Let's all have a little perspective....or not, as the game will be entirely 2D, sorry folks no 3D engine in place here. Nevermind, 2D is the new big thing don't you know?
With that settled, we now have to look at the view perspective. A little bit of research reveals quite a fair few different view styles possible, from Top-down through to Isometric, Dimetric, Trimetric, Axonometric and Oblique. A few of these more obscure views have been used in well known games like the original Fallout and some of the later Ultima games.
However, some of them look damn odd, and if I've got to draw all the art it needs to be pretty easy! With that in mind the main views (and easiest for drawing) are pure top-down, isometric and oblique.
Top down (Alien Breed, Gratuitous Tank Battles) has the great advantages that rotations are very easy (in fact you could do them with the gfx card). But the big disadvantage is that while a view of a tank from above is cool, the top of a solider's head is not really going to float anyone's boat.
Isometric (X-com, Laser Squad Nemesis) is pretty standard, and lets the graphics look the most interesting, however it makes it harder to judge spacial relationships and distances as everything is on diagonal lines. I think this has a biological basis, notice how it's much easier to see where things are and if they line up in a horizontal or vertical axis, rather than a diagonal one.
Oblique (laser squad - original Final Fantasy games) is much more interesting than top-down but vertical walls and other objects will not have much detail.
Anyway, after spending several countless
nights,
days, minutes considering this I've decided that Oblique is the way to go for me! It will be easier than doing the gfx than Isometric, be more easy to look at for movement and planning purposes than Isometric and looks better than top-down. Plus, it's just cool!
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