Hello.

As the title say i want to be able to zoom in and out on a tilemap in SDL.
As i zoom, I want the tiles in the map and sprites that are not attached to the tilemap to scale at the same rate to keep proportions.

I also want to scale the hitbox at the same rate as well.

My question is, simply put: how?

I am not looking for a solution but rather a way to tackle this problem cous im at a loss.

I tried to search google, gamedev and other sources and found some information (http://www.gamedev.net/topic/437754-sdl-zoom-source-bigger-than-the-screen/) that comes close to what i am looking for but i dont fully understand the concept so i don't blindly want to use code i dont understand.

If there is a general "how to zoom tiles and sprites" or if you have any iformation or experience regarding this i would be very thankful for any tips on how to approach this problem.

the tiles and sprites are all devidable by 2 (32x32 tiles and 32x32, 64x32 sprites) and are regulare SDL_Surface* 's.

If it matters it is for a 2d top down view game.

Thansk in advance / AS

the way to do it in XNA is a matrix that scales and offsets points. I'm pretty sure you could do the same with C++
Get a transform matrix for the 2D camera
Matrix Transform =
Position Translation * //Camera Position Translation
Rotation * //Camera Rotation
Scale * //Camera Scale / Zoom
Screen Translation //Finish by Translating the Transforms back inline with the screen
source http://www.david-amador.com/2009/10/xna-camera-2d-with-zoom-and-rotation/

I know that its in XNA, but it will work in anything else,
all it does is transform everything drawn by this matrix. As is shown, it supports (as I've explained it) the position of the camera, the rotation of the camera and the zoom of the camera,

Hi guys.

Thanks a bunch for your help.

bombshell: I would love to be able to write functions like that but as it is right now I lack in math-knowledge. I am planning to take advanced match and vectormath courses next semester and hopefully I can implement something in those lines after that.

BeerNutts: Alot of my friends have told me to go over to SFML and i am considering doing so. I guess this functionality is yet another reason to do so. As it is right now though I am not able to switch as this project is to be done in SDL and i have already coded quite alot and even if the learning time would be short I don't want to start learning new syntax as I feel that I finally have an "ok" grasp of SDL.

I ended up going with the SDL_gfx library, using the rotozoom functionality.

It works well and is easy to use, I do something in the lines of 1) scale the surfaces (if changed), 2) scale the hitboxes (if changed), 3) re-set the camera according to the new dimensions.

I am yet to try this in a "real" situation with alot of surfaces so it might turn out to be bad perfomance-vise and if so, I'll have to find something else.
I actually found some negative comments when googling regarding performance, so im not too sure about it.

The only problem with the zoomSurface() (which is the only rotozoom function that I'm using) is that it messes up the colorkeying if the smooth flag is on.
There seem to be some workarounds / hacks to fix this but for now i'll zoom without smooth as i'll only zoom out (scale down the original) and never make it larger then x 1.0 the original so it looks ok.

I'd like to take this opportunity to ask anyone that has experience with the SDL_gfx lib if there is a "correct" way to fix the colorkey problem and if you have something to say regarding performance.

Thanks again for your help and happy new year =)

Ah ok..

I'm just curious now but is it not true that you can use HW acceleration by using openGL with SDL?

It is true you can use OpenGL through SDL -- SDL provides the window and the message processing. Everything else has to be through OpenGL (read: SDL's blitting functions aren't automagically hardware accelerated nor can you mix SDL software rendering with OpenGL rendering [very easily, that is]).

Hey fastcall22.

Thanks for claring that out.

The problem is solved atm and after this project I'll see if I'll try SFML or go on with learning openGL, There seem to be some nice "from SDL to openGL" tutorials out there.. Like the nehe one for example.