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Help decide the look of my tile based combat system

Which one looks better?

  • 1) Sprites centered in the middle of the tile

    Votes: 2 3.1%
  • 2) Sprite's feet at the middle of the tile

    Votes: 62 96.9%

  • Total voters
    64

Tavernking

Don't believe his lies
Developer
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
1,216
Location
Australia
I'm making a game, link in my sig.

I have to decide between the two following styles:

1) Sprites centered in the middle of the tile
Screen-Shot-2021-03-13-at-10-04-11-pm.png


2) Sprite's feet at the middle of the tile
Screen-Shot-2021-03-13-at-10-03-44-pm.png


I'm convinced 1 looks better but just about everyone I've asked says that 2 looks better. I don't get it but I'll change to meet the demand. To me, 1 is easier at a glance to see which sprite belongs to which tile. Vote in the poll
 

copebot

Learned
Joined
Dec 27, 2020
Messages
387
1 is very confusing. Think about chess. With tile game boards we expect the pieces to be at the center of the square. Breaking convention is just going to muddle everyone.
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you
The first one would only make sense if the sprites fit the tiles, like in top-down games (Ultima, Exile). Since they don't - so there's effectively some 2.5D projection going on - the intuitive way to look at them is as if they stand on the tile in question, i.e. the second one.
 
Unwanted

Sweeper

Unwanted
Zionist Agent
Joined
Jul 28, 2018
Messages
2,394
Anyone who votes for option 1 is a contrarian. Tbh I don't know why you're having any doubts about this OP, it looks pretty clear cut.
I'm convinced 1 looks better but just about everyone I've asked says that 2 looks better. I don't get it but I'll change to meet the demand. To me, 1 is easier at a glance to see which sprite belongs to which tile. Vote in the poll
Holy shit OP. If you really wanna go with option 1 you need to make the sprites fit the tiles.
 
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Shackleton

Arcane
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Dec 29, 2011
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Knackers Yard
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
I'm making a game, link in my sig.

I'm convinced 1 looks better but just about everyone I've asked says that 2 looks better. I don't get it but I'll change to meet the demand. To me, 1 is easier at a glance to see which sprite belongs to which tile. Vote in the poll

Bodes well for the rest of the design decisions. I look forward to seeing how a game turns out when the chief designer thinks the exact opposite of any sane individual. :salute:
 

Tavernking

Don't believe his lies
Developer
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
1,216
Location
Australia
I'm making a game, link in my sig.

I'm convinced 1 looks better but just about everyone I've asked says that 2 looks better. I don't get it but I'll change to meet the demand. To me, 1 is easier at a glance to see which sprite belongs to which tile. Vote in the poll

Bodes well for the rest of the design decisions. I look forward to seeing how a game turns out when the chief designer thinks the exact opposite of any sane individual. :salute:

There are no hitpoints and men have a x3 strength exp modifer compared to women.
 

Bester

⚰️☠️⚱️
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Vatnik
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11,003
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Number 1 obviously doesn't work. Number 2 is fine, but I'd place them a little lower, probably at ~25% cell height.

Like others have said, this doesn't bode well for the UX of the game. Get advice on every UX decision from now on...

Also, just FYI, number 1 would work if creatures were smaller than the cell, and had no shadow (because of some other art style).
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
33,052
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KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
In number two, you can see at a glance which unit stands on which tile. Zero visual confusion.

In number one, my first impression is: what??
The first one is going to be a confusing mess especially in bigger battles with over a dozen units. You wanna be able to see at a single glance who stands where, and not be distracted by weird unit-tile-alignments.

Number one only works in games where the sprite fits the border of the tile exactly.

It works in these Ultima-style games:
ss_a944efa6bea9222a21eca559e0ff3b50c117348e.1920x1080.jpg

OuCHom.png


Because here, all character sprites are exactly the size of a tile, not larger.
 

ChaDargo

Arcane
Joined
Feb 19, 2018
Messages
425
Location
Texas
The first one might look better to you aesthetically, but actually playing this sort of game is hell when the units are offset like in that screenshot. Second screen would be much better for gameplay at the very least.
 

Xelocix

Learned
Joined
Dec 25, 2020
Messages
458
Location
Your moms panty drawer
If you actually have to ask which looks better I shudder to imagine all of the other horrible design choices you've already implemented into your game.
 

ghostdog

Arcane
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Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
11,079
I hope this is just some strange way to gather attention to your game, and that you don't actually think (1) is better.
 

Harthwain

Magister
Joined
Dec 13, 2019
Messages
4,689
As the others have said already: if you want 1), then make tiles at least as large as the characters. Otherwise use 2), because it's way more intuitive in the current form.
 

DraQ

Arcane
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
32,828
Location
Chrząszczyżewoszyce, powiat Łękołody
I'm convinced 1 looks better but just about everyone I've asked says that 2 looks better. I don't get it but I'll change to meet the demand. To me, 1 is easier at a glance to see which sprite belongs to which tile. Vote in the poll
'Splanashun:
Most people live in the so called three dimensional space*. They also happen to be motile surface dwelling organisms clinging to the (two dimensional) surface of a large ball of stuff they call "urf" (hence words like "turf" and so on), but moving relatively freely along it.
As such they are accustomed to having location of the feet of other people and similar creatures to indicate their position on the surface. The opposite end (usually the head in humanoids) can appear to be offset quite a lot from this position, especially when the person is seen from the front/back/side.

If you want to have sprites centered in the tile, you need to show them from strictly top-down perspective.

Also, at least make the tiles hexes you faggot.
:decline:

Actually four dimensional spacetime but let's not complicate things and it would also make Sweeper angry and confused.
 
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