Before starting, note that in the Modular Game Engine all maps are set as cubes (similar to Minecraft) in the data, even in 2D maps. For example, if the maker decided to work on a 2D Side View or a 2D Isometric View screen, he will see these:
Game pictured are Mega Man 2 and Mega Man Battle Network 3
But in the engine, this is what is actually happening:
For 2D Side View, three cubes (by default, size can be increased for games like Super Paper Mario) are the "fixed line" for platformers, with the player's character being stuck in the central cube line and the side cubes only being present to prevent characters that move to the foreground and background (like the Area C enemies in Mega Man ZX) from falling out of the map area.
For 2D isometric view, as it uses tiles instead of textures, the camera is fixed and the tiles appear in a way resembling 2D. Examples of games that use something like this are Resident Evil 2 and the rooms from the Gesellschaft in The Misadventures of Tron Bonne.
Tilesets[]
The tiles are square graphics. The default tiles from the maker are 3D cubes with textures in each side. In 2D, only three sides are loaded, the top and two visible sides, so it can be used for top, side, and isometric views.
Default Tiles/Textures[]
- Amusement - Amusement park, casino, club, slider, toys, parade, pinball, bingo, party, ...
- Bridge
- Canyon
- Cave
- Cyberspace
- Darkness / Dystopia / Apocalyptic
- Depression - Rift, crater, caldera, ...
- Desert
- Ancient Egypt
- East Asia (Japan, China, India, ...)
- Fantasy / Mystical
- Volcano - Fire and lava
- Glacier - Snow and ice
- Grass - Grassland, plains, meadow, parks, gardens, ...
- Forest - Woods, jungle, ...
- Haunted / Horror
- Industrial - Factories, electricity, ...
- Medieval - Castle, tower, fortress, citadel, ...
- Mountains
- Road - Streets, highways, ...
- Ruins - Ancient tuins, labyrinth, colosseum, ancient library, lost palace, tomb, ...
- Settlement - Camp, village, town, city, capital, ... (Common starting points and places to buy and sell stuff and do sidequests)
- Urban - Buildings, bank, museum, subway, sewer, ...
- Sky - clouds, birds, rainbows, floating continents, ...
- Slopes - Cliffs, hills, mesas, plateaus, quarries, ridges, summits, valleys, ...
- Space - Outerspace
- Steampunk
- Swamp / Marsh
- Underground
- Water - Lake, waterfall, ocean, geyser, ...
- Coastal / Beach
- Island
- Underwater
- Western - Mesa
- Winter / Glacier - Snow and ice.
- Mixed - Examples: Savanna (Wood+Grass), Tropical Resort (Amusement+Coastal), abandoned park (Amusement+Ruins), aquatic ruins (Water+Ruins), the Wily Egg from Worlds Collide, ... A thornbush area would be a "Good Grief Zone" for Mega Man.
- Custom (#) - Custom slots. The first three are mixed by default and can be changed by makers, and more can be included. Examples:
For names, start with something simple like:
- The setting, like "_ Plain(s)", "_ Land(s)" and "_ Falls".
- Directions like "Northern _" and "_ of the West".
- Climates like "Sunny _" and Foggy _".
- Colors or materials, like Blue, Red, Wooden, Stone, Marble, Metal, Rusty, ...
- A condition or idea like "Elevated _", "Endless _", "Final _", "_ Lair", "_ Entrance", "_ Gate", ...
- Or just mix two of them, like "Southern Mountain", "Misty Falls", "Lake of the East", "Green Hill", "Valley of the End", ...
Stage Details[]
All optional and set off by default, but it is good to have some defaults for different types of stages and gameplays.
Temperature[]
- Burning (volcano)
- Hot (desert)
- Warm
- Moderate
- Cool
- Cold (snowing)
- Freezing (underwater in a glacier)
Weather[]
- Sunny
- Windy
- Foggy
- Rainy
- Snow
- Storm