Isometric Game: 3 Ways to Do It - 2D, 3D | Unity Tutorial
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- In this tutorial I will show 3 ways how to make an isometric game. Also, I will go over the pros and cons of each way and help you decide which one is the best for you in terms of Art, Programming and Gameplay.
Support me on Patreon and get the materials - www.patreon.com/posts/project...
I wrote an article (2 min read) - www.patreon.com/posts/isometr...
I used Unity but these concepts can be used in any game engine.
Isometric perspective is commonly used for games where you have to know where everything is positioned. These types of games include City Builders, Real-Time Strategies, Tycoons, etc.
📚Useful resources📚
Grid Building System 2D - • Grid Building System ...
Fully lit isometric tiles in Unity - • Pixel Art Class - Full...
Another way to combine 3d and 2d - • 3 Tips To Making Isome...
⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️
0:00 What this video is about
0:35 Isometric view in Video Games
2:44 Isometric 2D
6:49 Isometric 3D
10:08 Isometric 3D + 2D environment
13:15 What is the best approach
15:52 Outro
🔗 Relevant Links 🔗
LiA Devlog series - • LiA Devlog - Indie game
Unity Tutorials - • Unity Tutorials
GameDev videos - • Gamedev Tools&Tips
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#IsometricGame #UnityTutorial #CityBuilder - Hry
Version 2 of this video - czcams.com/video/dYP2V_nK8o0/video.html
With better examples and knowledge after making more isometric games
This is structured like a paid course, not just showing you how to make a very specific tutorial project but giving a lot of background and discussion ABOUT the project as you go. That's something a lot of tutorials fail to do. This is great so far, thanks for making it.
Thank you! I'm very glad that you found the information helpful. I actually have a second video about this topic because a lot of people asked for more visul examples of different isometric games. Here's the link if you're interested - czcams.com/video/dYP2V_nK8o0/video.html
Fantastic video! I love the isometric style and have recently been practising 2D isometric images for a new game.
Thanks! I think that isometric style is awesome too! And I hope your future game does well :-)
I learned more in this 16 minute video than watching well over 2 hours of other 'intros'. I will be looking through your video catalog thoughout the weekend.
Please keep up the good work.
I am delighted to hear this! I have a few more videos about isometric view so I hope you'll find something useful.
1. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I spent so much time playing this as a kid.
2. I'm late to the party but an isometric 3D environment with 2D sprites would be really cool. I saw a neat looking game like this a while back called Starmancer.
Starmancer game looks nice. I think it was made in 3D but with pixelated textures. Thank you for sharing!
I spent forever playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance as well.
Loving your content! I enjoyed seeing the process of setting up the different versions of an isometric game, I've never made one! But hopefully someday haha Keep these vids coming :)
Wow, I am really happy that I am making something you like! I will make more of such videos and hopefully they can help you make your first isometric game 🙂
My favorite ISO RPGs use the "3D world but top-down camera" approach: Divinity Original Sin and Pathfinder Kingmaker.
Checked them out. Yeah, it's reasonable to use the 3D approach in these games. It seems like they have a lot of characters that need to be animated. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this. Great video!
I’ve long wanted to make a 2D tycoon style game along the lines of Theme Hospital etc. I love the pixel art style but I’m also intimidated by the amount of assets I would need to create.
I think your suggestion of the 3D approach makes sense for this since the focus will be on having many different types of characters and animations. I’ve done some 3D modelling in the past but I would aim to keep the style itself minimal so as not to be too much of a time sink.
Thanks for commenting! I am familiar with Theme Hospital and yeah, it has to have a lot of people walking around. I am glad you found this video and thinking about making a game in 3D. I can tell from my personal experience that it will save you a lot of energy on animating different characters. And good luck with this game if you decide to make it!
Good content, well made video and excellent understanding of what you’re talking about. Excited to see what you make in the future!
Thank you so much! I'm excited to make more useful content for you and everyone else!
Excellent video! You explain everything so well and raise very good thoughts/ideas. I love your approach to video making/tutorials. You will get big in this space if you keep up the good work, you've got the chops for it.
Thank you so much! I am so glad that you enjoyed it!
Great video! Super informative and was awesome seeing the implementation 👏
Thank you! I had some experience with isometric games and wanted to share what I learned about them.
Merci, je cherchais à clarifier cette histoire depuis longtemps !
I'm glad this video is helpful to you!
Loving him the content. Xcom comes to mind, obviously. And jagged alliance.
I am so glad that you enjoy the videos! Happy to make more!
