2D Environment and Parallax Background

[Livid Kringler]

A friend and I are about to start on a project in UDK where a large portion of the wall we're probably going to hit is that I'm thinking we're going to investigate 2D assets, and a background style that will have layers of 2D backdrops and some camera tricks to show parallax. The project is going to be a sidescroller shooter, where this is definitely going to be the first project of this type between us, so I wanted to come here to receive some input.

What would you think our problem is going to be? What walls are we going to hit, and how could we avoid them early? We're both quite new to UDK, where I'm definitely the most knowledgeable in this area. He's left me in charge of figuring all this stuff out, so I wanted to seek some help or insight before I started.

I realize that UDK is a 3D worldspace, and that Unreal, as an engine, is all about 3D assets, and 3D everything. That it's also a bit odd trying to use 2D assets like this, but I like experimentation; as far as I have it in my head, I also like the art style that this will apply. It is going to need to camera tricks, and some hard work, but we wanted to investigate this. We're planning on using some 3D assets like terrain, characters, opponents, weapons, and some other things we might run into. Though we're investigating the possibility of 2D foreground objects, backdrops, things like buildings, and detail **** being in 2D.

Thanks

[Graylord]

Parallax planes is entirely obsolete (and nonexistent) when using a 3D engine. Instead you would use planes that actually are a part of the 3d world, when the camera moves, the planes would appear to move at different speeds depending on the distance. And that's only if you want to create a 2d feel (Such as Paper Mario).

You may have some issues doing animated sprites though, it's possible using flipbook textures, but it's quite limited.

[Livid Kringler]

I know that actually having to implement parallax backgrounds are obsolete. I simply meant actually using the actual principle of parallax (using astronomic definitions or whatever, really), and actually using those 3D world planes. What I was sort of asking--and I realize I'm being a bit ambiguous as I am asking about mostly to clarify what I intend--is if using something like a movie backdrop can be used to a clean effect. Like how a background in a movie will be a giant painted board, where as I'm wondering if it would be possible to use multiple 2D backdrops at varying distances to create that parallax that looks clean.

I suppose I know of a few issues, but I wanted to ask if there were any more I'd run into. Like I know of LOD, and I'm wondering if that would get in the way. Meaning that I have the camera running in a 2D plane following the actor, but if the LOD is high, will that create a high resource weight? Because I'd need the backdrops rendered in higher detail than normal, while they would be at far distances.

And, actually, I hadn't heard of flipbook textures. I thought there might be a system like that in UDK, but I'll have to look into it. As far as most effects, they'll probably have to be 3D. I can see that, even though it is limited, helping with a bunch of things. Thanks.

I'm starting to think more about how many limits we'll be hitting with this... So any more input would help a lot.

[TheAgent]

I use scaleform for the 2D game we are making, all character's animations are played in Flash and controlled in UnrealScript. FlipBooks are going to be a nightmare, as I tried it before.

[Angelflavor]

I use scaleform for the 2D game we are making, all character's animations are played in Flash and controlled in UnrealScript. FlipBooks are going to be a nightmare, as I tried it before.

How does one go about to do that? I would love to be able to make 2d characters in Flash.

[ShiftedDesign]

Info on ScaleForm:
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/Scaleform.html