 times larger. That's really a big map. The only lost of perfomance again exist in the sections where there are too many super tiles visible. That's all. Designed keeping this in mind, the map can perform smoothly independiently of its size. And I'm about to think this is the fastest the Flash Player can perform with version 7 or previous.
This map was layed out only with 4 super tiles. That's a disadvantage, since the map doesn't look as detailed as the one of the previous section, wich has like 30 different super tiles, only because I wanted to recreate the F021XX level with almost it's exact look. There's nothing that says that there shold be used few large super tiles, but really, lay out this map was really quick that way, move it and scroll it on the Flash IDE was no problem with the cost of a less detailed look. But break the symbols apart and try to move it around to see how the Flash IDE performs (I don't recommend it on weak systems). So, it's a trade off that should be considered.
Overall, this practically solves the problem of the large maps. Everything else like the code that moves the character, the viewport, how he reacts with the map, and the shoot routines is up to every author. Maybe later I'll make him actually react to the tiles in a more traditional way instead of the way I'm using now based on my previous games.