Is a simple free tool to help PlayBasic developers convert / compress pictures into PlayBasic Map and block data. So the user loads their large picture and the tool runs through and cuts it up into a set of unique blocks with an tile map. When it's done it saves that block data out as a bitmap and the tile map as PlayBasic level
Here's a short of video (of the WIP version) showing the entire image conversion process, as you can see, it's fairly simple, but effective.
PlayPackager is a brand new FREE helper tool, that will further assist PlayBasic developers bundle their game or tools into a compressed self extracting executable, for single file distribution. The packaged application will then automatically decompress any media and execute upon being launched by the end user (the player). Allowing the end user to simply run the game without needing to install, or unzip/unrar it.
PlayPackager is not only exclusively designed for use with PlayBasic, it's designed with ease of use at the forefront. To build a packaged EXE requires nothing more than selecting your games project folder, selecting a save name for the output exe, then pressing build. Packagers build process will automatically scan your project folder for all media files, locate your applications exe file, apply any exclusions (removal of unwanted files such as your source code from your output archive) prior to building the compressed package. The whole process generally only takes takes a few seconds.
The build processes exclusion features are one of the most important parts of the tool. This feature allows the programmer to build their distribution package directly from their projects development folder. Without haven't to manually copy the files around, which can be very tedious and often error prone in bigger projects.
By default PlayPackager's exclusion rules are set to ignore a hand full of common file types, things like PlayBasic source code files, PlayBasic project files as well as windows thumb nails. However you can add (and delete) your own exclusions, which can be specific files within the folder, file types or entire sub folders if you wish.
I often use two media folders in my games. These are the same structure, except the one folder holds the original media files while the other contains distributable versions. So getting packager to ignore the original media is as easy as setting a folder exclusion. Allowing us greater freedom in the build process
