Auto tileset generation

It is fun creating your own tileset, it is both challenging and rewarding. Luckily there are tools to generate a complete tileset from a single tile.

In theory you should only create a base tile, for example a dirt tile, some grass to cover the top and also how the sides (left, right and bottom) should look like. This is enough information for a tileset generator tool to automatically generate all the tiles you need.

Not always that simple because each tool has its own quirks and tricks.

AutoTileGen

The AutoTileGen tool is only available on steam. It is a small powerful tool that does what is needed without any complicated configuration.

After importing my base dirt tile, I had to create a tile with the top grass part together with the bottom border as well as a tile with the right and left borders. This was easy enough to do using layers in Asesprite.

The output of the tileset’s auto generation looks decent, and with a few tweaks of the base tile and borders, I was be able to create a seamlessly connected tileset to use in a map editor or a game engine.

It did take a while to fine-tune each part of the base tile to look good enough, after the application cut and paste the parts together to generate the final result.

Tilesetter

This is a much more complex tool, but the tool’s documentation is good enough to help and guide you to understand how to quickly generate a tileset.

The great thing about Tilesetter is it comes with a map editor build in. The map editor can auto paint levels, placing all the right tiles on the right places, so you don’t need to manually place each individual tile to create a map or level for your game.

This auto tileset generation tool uses a different method of cutting and pasting the parts of the base tile together. It took a lot longer to fine-tune the base tile to work with Tilesetter when compared to AutoTileGen.

The output of the auto generated tileset also looks confusing, I was not sure what each tile was used for. This is where the map editor, with the auto tile painting function, comes to the rescue! I just had to draw a level and the tool places all the tiles at the correct places.

The level map as well as the tileset can be exported to various different game engines, for example to Unity or Game Maker.

Tilesetter comes in a free version and paid version and is available for download from their website as well as being available on Steam.

Conclusion

It is amazing to create your own tileset by hand, a bit tedious sometimes but you will have all the control.

Using a tool to generate the tileset, is a quick and easy way to get something out to start developing your game, for example when you are taking part in a game-jam or doing prototyping. But for a professional and personal look, I would recommend creating the tileset manually.