I'm looking for some ideas or concepts to solve a few game design issues

I'm looking for a simple way to hold terrain data. So if I have a tile set that is for example 10 x 10 tiles, then there are 100 positions. A 2 dimensional array is very simple for a single value, but I need more than that. I was thinking of a class object that fills a container. Maybe someone can give a simple example of how I could implement this. What kind of member variables should I have and so on. If you have an example, feel free to use any idea. I have not thought out the game yet, except that it would be a simple tile based rpg type level. So I'm looking more at how to implement in code, rather than anything else. My VB .NET skills are good and this is kind of a first project. I have decent C/C++ skills, but I only mention that since I said this is a first project (I'm not new to programming). As a last remark, however, complex algorithms might do me in, so don't throw a computer science book at me. :afrog:

I have a great example in my Bosskillers Game in my sig, but its been implemented in VB6 and uses DirectX8, yet it shouldn't be too hard to do in vb.net. The code is so superb, that you can make the worlds as big as you want and it'll never slow down. Like 100000x100000 tiles are possible. The secret is that the 2 for loops executed in rendering only renders what you see. It's equivilant to a rectangular shape magnifine glass over a gigantic size map. I have done something similar in vb.net without directx as an experiment and surprisingly it worked. The data structure you'll need is just a structure. No class necessary. Although I do recommend you use DirectX if you plan on doing an RPG. I can help you learn it in VB.Net using DirectX9. If you need the example I was talking about, heres sourcecode of a tile engine.

vb.net Code:

Option Explicit On
 
Public Class frmMain
 
    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
 
    Private Structure RECT
        Dim Left As Integer
        Dim Right As Integer
        Dim Top As Integer
        Dim Bottom As Integer
    End Structure
 
    Private Structure Vector
        Dim X As Single
        Dim Y As Single
    End Structure
 
    Private Structure Map_Type
        <VBFixedString(50)> Dim Name As String
        Dim Initial_Position As Vector 'Used for if you click to move the map with the mouse youll use a new set of map position coordinates.
        Dim Position As Vector 'The map position on screen which is typically negative as it goes more right.
        Dim Tile(,) As Integer 'The tile image number used in Tile(X,Y) 'ex. Tile(0,0) = 0 "grass" Tile(2,5) = 1 "Rock"
        Dim Width As Integer 'Width of map in tiles
        Dim Height As Integer 'Height of map in tiles
        <VBFixedString(256)> Dim Texture_List() As String 'File path of textures
        Dim Number_of_Textures As Integer
        Dim Screen_Tile_Width As Integer 'Number of tiles possible to display on screen horizontally
        Dim Screen_Tile_Height As Integer 'Number of tiles possible to display on screen vrtically
    End Structure
 
    Private Const TILE_WIDTH As Integer = 50
    Private Const TILE_HEIGHT As Integer = 50
 
    Dim Map As New Map_Type()
    Dim Running As Boolean
    Dim Backbuffer As Bitmap
    Dim G As Graphics
 
    Private Sub Setup_Map()
 
        Map.Width = 64
        Map.Height = 64
        Map.Screen_Tile_Width = 32
        Map.Screen_Tile_Height = 16
        Map.Number_of_Textures = 2
 
        Map.Tile = New Integer(Map.Width, Map.Height) {}
        Map.Texture_List = New String(Map.Number_of_Textures) {}
        Map.Texture_List(0) = Application.StartupPath() & "\Graphics\grass.bmp"
        Map.Texture_List(1) = Application.StartupPath() & "\Graphics\rock.bmp"
 
        'Normally its loaded from file but you can manually put where the images go here
        Dim X As Integer, Y As Integer
 
        For Y = 0 To Map.Height
            For X = 0 To Map.Width
                Map.Tile(X, Y) = 0
            Next X
        Next Y
 
 
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub Draw_Map()
 
        Dim imageFile As Image
        Dim g As Graphics
        Dim newGraphics As Graphics
        Dim Coordinates As Vector 'Tile Coordinates of the position on map such as 5,10 or 24, 8
        Dim X1 As Integer, Y1 As Integer, X2 As Integer, Y2 As Integer
        Dim X As Integer, Y As Integer
        Dim R As RECT
 
        R.Left = 0
        R.Top = 0
        R.Right = Me.Width
        R.Bottom = Me.Height
 
        Coordinates.X = Int(-(Map.Position.X) / TILE_WIDTH)
        Coordinates.Y = Int(-(Map.Position.Y) / TILE_HEIGHT) 'converts your position into tile coordinates
 
        'This here allows the world to be as gigantic as you want with zero slow down like 5000x5000 for example. Only draws what is on screen.
 
        X1 = Coordinates.X
        Y1 = Coordinates.Y
        X2 = Coordinates.X + Map.Screen_Tile_Width
        Y2 = Coordinates.Y + Map.Screen_Tile_Height
 
        If X2 <= 0 Then X2 = 0
        If Y2 <= 0 Then Y2 = 0
        If Y2 >= Map.Height - 1 Then Y2 = Map.Height - 1
        If X2 >= Map.Width - 1 Then X2 = Map.Width - 1
        If X1 <= 0 Then X1 = 0
        If Y1 <= 0 Then Y1 = 0
        If X1 >= X2 Then X1 = X2
        If Y1 >= Y2 Then Y1 = Y2
 
        For Y = Y1 To Y2
            For X = X1 To X2
                If Running = True Then
                    If Not ((Map.Position.X + ((TILE_WIDTH * X) + TILE_WIDTH) < R.Left) Or (Map.Position.X + ((TILE_WIDTH * X)) > R.Right) Or (Map.Position.Y + ((TILE_HEIGHT * Y) + TILE_HEIGHT) < R.Top) Or (Map.Position.Y + ((TILE_HEIGHT * Y)) > R.Bottom)) Then
                        imageFile = Image.FromFile(Map.Texture_List(Map.Tile(X, Y)))
                        g = Me.CreateGraphics()
                        newGraphics = Graphics.FromImage(imageFile)
                        g.DrawImage(imageFile, New RectangleF(Map.Position.X + (TILE_WIDTH * X), Map.Position.Y + (TILE_HEIGHT * Y), TILE_WIDTH + 3, TILE_HEIGHT + 3))
                        newGraphics.Dispose()
                        g.Dispose()
                    End If
                End If
            Next X
        Next Y
 
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub frmMain_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) Handles Me.KeyDown
 
        If e.KeyCode = Keys.Left Then Map.Position.X += 10
        If e.KeyCode = Keys.Right Then Map.Position.X -= 10
        If e.KeyCode = Keys.Up Then Map.Position.Y += 10
        If e.KeyCode = Keys.Down Then Map.Position.Y -= 10
 
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub frmMain_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
 
        Me.Show()
        Me.DoubleBuffered = True
        Setup_Map()
        Running = True
        Backbuffer = New Bitmap(Width, Height, Me.CreateGraphics())
        G = Graphics.FromImage(Backbuffer)
 
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub Form1_Closing(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs)
        Running = False
        Application.Exit()
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub frmMain_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs) Handles Me.Paint
        e.Graphics.InterpolationMode = Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.NearestNeighbor
        e.Graphics.PixelOffsetMode = Drawing2D.PixelOffsetMode.None
        Do While Running = True
            e.Graphics.Clear(Color.Black)
            Draw_Map()
            System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents()
        Loop
    End Sub
End Class