I've been using various incarnations of RPG Maker for a while, and am working on converting a game I helped a friend make to Verge3.

The first thing I ran into is that (obviously) you have to set the obstructions independently. By this I mean, you can't simply set a tile to obstruct wherever it is placed. That's not a huge conundrum, I'm just stating my thoughts.

On the other hand, I *did* have a bit of trouble with the 'z order'. In RPG2003, objects placed on the objects layer will render behind the player entity when he's below them on the screen, and above him, if he happens to be walking 'behind' them. For instance, a large tree is placed in a clearing, and I want the character to be able to walk on both sides of the tree, but not end up with his head under the tree if he walks in front.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, perhaps the standard practice is to use entities or something, but I'd like some advice on this little problem.

I also noticed that sometimes entities set to 'wander' in maped will run into an obstruction and just sit there like a lump, like the movement is queued and once it gets blocked, it just keeps trying forever. Maybe I'm wrong about that though.

Hmm...

The chr's height is right around 32 px, and the tiles are 16 x 16. I have several pieces of furniture and shrubbery that are only 2 tiles tall, so I'm not sure that everything you said applies. I'll look into the original, and compare how they react.

Thanks

If my character is two tiles tall, then you have a problem.

Why? Because it's hard to tell what to put on the layer BELOW your player and what to put ABOVE him.

Example: two tile tall player sprite.

So let's make a chair. He must be able to walk in front of it, and also walk behind it -- and be seen through the bars of the chair.

The chair must be AT LEAST two tiles tall. See the dilemma?

It is impossible to create a tile that the player can both walk in front of and <walk behind of.

The base of the chair can be one tile tall. Place it on the layer below the player, and obstruct it.

Result? Assume the player's bottom tile is obstructable.

That means when he approaches the chair from the bottom, there his top tile will overlap the bottom tile of the chair.

The bottom tile of the chair must be on the layer beneath him.

The top half of the chair must be on the layer ABOVE the player. When the player walks behind the chair, again, he is obstructed by the base -- but the top half of the chair now covers his bottom half.

This makes it appear as if we see the player behind the chair.

There is a very simple demonstration of the collision using crappy ASCII art below: sorry for my laziness, but for a true understanding you just have to tinker with it till it makes sense.

Chair:



t-t-t

t-t-t          --top half, (assume 16x16 pixels, 1 tile) ABOVE ENT. LAYER

t-t-t

b-b-b

b-b-b          --bottom half (imagine 16x16 pixels, 1 tile, OBSTRUCTED) BELOW ENT. LAYER

b-b-b





Player:



-P-P-

-P-P-          --top half.  (16x16)

-P-P-

-p-p-

-p-p-          --(bottom half, 16x16, obstructed hotspot).

-p-p-







Player approaches chair from bottom...



t-t-t

t-t-t

t-t-t

bPbPb

bPbPb        --The top of player and bottom of chair.  (PLAYER IS ON TOP)

bPbPb

-p-p-

-p-p-          --Obstructed.

-p-p-





Player approaches chair from top...



-P-P-

-P-P-

-P-P-

tptpt

tptpt          --Player's bottom half and chair top collide.  CHAIR HALF ON UPPER LAYER

tptpt

b-b-b

b-b-b

b-b-b

Remember that the bottom of the chair must be on the layer beneath the player. The top half of the chair must be on the layer above the player.

No problem, glad to help.