Pre-rendered backgrounds

This is probably how FF does it, using layers

Render the ''floor'' area, then the character, then the top image.

Splitting the larger image up into smaller sections is a good idea to be efficient too

You also need to have some way of determining if you can walk on areas or if it is a ladder

It is pretty complicated to explain, just take it one step at a time to learn how to do different things. Also read the ''Game development genesis'' series of atricles on GameDev, they talk about tiles and things like that. I would stick with tiles rather than trying to make a ''3d'' level like FF

The way squaresoft does their collision detection for a game with prerendered backgrounds is, on the floor level they use invisible polygons that state where the character can walk. You can either do it this way or use invisible tiles, with polygons it will be more precise though.

I was thinking of using a single image for the prerendered background and a same-size monochrome bitmap as a mask--white for "can walk on it", black otherwise. It''s a limited approach; I can''t have arches where I can walk over or under an area, but that could be fixed with multiple images and multiple masks.

Just an idea.

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blahpers

quote:

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I was thinking of using a single image for the prerendered background and a same-size monochrome bitmap as a mask--white for "can walk on it", black otherwise. It''s a limited approach; I can''t have arches where I can walk over or under an area, but that could be fixed with multiple images and multiple masks.

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how about have a background, then a mask which has he area they cant walk over, then have another image with transparancy. you render the background, then the character, then the transparant image. stuff like arches would be in the transparant image.

That''s what I was thinking about doing: having a monochrome mask for places where the character will collide, where it will go under, etc. But does that sound doable? I don''t know how I could blit a bitmap to a surface according to a mask, Can someone help?

How about drawing back the prerendered Z-buffer?

This is how Final Fantasy 7-9 does it:

The pre-rendered backgrounds are rendered with a depth buffer which is loaded as the z-buffer when the image is displayed. This z-buffer then handles characters being behind pre-rendered objects. Then to handle movement/collision in the world, they use a low-resolution collision geometry that the player is being moved in, which determines where the player can move and defines the relationship (camera angle, location, etc.) relative to the player.