Square Passability Setting

[Ksi]

Description of the Feature:
In 2k/3 you could make an autotile's passability square and this would allow the player to walk behind a one-tile height of that tile (usually used for ceiling tiles to give a bit of depth). This feature was removed in VX, Ace and MV, but it was very useful for those who wanted to emulate the SNES RPG feel. It was also great for hidden passages and having smaller, more compact rooms and giving the illusion of walls actually having depth behind them. It also allowed for one-tile-thick ceilings when you wanted to make arches inside rooms.

Here's an example of what I mean.

Code for Implementation:
No code, but I know that there are some scripts (and possibly plug-ins) out there that do this using regions. There's already the star-tag for tiles being set over hero, so whipping something up that is conditional based on which part of the autotile you're about to walk on shouldn't be too difficult... maybe?

Mockups:
It'd literally just be the reimplementation of the square setting from the earlier engines. An extra option when picking from circle, x and star setting.

Why is this feature good?

• Better mapping practices (with an extra tile for movement, maps don't have to be so large)
• More like the 2D RPGs
• Extra depth given to maps
• Hidden passageways
• It was already there and removed for no discernible reason

Possible issues with this feature?
Issues that might arise from this feature:

• Nessy might have an existential crisis~<3
• Might be hard to figure out how to pick just a part of an autotile to make a different height.

 

[taarna23]

I like it. I've always been a little frustrated by having to carefully shift-map doorways like this and then have a B-E tile for the player to actually walk under. I mean, not the end of the world, but it can be disruptive to workflow

 

[Skurge]

I am definately for this option, it's especially frustrating knowing that rooms even with a wall scaling 48 pixels or more high cannot make physical sense that below them are solid walls. This is something that games with taller sprites need.

 

[Wavelength]

I'm completely behind the idea (pun not intended) that there needs to be a better way to designate tiles that the player can walk behind.

I feel like deco events, or even a pair of "over layers" that display above the player (and events, except where designated as "above characters") and use the normal X and O passability settings, would probably be the best approaches for doing so, however. There are pros and cons to each, but I like the idea of treating passability and visual display as separate things, and I wouldn't want this great feature to be limited to autotiles.

Haven't voted yet on this poll, in case I'm missing an advantage of the Square Passability approach.

 

[Ksi]

Well, just to explain it a bit more in detail, what the square passability did in RM2000 and 2003 was take an autotile and allow the top part to be over the hero. It also cut the bottom and middle parts to block hero passage, so it emulated the SNES way of having ceiling tiles that you could walk behind.

So in this image, the ceiling tile is set to square setting. This automatically makes the green parts areas that are set above the hero, while the red is automatically areas you cannot walk. The green parts with blue crosses show that there's tiles underneath that tile (mapped on another layer) that the player cannot walk on because those tiles are set to non-passable. The visual still shows above those tiles, 'overlapping' but it cannot be walked on since those tiles exist beneath it and pass their passability on.

I hope that makes more sense?

 

[The Stranger]

This would definitely be a useful feature. Currently, you have to make tiles or pictures of things you want to move under.

 

[Faherya]

I wonder why they removed that effect. It is one of the functions that most facilitate the mapping, for being "intelligent". To achieve something similar - as The Stranger has said - you need to create specific graphics. And depending on how you map, you still need to include some events to block the passage.

 

[LMichelle]

This is probably what bugs me the most. Also with the autotile roofs on the outside- when you have a path behind it and it just looks like you're walking next to your roof. It just looks weird...
So, a thousand times Yes!