I'm working on a 2D jnr/puzzle game based on Tecmo's classic : Solomon's Key. The Engine is well advanced, enough to be playable. My idea was to create larger levels than the original, so i've developped some scrolling. As a feature, I've got 2 scrolling planes, the effect is pretty cute. My problem : the main objective of the game is to complete levels. In order to complete a level, the player have to catch the key and reach the door, avoiding the monsters. The door is in the first plane (like the player, the monsters, the objects...), but during the scrolling, the wall behind the door moves differently as the door. I'm thinking of replacing the door with a well, a magical gate... something which can stay in the front plane, but i haven't fund anything which keep the spirit of the original game and "goes well" with the key to catch. Or forget 'bout the differencial scrollings and keep the door, or change the door with something else... Maybe some creative spirit can help me with this choice ? Or suggest something else ?

Eh?

Why don't you just make a 'door' graphic which can sit on the frot pane?

From,
Nice coder

He did, the problem is that the wall scrolls at a different rate to the door, so the door looks like it's floating.

Would it be possible to simply put the wall behind the door on the front plane?

Yes, the problem comes from the different scrolling rates between the 2 planes.
I've already though about a piece of wall around the door at the front plane, but now i'd have 2 walls scrolling differently and the effect would seem "strange" too, like the "floating" door.

Could you possibly put the door in the same plane as the walls? This would probably require a bit of adjustment, and may not be suitable for your design, but I just thought I'd suggest it.

Alternately, how about a door layer, just for the door. From my understanding, there's only one per level anyway, so it shouldn't really be too much of a problem to make it a special case.

Just a couple of quick thoughts.

Who says the door is on the back wall? What if it's one millimeter into the foreground, so you can walk past it but there's no parallax? That way, when you finish a level, your guy opens the door and walks toward the camera, and he comes out of the "background wall" of the next level. You could even leave the previous level's door in the background, and have it move with the wall, but not be interactive.

Thanks for the answers,

Kazgoroth>
I've thought of it too, but my background seems to be quite far from playing plane, I think the effect will not be that good.

Iron Chef Carnage>
Good idea, but how can i represent an object closer than the first plan in 2D ? A door which covers others objects and sprites ? Or a transparent door ? Or just the shape of the door ? I can't figure a good representation...

You draw layers from back to front. Objects in the back scroll past more slowly and are drawn before objects in the front (hence, objects in the front obscure things, as they should). If you put the exit door on a new layer in front of everything else, then the player will seem to walk behind it (as will any other moving sprites).

If you wanted to be really snazzy (and probably distractingly so), you could have a transparent overlay in the exit door's layer of the next level, so the player can see what he's going to do next.

mmmh... I still can't find a good issue to my problem. I'm not sure everyone understand what I mean. Here you can find a playable demo of my engine (with dummy graphics) :

http://seb.sevilla.free.fr/sxdl/zwerg/ (371k)

You'll notice the door seems to float, I can't draw it in the background because it's too distant, and I can't figure a way to place the door in a "nearer" plane.

Put the door in your foreground, so that it covers sprites behind it, but put it so slightly forward that it doesn't seem to move relative the the "playiing plane" on which the character walks. Bear in mind, I'm thinking of a door that's about the same size as the player, so it wouldn't obscure much of the field. If it's going to be huge, then some transparency would be appropriate.