Hey guys, lemme run this by you. I hear all of this talk about iso maps, hex, square, etc. What about something like "over-lapping, irregular, large/small, strange" tiles? For example, let''s say I am creating a map for a game. Instead of the usual square or iso tile, have many different tiles like a large section of grass. Or, a whole barn. Or, large runs of river. Basically, it would be a bunch of sprites. When you would design the map, each "tile" would have a screen pixel position. You could simply place a few dozen or so of these larger/complex tiles on the screen and move them around until there was no empty space. Sorry if I can''t explain it better. I got the idea while tinkering with Revenant''s editor. Maybe those were iso tiles, who knows. I realise that this would cause a lot of overlap. Just a random thought. What do you think? Worth a try? -coleco Rock the cradle of love! You stupid WANKER!

that is very possible but the main problem is, the engine would probably have to be more specific for each Map, which in a way does defeat the whole purpose. Some games do look like they could all be one image though too..i don''t know if anyone else saw it but did ff3/ff6(same thing ) have sort of non tiled images?
I don''t know, but that seems more like a 3d engine is more like what your talking about

I think I see what you sare getting at, what some games (their editors specifically) do is have tiles that contain whole images - such as in C&C there were house tiles, river tiles and road tiles, and in TA you could place massive hills and islands on one tile.

Also, as NightBird stated, some games look like they are one big image - some of the role playing games such as Baldur''s Gate used a similar method, with very detailed scenery and good results.

If I''ve picked up your idea incorrectly, I apologise.

-Mezz

Nah, sounds like you guys have it.

I think it could be done with 2-D and not 3-D. Basically, just a bunch of bitmaps stacked on each other.

When I get some time, I may try to implement it and see how it goes.

If not, I''ll try the iso route.

-Coleco

Rock the cradle of love!
You stupid WANKER!

You seem to have my idea, but i think a 3d engine even when being used to make a 2d playing area, would be more addiquit instead of stacking images on top of images

There just already have the code so it dosn''t take a long time

I''m just refering to speed problems that might cause...

i like the idea, it is neat.

only thing is, usually it is simpler to have a traditional map of fixed tiles so that you can use A* algorithms etc.

otherwise, why stop at pictures everywhere? why not have animations & FMV? why not go all the way and use HTML? that way it would be standard and easy to make levels... especially if you wanted a forum as your level

i think that when we come back to it, it is usually easier to make a fancy editor (the editor makes it look like you can just plonk stuff anywhere) and simple game code (the actual level is divided up into sections of pictures of fixed size).

on the other hand, what annoys me greatly in games is when tiles are obvious - such as diablo. not only can you see the tiles, but you can tell by the way your character walks...

What i am trying to use in my game is an isometric ground(first layer) and then all the other buildings,vehicles,characters can be of any shape(other layers).

That''s what C&C,Starcraft and other games implement(i think)

However,it will be very difficult to implement irregular base tiles cause as Nightbird said you will have to be specific for every different map you make.And it will be impossible to have a map-editor for this kind of tiles.

Voodoo4

quote: Original post by Voodoo4

What i am trying to use in my game is an isometric ground(first layer) and then all the other buildings,vehicles,characters can be of any shape(other layers).

That''s what C&C,Starcraft and other games implement(i think)

Voodoo4

Indeed you are correct. Good ol'' iso.. can''t go wrong


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