Quote:
Originally Posted by Tigairius
Hmm, I see what you mean... That's tough. Do you know if that's how other games handle it?
I think even if there was a player variable, there would still be the problem that I suggested with difficulty expanding things.
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I know in LttP they forced the player to change their layer. This was usually done via interactions like stairs(hence why you lose control of the player and are forced up stairs when you touch them). Thus even though the player(Link) was on a bridge, the NPC's/baddies below the bridge would still be drawn under it.
As far as other games go I don't know. The only other editor I've used with layers was RPG maker and that was a LONG time ago. I believe layers were pretty much hardcoded, and you could'nt quite change anything with them. They were simply used to draw trees/houses and the such over the player, not exactly letting them do anything more complicated.
As for future expansion... well layers are going to be troublesome to expand regardless. But since it's a script you at least give scripters the chance to have better control over it, no? It would just take a little more planning. Try to plan layers out beforehand. Ideally if it was working like I suggestion, and if I started a new server to use layers, I'd at least designate 3 or 4 layers strictly for the ground. That'd give level editors more than enough room to play around and get creative. Then try to control and organize layers for things like trees/roofs/bridges. However, per level basis shouldn't be hard as like I said, it's a variable. You can put individual NPC's in levels to control the drawing on a per-level basis.
But yes, like I said layers are going to be troublesome regardless of how they're implemented. Graal wasn't created with layers in mind and tacking them on this later only makes it harder. They really aren't as fun to develop with as the outcome they offer.