diff --git a/src/reskit/level/system.rs b/src/reskit/level/system.rs
index 14bdd79..cbf25be 100644
--- a/src/reskit/level/system.rs
+++ b/src/reskit/level/system.rs
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ pub fn get_sprites( tilemap: &TiledTilemap, sprite_ids: &HashMap<String, u16> )
     let mut result: Vec<u8> = Vec::new();
 
     let tiles_before = {
-        let mut total_tiles = 0;
+        let mut total_tiles = 1;
 
         for tileset in &tilemap.tileset {
             // do not include the sprite metadata
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ pub fn get_sprites( tilemap: &TiledTilemap, sprite_ids: &HashMap<String, u16> )
         let sprite_id = sprite_ids.get( &sprite_metadata.id ).ok_or( format!( "invalid file: undefined sprite id \"{}\"", sprite_metadata.id ) )?;
         result.extend( sprite_id.to_be_bytes() );
 
-        let tile_index_location = tiles_before + tiles_after + 1;
+        let tile_index_location = tiles_before + tiles_after;
         result.extend( ( tile_index_location as u16 ).to_be_bytes() );
         tiles_after += ( sprite_metadata.width * sprite_metadata.height ) as u32;
 
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ pub fn get_code( tilemap: &TiledTilemap, level_name: &str, path_prefix: &str ) -
     let level_label = symbol_to_pascal( level_name );
     let ( width, height ) = ( tilemap.width, tilemap.height );
     let num_tiles = {
-        let mut total_tiles = 0;
+        let mut total_tiles = 1;
 
         for tileset in &tilemap.tileset {
             total_tiles += ( tileset.image.width() / 8 ) * ( tileset.image.height() / 8 );     // --system md