ISO 2D games can look impressive too!

D

Dario ff

Where'd That 6th Toe Come From?
I didn't make this video, but found it while surfing in youtube. Someone with XNA made it, and it looks lovely.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q6ISVaM5Ww[/youtube]

It's just for the graphics obviously, but it could look better than the Infinity Engine, but with real time illumination.

And here's an updated version with weather effects, and accumulated snow, and shadows:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtYvNEmmHXE[/youtube]

I doubt he'd ever release it to the public, but it's just beautiful. Not a single polygon rendered. (well, maybe 2 triangles :)).
 
Not news, but most ISO 2D engines don't have the abilty for this kind of real time illumination. I find the trick interesting, because no polygons are rendered, just using heightmaps.
 
TBH, if the quality of art is up to par, any kind of game can look beautiful. Because in the past the devs couldn't rely solely on "bloom" like many do now, they had to work on the artwork a lot harder. Just look at Icewind Dale 1, the game's fucking beautiful.

I myself think ISO perspective works best with a 2D/3D combo, a'la Disciples 2 or TOEE.
 
Wow, that's really interesting from a technical viewpoint ! Thanks for sharing.

It's some sort of false 3D that just require you to write 2 sprites instead of 1 for each object, one with the colors and one with the height of each pixel.

But it's really only 2D.

Mind blown.

PARPG guys should love this approach. That's just the ultimate solution to making 2D engine with real lighting.
 
Of course, but maybe I'm more impressed because of developing Isometric engines in the past. I actually made an engine that had Fallout's illumination, but it was a cheap trick.

The nice trick here is that the 2D sprites get illuminated like if they were 3D objects. Using cleverly 2D heightmaps, you can achieve some effects that 3D programmers try too hard to achieve.

One thing is the artistic view(which made games like PST and IWD beautiful), and other is the engine capabilities. The only thing impressive here is the engine's capability with only 2D objects.

EDIT: I also think the thread title means that even if it's an 2D Iso game, it can be up to par with fully fledged 3D ISO engines(that are far more complex). I love how cleverly he developed this engine.
 
Brother None said:
isometric really isn't an ideal camera angle for aesthetics, depending on what you're going for
Click to expand...

I beg to differ.

In 'The Frozen Fountain' Claude Bragdon said:
Isometric perspective,
less faithful to appearance, is more faithful to fact;
it shows things more nearly
as they are known to the mind:
Parallel lines are really parallel;
there is no far and no near,
the size of everything remains constant
because all things are represented as being the same distance away
and the eye of the spectator everywhere at once.
When we imagine a thing,
or strive to visualize it in the mind or memory,
we do it in this way,
without the distortions of ordinary perspective.
Isometric perspective is therefore more intellectual,
archetypal, it more truly renders the mental image -
the thing seen by the mind's eye.
Click to expand...

Perspective is, in a way of speaking, like the Gorgon's head
which petrifies the viewer, it distorts the shape of things, it is how the human eye usually perceives things and not how things really are, while isometry is related to the flying horse Pegasus which sprang from Medusa's blood: the isometric artist hovers or flies above his object, all knowing, all seeing. Like a gawd.

:roll:

Brother None said:
Armalion
Click to expand...

Sweet. Wait... this was never released? :(

:roll:

Be sure to visit my blog which is shockfull of isometric art. :)
 
alec said:
Sweet. Wait... this was never released? :(
Click to expand...

Nope. But Sacred was built on top of it.

Still, a sequel to the greatest cRPG trilogy of all time being discontinued. It makes me :(
 
The second video is jaw-dropping. I wish Age of Decadence could have used a 2D renderer like that one.

alec said:
Perspective is, in a way of speaking, like the Gorgon's head
which petrifies the viewer, it distorts the shape of things, it is how the human eye usually perceives things and not how things really are, while isometry is related to the flying horse Pegasus which sprang from Medusa's blood: the isometric artist hovers or flies above his object, all knowing, all seeing. Like a gawd.
Click to expand...
Interesting perspective*. I agree.

* Heh, "perspective".
 
Interesting Alec, thanks for sharing. Explains why FPS never had much of appeal to me. I always loved ISO games, and sometimes I even program the engines just for seeing how it would look. The maths involved are kind of simple actually.
 
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