Where to even start on something like Devastro?

[BlackCloud]

Hi,

  I love the game Devastro (http://www.puppygames.net/devastro/)...fun to play, beautiful to look at. 

  How was it done?  Just layered painting, or using something like a JLayeredPane?  Moving around the screen is one thing, but moving behind objects like trees, e.g., is pretty cool.  And the background...just one big image?  Tiles? 

  There are so many things that go into a game like that it's overwhelming.  Where does one start?

Paul

[JAW]

Usually there are no Swing components involved in games, except the basic Frame or Window that contains all. But in almost every case, there will be a painting algorithm that does all the painting. Except from that, your ideas are probably correct. Games use layered painting. From background to foreground, isometric games additionally from top to bottom so that things can overlap. 3D is something different, but works similar. Objects are drawn background to foreground and farest to nearest. Plus optimisation.

The background is probably a image or several images. There will be some kind of additional "obstacle" information that knows where you can walk and where not.

A typical isometric rendering would look like that:

from left to right
from top to bottom
  render current texture on the ground
  render any objects on the ground
  render any entities on the field
  render anything in the foreground

This way an object lower on the screen can partially or fully overdraw some object higher on the screen. This is the way of one thing being behind the other.

-JAW

[BlackCloud]

Thanks for the tutorial!    I guess I'll start throwing some code together and see what comes of it.  More questions, certainly!

Paul