Author Topic: Isometric tilemaps? (Read 5489 times)

Liazon · « **on:** January 03, 2007, 10:16:00 am »

Does anyone wish there were more games that used isometric tilemaps?

If so, what kind of features would you guys like in a tilemapper? My first concern right now is tile size.

Halifax · « **Reply #1 on:** January 03, 2007, 01:31:00 pm »

An Isometric tilemapper would rock and make for some sick psuedo 3-D games with a new twist.

Ranman · « **Reply #2 on:** January 04, 2007, 04:19:00 pm »

I would vote for 32x16 or 24x12 or 16x8, but they were not in the list to vote for.

Isometric tiles look like "squished" tiles that have been rotated 45 degrees -- where the angle between each axis is 120 degrees. But due to hardware restrictions, you must draw the tile as below; where the visible tile is represented by the '*' and the masked portion is represented by the '-'.

For more info:
http://rhysd.syntesis.org/tutorial/

c1-->

CODE

ec1
32x16
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - * * - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - -
- - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - -
- - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - -
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - -
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - -
- - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - -
- - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - -
- - - - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - * * - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

24x12
- - - - - - - - - - * * - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - -
- - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - -
- - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - -
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - -
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - -
- - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - -
- - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - -
- - - - - - * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - * * - - - - - - - - - - - -

16x8
- - - - - - * * - - - - - - - -
- - - - * * * * * * - - - - - -
- - * * * * * * * * * * - - - -
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * - -
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * - -
- - * * * * * * * * * * - - - -
- - - - * * * * * * - - - - - -
- - - - - - * * - - - - - - - -
c2

ec2

bfr · « **Reply #3 on:** January 04, 2007, 04:43:00 pm »

QuoteBegin-Ranman+4 Jan, 2007, 21:19-->

QUOTE (Ranman @ 4 Jan, 2007, 21:19)

I would vote for 32x16 or 24x12 or 16x8, but they were not in the list to vote for.

I think by 8x16, Liazon meant 16x8. 8x16 would be quite interesting on a calculator, considering that the screen's width is typically greater than its height.

Liazon · « **Reply #4 on:** January 05, 2007, 09:20:00 am »

coordinate system? align w/ edges of tiles (tilted), or regular?

Ranman · « **Reply #5 on:** January 05, 2007, 10:59:00 am »

QuoteBegin-Liazon+5 Jan, 2007, 15:2-->

QUOTE (Liazon @ 5 Jan, 2007, 15:20)

coordinate system? align w/ edges of tiles (tilted), or regular?

You will have to use a combination of both.

You will need to develop a method to convert the tilemap's coordinates to physical screen coordinates.

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #6 on:** January 05, 2007, 12:55:00 pm »

yeah usually a isometric tile's height is twice its width, so it cannot be 8x8, else it would be wicked small

Ranman · « **Reply #7 on:** January 05, 2007, 01:39:00 pm »

QuoteBegin-xlibman+5 Jan, 2007, 18:55-->

QUOTE (xlibman @ 5 Jan, 2007, 18:55)

yeah usually a isometric tile's height is twice its width, so it cannot be 8x8, else it would be wicked small

Traditionally, I think it is the other way around; width = 2 * height.

Liazon · « **Reply #8 on:** January 06, 2007, 04:52:00 am »

well JFish is using 8x8, and his look pretty good, although detail might not be so good in b/w.

Ranman · « **Reply #9 on:** January 06, 2007, 07:05:00 am »

QuoteBegin-Liazon+6 Jan, 2007, 10:52-->

QUOTE (Liazon @ 6 Jan, 2007, 10:52)

well JFish is using 8x8, and his look pretty good, although detail might not be so good in b/w.

If you look closer at JFISH's tiles, you will see that the full viewable isometric tile is 16x8. Now, he could be using two 8x8 tiles (side by side) to create the full effect, but the person playing the game sees the tile as 16x8.

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #10 on:** January 06, 2007, 07:09:00 am »

i wonder how jfish did his isometric tile sheet layout

Liazon · « **Reply #11 on:** January 06, 2007, 08:01:00 am »

This is a standard 16x16 isometric tile. Now the thing about a tiles is that in order for perfect tessellation, the pink area of the tile must be the exact same shape as the empty space indicated by the dark green. This must hold true for all four quadrants/corners (8x8 subdivision) of the tile entry. That means freaky tiles like the one on the right can also tesselate "isometrically".

user posted image

ok, so here's a possible way to give the mapper tile map data. it'd be harder on the user when it comes to using the tilemap for hit detection, but it might be easier just to give the mapper an x,y coordinate. white space is "empty" where there's no tiles.

user posted image

ok, so here's probably what most programmer's want. just simply aligning the tilemap info into a diamond shape so the programmer can use it for hit detection along the isometric plane. more inputs are probably needed because a tile x,y coordinate is probably needed, and then which amount of scrolling would need to be indicated.

thoughts?

edit: ya Ranman, I see it now. width is 16 and height is 7 + unused row for vertical alignment. well, making the tile extra wide isn't that bad. infact, 68k processor can't handle single bytes very well can it?

i'm thinking z80 will probably have to be 8h x 16 w and 68k should be that and 16h x 32 w?

edit: btw, I like the first method better cuz it'd be easier for the user to create "artificial sky backgrounds" if the map took tile data that way. but then the user would have to have a separate tilemap just for what's on the ground.

Ranman · « **Reply #12 on:** January 06, 2007, 09:03:00 am »

I prefer the second method of defining the tile map data.

Here is how I interpret Isometric tiles...

user posted image

Figure 1: This is a standard tile map

Figure 2: Now rotate the tile map from Figure 1 by 45 degrees. Notice the coordinates rotate along with the map.

Figure 3: Now squish the tile map from Figure 2 by a factor of 2 to achieve the pseudo three dimensional effect. This results in the look of the standard isometric projection (120 degree angle between the x,y axis).

QUOTE

edit: ya Ranman, I see it now. width is 16 and height is 7 + unused row for vertical alignment. well, making the tile extra wide isn't that bad. infact, 68k processor can't handle single bytes very well can it?

The 68k processor can easily handle single bytes.

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #13 on:** January 06, 2007, 10:38:00 am »

hmm by looking at figure 2 i wonder if it would be easy to create a semi isometric game with rotating maps?

Ranman · « **Reply #14 on:** January 06, 2007, 12:09:00 pm »

QuoteBegin-xlibman+6 Jan, 2007, 16:38-->

QUOTE (xlibman @ 6 Jan, 2007, 16:38)

hmm by looking at figure 2 i wonder if it would be easy to create a semi isometric game with rotating maps?

Check out Kartingz...

http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/390/39011.html

It utilizes rotating tiles and tile maps.