Okay, I am still kinda new, so don't chew me apart if some of you or many of you came accross this, but I found something I found to be kinda cool for a bit of variety in the dungeons and areas in your rpg, and something kinda cool if you wanted to attemp to make a side scroller. It is also extremely efficient for block usage, but it gives the ILLUSION that you have huge buildings in the background, or you are walking through elaborate hallways, using very few blocks.
1.) All of these are meant for camera angle of zero, and you can choose whatever distance you want. I prefer it zoomed out because it has kind of a Mario Brothers or Castlevania effect.
2.)Go to the dungeon editor, and go as low as you can go for placing blocks. Start in a corner, and make blocks all the way accross to the other corner on the same side. Bingo, you have your entire walking area, ala mario bros, Castlevania, etc.
3.) Now, for an outside one, like mario, what i did was just go to the totally opposite side, and start building something like a building, all starting one block UP from where I started the other one. The reason being, at 0 degree camera angle, you wont be able to tell you didnt put blocks for ground back where the buildings are. now you can make tons of buildings and such, only one block wide, add windows, put trees and fence in the background, etc, add texture, and it looks like you have a city behind you.
4.)When you enter that dungeon and walk from corner to corner along that line, it is pretty short distance, but it still looks cool, and the things in the background scroll slower than you do, giving a reallly cool 3-d effect.
5.) You can add to this....you know how when you are in motion...in a car, for example? the closer things are, the faster they move, the farther away they are, the slower they move. You can add various things in between your background and foreground, and have a rather detailed side-scroller screen. since all buildings and such need only be one block thick, you can make a lot. Add your scripts and your events for your side scroller, and add your obstacles all in the foreground, one block wide, and you have a sweet side scroller. Only disadvantage...you have to make a lot of these for it to last very long, but a cool effect nonetheless.
CASTLEVANIA TYPE HALLWAY/DUNGEON (2-D)
This is another cool and efficient way you can do something a little extra for your rpgs, such as having a 2-d hall way or dungeon for your characters to walk through.
1.)Go to that same low corner, and make a line accross with blocks of whatever texture you want. decide how high you want the hall. I usually do about 4 or five blocks high...not too high, but i will say why in a minute.
2.) This is kind of hard to explain. Say you are looking at your floor line and your ceiling line from 0 degree camera angle in the editor, as in totally from the side. Move the block placer forward twice, as in towards the middle of the grid, and move it up so it is one block above where your floor is. Make a wall of whatever design you want, but no need to make it go where the ceiling is or the floor is. At 0 Degree camera angle, it will look like it is a wall, and you are saving blocks. No need for the wall to go below or above the ceiling.
3.)The reason I had you do the blank space in between the floor and where the wall starts is at 0 Camera angle, you wont be able to tell there is that space there, and you have room to put objects to add effect. I always like to put some cool windows and pillars in the background, and candles and torches to give it that eerie effect. Have your character walk accross that line in your game, and you have what looks like a full-fledged 2-D Hallway.
4.)BLOCK EFFICIENCY-Now I can take this one step further. Repeat the process on the other side. Turn your dungeon around so you are facing the back of the hallway you just made, now make a new ceiling 2 blocks out and one block up from the wall, and your floor two blocks out and one down from the wall, texture your backside of the wall, add your objects, and you have a whole other hallway, made from the back one of the one you just did. Make a warp point between the two, you already have two fully different screens!
5.) Since this is 2-D, you can make a ton of these back to back in the same dungeon editor till your block limit runs out. You can vary these, and have them go upwards or downstairs, and if you can get your own CBS to work, you can make a great zelda or castlevania/Mario sidescroller. I like to use these as secret passages and such for my characters to get from one area to another.
Diagram: (example)
*=floor/ceiling
-=wall
x=objects
+=windows
Longways: Your character walks accross the bottom asteriskses while the objects and wall scroll behind.
*********************************************
---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+---+---+---+- (do this both
---------------------------------------------------------- sides)
-x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x
*********************************************
Sideview of dungeon editor(to show how to efficiently make many of these in one room)
KEY
X=floor/ceiling
W=wall
O=objects
-=Nothing
X---X
--W-- <As shown here for efficiency's sake, you can put objects on both
--W-- sides of the same wall, do different textures, and presto!Two
-OWO- different halls. The gaps where there is nothing wont be seen in 0
X----X degree camera angle, and you can make tons of these in one dungeon editor till your blocks run out. Make warp events at the beginning and end of each hallway, and you got yourself multiple long hallways to add to your game, and of course, you can make them go up and downstairs, etc.
