''This page is intended to complete the Category:Isometric 3D, check the categories at the bottom of this page to get more related links.''
It will feature technics techniques in creating Isometric 3D and graphics.
Isometric 3D is a representation of 3D with a total lack of perspective.
The proper concept is actually '''Parallel Projection''', as some games are are sometime using other parallelprojections parallel projections than isometric.
[[Pac-Mania]] for exemple example is not really "isometric" but actually "Oblique".
Yet the term Isometric is the most commonly used, as it suit for most of those pseudo 3D games, so we'll use it as a whole, despite sometimes unproperly.
***Sprites and fore-ground elements (objects, doors, platforms...) : they use only 3 colours and the 4th ink is used to get the mask.
'''HeroquestHero Quest''' per example is quite similar.
The floor-tiles and background walls are masked, the "4th colour" (grey, actually ink0) is nearly never used except for the "emptyfloorempty floor" or the "Mouse cursor"...
A clever use of the transparency/mask ink on the Floor/Wall tiles could enable to display this backgriound background grey on those floor/wall tiles but it wasn't done... which is a serious graphical limitation alongside a poor colours choice.
It is also to notice that the basic floor tiles use only 2 inks (Blue and dark blue) the "light cyan" seen in the jointed floor-tiles being sometimes obtained with the pixels-crossing of pixels from 2 tiles different.
**Batman : the Movie (OCEAN) in the Batwing level (4th level, horizontal oblique) so you can see your altitude.
**Hydrofool : as you float in aWater an Aquatic environment, the game would be unplayable without this shadow (just look at the picture, yellow shadow...) to see your coordinates in the X/Z plane and judge at which height you are swimming.
==Video modes==
The square pixels from Mode1 was usually prefered preferred for real Isometric.
Yet games in mode 0 managed well with it or other parallel projections type too.
Few Isometric games actually included scrollings as an Isometric engine is quite heavy for the system.
A proper scrolled isometric game would need 2 diagonal scrolings scrollings and perhaps a vertical scrolling too.
Not the easiest to get.
Yet [[Pac-Mania]] is a notable exemple example of scrolled parallel projection game, its Oblique projection being more suitable for scrollings as it need only 1 diagonal scrolling and 1 horizontal scrolling.
Some isometric games enable you to move horizontally in 8 direction... such engine often don't manage the vertical axis (jump) and are therefore often 2D.
It is to notice that getting a player go in 8 direction also means that you need a larger set of sprites to display the additionnal additional movements, which could be heavy RAM-wise, added to an isometric engine.
**'''3D :''' Head over heels example.
Here are some limited and notable examples.
Distinction has to be done with symetric symmetric obliques and asymetric asymmetric obliques.
===SYMETRICSYMMETRIC===
===='''Dimetric examples :'''====
(an even more flatened flattened isometric, diagonal ratio for the X/Z plane is 4x1)
**Firetrap
**Black Land
===various symetric symmetric obliques===
Those can tend to look messy, especially in Mode0.
===ASYMETRICASYMMETRIC===
===='''Various Oblique examples :'''====
(X and Z axis are both oblique but with different angle = asymetricasymmetric...)
**Crystal Castles (Diamond Plateaus In Space).
*'''Baldur's Gate''' (and some spinoffs spin-offs like Planescape Torment) featured perhaps the last great 2D engine ever produced for a Commercial super-production game : the '''Infinity Engine'''.
==Links==