Great video, very informative. But, Dimetric (like diablo 1), trimetric (like fallout 1), and isometric (like Sims1) are not the same* type of orthographic projection, though they are often confused to be, and that was not clear in the video (Maybe I misunderstood what you meant). One of the things that modern 2D engines, like Unity, can do is using things like normal maps/materials/shaders to "fake" lighting/reflections/etc. on 2D billboards to replicate how the object would look in real 3D. Quite a few mobile games use this to provide the illusion of a fully 3D world but keeping the optimization of using sprites.
Thanks for the great video, please keep it up :)
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! In the video I talk only about the isometric projection. I've read about the other types and they really do look different. But I guess I should have mentioned them in the video for more in-depth analysis and to avoid the confusion.
And thank you for your kind words! It really motivates me to create more.
@@TamaraMakesGames Of course, the only reason I mention it is because if people are not using the "3d" work around (which I think realistically is all unity devs lol) they will encounter coding issues because the other projection times handle things differently when done in the traditional sense. If that makes sense lol. (basically one of those "dozens of different ways to bake a cake" issues of game dev)
This was so good. Thank you
Hey, I'm a little late to the video release but I just wanted to thank you.
I was struggling with this decision and even considering an angled top-down view for a game that has some building but heavy focus on combat.
The video helped me make the decision for a 3D approach considering I'd like the extra detail and the fact I'll have lots of animated characters and no need for a grid like system for building.
I'd also like to compliment your tutorial style, pros and cons were clear with the Unity example making it more tangible.
Great work, you got a new sub =)
I appreciate you writing me about your decision process. Actually, I discovered that a 3D building system can be done and even made a tutorial about this. And thanks for the compliment about my tutorial style. Welcome to the community! I'm inspired to make more good quality content
what would you recommend is the best method to entering doors from one room to another in an isometric game?
I've done both isometric art for years and now have a bunch of 3d modeling skills now.
I'm leaning towards a fully 3d project because I can create a work that looks like it's 2d isometric on a 3d surface with texturing, specular maps, normal maps, etc.
Thanks for telling me about your choice! I would be glad if you shared your progress on my server - discord.gg/dCJBpe2meg
Really curious to see what you come up with
This is an incredible video, thanks for the overview!
Given your points, I will go with the 3D approach, since I find it easier to 3D model compared to working in Photoshop or a sprite editor.
Thank you for the compliment! That's a smart choice to go with 3D given your skills
amazing video, helped me a lot! thank you for making this one ♥
Glad to hear this!
Great work Tamara. Thanks for the information
Thanks very much for this detail!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks! This video was amazing!
I am glad to read this! Thank you for commenting!
You deserve more love, and... more subscribers. Thank you
Hi!, first of all, thank you very much for making this video. It was really helpful and insightfull. I was searching for this for a long time and you really resolve a lot of my questions. Im clinging to 2d enviromment +3d characters, but in that regard, I have questions. I saw that the game you showed (the pony one) that the terrain was mostly flat. Can you make it so the character climbs structures or ladders, tunnels, and change levels of height between buildings, adding more verticality in the scene, and even entering the buildings? The game that im looking for to develop, is an exploration world with a lot of detail in buildings and the world in general. Or do you think the best way to develop something like this is in 3d, but make it orthographic, something like hades or transistor. (Im guessing that is what the did there lol ). Anyway, I thank very much for making easy to understand this tools, you are very talented, thank you!
Hello, thank you for your kind words and such a good question! From what I have seen, it is possible to replicate the elevations in 2D. It is all about the illusion of height and with proper colliders for these elevations you can totally achieve what you want. The downside is that you have to deal with these colliders and not just make 3D elevations and let the physics handle the rest.
you are the pnly source ı found for ısometric game in unity . This tutorials helping me alot
I am happy to know that my videos are helping! And yeah, I do love isometric games a lot :-)
Thank you, your contents are very helpful.
Thanks, that was helpful :D
I am glad that it was!
This was very helpful, thank you.
I'm glad you liked it!
Hey, everyone!
1. What are your favorite isometric games are and what approach do you think they use?
2. Would you want me to make some tutorials on the combined isometric (3D + 2D)?
I really love the Disgaea Series which using 3D projection (for the environment) of an Isometric view and 2D iso sprites (for characters, items, etc). It gives it such a unique look.
More tutorials on handling 2D in 3D space would be amazing as I think a lot of newer devs can get confused easily when trying to use it.
Hey Tamara, absolutely loved this video.. I've been breaking my head(for 2yrs since I learned blender), to make something like Tropico or Civilization which are my absolute favs.. and yes pls, pls do make a tutorial on how to make "the combined isometric 3d+2d" game.. your style of explaining is perfect and precise, and so, I would love to see your tutorial pls.. (btw I use something called Stride3D, which is similar to Unity in C#, minus the goodies, so c# scripting would be really helpful when your making the tutorial pls(rather than nodes and other stuff, if possible), so I can rework that for stride).. thanks a ton :) :)
@@yogeshdandu Thank you so much for commenting and your kind words! I will definitely explore this topic more because I've been thinking about the combined approach for a while now.
