This is my attempt at a tiny 3D isometric platform game. You can walk around with the cursor keys, but that’s all at the moment.
I’m not entirely convinced that the 3D effect works. Feel free to try and convince me one way or the other. 
Simon
Edit: Updated links and pic to latest version.
very cool looking engine you have there. I wonder if this control scheme would be better:
hold up - walk forward
tap left - turn 90 left
tap right - turn 90 right
hold down - walk backwards
are we going to see little pixelated monsters? 
Very well done. The 3D effect works great.
Oh my lordy, that’s great.
Personally, I was expecting the keys to be rotated 90 degrees from what you’ve got it set up as. I want “up” to be “up/right”.
But I quickly got used to it.
When climbing stairs, I often missed it by a single pixel. It was hard to tell where the feet of the character is.
You really captured the feel of the old isometric games, and I can’t wait to see what the gameplay is like!
Keep it up!
Brilliant!
I had no problem with the control scheme once I tilted my head to the left slightly - just enough to trick the brain into doing the axis translation subconsciously.
Nice work, i would never have thought this possible with such a small space!
Lol, yeah I found myself doing that too.
Have you thought about allowing 8-way movement (up/down/across movement as well as diagonal)? Then the keys would be as expected - left goes left, left + up makes you go diagonally up and to the left… No need to tilt the head 
Agreed very impressive look, just amazing for such low res.
I found tilting the keyboard physically works well
Very cool, I liked it. I didn’t really have big issues with movement just because there was no timing-related stuff. So I was able to just pause and reorient if I had problems.
Nice game, I think you are doing a great job with this one, keep it up.
Thanks for all the comments!
I didn’t expect the control scheme to be so controversial. What about if the key positions fit the directions better, such as Q, S, K and P?
I did think about a rotate-and-forward control scheme (as irreversible_kev suggests) but I think if your character is obscured behind scenery then it would be very difficult to work out which direction you’re facing.
Monsters, weapons, moving platforms, switches, traps, puzzles, excitement and adventure on an epic scale, etc., etc.
That makes two of us! :persecutioncomplex:
Simon
I had a little shot, I would just say whats already been said. its a doozy!
Y’know, this game will only be running at a quarter or so the resolution and four times the colour palette of Head Over Heels… make it reminiscent of same, and it will be full of win.
smooth. the southern room with the flower arrangement in the middle seemed to have some issues, and the similar room to the west was messy to ‘read’ - but amazing minimalist achievement… I think if you gave this to some guys at a pixelart site like http://www.wayofthepixel.net they could do things to help with the reading of it. they love this kind of thing…
Hello DisMoth,
Very impressive.
Ran perfect on
Acer Aspire 5740, Windows 7 , Internet Explorer, jdk1.6.0_20
Mac Mini, Snow Leopard OS X, Safari, jdk 1.6.0_20
Suse 10 (Virtual Machine), firefox 2.0.0.14, jdk 1.6.0_19
HP Compaq 6820, Fedora 8, Firefox 2.0.0.10, jdk 1.6.0_04
I had to adjust myself to the movement, but as long as you don’t make it
a shooter that requires fast key action I think you are on the right track!
I really enjoyed the walking effect on the stairs. It just works all the way!
Best regards from
M.E.
Good job so far. Reminds me of Solstice for nes. It runs smooth and I think you really managed to create nice graphics on such small resolution. Nice animation of the character as well.
This reminds me so much of Solstice, which is a game I loved to hate. Or maybe I hated to love it, not so sure about that one.
Solstice also had me confused control-wise, and the control scheme is pretty much identical. Often I walk back out the way I came in after I’ve read the room. But the control scheme is probably right, it’s how most isometric games work.
Have you tried having tiles in a single colour instead of adding the borders? Not so sure the borders are working too well at this resolution, perhaps a checker pattern on the floor would work better.
True, if I was starting again from scratch I’d probably use a different approach for drawing the blocks. But I’d better stick with what I’ve got now, and concentrate instead on creating game content. So many levels, so little time…
Thanks for the feedback,
Simon
Update
Here’s my release candidate for the contest.
Its name is Mini Quests, which is a bit of a lie because it only includes one quest at the moment. I’ll add more when I’ve got the energy.
The controls are Q,K,S,P to move, and Space to fire. Alternative movement controls are A,S,W,D, or I,K,L,P, or the cursor keys. Alternative fire keys are Control, Shift, Enter, M, N, C, X, or Z.
Please tell me if it’s working okay. In particular whether the sound works, whether the keys are reasonable, and whether it behaves okay as an Applet.
Cheers,
Simon
P.S. The game is small, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy!
Looks good! It animates very well and the sound works great. Though I’m having problems steering the character, but I guess it is just a learning process. But how do I climb up the ladder?
The ladder was your way in. Try the door instead.
Thanks for giving it a go!
Simon