2D or 3D Maps ?
You can create both 2D and 3D games with Eldiron. The difference between the two is mostly in the way how maps are created and look. Behavior for characters, items and screens stay the same. So you do not need to relearn anything when switching between the two.
2D Games
2D games use top-down tiles which are painted onto the map. This way you can create games similar to Ultima 4 and 5. Use this mode when you want to create tiles in a rectangular grid.
2D games support light sources and day / night time simulation and more.
The screenshot above shows the Hideout 2D example game created with Eldiron. You can play it online.
3D Games
Eldiron has inbuilt 3D editing to easily create geometry for dungeons, towns, houses and more. This geometry interacts with an integrated terrain system. Other 3D features include day / night time simulation (including the sun) and powerful 3D rendering.
Tiles in 3D support PBR materials and can be painted on 3D surfaces as well as on the terrain.
The camera you choose for your game defines the perspective, you can either use a configurable orthographic / isometric camera or a first person camera.
Eldiron alwyas uses tiles without perspective in 3D. Other game engines support for example isometric tiles which we do not support in Eldiron. The idea is that you create the isometric look in Eldiron with geometry with tiles which are viewed with an isometric camera.
Which is much more powerful, flexible and easier than combining isometric tiles.
In the following chapters we will discuss both 2D and 3D game map creation.