Rendering Tiles In LBA1

[cyberkilla]

Hello there, its my first post!

Basically, im obsessed with this game. It is fantastic,
and i have both lba1 and lba2, since the week they were released.


I am trying to make a game in its honour, but I cant get the 'feel' of lba.
How on earth did they make the 2d isometric tiles?

What program did they use? Does anybody know?

Ive tried the pixel art route, but its not realistic looking enough.
Ive tried Blender at an isometric-like angle, but it looks cronic.

Please help me. I commend you for keeping this stuff alive.
It has to be the best game ive ever played, and ive played quite a few.
There is an air of magic which is unmatched in my opinion.

[Kobold]

I doubt they used LBArchitect. But anyway, it's a tool that allows you to have a look at the isometric tiles (Factory) and to put them together to your own area (Builder). Maybe you can get the point there.

And welcome to the MBN!

[schitzn]

Welcome to the mbn cyberkilla,

they used c++, and their own in-house level and scripting tools to create lba.

LBA1 entirely and lba2 inside (room view) use a 2D approach for laying the sprites isometrically, in a stacked fashion (ie. you'll notice the tree sprite for example on citadel island in lba1 by using lbaarchitect is a layer of 2d sprites stacked on each other.) using lbaartitect, you'll get an idea as Kobold said about the structure of building this 3D Looking 2d landscape and slopes. Obviously characters are 3D Polygons, animation loops and rendered on top of the 2D landscape.

If you do a search on Google Video for Little Big Adventure, you'll find a interview with Frederick Raynal demonstrating the in-house tools used to create lba, although its in French, you'll get a buzz out of it if your a programmer.

The angle they use in their game for rendering, I dont know. Isometric thereabouts 45degrees?

[xesf]

Originally Posted by schitzn

If you do a search on Google Video for Little Big Adventure, you'll find a interview with Frederick Raynal demonstrating the in-house tools used to create lba, although its in French, you'll get a buzz out of it if your a programmer.

There's a recent English translation in the forum!


About the tiles, I think they made in a real 3D objects and apply textures with Image edition programs and give that sprite look. Maybe all this was inside an own tool made specially for the game.
Btw, its a thing we don't have much information about it.

[cyberkilla]

Thank you for all of your help.

Yes, I did find the tool you speak off, and I was fortunate enough to
have implemented my own map editor and engine already.
I was, however, using 64x32 tiles, but i have converted to the 48x24 version,
because you get a LOT more control.

I will Definately check out the google video! Thanks for the tip.

I just wonder how/what was used to render the 2d tile images so perfectly.
I think its trial and error in blender time.

The issue I have is one of quality. I was going to use a more pixelart aproach, but this would look bad when mixed with 3d models.

Any textures I manage to make, or models, will be posted here freely.
They will, however, be low polygon models because they are for a game.
Im sure they can be subdivided though, and may be of some use.

Thanks again for your help.

[Homeless]

How about making the engine itself cross-platform and licensed under some fairly open license, while you're at it? This way we can all enjoy your work in the most wonderful way possible.

You'd be a hero.

Nevertheless, welcome to the MBN!

[cyberkilla]

My engine is a java based MMORPG, which utilises a hybrid TCP/UDP connection
to the server.

UDP acts as a streaming ingame message broadcaster, and the TCP protocol,
which is based loosely on HTTP(in that it has a status lines headers, and post vars), is used for sending ingame emails, chat messages, and modifying profile settings.

The map is composed of "elements", which are composed of "layers".
each element is a tile on the map. layers have they own height index, which is a multiple of 16.

This allows me to make maps with stairs, etc. Layers can have a walkable=false setting, which prevents you walking through them.

NPC(None Person Characters), have several behavioral handlers, which have a common interface for seamless integration.
Each avatar(npc or player character), has several states.
Eg WALK,IDLE,SIT,ATTACK.


The only issue I have, is that im now using 3d models instead of 2d, for avatars.
It works nicely, but I dont have any decent tiles as yet,
and I now have the issue that I dont know how to put clothing/weapons/etc on the 3d models at runtime:P

The 2d version works fine, but, I get unhappy if I do not have what I want out of a project.

http://rpwar.com/forum/Attachments/A...der_02_001.zip

Opinions are more than welcome!
That video is with the old large tiles, and the 2d sprites.
I want to get my smaller tiles made so I can make the "camera" closer
to his little avatar.
Also, with 3d, interpolation will make things look so much better.
Note that the video is slightly jumpy, because the screenrecorder is evil

EDIT: I know I can get all the lba tiles easily, but I am unsure of the copyright restrictions,
and, I would like to put my own spin on things.
I truely adore the monsters in lba. They are so simple to draw! Its just the main character that is hard.
I have a twinsen-like model i made myself. It is a little taller, and maybe needs to go on a diet.
I do not wish it to look like twinsen though, because I have my own storyline, and it is a different game.

I would very much like to help this community as much as I can. If it is possible to standardise this engine, which
is something I have tried to do from the beginning(no hard coded vars), you might be able to make your own lba
games from it. I cant promise anything, but, im not so bad a person, and open source is the best

It does have its own scripting language anyway Its called FutureRP, I have a text based game site by this name,
and I plan to release this graphical version soon.

[schitzn]

*** WARNING **** NUDITY

Looks like its coming along well. Are you the sole developer, because you've down a big job to get that far by yourself.

[cyberkilla]

I forgot to give them any clothes on that video:P.

Yes, I am the sole developer.
Thanks for the input.

[FSanches]

Originally Posted by cyberkilla

I am trying to make a game in its honour, but I cant get the 'feel' of lba.
How on earth did they make the 2d isometric tiles?

What program did they use? Does anybody know?

I was wondering the same earlier this week.
It looks like a phong shader perhaps...

(greetings from 12 years in the future, by the way... :-D)

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by FSanches

I was wondering the same earlier this week.
It looks like a phong shader perhaps...

(greetings from 12 years in the future, by the way... :-D)

shit that is a long time