I know I don't know much about verge yet. So that's why I'm asking this. I'm almost done with the story and the main concept of the character (lets just say that my main idea is all on paper)

Now, I would like to start doing maps and BGs. Is it possible to do a map that would look somewhat like this:

http://pages.infinit.net/maina/001.jpg
http://pages.infinit.net/maina/004.jpg

note: those pics where taken from Legend of Mana. (most of you know that though, i'm sure ^^;;; )

I know that you can do maps with tiles, but it seemed too complicated compared to just draw the BG on paper, color it in photoshop and use that instead as a map. To give a real 3D feel. Is it possible?? Or am i totally crazy???

Thanks you all in advance for your advice. :)

---

I'm sure VERGE 2.7 would be completely able to support it in it's 32-bit mode. WinMapEd 2.7 is very capable of allowing you to hand draw a map, color it in photoshop, change it's format to .PNG, and import it as tiles into the engine.

The only problem I see is the obstruction placement. There isn't a huge problem in the first map you linked to but that second one seems to try and have a 3D perspective. Obstruction placement can be done, but the diagonal stair obstructions wouldn't have very smooth placement. I'm not sure but I think the_Speed_Bump will be implementing half-tile obstructions which would probably help that problem if they were diagonally placed. Otherwise you can just make the tiles very small or use a hi-res to make the blockiness of obstructions unintelligible.

---

I see what you mean. But i can always cheat my perspective to make it work with the Obstruction placement. I don't think it will be much of a problem. I just wanted to make sure i could do my full BG on a paper (and photoshop it after) and use that as a map.

Because clearly, it would save me tons of time. I hate doing maps tile by tile... it just takes too much time (well for me that is, not everyone would have the same opinion. ^^ )

Thank you very much for the help!! I really appreciate it!!! ^^

---

Vecna, Tatsumi and I tried to get Verge 2.6 to use nontileable maps for a VERGE contest held awhile back. We didn't have time to play with any sort of precise obstruction stuff, so I designed the maps so that everything fit within a 16x16 grid (VERGE still only uses tile obstructions).

So, yes, the maps can be done, even if you have to make sure that major obstructions fit within 16x16 blocks.Here's a (shrunken down :) example :

www.jonwofford.com/temp/map1_small.jpg

The problem with that is that the viewing angle is still pretty rigid and straight. No pretty perspectives. The other downside is that if you have a map with very organically shaped obstructions, it may not look as good. If you wanted something like this

http://www.jonwofford.com/temp/cave1_small.jpg ,

you'd have to write your own obstruction code, or get someone else to do it for you.

Either way, good luck :)

---

We can't stop here! This is bat country!

Draw a big picture of your map and import it as tiles. Bam! No problem. (I think it'll be even easier than this in v2.7)

Zones and obstructions are, like everyone has said, tile based. If your map is big enough, that'll offset the size of the obstructions. Or you could use a high resolution. But either way, if you want "fancy" effects like dynamic movement on stairs (where your chr automatically adjusts y position as the player moves left and right, like in most modern RPGs) you have to code your own movement system, or parts of it at least.

BTW, aurora and I are doing the same thing with our maps, so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask! (I'm waiting for tSB to implement a per-layer image-importer into v2.7 and we've got it made!)

That is all.

--Invicticide

---

We don't need better engines, we need better creation tools!

And uh, what happened to Kevlar Justice?

---

Thanks you all for your replies!!!

This as been very helpfull. I just hope that it will work ^^;;;; I'll be working hard to make it worth while.

Thanks again!!

Cheers!

---