I want to create a 2D Game with Java and LWJGL. It is a retro styled RPG game. So there is a really big map(about 1000x1000 or bigger). I want to do it with tiles but I don't know how to save it/how to render it.
I thought at something like a 2D-Array with numbers in it and the render just sets the right tile at the right place. But i think the bigger the map gets the more it will slow down. I hope you can help me. :)
My second suggestion was to make a big image and just pick a part of it(the part where the player is) but than its hard to know where I have to do a collision detection, so this ist just an absurd idea.
Thank you for your suggestions!
As one of the comments mentioned, this subject is far too large to be easily covered with a single answer. But I will give you some advice from personal experience.
As far as saving the map in a 2D array, as long as the map is fairly simple in nature there is no problem. I have created similar style maps (tiled) using 2D integer arrays to represent the map. Then have a drawing method to render the map to an image which I can display. I use multiple layers so I just render each layer of the map separately. Mind you most of my maps are 100x100 or smaller.
I would recommend for such large maps to use some sort of buffer. For example, render only the playable screen plus a slight offset area outside of the map. E.g. if your screen if effectively 30x20 tiles, render 35x25, and just change what is rendered based on current location. One way that you could do this would be to load the map in "chunks". Basically have your map automatically break the map into 50x50 chunks, and only render a chunk if you get close enough that it might be used.
I also recommend having the drawing methods run in their own thread outside of the main game methods. This way you constantly draw the map, without having random blinking or delays.