NiGo-CHR :a pixel/level edit tool for FC/NES developmet !

I finally finish first release by the end of this year:
Check it out here : http://retrodaddy.itch.io/nigo-chr



Update07:version 0.2
1.Love2D Engine change from 0.92 to 0.10.0, so if you using .love you need to install Love2D 0.10.0.
2.Import tile set when drag and drop a .png file in.
3.Fix some bugs about pixel selection.
Still there are some small problems that I did't fixed, But since I will be busy next two weeks, so I want to release version 0.2 for people to testing import function.

Update06:version 0.1d
1.Export map now use the bounds of the non-empty screens.
2.Add usage infomation to every tools.

Update05:version 0.1c​
1.Fix the bug: right click on color palette change all color 0 when color1 is active.
2.Added an option to disable pixel grid drawing.

Update04:version 0.1b Add function to export entire map to one png file.

Update03:​version 0.1a
1.Now works on low desktop resolution, minimum windows size change to 950x500.
2.Add exoprt function to export map screen to png image file.
3.Some UI fix.

Update02:Added a video showcase rom hacking:https://youtu.be/VgymiIaJ_J0

Update01:Added .love file, which means that once you get Love2D(0.9.2 for NiGo-CHR v0.1) framework working, it will run on win,linux,mac!

No Linux version? Meh.

I'm on Windows Vista 32 bit. I run it, it the process closes without opening a window. (It doesnt crash, it just appears and disappears from the process list).

There's no readme to instruct me if I need to open it with a .CHR file or whatever.

So... what does this offer over other things, and how does one actually use it? Write some documentation, especially if you'd like to eventually charge for it. Putting it in my game's folder is pretty vague. What exactly is it looking for there?

Ok, run it in command line to see if there is any output.
Problem is I can not test under windows vista here...
Some requirement:
windows size: 1024x900
System that support SDL2, actually I using Love2D framework.
Modern hardware should run it...

Sorry for lack of infomation, will put more later.

Ok, now I add .love file, which means that once you get Love2D framework working, it will run on win,linux,mac!

Mmm... apparently at least part of it is that my PC was set to 16bit color at the time. (Don't ask.) For the record, no output was given in the commandline.

But upon switching my color to 32 bit, I get Error: shaders/init.lua:3: Sorry, your graphics card does not support shaders.

So I guess I'm out of this on this computer. I've got a 1920x1080 monitor and have developed SDL2 apps myself on this computer, so Love2D not supporting my computer (or vice versa) is the "problem". Not that you should consider it a problem, this is a fairly old computer. (2008? 2009?)

I tried it on a newer computer (sadly not my main work computer), and it actually looks super cool. I'll probably post some feedback after I've had a chance to really mess with it.

Update02:Added a video showcase rom hacking:https://youtu.be/VgymiIaJ_J0

There's a problem. This laptop's display is 1024x600 pixels.

That's a problem for most modern laptops, which are 1366x768.

Really eager to try this out. It looks like it has features I've been wishing for.

Quick note, it doesn't run for me on Mac OS X on the newest version of Love2D (0.10). I had to download 0.9.2 and it loaded fine.

Oh~yes,I forgot to mention that it work's on Love2D 0.9.2, 0.1.0 just come out, I didn't test it yet, it has a lots of improvement and I need to change some code later.




I will fix this, I think I will rearrange windows when the resulation is low, and need some button or to hide windows.

This is pretty awesome.
The sparse matrix of screens is exactly what I was wanting (even started on it myself).

Not a hacker, just a pixeler so:
Is there anyway to import tiles from a PNG or other regular image format?
Is there anyway to export the entire map as a PNG or other regular image format?

For import from image file, I need some advice, it's ok to read from PNG file, but how to map true color to 4 index color? Or we pre-process image to 4 index color then import?
Or if you guys have any idea, you can post here.



Ok, this is feature request is easy to do, I think I can make a feature that export each exist screen to png images. And it will be in next version.(I hope soon)

Personally, I don't see a problem with requiring the user to input a 4-color index file.

It would be nice though if it can support up to 13 colors and auto-populate palettes accordingly. Is that wishful thinking?



