Is SoG a tile based RPG without tiles?

[csmallfield]

From watching some of the timelapse art videos from Vilya I noticed that SoG seems to use whole images for levels, it just is in the style of tile sets. Is that correct? was the reason that hardware of current gen computers can handle it easily so it was an unneeded optimization? I'd love to hear what went into that choice.

Also, how are you guys defining collisions and bounding boxes?

Cheers,
Chris

 

[The G-Meister]

Well, it's more that it's a 2D game. Many retro tile based RPG's used this style because there was no other option for the hardware. 2D games nowadays normally define sprites and layer them over each other, which Grindea is looking to replicate.

In terms of bounding boxes, I think there's separate files somewhere which define those. I've seen some pink lines on a few backgrounds in places (not in game) which I think those files are for. Basically, you can stand where there isn't pink, and you can't stand on pink at all. Occasionally it's possible to find a thin enough area or a tight enough gap that you can squeeze through it using dodging strike or piercing dash, which is what leads to all the out of bounds clips

 

[Ardeof]

From watching some of the timelapse art videos from Vilya I noticed that SoG seems to use whole images for levels, it just is in the style of tile sets. Is that correct? was the reason that hardware of current gen computers can handle it easily so it was an unneeded optimization? I'd love to hear what went into that choice.

Also, how are you guys defining collisions and bounding boxes?

Cheers,
Chris

Tiles are pretty much a basic version of a grid. If the grid of a map is 16x16 then the optimal resolution to play at would be 16x16. I don't have a 2k/4k monitor to test this on SoG though. 1080 is common enough that most games will support 1080, but 2k/4k is a different matter.

The tiling is still there, but the way adobe works it's easy to paint a map and then build a mesh. The devs probably plan on quality of their game over quantity or selling their game engine. If a person was trying to sell a game engine as a product, it'd likely include support of pre-built shaders, shadows, lighting effects, tiles, buildings, plants and scenery, etc.

 

[csmallfield]

I think I maybe wasn't clear enough with my question. When I'm referring to tiles, I'm referring to little squares 16x16, 32x32 whatever, that are placed on the grid based upon something small like a text file or xml. It's how all the nes and SNES games were made, due to severe memory constraints. But using tile instances, even in modern games on modern hardware can also yield efficiency and flexibility in multiple ways. I've attached two images to demonstrate, one is a small tile set 24kb in size, which I used to make the this tiled image (also attached). Then using a simple text file, I can place any tiles in the tile map image on nearly any size ma- and define it with a text file that is under 1kb. Crazy efficient. Easy to use, character attributes can even be defined based on a tile instance programmatically, like characters move 50% slower on sand tiles.

It seems the Pixel Ferrets opted to not go this method, I presume for more specific control over all pixels and placement, just was curious what the reasoning was.

 

[Ardeof]

View attachment 1708 View attachment 1709 I think I maybe wasn't clear enough with my question. When I'm referring to tiles, I'm referring to little squares 16x16, 32x32 whatever, that are placed on the grid based upon something small like a text file or xml. It's how all the nes and SNES games were made, due to severe memory constraints. But using tile instances, even in modern games on modern hardware can also yield efficiency and flexibility in multiple ways. I've attached two images to demonstrate, one is a small tile set 24kb in size, which I used to make the this tiled image (also attached). Then using a simple text file, I can place any tiles in the tile map image on nearly any size ma- and define it with a text file that is under 1kb. Crazy efficient. Easy to use, character attributes can even be defined based on a tile instance programmatically, like characters move 50% slower on sand tiles.

It seems the Pixel Ferrets opted to not go this method, I presume for more specific control over all pixels and placement, just was curious what the reasoning was.

I know what you meant by tiles. I responded accurately. To simplify, I doubt the devs used tiles. Since it seems like an adobe made program and most of the dev work shows the person painting a whole picture instead of a specific tile. If anything the most autonomous part of Secrets of Grindea is possibly copy & paste of some trees and whatnot. Difficult to say for sure if that's happened or not, though.

 

[csmallfield]

I know what you meant by tiles. I responded accurately. To simplify, I doubt the devs used tiles. Since it seems like an adobe made program and most of the dev work shows the person painting a whole picture instead of a specific tile. If anything the most autonomous part of Secrets of Grindea is possibly copy & paste of some trees and whatnot. Difficult to say for sure if that's happened or not, though.

Right, I think it's clear they didn't use tiles, my question is what were the reasons to not. I guess it's something only they could answer.

 

[KoBeWi]

Maps aren't based on tiles, so they are not limited on tileset. Whole world looks more uneven and natural this way. Just look at Pillar Mountains for example. It's unlikely you'd do such curvy paths with a tileset, and even if you did, it wouldn't look as good.

Also, for props and such, they have an editor. Objects like stones, barrels, trees are saved as objects in editor and placed on the maps to save time. Moreover, some of them are randomized, like trees or Mt. Bloom flying platforms, so they're not as repetitive.

 

[Vilya]

It's like @KoBeWi said, basically it gives us the freedom to make the maps feel more organic where needed!

And yeah, we refrained from putting such limitations (like tiles or a smaller color palette) on the game since the current-gen hardware can handle those kinds of things easily nowadays anyway, pretty much like you mentioned in your first post