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The project works under a isometric orthographic camera, in a 3d space using 2d sprites.

What we are using are billboarding sprites into 3D colliders to archieve the 3d feeling.

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The problem is that we don't really believe the way we are doing it it's the most optimal. We are also having problems introducing high areas, because we need to reply the sprite form in isometric perspective as colliders.

enter image description here

Because we are using 3D world, the tilemaps tools conflicts with the other vertical sprites. We can not use a entire 2d floor billboarding sprite because that suposes to have a huge vertical sprite in front of the camera, so we can not display the others.

We are just researching for a solution before to change to a 2D world.

Rubzet
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  • for the walkable path, I don't think you should do the same trick as the tree. It works for something there have less interaction like building, wall,etc – Tengku Fathullah Mar 15 '19 at 05:43
  • Yes, I think that too, but the tilemap palettes are not working properly in this type of environment and adding plane sprites to the floor supposes for our designer to draw two different perspective illustrations... – Rubzet Mar 15 '19 at 07:26
  • I thought you said your pespective going to be the same which is isometric. It would be better if you could visualize your problem here. So other people are clear with your problem and perhaps we can pinpoint the root cause of the problem. – Tengku Fathullah Mar 15 '19 at 09:52
  • What I mean is that we don't actually know what is the best way to face this project. Because of the camera is focusing isometric, we are having problems placing the ground and other general sprites that will appear repeatdly. As floor sprites like others are diamonds shape, we can not just rotate them to place parallel to the terrain game object. I would like to know if there exist a method to lay terrain textures in isometric way without distort the view. – Rubzet Mar 15 '19 at 15:57

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If you plan on sticking with isometric in 3D, get rid of the tilemaps entirely. They are just going to give you a headache and make your game lag itself to death. If you want to convert to entirely 2D isometric, you can stick with them as they would work fine. Now, a few comparisons between the 2D and 3D approaches, and how best to approach them. This is a jumbled list of drawbacks/advantages to each type, so it's more of a ramble after this point than an answer, but I couldn't be more specific without knowing more about your project's overall requirements and specifications.

  • Unity recently added Isometric Tilemapping as a dedicated feature. So, if you choose to fake it with 2D, your life will be a lot easier.
  • Controls are a lot easier in 3D, as the physics won't ever have to be faked.
  • 3D allows foreground objects to automatically cover up background objects without having to add an arbitrary system to achieve the same effect.
  • 2D is fundamentally faster than 3D, and if you're aiming for mobile, that's going to be very important to your project's success.
  • 3D allows you to rotate your camera if you design it right. (Check out Don't Starve Together for an example of this design).
Dawdle
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  • Thanks for your answer, it has been clarifying. My idea was to free a little bit the artistic part of the project by using plane isometric sprites in front of the screen without renouncing to the depth and movement that the 3D gives you. It is really dificult to fake highgrounds and reliefs in a flat 2D view. I also wanted to use mechanics as jumping or climbing. It is a pity to have to change the project... Thank you very much for your answer! – Rubzet Mar 15 '19 at 22:42
  • I'm glad you found this answer helpful! One more suggestion: I would avoid using 3 dimensional movement in isometric view. It's really hard to make it clear that one tile is higher up than another, and that is especially true when it comes to moving up and down on them (although top-down 2D is harder, and I've done it, but it was a nightmare lol) Also, if my answer answered your question, would you mind accepting it? Sorry to be begging a bit here, but I am new to stack overflow and could use the rep. Thanks! – Dawdle Mar 16 '19 at 00:22
  • Also, I may have found one more option for the game: 3D tiles. Instead of the method you use, lean more fully into 3D space and use square/rectangular/whatever tiles (like Rollercoaster Tycoon or Minecraft almost) to add height. It would probably be much harder to make, and it would still be much slower, but it would let you rotate the camera at will, and it would keep around the 3D movement. – Dawdle Mar 16 '19 at 00:26