I've got this brainchild game concept I'm working on just getting on to paper at the moment and I've hit a bit of a hitch. I'm hoping I can discuss here and get some ideas, or ideas that lead me to think of something. So here goes... Without diving into irrelevent information, I've basically got a game in my mind that makes use of a 3D Isometric environment. The most basic concept for the game is that you mine into sides of mountains or just straight down into the earth and you can build your own 'ant farm'. Not with ants heh - You know, a culture or some creature. I want to span many Z levels and allow the player to build anywhere. Hell, you could really draw a line from this concept to a 3D Digdug, if you will. My problem is that I don't really see how one could see his creation without loosing a lot of visual information. I mean you can't see the level below the one you are currently looking at. So I guess I'm look for ideas on how to make this work intelligently. Maybe you could have a main camera view that lets you see any one current level at a time in Iso view and you have to jump down to the next level to see that. But you may get lost, or loose track of the rest of your underground utopia. Any ideas or points?

Some ideas (also taken from isometric games)... Treat "levels above you" as Ultima VII/VIII did: hide them. For levels below you, show some sort of distinct method of getting to the level (spiral staircase, mineshaft bucket, mechanical elevator, etc). For the levels above you, if you are rendering using a 3D API, you could show the elevation shaft blended just above the scene (where it would normally obscure your view). An example would be how Dungeon Siege rendered tree trunks. And finally, for the level you're on, render as normal.

Alternately, you could develop a portal-inspired system (e.g. "2D portal"), whereby instead of culling rooms attached to portals that the viewport cannot see, cull rooms attached to portals that the player's avatar cannot see. This would more or less accomplish the same as mentioned above, but in a much more elegant fashion.

Good luck!

If I understand what you're getting at right, I would have a 2d view for the current level plus a vertical map in the corner or possibly the option of a 3d map in the corner or overlay depending on what game style you want.

Don't render solid dirt-- only render the border between dirt and air, in particular the sides of shafts and corridors most distant from the camera. If any of these polygons occlude each other, either render them partially transparent or allow the camera to orbit around the focal point.