Hi! I've been working on my sidescroller space ship shooter (in java) for about a month now and I have the basic components down so far (player, enemies, ect.), but one thing that I have trouble making is an easier level/map builder. Right now I am using a text map editor, but because the size of my game window the text editor gets pretty large (basically 50 lines down and 3,000 lines across).
Is there any better or efficient way to make a level builder instead of using just a text map? I haven't put in many of the sprites in for the enemies or players just mostly got the mechanics down.
Thank You for any help!