it's really neat opening level files for old games in hex editors
a lot of the time, they are just 2d arrays just dumped right into a file, so you can see the shapes of the levels if you adjust the width of the wrapping!
like, here's the first level of duke nukum 1 in HxD next to what it looks like in-game!
with something like imhex, you can even visualize it to see the details a little more clearly with its data processor!
@thingywott wait what, this looks like an incredible tool? I've never heard of it??
@SomeEgrets oh yeah! it's absolutely rad!
https://github.com/WerWolv/ImHex
if you grab it, try opening a png in it and check out the breakdown in the bottom when you apply its pattern!
it's not as elaborate as wireshark's bit-for-bit descriptions of what things are, but it does a lot of the same things, and i like it lots~
so! i ended up writing a super-simple pattern to let me see what's in the maps more specifically~
each different color is a row in the map layout, and if i mouse over any bit, it will tell me what kind of sprite it is on the map there! (it will also tell me the coordinate i'm looking at)