T2D Isometric?

#1 Makes perfect sense. Just do your art accordingly, can rotate the tile layer, and you'll be fine.

#2 So IOW doing an isometric style game would be no problem with T2D? If not, then i'll go buy it right now :) If I focus this design on a static 2d isometric style interface and use T2D I think I can speed up development by a few 100% :p

#3 I think Melv said there was some trouble with z coords in an isometric game, its pretty much a 3d game really... So you would need a layer for each of the z-tiles, which would take a bit of doing. Its certainly possible, but I think it'll require some work. How much I do not know.

#4 Maybe I need to do some reading on Isometrics first so I understand what the heck i'm talking about :)

#5 FYI I'm looking for a game style like the old X-Com games. It was my understanding that these games were really 2D games just drawn so they looked 3D. Which is whay I thought I could do it with Torque2D. IAm I incorrect on my understanding of those games?

#6 I dunno about old X-Com games, but there are some people doing a Diablo-style iso game in T2D. I myself have begun developement on a pseudo-iso game. So, yes, it's possible and I do believe Melv is planning on implementing iso system in the future.
I dunno if that helps you.

- Matt VG

#7 I never played Diablo, though I seem to recall some screenshots in the back of my murky brain. XCom is even older and more primitive IIRC :)

Guess i'll mull this over a bit. Its not that the 80 bucks is any big deal. I'd buy it in a heartbeat if I thought it would be useful. I just don't want to spend the money for no reason. If it won't do what I want for this specific game, which MUST be done by Sept, then i'll move on to other options. If it will work, then i'll grab it.

#8 Welcome to the Community

#9 Orthographic Projection in TGE

While it's not T2D, it is up your alley. I'm sure you've seen the thread, but I thought I'd reiterate.

#10 Yeah i've seen it and sure I could do it in TGE, but my goal is to cut production time as much as possible on this project. I decided to pick up T2D and things are looking good so far :)

#11 John,

Yep, you can do ISO-type stuff in T2D. You don't even really need to rotate the tile layer. It all depends on what ends up being easiest for you to code with.

For our official ISO tile solution we'll need to worry about collision and physics response on ISO tiles (though we've already put a bunch of thought into this and pre-built things with this in mind), as well as layers and some other issues. So, it'll be a while before we roll out the official iso-tile support. But by being a little creative, you can definitely create isometric display games in T2D.

#12 XCOM - SLURP

#13 Hopefully in about 2 weeks (maybe less if things meld together better) my team will have a very basic demo of the way we're going about making a diablo style game in T2D :)

#14 Is StarCraft an "isometric" game, or straight 2d?

What makes a game isometric or just 2d, and why is it different in making an isometric game?

#15 If your looking for an isometric engine, check out explorations - www.explore-rpg.com

#16 A straight 2D game is the original zelda.... top down view. Iso games look at an Iso angle, so you see the objects a bit skewed. The biggest challenge is that the images can overlap but the game needs to know which one is truly in front of the other to order properly... thats where the challenge of ISO games in T2D comes in :)

#17 If iso games are what i think they are, and using my knowledge of Game Maker (we all have to start somewhere :)), the objects in front will be lower down the screen, so can't you just compare y co-ordinates and then move one too the front (there a depth value in T2D?)? I havn't got T2D so it might not work in this way, but that's how I used to do it in GM.

#18 www.garagegames.com/mg/snapshot/view.php?qid=1010 If this screenshot is anything like the style you're thinking about, then it looks like T2D can handle it. How much behind the scenes tweaking the developers have done on this I've no idea, you could always send them a email to find out.

I'd like to see a resource by anyone who manages to get a form of iso support in T2D. Even though I've no intention of making a game in that style, I'd still like to read about how it was done.

#19 @Thomas: The basic idea behind it is exactly that. It just gets more complex when you have the player constantly moving through these "layers" as well as every moving object also... Game Maker is a great learning program, hope you decide to pick up T2D:) Game Maker is a good start but pretty limited, have seen some people come from GM and really explore T2D well.

When 20+ objects are moving (and you have 30+ objects in the immediate area) you have to start thinking of ways where you will have to either do no comparissons or the least comparisson's. Also some ISO setups have everything setup at a slant (like Diablo), thats the style I'm going for. In there the objects lower won't necisarily be in front of the other objects since the "layer grid" would be turned like a diamond. Then you have to consider how dynamic you want things... in an RPG things may be more dynamic than an RTS, depending on how you design of course.

T2D has 31 layers by default... What I've been thinking around is extending the ammount of layers (I think I remember Melv saying the biggest problem with this is the layer masks) to a much larger ammount, and set up a diagonal grid... like this


then the grid numbers would be reference like this, the numbers referring to the opposite side (btw the n umbers are a bit off location lol, they are really referencing the grid blocks and not the lines)



So far I'm thinking the most efficient way would be to set up a tilemap like this and have it change orders according to collision, though as you can imagine as a level grows it may need more than 31 layers. This way as long as the level is built right (can even use this tile underlay grid system for a "re layer" function that goes through and relayers all the objects (likes walls, etc), though a good level builder would probably be the best tool ( custom one for the type of game ). This is at least the direction I've been going since I'm developing a Diablo style game, would be interesting to see how Ted went about it though :)

(didn't mean to burst anyones bubble, just pointing out some very realistic concerns when making a larger type game)

#20 Ok well you lost me! I think I might be missing your point but when aren't the objects that are lower down not infront? If the diablo like set-up is what I think it is (instead of squares they are squashed diamonds, like your picture but with the x grid length double the y grid length for perspective) then the tile layer is the floor, and any other objects (walls, players, chest etc) are added on top of it. As long as where the object "meets" the floor is taken as it's y co-ordinate I can't see how an object that is lower down can't be in front.....
O wait, now i do! I guess it would only be a problem for objects like walls, where part of the object would be further back then the rest so the y co-ordinate wouldn't be correct. My game was grid based, so the walls were split up into sections anyway and there was a limit to where the player could move so I didn't have that problem. How I did was that when the player was moving I would set his depth to his y co-ordinate each step.
I think I would need to have a look at T2D to beable to see the differences between how its laid out and what I am used to. Might have to save up! :)