Isometric game characters?

Game Mechanics
#1

I have been wondering about this for a while. Take games like diablo and diablo 2 for example. How did they the characters? Are they 3d models? I would really like to make a small ‘demo game’ for now just for fun, but I have no idea how to start. I have basic isometric terrain being rendered with walls and stuff, but I have no idea how to do characters so that they can change depending on the equipment they have.

I have an idea how equipment would work in 3d models, but how does that work in diablo and diablo 2? It seems like they are 3d models, but they are really slow.

PS

When I say slow, I mean really choppy animations.

#2

They are 2d sprites, not 3d models.

#3

Ok. Any good article on how to make these sprites so that you can have all these combinations of character moving in different sets of equipment?

#4

If you scroll down there is a section just about isometric art.

#5

Lots of sprites.

#6

Ok. I figured that making isometric 2d sprites is a huge waste of time, since making simple 3d models would be much easier then making all these sprites. I’m not saying 3d models is easy, and this will be just a demo thingy to see how I would do it.

Now the question I have which format to use for my stuff. I downloaded blender and when I click export, I can see the following options:

  • Collada
  • Stanford
  • Stl
  • 3DS
  • Autodesk
  • Wavefront
  • X3D

What I would need to achieve is something like this:

  1. Make a base bone structure for character: every mesh would be built around this bone structure, so that every mesh can operate on the same bones independent of the animation of the bones;
  2. Make character mesh and rig it to the base bone structure, so that it looks nice when animated;
  3. Make equipment mesh and rig it to bone structure so that it also looks good when playing animations;

So basically I will need 3 ‘files’. One for bone structure, one for ‘nude’ character and one for equipment.

Which format would be the best? I have already read a tutorial sometime ago on collada format, and it seemed pretty easy, so would be cool if that is a good option for me.

#7

That’s an understatement.

@OP
You can also create some 3D models. Then, to get them to 2d images, you do something like ‘Print Screen’ at certain angles to get the different views.

#8

The only reason you would do that is if current time was 10 years ago where users computer couldn’t compute 3d graphics on the fly. You would probably make 3d models, render them at certain angles into 2d sprites or something like that.

I would feel that just rendering those 3d models directly to the game would be much easier and less time consuming…

#9

You are correct. For models that would be viewed from many angles, 3D is the way to go. But, if you have a building for example, then it would only need to be rendered at one angle. This would be a better application for 3D -> 2D sprite.