have you profiled it?
I don't consider myself as a good programmer but I know that most of the fpu are used in graphics. In games nothing is what it seems and as long as something looks good then it's valid. There are alot of tricks used by the pros that make something look impresive even if it's something simple.
Some obvious hints:
Don't draw outsied the view area more than necessary(very important).
Don't draw tiles on top of tiles that are not transparent.
Don't use intense calculations for each tile(figure out the first and sequentially put the rest where possible).
Don't exagerated the amount of animation(animation for realistic look is a frame rate killer).
Limit particles from decent to barely acceptable numbers( as your game permits).
Study other tile engines see what they did. and how the did it. learn from them.
look at this tile engine:
http://www.blitzmax.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=1999
it's 800x600 has zooming to where you can see the whole map and baddies, alot of enemies, a basic AI(really basic but none the less), different tile levels and transcitions(land, sand and water), and bonuses. keeps water creatures in water, land creatures in land. it is a self generated tile map and has smart map movement.
The frame rate on my machine goes from 300 fpus(at small section view) to 30fps(at full map view) while not looking choppy or pausing.
I believe that is the same basic engine from where Crimsomland was created:
http://www.crimsonland.com/
I am not saying it's a great game, just that if it is goond enough to make money, it should be be good enough to learn from.
conclusion:
BE CREATIVE
I don't consider myself as a good programmer but I know that most of the fpu are used in graphics. In games nothing is what it seems and as long as something looks good then it's valid. There are alot of tricks used by the pros that make something look impresive even if it's something simple.
Some obvious hints:
Don't draw outsied the view area more than necessary(very important).
Don't draw tiles on top of tiles that are not transparent.
Don't use intense calculations for each tile(figure out the first and sequentially put the rest where possible).
Don't exagerated the amount of animation(animation for realistic look is a frame rate killer).
Limit particles from decent to barely acceptable numbers( as your game permits).
Study other tile engines see what they did. and how the did it. learn from them.
look at this tile engine:
http://www.blitzmax.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=1999
it's 800x600 has zooming to where you can see the whole map and baddies, alot of enemies, a basic AI(really basic but none the less), different tile levels and transcitions(land, sand and water), and bonuses. keeps water creatures in water, land creatures in land. it is a self generated tile map and has smart map movement.
The frame rate on my machine goes from 300 fpus(at small section view) to 30fps(at full map view) while not looking choppy or pausing.
I believe that is the same basic engine from where Crimsomland was created:
http://www.crimsonland.com/
I am not saying it's a great game, just that if it is goond enough to make money, it should be be good enough to learn from.
conclusion:
BE CREATIVE