Background art vs animation on this screen?

[chapter11studios]

I have a question about what to do re: background art vs animation on the quick sketch below.

Basically, when the character walks into the room, the ground is flat and the stairwell that you see on this sketch is hidden. After a few actions, he manages to drop a stalactite from the ceiling onto the ground, smashing into ground and busting open the hole with stairs that you see below.



My question is, if you were creating this screen, would you:

a) draw it with the ground flat, and then animate the falling stalactite and the stairs appearing?

or

b) draw it with the stairs showing up as is, and cover it with separate element image of flat ground on top of the stairs?

p.s. ignore the layout of the screen, it's just a quick sketch that I did to illustrate the question. the actual screen will fix the proportion problems etc.

[Moox]

I would draw it with the stairs and have the ground cover it.


Use object off after the animation of the fall happening to make it show up

[TerranRich]

Personally, I would draw the background as shown, then add the ground as an object over it. But this is not a tech question or an AGS question, so moved it shall be.

[chapter11studios]

Hey guys, thanks for the help. Which category would this fall under if not tech....? (Seemed like a tech question to me, in a roundabout way.)

[MrColossal]

I'd cover it with the object that will be animated of it all falling

much easier that way i think

[Snarky]

Seems like a tech question to me...

Since it seems like you'll have to use a separate region and walkable area for the bit where the steps appear, I would draw them on the background and cover them up with an object (which you can perhaps also use to do the animation of the falling stalactite). That way you'll have an easier time knowing where to draw the regions and areas.