Issues spawning new levels for 2D platformer in AS3 - arrays

Question

I'm making a 2D platformer in Flash for a project, and everything's going swimmingly! It's been easy sailing up until I realize the assignment says to use 2 levels, and the only way I have done levels is via adding them as classes, while this project is using arrays.
I started using URLLoader to plop the levels in .txt files, but even then the example code I've been following only shows how to do this for one level, not for 2+.
Here's the code I'm using for the maps, I can supply more if this isn't sufficient:
public function init()
{
trace("init");
map = [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0]]
container = new Sprite();
addChild(container);
tileArray = [Tile0, Tile1, Tile2];
buildMap();
createPlayer();
createWinSpace();
ArrowKeyInput.init(stage);
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, update);
}
private function buildMap():void
{
trace("BUILD");
tileMap = [];
for (var i:int = 0; i < map.length; i++)
{
var row:Array = map[i];
var tileRow:Array = [];
tileMap.push(tileRow);
for (var j:int = 0; j < row.length; j++)
{
var tileNum:int = row[j];
var className:Class = tileArray[tileNum];
var tile:MovieClip = new className();
tile.width = tile.height = TILE_SIZE;
tile.x = TILE_SIZE * j;
tile.y = TILE_SIZE * i;
container.addChild(tile);
tileRow.push(tile);
}
}
}
I appreciate any sort of feedback I can get on this.

Answer 1

If I am understanding you correctly, you are wondering how to make your buildMap function be capable of building multiple maps.
What is important to understand about this issue, is that the map array is what the buildMap function utilizes as data to build the level. So whatever is in the map array defines what tiles will be used for each location on the level. So if you want to have multiple levels, you could define multiple maps as such with each having it's own array :
map_1 = [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0]];
map_2 = [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
[0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0]];
Those are your map definitions and you can have as many as you like. I just copied the data for the second map, but you can just create a new level in that definition.
Now, before you call the buildMap() function, just set the value of map to whichever level you wish to build :
map = map_1;
buildMap();
or
map = map_2;
buildMap();
Now, you have other things to think about as if you begin with map_1 and then want to build map_2, you need to remove the tiles that you used to build map_1.
From what I can tell in your code, they are all added to the container sprite. So what you could do is remove all those tiles by adding something like this to the beginning of the buildMap() function :
while (container.numChildren > 0)
{
container.removeChildAt(0);
}
Most likely there are other variables that you will need to reset when loading a new level, but this was just meant to be an example of one way you might manage that, with the very little that I know by looking at your code.