I'm really interested in the programming aspect of it. For example, in a pure 2D game, collisions and angle calculations are cake since there is no sense of depth to account for. In Bastion, however, the world seems to be made of 2D tiles, while enemies and the player are 3D models. How does this translate into the technical side? How would one even treat a 3D item in a 2D world made of tiles? Would colliders be 2D? Or would the world truly just be 3D with illusions to make it appear more 2D.

Hi Ovicior,

this game? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZAuKkv4eZE​

From the brief look, I'd say that although the game looks to be 3D, it's actually a 2D game (I'm ignoring the steps etc. as it appears that you don't have tunnels etc. which would invalidate that approach). If you look at 4:46 when he's walking up stairs, you can't walk underneath and so that wouldn't be a problem. If you could walk underneath, then you could imagine walking on a game object instead (although would require a migration away from a pure 2D approach).

In terms of how to render a 3D world - e.g. the flooring from the game - it's just a question of placing your 3D models (even if they're just a single surface after they've finished dropping from the sky) and then having the 3rd dimension calculated on the fly.

For a fuller answer, I think you'd be better off asking in the programming forum directly, you'll get more visibility there

Steve

it uses isometric 3D projection:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_video_game_graphics​

That's it … all the best ?

@Steven Ford Ahh yeah, it's actually 2D. Whoops.

@Ovicior The fact that the devs / artists made you think it was 3D, that's what makes them skilful! ?

Don't confuse rendering technology and art style with in-game with the game world topology, as they can be completely independent. There are games with 3D art and 2D topology (e.g. Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams), and games with 2D art but 3D topology (e.g. Landstalker). And of course games with mixed 2D and 3D art, with either 2D (e.g. New Super Mario Brothers) or 3D (e.g. Ys Origins) topology.