Just for an example to be...."simple" I made a flat one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this made sense to everyone. Give it a try. You kind of have to do it in-game to know what I mean. It is really hard to describe. If i think of a better way, I will come on here and edit. I thought it was pretty cool though. Try it in your dungeons/towns, etc, to give something a little different to the typical rpg format. Let me know what you think.
1.) All of these are meant for camera angle of zero, and you can choose whatever distance you want. I prefer it zoomed out because it has kind of a Mario Brothers or Castlevania effect.
2.)Go to the dungeon editor, and go as low as you can go for placing blocks. Start in a corner, and make blocks all the way accross to the other corner on the same side. Bingo, you have your entire walking area, ala mario bros, Castlevania, etc.
3.) Now, for an outside one, like mario, what i did was just go to the totally opposite side, and start building something like a building, all starting one block UP from where I started the other one. The reason being, at 0 degree camera angle, you wont be able to tell you didnt put blocks for ground back where the buildings are. now you can make tons of buildings and such, only one block wide, add windows, put trees and fence in the background, etc, add texture, and it looks like you have a city behind you.
4.)When you enter that dungeon and walk from corner to corner along that line, it is pretty short distance, but it still looks cool, and the things in the background scroll slower than you do, giving a reallly cool 3-d effect.
5.) You can add to this....you know how when you are in motion...in a car, for example? the closer things are, the faster they move, the farther away they are, the slower they move. You can add various things in between your background and foreground, and have a rather detailed side-scroller screen. since all buildings and such need only be one block thick, you can make a lot. Add your scripts and your events for your side scroller, and add your obstacles all in the foreground, one block wide, and you have a sweet side scroller. Only disadvantage...you have to make a lot of these for it to last very long, but a cool effect nonetheless.
CASTLEVANIA TYPE HALLWAY/DUNGEON (2-D)
This is another cool and efficient way you can do something a little extra for your rpgs, such as having a 2-d hall way or dungeon for your characters to walk through.
1.)Go to that same low corner, and make a line accross with blocks of whatever texture you want. decide how high you want the hall. I usually do about 4 or five blocks high...not too high, but i will say why in a minute.
2.) This is kind of hard to explain. Say you are looking at your floor line and your ceiling line from 0 degree camera angle in the editor, as in totally from the side. Move the block placer forward twice, as in towards the middle of the grid, and move it up so it is one block above where your floor is. Make a wall of whatever design you want, but no need to make it go where the ceiling is or the floor is. At 0 Degree camera angle, it will look like it is a wall, and you are saving blocks. No need for the wall to go below or above the ceiling.
3.)The reason I had you do the blank space in between the floor and where the wall starts is at 0 Camera angle, you wont be able to tell there is that space there, and you have room to put objects to add effect. I always like to put some cool windows and pillars in the background, and candles and torches to give it that eerie effect. Have your character walk accross that line in your game, and you have what looks like a full-fledged 2-D Hallway.
4.)BLOCK EFFICIENCY-Now I can take this one step further. Repeat the process on the other side. Turn your dungeon around so you are facing the back of the hallway you just made, now make a new ceiling 2 blocks out and one block up from the wall, and your floor two blocks out and one down from the wall, texture your backside of the wall, add your objects, and you have a whole other hallway, made from the back one of the one you just did. Make a warp point between the two, you already have two fully different screens!
5.) Since this is 2-D, you can make a ton of these back to back in the same dungeon editor till your block limit runs out. You can vary these, and have them go upwards or downstairs, and if you can get your own CBS to work, you can make a great zelda or castlevania/Mario sidescroller. I like to use these as secret passages and such for my characters to get from one area to another.
Diagram: (example)
*=floor/ceiling
-=wall
x=objects
+=windows
Longways: Your character walks accross the bottom asteriskses while the objects and wall scroll behind.
*********************************************
---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+---+---+---+- (do this both
---------------------------------------------------------- sides)
-x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x
*********************************************
Sideview of dungeon editor(to show how to efficiently make many of these in one room)
KEY
X=floor/ceiling
W=wall
O=objects
-=Nothing
X---X
--W-- <As shown here for efficiency's sake, you can put objects on both
--W-- sides of the same wall, do different textures, and presto!Two
-OWO- different halls. The gaps where there is nothing wont be seen in 0
X----X degree camera angle, and you can make tons of these in one dungeon editor till your blocks run out. Make warp events at the beginning and end of each hallway, and you got yourself multiple long hallways to add to your game, and of course, you can make them go up and downstairs, etc.
Just for an example to be...."simple" I made a flat one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this made sense to everyone. Give it a try. You kind of have to do it in-game to know what I mean. It is really hard to describe. If i think of a better way, I will come on here and edit. I thought it was pretty cool though. Try it in your dungeons/towns, etc, to give something a little different to the typical rpg format. Let me know what you think.
I'll be given it a try very soon.
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