I'll look into Stride3D. It's always good to learn some new tools.
And, of course, I will check out the games you mentioned. Very curious about them.
Dear Tamara, so glad to see Ur reply..n Ur welcome :).. Im really happy ur working towards it.. I signed up on twitch to follow u, thinking maybe ud do some live coding sessions a few times a month..
And someone from EA recommended that I try Stride3D.. it can handle a AAA Level game better than unity when it comes to 3D..
And yea, about the games.... you wud fall in love wit Civilization 5&6... But the game Tropico (especially 4&5, but not 6) will inspire you to see the real world from a totally different perspective..n Tropico is the reason I wanted to be a game dev.. so pls do enjoy playing them.. will be eagerly waiting for Ur videos.. thanks.. :)
1. Okami is an awesome Japanese water paint style game, which I believe also uses 3D+2D and is the reason I sought out this video
2. Yes PLEASE
I'm thinking of making my game 3d with an isometric projection, using 2d textures to build minecraft-style voxels. This seems like the optimal solution to me, because you keep the pixel art style as well as ease of creation, but you get all the lighting and shadows for free in the 3d environment.
Hi Tamara, thank you for those videos they help me a lot.
Do you know if there is a way to set the scene view in a 3d project to the same angle the camara will view them in? Like a way to type in the scene view angle since the free move is a bit inaccurate.
Hi, thank you, I'm glad I could provide something useful! Unfortunately, I don't think it is possible. I looked it up and apparently, there is an option that does the opposite - sets the camera to the same angle as the scene view. Please, let me know if you find something about this
@@TamaraMakesGames i asked on the forums and someone answered:
right click the camera and click align view to selected
love this video.
would be great if you can make an in-depth 3D+2D iso tutorial.
There's a unity package call curve world. Was wondering if it's possible to do 3D+2D in it.
I want to make a tower defense game out of it.
Just like you said, I prefer to use 2D art more cuz I'm more familiar with using PS than Blender.
A little suggestion on the video editing part for better youtube results.
Although you look pretty and charming, I would suggest you put in more example photos/screenshots/animations on the side. It will make the video less dull to look at.
If you want to take it to the next level, you need to add in some SFX and add a little soft music.
The video looks like you are turning in this video for a College assignment.
Thank you! Now I'm curious too is 3d+2d approach can work with curved worlds. But it wouldn't be isometric anymore. I think you can use something called billboarding. It's when the player is in a 3d world but the environment sprites rotate towards the camera view all the time.
Also, thanks for the feedback about the video. I really appreciate it because it will help me improve the quality of my videos. I've already got the same suggestions, so I'm trying to do better now. And thanks for the compliment too :-)
thank u alot now i relise why Isometric prespectie is the best thing for me
I'm super glad that I could help you!
Great video!
Thank you!
Thank you for this content. Very useful. 2 questions:
1. Do you make your own art?
2. How do you call those classic old RPG that simulate the camera from top, but are actually 2D.
And I thought of Desert Strike - not your conventional isometric game but very fun to play.
I use free assets and if they don't go well with the whole style of the game - I modify them in Photoshop. I have a short video speed up of me turning a free isometric house sprite to a different style.
Well, I think you mean the 3/4 perspective games. The blocks have 2 sides visible - top and side.
Checked out the game. I think it is isometric. I found some pictures with buildings from this game and the rooftop was clearly isometric with 2:1 ratio. And thanks for sharing it!
I'm making a puzzle game that has an angled top-down perspective and I also want the pieces to have a 3D perspective, so I was thinking an isometric approach would be best. I'm still not sure what I'm doing though. As a beginner, I thought a puzzle game might be simpler than a tower defense game, but this rabbit hole seems to be a lot deeper than I imagined.
I think that puzzle games are awesome and fun to play. But I've been avoiding making them because I don't think that I can create a smart puzzle. Anyways, good luck with this game and thank you for sharing! I like isometric game (as you can probably tell from my vids haha) and I would be glad to see your progress in my discord server - discord.com/invite/dCJBpe2meg
Awesome video! The only approach left behind is the 3D world with only the characters being 2D sprites (Like Ragnarok Online), also, for a ActionRPG like Diablo, what type of approach would you recommend?
Thank you! I will check out those games you mentioned. About my favorite approach - it really depends on the situation but I would say that I like mixed approach. It gives a lot more flexibility
@@TamaraMakesGames That's what i'm thinking on, i'm really bad at drawing, but i can make some minimally cool 3D characters and objects, so i'll probably work with 3D for creation, then convert them to sprites and program on 2D since i got 0 experience on 3D programming
That's exactly what I did in my game. I think it can work for your game
You're the best, thanks
Aww, thank you!
