World Max Size (we’ll increase it over time) : 1280x1280 px - 40x40 tiles
Floor/Wall/Rooms : 32x32 tiles
Furnitures : 8x8 tiles (to allow way more possibilities with furnitures positions)
A typical apartment map is composed of three main layers, the first layer is for the most basic tiles such as the game-generated walls and floor of the apartment, these will be combined together into a single layer and be editable for the floor tiles and wall textures. The second layer is for the user placed walls, this layer will contain the walls that the player adds to his apartment to create a sense of rooms and the user will be able to either remove or add walls of this layer as well as change their textures. The third and final layer is for the objects present in the users apartment, the layout of this layer is pretty unique because instead of having the objects tile ids for each 8x8 tile of that layer, we’ll have references to the objects that are placed on this layer, as an object might have more than one tile. Dealing with references is crucial for efficiency and ease of use as it will allow us to identify each tile with a specific object and check for collision when a player tries to place an object overlapping another one.
In modern pixel games, more and more developers tend to use a 3D engine, instead of an only 2D engine. It allows us to use the Z axis to sort elements and create depth easily.
It also allows to use lighting and shadow in an efficient way and more realistic way.
Example with Enter the Gungeon, which uses a 3D plane + basic 3D meshes to create an organic lighting.