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The Making of

Murkon's Refuge

Dungeon Views

The first person 3D view of the dungeon is constructed by juxtaposing up to (and usually) seven different images, from a pool of forty. The images are combined together to formulate a single view of the dungeon. The alternative, considering all possible dungeon views and creating a single image for each, would take a prohibitively massive number of images -- hence why the dungeon views are constructed from combinations of component images.

Here is a sample dungeon view:

Here is the same view, broken up into its component images:

                                                        

As you can see, the dungeon view is broken up into seven different sections, that are lined up side-by-side. This division makes it convenient for the game engine to construct whatever dungeon views it needs without very much trouble. For example, to make that door in the middle a wall, all that's required is to swap out that single component with one that shows just a wall -- the rest of the images stay the same.

Above, I said there are "usually" seven components. The exception is when there is a door or wall directly in front of you. In that case, the central components are combined:

                                

The above is a dungeon view that is only comprised of five components. The middle three are fused into a single component; this is possible because the wall directly ahead prevents you from seeing as far as you normally could. When the wall is even closer than that, so you're right up against it, the dungeon view only has three components, as what would normally be the middle five are fused into one component.

Back to The Making of Murkon's Refuge.