Good video thank you !
Thank you!
Subscribed!
Thanks!
Thanks
Hello! thanks for the useful informations. I am interested in making an isometric tactical(turn-based) game like Final Fantasy tactics, Tactics Ogre, or even the new Triangle strategy. So i'm guessing i am more interested in 2D and pixel art, however, this game will include maps with entiere village and its own life, citizen walking by etc so quite a lot of character in cinematics. Though i'm guessing it won't be that hard to animate since walking is like a 2 frames movement, and maybe a couple more for some expression, would you still recommand a full 2D approach, or the 3D project with 2D sprites? thank you in advance!
Hey there! Glad to hear that my video was useful to you. As for your question, I think you've already answered it yourself. When I mentioned animations in this video I meant a lot of them. For example, fights, different actions, character interactions. If you're confident that your animations won't bother you too much, you should go with 2D.
@@TamaraMakesGames thank you!
Any comments on the tradeoffs in game speed and lag for the end user in
Isometric 2D VS. an Isometric 3D + 2D environment
I am not aware of any performance issues with this approach. Game engines optimize 3d projects well. In addition, it is not supposed to be a project with lots of detailed models, so I think it'll be fine. As for the programming part, there might be some difficulties with finding the right way to handle building placement or player input for example.
Hi, how to set boundries limite to Camera 📷 ? Thanks
And how to make panning camera
Hi, I have a video about a Camera controller -
czcams.com/video/gTJnuQsuMDA/video.html
6:46 Great Motivation Words Tamara :D
How would you approach something like Pillars of Eternity?
Good explanation👍
I have never heard about it before, but correct me if I'm wrong, Is Breath of Fire 4 is combine between 2D character and 3D environment?
I want to make a game like that.
Thank you! Yes, the game looks like it has a 3D environment and 2D characters. It's noticeable when they turn into different directions. They don't have that smoothness
Zaxxon, Ant Attack and Knightlore were the first isometric games published.
I haven't played them so I just looked them up and they look pretty good to me considering that they were made a long time ago. Thanks for commenting and mentioning them!
Obviously if you're making a pixel art isometric game making 3D models isn't really necessary but if you're rendering everything from 3D models you're going to have to make those models anyway.
I've seen pixel art shaders for 3D objects so it's still possible to put models into a game. But I agree, in pixel art it is easier to make sprites that face different directions so there is not point in overcomplicating a game.
give us a step by step of a 2D isometric game build
what is sprite sorting?
hello i am trying to make a map 2D, isometric and procedural, can you pls give me a little help?
Did Chris Sawyer use Unity for Roller Coaster Tycoon?
I think Diablo 2 Resurrected is the best 3D isometric result I’ve seen to date.
Yeah, it looks amazing. Thank you for sharing!
I really like the art style of Mirthwood, too bad the game is unreleased. It seems to have a 3D environtment with some 2D features and 2D characters. I guess it could be considered more of a angled top down, than isometric.
I agree, it's top down and it has both 3D and 2D. And I also like the art style. Thanks for bringing this game to my attention!
I've done 3d modeling (Mostly architecture and environmental art) for a long time - creating 2d art/sprites seems way harder to me lol.
Cool! Then you can make an amazing 3d isometric game. Thanks for sharing your thoughts 🙂
2d Isometric is my favorite view, Isometric Sprite sorting not so much my favorite.
Thank you for sharing! I like how much detail you can get from a 2d isometric sprite
Comparing approaches you've forgot about performance
Is clash of clans 2d, 3d or 2d+3d?
Since it was made by the same company as HayDay (Supercell) I think it is 2d + 3d. I showed in the video how static decorations were made as sprites but animated buildings as 3d models
You are so pretty and smart
As a men of Culture i know its a My Little Pony Game.
☕🧐
Oh yeees, it is that game :-)
Hey Tamara, I hope your safe and ina part of the Ukraine thats not AS affected as the East / South. We in the UK are all hoping Russia with stop there INHUMAINE assult on your country. Peace !
Thank you for your support. I am well at the moment. I write more about this on my Discord server. You're welcome to join - discord.gg/dCJBpe2meg
@@TamaraMakesGames I will. Thanks
Hi me again lol..I forgot to mention Im doing a 2D game like spelunky but it has Spriral staircase's in it and Im having SOOOO Much trouble the the mechancis to work. Ive tried 1 way effectors but it works when your going up , but if you go down the stairs the colliders stop you. Any Ideas?
Spiral staircases... sounds complicated for 2D. Topic definitely worth exploring
@@TamaraMakesGames I hope someone can help me cos its a nive mechanic to have in the game with mask of the middle part of the stairs.. Ive not I might have to down grade it to castle vania 90s version lol
Bad approach. Do isometric in 3D.