ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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Visually, this game shares a lot with DROD. It has topdown, detailed 2D view that shows tiny little rooms. Things tend to clearly occupy just one square, with the exception of the roving characters. It even has the same DRODdy half-walls that purposefully don't entend into the square above, even thought that would be more 3D. The philosophy of its visuals is to show a lot of information clearly. It's also gorgeous.

Not beating up on DROD. Just saying a lot is possible graphically even with the 2D small tile restraint, and this game offers inspiration.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/11/01/prison-architect-breaks-out-its-third-alpha-update/#more-130282

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

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[Last edited by ErikH2000 at 12-01-2012 12:34 PM]

Moo
Level: Master Delver
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Registered: 10-14-2006
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But it also scrolls and zooms... The tiles aren't small when zoomed in.
If DROD was like that, it'd be... Err... DROD, but not as we know it.

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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Moo wrote:
But it also scrolls and zooms... The tiles aren't small when zoomed in.
If DROD was like that, it'd be... Err... DROD, but not as we know it.

Well, you are right that scrolling and zooming is a bit of flair that tends to go against DROD's need to show all. But I'm not saying it would be good for DROD to be exactly like Prison Architect. Just as a thought experiment, suppose the following...

* An entire level is displayed at one time and the view simply scrolls and zooms to the room which you are in.

* In the DROD editor, you can draw a rectangle over an "essential area," and during gameplay the camera will zoom into that rectangle automatically instead of being obliged to cover the full 38 x 32 room. The room would need to be designed so that anything outside the essential area was just scenery and didn't apply to the puzzle.

* You'll be able to pan/zoom the camera manually if you want. The reason for doing this is it's fun, but also you can look at how the rooms connect to see the overall picture. (Used in same way as the "Map" currently is.)

* Rooms you haven't visited will not be shown.

* Rooms you have visited but are not currently in will be shown with a "fog of war" effect that hides the monsters and maybe some other details. In particular, since the monsters don't move while you aren't in the room, it would look kind of bad to see them just standing there.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

Moo
Level: Master Delver
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Sounds good... The map could be revealed in an area around your current position, a la roguelikes etc..



The map could scroll around, with you remaining in the middle of the screen. When you went into a "room", the whole of that area could be revealed at once, and the scrolling would stop.

Could even have "point and click" navigation (as well as normal) outside of the puzzle areas, as presumably there would be no danger there, and that would counteract any potential complaints against levels being too big or empty.

And people could still design levels the classic DROD way, with rooms all the same size and immediately adjacent, if they wanted.

stigant
Level: Smitemaster

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In particular, since the monsters don't move while you aren't in the room, it would look kind of bad to see them just standing there.

I always thought they had a bit of a party when Beethro isn't in the room, and when he enters, they have to rush to resume their places.

____________________________
Progress Quest Progress

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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stigant wrote:
I always thought they had a bit of a party when Beethro isn't in the room, and when he enters, they have to rush to resume their places.

Well, I have no way of disproving that theory.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
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On an originally similar note I think Hotline Miami does the tile style (?) justice - very fluid yet tiled.

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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Syntax wrote:
On an originally similar note I think Hotline Miami does the tile style (?) justice - very fluid yet tiled.

Yeah, I watched a gameplay video to see what you were talking about. Man, that game looks hard! Although, I think the colors are a bit garish, it does have a cool look. I liked how vertical and horizontal lines were slightly askew by tilting the camera one or two degrees on the Z axis.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
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Just wait until you try optimisng the time to get gold on each level (old habits die hard) The garish colours are actually intentional and part of the plot but I did like their take on the grid genre - worth picking up from gog if you're still over 18