Adventure Game Studio

AGS Support => Beginners' Technical Questions => Topic started by: Winter_Stardust on Tue 01/03/2005 04:47:15

Title: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: Winter_Stardust on Tue 01/03/2005 04:47:15
Is it possible to make a "Birds eye view" game like the Zelda games? I'm not looking to make a RPG, it's just that a game like that would be easier 'cause I already have the sprites for it.  ;)
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: Goot on Tue 01/03/2005 04:58:29
You would make it pretty much how you would make a normal view game. You just draw all the backgrounds from a bird's eye view, as well as all the characters and objects. The only thing that would be different is that the bottom of the character's sprite would still walk to the place where you click to walk. You might want to make it the middle of the characters, but there isn't really an easy way to do that, without having all your walkable areas a bit off where you think you should have them. If the character isn't too big, it shouldn't be a problem.
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: Radiant on Tue 01/03/2005 08:03:34
While it's possible to do tile-based games in AGS (or even implement a tile-based engine within AGS) there are other systems that do make it easier. Or you could beg for the Melrin source code :)
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: Winter_Stardust on Tue 01/03/2005 08:15:30
Okay then, um.... are real photos of places (public domain, of course,) accepted as Backgrounds? I'm terrible at hand drawing large items and BGs. :-[
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: Proskrito on Tue 01/03/2005 09:10:18
QuoteYou might want to make it the middle of the characters, but there isn't really an easy way to do that
yes, there is! you can use the character[CHARID].z variable : )
EDIT: have a look here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=15674.0 for that matter
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: eric_sp on Fri 13/01/2006 11:25:51
Hey, I'm just about to start a game, and I want to do it with bird's view. So I need to stop the scaling, because on common adv games the char gets smaller in the middle of the screen, and bigger at the bottom. But I'm not sure how to do it, I think all I would need to do is just declare this:
SetCharacterProperty(CHAR_IGNORESCALING)*

Anyway, that's not my biggest problem. Since I'm wanting to something like SNES' Zelda, Alcahest or BrainLord (all action with some rpg), I need to make the scenario move, while the character is on the middle of the screen, while most adv games only move the screen left or right when the char is at the border of the screen. But actually, I don't know how to make a screen move any of these ways. I welcome any help, thanks.
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: Khris on Fri 13/01/2006 11:31:21
Look up the Viewport commands in the helpfile.
Depending on your way of moving the char (mouse or keyboard?), it's pretty easy to implement this.

BTW, there's no scaling unless you set it up. So you don't need any declarations.
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: eric_sp on Fri 13/01/2006 11:38:43
Thanks a lot. I'm doing it with keyboard.
But since you mentioned it, can I make a part of the game with keyboard and another with mouse? Like, a part of the game is adventure and other is action, and the first uses mouse (a common click and point) and the second uses keyboard.
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: eric_sp on Fri 13/01/2006 11:55:02
Also, I don't think anyone ever tried to do this, but I'll ask it anyway... is it possible to make a back-view? Something like a fake 3D, using a corridor perspective. Just like a adventure game scenario would be (if it was realist), but a scenario where the walls are so long that you can't see the end of the room. Or something like a racing game where you can't move the car rear.
The biggest problem would be is that the character is fixed on the bottom of the screen, and all the walls would have to move "back" giving the impression the character is moving forward.
I guess it's possible, but I'm still thinking on a algorithm for that... perhaps I could use a wall with some collumns, and I could make them scale, and move them a little bit to the border, as the char walks. And them just loop that a few times.
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: eric_sp on Fri 13/01/2006 11:56:44
And, sorry about my English grammar errors.  :P
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: Khris on Fri 13/01/2006 12:36:56
Please don't triple-post, use the Modify button instead.

It's absolutely possible to switch back and forth between mouse and keyboard. The most simple solution is to check the room the player is in before handling clicks resp. keypresses. But it is possible to switch controls at any given moment, using variables.

About the corridor: You'd have to move column objects along the two lines (where ground meets left & right wall), scaling them in relation to their y-coord. This can be done using basic maths.

Bear in mind that AGS is very flexible. You can code almost anything, there's even a full 3D engine supporting lighting and scaled sprites somewhere in the Technical forums.
Title: Re: "Top Veiw" Zelda style?
Post by: eric_sp on Fri 13/01/2006 18:19:50
Sorry, about the triple post, didn't knew it was a big deal.
Thanks, I'll try it myself, just hope that the scaling doesn't mess with my sprites.