Huge Noob

First you need to learn a graphics API I bet, like OpenGL or DirectDraw/Direct3D. DirectDraw is getting a bit old now but it''s the easiest of them. However I''ll recommend OpenGL or Direct3D as you can take advantage of 3D hardware for 2D blitting. There are lots of articles on the subject of 2D blitting with an 2D API.

Once you learnt or at least read up on an API, you should read some articles about isometric theory (if you haven''t already). On this site there a lots of goods links to check out.

After this you can begin coding . Try to make something simple at first just to get the stuff firmly into your head. Then you can start coding an engine which suits your planned game.

Hope this helps!

Bear in mind that if you go the D3d route, you''ll have to think in ''real'' 3d from DX8 onwards.

actually your thoughts are very helpful thanks but ppl plz post more i would like to hear some other ppls opinions.

You can leave and beat the traffic or you can stay and beat your meat.

Blink 182

To build a simple iso engine you basically need 2 things. One, data structures like your map, characters, etc. and the code to manipulate them. Two, a blitting/rendering routine; you''ll need to get some experience with a graphics API as recommended above.

I recommend you start learning win32 api(if you use windows) and then go whit an api like directx or opengl. Thats what I did and I''m making games. Also, try reading tutorials on file stream or file loading they will help you a lot. Good Luck !

Kevin

Iso maps could be formed in ''layers''. For example, you have your floor layer, which contains details of the floor tiles and possibly height info. This could be represented as a 2d array

(Pseudocode)
struct sTile
{
 .. texture *textureID;
 .. word tileHeight;
};

word nRows = 10;
word nCols = 10;

sTile g_tiles[nRows][nCols];

Then you could have another layer for objects and characters. Probably another that would contain wall/door info. I''ve never made an iso engine, but I think this is how I''d do it. Keeping lists of layers would be useful in my mind. I could be wrong, but each has their way

YOu need to figure out what angles you''d use - 45/45 degrees or the 60/30 representation.

Drawing tiles from the array would be relatively simple; you could could calculate which ones would be visible to your player / camera and select them from the array accordingly.

Ok i''ve decide to take on OpenGL so thanks for all your help. I''ll probably be posting some questions later on that subject so thanks alot

You can leave and beat the traffic or you can stay and beat your meat.

Blink 182

couldn''t you essentially do it in full 3D and just fix the camera angle?

I think my idea would look best in a anime 2d style, so i''m not looking for 3d. someone said something about SDL, can someone explain that to me and how I would go about getting and using it.

You can leave and beat the traffic or you can stay and beat your meat.

Blink 182

[url]www.libsdl.org[\url]

Dovyman, then whats the point of using a 3d world? I hate people that think 3D is better with a fixed camara than bitmap sprites are,... sure sprites are harder to make, but they look a hell of a lot better and smoother.

Yea, when sprites are made well they are fare better than 3D models.)

Also, wouldn''t full 3D take a LOT longer to program? With all the 3D math and stuff like that, and learning to import/render a 3D model format, etc.

And wouldn''t a fixed camera kinda disregard all of the trouble you go to for making it 3D?

For 2D I prefer Allegro. I found it a lot easier to start wwith than SDL. I also found more resources for it online.

Some great SDL tutorials right here on GameDev:

cone3d.gamedev.net

[edited by - GroZZleR on January 4, 2004 2:17:22 PM]