Using Layers to Create Depth
In the previous tutorial we created a simple map which worked fine for our needs and looked great on screen yet underneath the hood there is a problem; every Corona display object is on the save level which can cause problems when playing a game because you want your player to be able to go behind certain things and in front of others. Don’t worry though as the solution to this is simple.
Firstly start up Tiled and File >> Open to load up the map we created in the previous tutorial.
At first you will only have one layer in your map, this is what all your tiles have been added to so far. You can view this in the Layer panel to the right of Tiled:
Having just one layer is easy to manage but you will find that when your maps get more complicated it can get harder to deal with all the layers, luckily you can hide them by unticking them or change their opacity using the slider provided, please note though that these have no affect on your levels within Corona itself.
To add a new layer just right-click on the Layer panel and select New >> Tile Layer, object layers will be explained in a later tutorial. You will notice that you now have a new layer created and selected called "Tile Layer 2" that is currently above the first one. The higher the layer is in the list the higher its z-depth will be in Corona.
With your new layer created adding tiles is as simple as it was before, just make sure it is selected in the Layers panel and then start drawing your tiles.
Now everything is completed just load up the map in Corona as before and you’ll notice that the layering order has been preserved. Feel free to reorder your layers in Tiled to see what the differences are.