Converting a full color image to usable NES graphics seems like a completely different beast, especially when you consider the palette limitations and tile limitations to make something that can actually display on NES.

I wouldn't consider that functionality really a part of tile editing and map making.

I think Retro Graphics Toolkit can do that but the program has always confused me.

My "savtool" program can map a 256x240 PNG to an NES palette, provided that you specify the palette as a 32-hex-digit string on the command line. It converts the image using all four subpalettes and then takes the best result for each 16x16 pixel chunk.

Final Update This Year!

Update03:​version 0.1a
1.Now works on low desktop resolution, minimum windows size change to 950x500.
2.Add exoprt function to export map screen to png image file.
3.Some UI fix.

Happy new year everyone!

For PNG export I meant the entire map (all screens) as a single PNG.
So it's easy to show off your work on the web.
eg. Something like this.

Before I was thinking it will be a problem to export a big map.
But now set maximum export size to 32x32 screen = 8192x7680 pixels,it's possible to do that,
So this is a quick update and first update this year:
Update04:version 0.1b Add function to export entire map to one png file.

Ideally it would just use the bounds of the non-empty screens rather than a fixed size.

Also would it be possible to add an option to turn off pixel grid when zoomed in.

Is there a reason why changing any colour in palette 0 with right click on global palette also changes background colour?

When selecting, copying and pasting pixels/tiles how do you actually commit it to the map? I can float the selection and position it, but nothing I've tried seems to drop it into the map.

Yes that's the way it works now.


Will be in version v0.1c.


It's a bug and it has been fixed in version v0.1c.


Press 'enter' on keyboard to commit, sorry for lack of manual...

Update05:version 0.1c​
1.Fix the bug: right click on color palette change all color 0 when color1 is active.
2.Added an option to disable pixel grid drawing.

Actually it seems the problem is that it always expands the bounds to include screen 0,0 even if it is empty.

Tried using in linux but the tiles all just render as solid yellow (screenshot), both in canvas and tileset view.
Same result under native love and running the windows executable version in wine.
Using Xubuntu 15.10 with Radeon 7850 and open source ati driver.

Ok, I know what's the problem now and it has been fix in version v0.1d


To check this: I've install virtual box on windows 10 and install Xbuntu 15.10 64bit, after choose from different driver, it works,
So that's I think is video driver problem, NiGo-CHR using canvas and shader, can be problem on some old hardware or some driver....

Update06:version 0.1d
1.Export map now use the bounds of the non-empty screens.
2.Add usage infomation to every tools.

Verison 0.2 wip, Using it myself:

Now the Love2D engine has change to 0.10.0.

Any progess on PNG tile import?
The inbuilt pixel editing tools are too limited for me to do any serious pixel work within NiGo-CHR itself, so being able to easily import from a full featured pixel editor is important for me.

Any intention to expand the pixel editing tool set?
I'd be quite content with 2x2 and 4x4 brushes, bitmap brushes, line, axis-aligned rect, axis-aligned ellipse, flood fill (tile bounded, meta-tile bounded and unbounded).

It's a little difficult but I finally get this done today, and it will be in version 0.2.
Import method:
1.Drop a .png file on this program will replace current tileset page.
2.Use png alpha as color 0.
3.Any color not in FC/NES color palette will set as color 1, you need to use standard RGB value of FC/NES color.
4.Only first 3 colors will recognize in every 8x8 area, other colors will treat as color 1.


I had put most of these tools in it before, also before NiGo-CHR I've wrote another pixel editor. But because I feel it's not mature and also , I take them out.
And with my limited pixel art experience, these tools are not 'must have' in small size pixel area...
Anyway I still considering add these function in future version.

All screens of a map always uses the same four palettes don't they?
In that case I would think it best to do as NESST does and import/export a 16 colour indexed image with each of the four palettes stored sequentially.

Update07:version 0.2
1.Love2D Engine change from 0.92 to 0.10.0, so if you using .love you need to install Love2D 0.10.0.
2.Import tile set when drag and drop a .png file in.
3.Fix some bugs about pixel selection.
Still there are some small problems that I did't fixed, But since I will be busy next two weeks, so I want to release version 0.2 for people to testing import function.