How do you make a nature layer in a map. As in when you place a house when you walk behind the picture covers you up but when you walk in front of it you do not get covered up by the picture.

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Thanks,
GrahamVH

Quote

Originally posted by GrahamVH:
**How do you make a nature layer in a map. As in when you place a house when you walk behind the picture covers you up but when you walk in front of it you do not get covered up by the picture.

**

read the section in the user guide under maps about dynamic y-sorting...and study the medieval demo game carfully/dissect it reproduce it

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You can make as many layers as you want and call them what you want, not just "nature" layer. My layers help me identify what they are, simple as that. So since my first map is a cave, I've labled the layers as "cave structure," "items," "animation," bridges," etc. I'm new to Coldstone, but I think I can explain something.

While an image like a house may LOOK 3 dimensional, it really isn't. What's important first is the bottom edge of an image. So first think about the bottom edge of your house and the feet of your Player.

Layers are structured in relation to you, or how you see it (and consequently in relation to whoever's playing the game.) As long as the feet of your Player is BELOW the bottom edge of the house, the head and the rest of your Player is ABOVE or on top of your image. If you go outside and look at two trees, one in front of the other, look at it in relation to you. The foot of the tree nearest you looks like it is lower than the tree farther away from you. Also the tree nearest you blocks part of the tree farther away from you -- you can't see all of it.

That's why when you create the layers, you need to make sure that the <<Player>> is where you want him to be in relation to the layers. For instance, I first put the layer "bridge" below the <<Player>> and when he walked across, the bridge was on top of him. Why? Because Coldstone first reads the bottom edge of images and it said that the bottom of the bridge is below the feet of the Player, even when the Player walks across the bridge. Once I moved the <<Player>> below the "bridge" layer, he walked on top of the bridge.

For a house, you want to have your Player walk under the house. Granted, you just want him to walk under the TOP part of the image (the back of the house) to make it look right, but you still want him to walk under your house. So you layer the house BELOW the <<Player>>.

When the Player actually walks around, then something else happens. According to most of the layers, you've got <<Player>>'s feet below all of the other images. That's why if you don't block your Player's access, he walks on top of everything.

But you've placed the house below the <<Player>> so he walks behind, or under it. But not right away. As the Player walks around, Coldstone is reading where the FEET of the Player is in relation to the bottom of the house. And as the Player approaches the house from the bottom, the feet is actually below the bottom of the house. So you see the Player's head above the house. But Coldstone also reads the height and width of an image. Your Player will also walk on top of the house the height of your Player's image and then he disappears under the house. So Coldstone reads the height of your Player's image and stops it at the bottom edge of your house, and lets him be on top until his feet is above where his image stopped at the bottom edge of the house. Then he walks under the house.

The key here is to block the Player's access. Block access to the bottom portion of the house, but not the top portion. That way, he has to go around the house, but when it looks right, he then walks under the house at the top (or the back of the house.)

Cheers

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-- Debra
Danillitphil Productions