Isometric games?
by Rickardo Cleaver · in Torque Game Builder · 03/02/2005 (6:49 pm) · 3 replies
Just got the T2D engine, and I've finished the basic tutorial. As is probably the case with everyone here, a thousand ideas for games to work on come to mind.
Soooo... while it certainly wouldn't be my first project, I would eventually like to at least take a swing at an action-RPG. How much work will it be to get an isometric tile system in T2D going? I know I could always use a Zelda-like set-up, but I just plain like the look of isometric games.
Soooo... while it certainly wouldn't be my first project, I would eventually like to at least take a swing at an action-RPG. How much work will it be to get an isometric tile system in T2D going? I know I could always use a Zelda-like set-up, but I just plain like the look of isometric games.
About the author
#2
I don't really want to open-up a debate on implementation details of ISO tiling at this point as we're still in the middle of a stealthy EA1 release and are just fixing the first-round of bugs making sure that T2D stays extremely useful but....
The main problem with ISO tiles would be how to integrate the idea of z-ordering into T2Ds layer system. Getting the tiles rendered in order is easy as pie but without doubt, people would then want to move standard sprites, particles, whatever through the tile-space and not have to worry about z-order. What we don't want is to change all of T2D to suit the ISO tilesets, I'd rather not support it in that case.
We can generate something like a fxTileISOLayer2D, identical to the fxTileLayer2D that renders a z-correct set of ISO tiles into a T2D render-layer. Trouble is, in this ISO layer, we've got a virtual 3D world. We're NOT going to change every T2D object (and the functional complexity that goes with it) so that it can be position within this virtual world. Also, people would expect physics, mounting and all that but it's easy to forget that this is a virtual 3D world and we're not about to write a 3D engine again!!!!
I haven't thought about this for a couple of weeks but I'm happy to tell you where I got to. If we were to implement it, we'd probably have a set of seperate rendering objects that could be positioned in the world, something like fxISOSprite2D. As I've said above though, it starts getting complex as you've got to do 3D (box) swept-collisions which is right back to 3D.
I personally think that T3D would be best suited for this but we do intend to look at this in T2D but I won't stick my neck out on dates. :)
- Melv.
03/03/2005 (1:45 am)
We do have plans for ISO tile sets for the future. Hard to quantify how much work is involved. We do know the issues involved though. Some critical design decisions to be made there.I don't really want to open-up a debate on implementation details of ISO tiling at this point as we're still in the middle of a stealthy EA1 release and are just fixing the first-round of bugs making sure that T2D stays extremely useful but....
The main problem with ISO tiles would be how to integrate the idea of z-ordering into T2Ds layer system. Getting the tiles rendered in order is easy as pie but without doubt, people would then want to move standard sprites, particles, whatever through the tile-space and not have to worry about z-order. What we don't want is to change all of T2D to suit the ISO tilesets, I'd rather not support it in that case.
We can generate something like a fxTileISOLayer2D, identical to the fxTileLayer2D that renders a z-correct set of ISO tiles into a T2D render-layer. Trouble is, in this ISO layer, we've got a virtual 3D world. We're NOT going to change every T2D object (and the functional complexity that goes with it) so that it can be position within this virtual world. Also, people would expect physics, mounting and all that but it's easy to forget that this is a virtual 3D world and we're not about to write a 3D engine again!!!!
I haven't thought about this for a couple of weeks but I'm happy to tell you where I got to. If we were to implement it, we'd probably have a set of seperate rendering objects that could be positioned in the world, something like fxISOSprite2D. As I've said above though, it starts getting complex as you've got to do 3D (box) swept-collisions which is right back to 3D.
I personally think that T3D would be best suited for this but we do intend to look at this in T2D but I won't stick my neck out on dates. :)
- Melv.
#3
Scott says that the Tileset can be rotated to accomplish an isometric feel.
03/11/2005 (5:06 am)
I read this user review of T2D and assumed it could handle an isometric perpective. In fact, I had assumed it could handle ISO even before reading this since ISO has been done in 2D so many times before. Quote:
Scott Markwell posted on Mar 04, 2005 at 19:25 PST
I'm still working through all the details of the engine before diving into it, but my inital impression is that this will save a bit on development time. Mind you, the engine is not currently suited for hex tiles, and there is currently no resource package system. If you are looking to make any 2d game from the Incredible machine, a 2d rts, side scroller, or a puzzle game, this engine can provide a very solid base to build on.
Edit: Isometric views can be achieved by rotating a tileset, which is easy to do.
Scott says that the Tileset can be rotated to accomplish an isometric feel.
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