2.11 Beta 3 Progress

[Dark Nation]

1. New psuedo-isometric drawing mode. Like so:

http://darknation.armageddongames.ne.../isometric.htm (100k of pictures)

Thoughts? This is just something I scraped together while I was thinking about the best approach to fix some other bugs. Basically, you have to have a set of 48 combos in a row, each one representing a combination of shore and/or corner in a certain order. All of the above pics are (nam), btw.

[bigjoe]

I could see this being extremely useful, but it might be a pain to set up.

[Cloral]

Awesome! That could be used for lots of things: paths, grass, pits, etc.
How does one set up the combos for this? Do they have to be placed in a specific order?

This might be a bit too complex, but would it be possible to set this thing up to work with dungeon walls? Something like that could really cut down on the time it takes to design a quest. Maybe overworld cliffs too, but I'm probably asking for too much right now.
Also, what happens if you leave isometric mode, screw up the lake somehow (like add a dock tile), and then come back? Would it try to replace the dock tile?

[ShadowTiger]

One Question.

Does It Work With Dungeon Wall Placement Too? O.O
(As Cloral Had Asked.)

Holy .... This is ... so darn cool! You've just saved questmakers an utterly amazing hassle! Thank You! O_O

So, how does the layout of these tiles work? I noticed a fairly complex combo page there. Additionally, which combo are you actually using to draw this setup with? Is it only one combo that you're using? O_O

[Solaris_Omega]

Impressive, I have seen things like this in RPG maker. I can't wait to see how this goes

[Dark Nation]

Yes, the combos have to be in a specific order. All of the combos are water (or path or whatever you are 'carving' with) combos (except for the last one, which is a land combo, and it's type is set to 'none'. The first combo is completely water. The other 46 are water with the following land pieces on them:

Top Right Corner
Top Left Corner
Top Left Corner, Top Right Corner
Bottom Left Corner
Bottom Left Corner, Top Right Corner
Bottom Left Corner, Top Left Corner
Bottom Left Corner, Top Left Corner, Top Right Corner
Bottom Right Corner
Bottom Right Corner, Top Right Corner
Bottom Right Corner, Top Left Corner
Bottom Right Corner, Top Left Corner, Top Right Corner
Bottom Right Corner, Bottom Left Corner
Bottom Right Corner, Bottom Left Corner, Top Right Corner
Bottom Right Corner, Bottom Left Corner, Top Left Corner
Bottom Right Corner, Bottom Left Corner, Top Left Corner, Top Right Corner
Right Side
Right Side, Top Left Corner
Right Side, Bottom Right Corner
Right Side, Bottom Right Corner, Top Left Corner
Top Side
Top Side, Bottom Left Corner
Top Side, Bottom Right Corner
Top Side, Bottom Left Corner, Bottom Right Corner
Top Side, Right Side
Top Side, Right Side, Bottom Left Corner
Left Side
Left Side, Top Right Corner
Left Side, Bottom Right Corner
Left Side, Top Right Corner, Bottom Right Corner
Left Side, Right Side
Left Side, Top Side
Left Side, Top Side, Bottom Right Corner
Left Side, Top Side, Right Side
Bottom Side
Bottom Side, Top Right Corner
Bottom Side, Top Left Corner
Bottom Side, Top Left Corner, Top Right Corner
Bottom Side, Right Side
Bottom Side, Right Side, Top Left Corner
Bottom Side, Top Side
Bottom Side, Top Side, Right Side
Bottom Side, Left Side
Bottom Side, Left Side, Top Right Cormer
Bottom Side, Left Side, Right Side
Bottom Side, Left Side, Top Side
Bottom Side, Left Side, Top Side, Right Side

Basically, it's a binary progression. Starting with the top right corner and progressing counter clockwise, then going through the sides, starting with the right and going counter clockwise. So, there are 8 land pieces to go through. Why, then, aren't there 256 combos? Because a side piece uses up the corners that it touches. For instance, the combo with the left and right sides touching land are touching the top right, top left, bottom left, and bottom right corners, so that one combo is used for 16 different neighboring combo possibilities.

And yes, I was drawing with only one combo, the isometric mode just changed it on the fly as it was being placed on the screen. Also, yes, you could use this for paths, grass, pits, or anything where you have two things that need to smoothly border each other.

As for dungeon walls, if it's a 1-tile high wall, it might work, but the dungeon walls in Zelda are generally 2 tiles high. It may be possible to modify the code to accomodate 2-tier changes like that, but it would exponentially increase the amount of combos you would have to set up (might be worth it, though). In any event, I'll look into it.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this idea for a while now (ever since I first saw isometric maps in StarCraft) and just recently got around to coming up with the algorithm for the combo placement.

[Blonde799]

That's amazing. That could save a lot of time making complex landscapes. I guess that makes up for the time to set everything up.

[LinktheMaster]

This could seriously prove to be a great timesaver. I can't wait to test this out. :)

[Dart Zaidyer]

This feature is nice, but did you fix any of the annoying, nonsensical bugs yet? Stuff like IT playback in ZQuest and the SPC music playing back at the wrong pitch again. That's driving me nuts.
How'd it get reverted anyway?

[Rydia]

Wow, that is totally awesome DN!!! This is gonna make it so quests can be built much much quicker, especially since it isn't limited to water combos! I look forward to testing this. I can't wait to see what other sweet features you come up with.