Making a Beat-'em-up
by Michael Balogh · in Torque Game Builder · 03/25/2008 (8:13 pm) · 2 replies
Hello everyone...I am making a game that is a beat-'em-up like Double Dragon or River City Ransom. I have a couple questions that I can't get past in my head. I have some ideas, but if any one has done something like this, a confirmation that I'm on the right path would be GREAT!
Walking: Since the player moves all along the X and Y axis, there has to be a boundary (collision detection) on the tilemap for the top walkable area. I want to allow the player to walk up against the background where his feet would be flush against the bottom of a building in the background. Since characters will be the same size, I was going to turn off the collision detection on the tiles on the bottom of the building until the tiles meet the height of the character. Do you think that is the best way to do it?
Jumping: Like the example above, the character is walking flush along a building on the top of the screen. Now let's set I put that collision on the tiles only as high as the character that is just standing there...what if he jumps? His head will hit the boundary and he won't be able to jump as high. My though on this was when a character jumps, change his layer to one less than everyone else...then he won't hit the boundary when he is jumping. Does that make sense?
I really appreciate your help with this...do you think this is the best way to take care of these items, or is there a different way I don't know about yet. Btw, I've done the Ninja Tutorial on TDN to get started on it.
Let me know if you need any more specifics that I can answer so I can find out how to pull this off. Thanks so much!
Mike
Walking: Since the player moves all along the X and Y axis, there has to be a boundary (collision detection) on the tilemap for the top walkable area. I want to allow the player to walk up against the background where his feet would be flush against the bottom of a building in the background. Since characters will be the same size, I was going to turn off the collision detection on the tiles on the bottom of the building until the tiles meet the height of the character. Do you think that is the best way to do it?
Jumping: Like the example above, the character is walking flush along a building on the top of the screen. Now let's set I put that collision on the tiles only as high as the character that is just standing there...what if he jumps? His head will hit the boundary and he won't be able to jump as high. My though on this was when a character jumps, change his layer to one less than everyone else...then he won't hit the boundary when he is jumping. Does that make sense?
I really appreciate your help with this...do you think this is the best way to take care of these items, or is there a different way I don't know about yet. Btw, I've done the Ninja Tutorial on TDN to get started on it.
Let me know if you need any more specifics that I can answer so I can find out how to pull this off. Thanks so much!
Mike
#2
If this is the style game you want to make, it would provide you with a huge head-start.
In an isometric game one approach is to make collision areas for characters and obstacles around the part of the image which is touching the ground. The top half of a wall, or the upper body of a character would not be contained by the collision area.
Although perhaps not intuitive, in an isometric game, the "upper" part of an object is really directly above the point where it touches the ground, so that point on the ground is really the only part we need to do collision on.
Btw, this is the approach taken in the Adventure Kit.
03/30/2008 (12:32 pm)
The TGB Adventure Kit ( which is a separate product ), demonstrates an isometric style game ( 3 axises of movement ), with collision / jumping / projectiles ( and other things ).If this is the style game you want to make, it would provide you with a huge head-start.
In an isometric game one approach is to make collision areas for characters and obstacles around the part of the image which is touching the ground. The top half of a wall, or the upper body of a character would not be contained by the collision area.
Although perhaps not intuitive, in an isometric game, the "upper" part of an object is really directly above the point where it touches the ground, so that point on the ground is really the only part we need to do collision on.
Btw, this is the approach taken in the Adventure Kit.
Torque Owner Kevin James
DON"T WING IT!
Plan as much as you can: what will your different systems of movement, combat, etc look like? How will they be dependent and independent of each other? How long will developing each one take?
As far as the walking and jumping, its fair to assume that no one has any opinion on the matter because it hasn't been done before. Try it out and see what works best.
Take care!