Fake-3D Tests in Gamesalad

alimpo83

Hello all,

Since I've been using Gamesalad, there were many Fake-3D Tests. The best looking ones were from Stormy and his 3d blocks (and my uses), many pseudo 3D and such. I guess GS can't do 3D, but we can fake it in many ways.

I've been testing new top down fake 3D effects to use with Stormy's 3D blocks V2, that I'm going to buy as soon as possible. I guess top down 3D is really achievable, as proven in many ocasions. It's not real 3D, of course, but If the eyes buy it, who cares?

The grass? How many actors you think it has?

It's just a quick mock-up with 2 fake-3d buildings and an automatic got-with-the-wind camera that I created for this demo (that can be picked and moved, to see the effects).

Well, if you guessed less then 10 (at most, that's the limit) you were right. It replicates the actor, but as it depends on the position of the camera and careful placement, it uses less actors than in the GS examples that you can find in the forum. The building have more copies, but still fast.

It's great for top down games of many genres.

Tell me what you think.

JagonApps

Really nice, well done mate!

StormyStudio

Hi @alimpo83 thanks for the shout out about my template, much appreciated.

Nice effect you've got there. So is it using the replicate behaviour to achieve the effect?

I'm about to send you a PM (Private Message) that will hopefully help your progress.

alimpo83

Thanks Jagon, GS is great!
Thanks Stormy, will get in touch soon!

Yes it uses the replicate behaviour and alpha channels in the grass texture. Now for something more difficult : simulate a top down 3D building with "different" textures! Remember there is no Z-axis in GS nor 3D shapes!

Hope you guys like it! I'm pretty happy with it and think It could be used in GTA 1/2 type games in the future, who knows!

quantumsheep

Nice!

alimpo83

Thanks quantumsheep! I'll continue my tests. I'll go look into gta 2 for inspiration and functionality!

quantumsheep

Thanks quantumsheep! I'll continue my tests. I'll go look into gta 2 for inspiration and functionality!

This might help!

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2013/sep/15/making-grand-theft-auto-video

QS =D

UtopianGames

Looking nice

Darren.

alimpo83

Thanks everyone! It's really weird and nice at the same time that using 2D cars, well designed, look good with fake 3D buildings (and grass and poles lol).

Check it! It could be used to make a small town setting for zombie horde type of games, for instance.

UPDATE: Tests on Ipod 4th gen = 60 fps

BoomshackBarry

That's looking great!

megapowerskills

Is it possible to make the tops of the buildings larger? As they are, I think they are the same width as the bottoms but my brain wants to see perspective and it's making the buildings seem to taper out towards the top

lycettebros

Interesting - well done, will watch this with interest.

alimpo83

Thanks everyone. Hmm, never thought of making the top larger than the bottom. Would require more attributtes I guess. Will try it when I have the time!

alimpo83

New types of buildings, less tall. The original one can be like a sky scraper and these ones for other types of buildings.

Adapted the cross controller tutorial to my needs, using a nice left thumbstick control.

-Timo-

looks really cool cant wait to see more

alimpo83

I'm trying to achieve something similar to Walking Dead Assault for mobile. Using an old top down view control type from Stormy, I've adapted it for my 3D top down view. And voilá : pretty similar to the core mechanics of Walking Dead Assault, with touch to move actor, 3D top down and such.

-Timo-

cooooool this really can turn out in a real good game why is the camera moving that weird? maybe because scene is not big enough? keep it up!

alimpo83

It's not weird, It's the video recording. It moves really smooth. And if you leave the touch pressed around the scene and rotate the actor, you can "see" the path further.

-Timo-

oh okaay cool )

alimpo83

New tests. The graphics are only placeholders, but show a real way of simulating cool 3D top down views in gamesalad. The car also features the same effect of the buildings, but more subtle, since it is, of course, less tall. There are really difficult objects to make, but things like cars, barrels and grass/vegetation are easy to accomplish!

alimpo83

Well and for today, fake 3d Shadows and 3d objects in upper layers. The grating is "thinner" than the other objects, it "reflects" a bit, like a real grating, as seen in the video. I think it looks nice!

natzuur

Pretty cool stuff. Could a top texture be different by constraining it, so you can have the 3d walls, a unique top, and then like a base texture too? Or what about double replication so its varied through out? That would be really slick.

alimpo83

It's difficult to constrain other textures, because of the replication. If you constrain a texture to the original texture, it will constrain to the first and not adapt to the next one. But maybe double replication can be possible, I'll have to think about it a lot tough!

3d walls are completely possible at the moment, they're very easy to make. You can make buildings like these ones that cannot be entered, and other ones that you can enter and then simulate a roof like the grating, semi transparent, as an example.

alimpo83

As requested, there can be empty buildings that the player can walk into. In fact, there can be defined *any* shapes to the room you are building or the level, using this technique. Of course, the collision is made through available GS shapes, so squares/rectangles and circles.

alimpo83

Another technique I developed for aplying fake 3D efficiently. In this small video, the room you see is only one object, pre designed in a designing program. It's a very simple yet powerful way to make full rooms at a fraction of the effort. From one image, you get a fake 3D room!

Next, I'm preparing something special . It may take a while to get it done, but you guys will like it for sure!