the camera.. or terrain view etc.. its always shaped like a diamond and north ingame is north-east on your screen.
Everything is diagonal built etc.. what is the reason all the games do it like that?
why are most isometric rpg's diagonal camera?
Isometric RPGs have that kind of view/projection because that is the definition of "isometric".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_projection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_projection
I think it would be confusing if east was on the left side of the screen and was told to go that way. However, you could rotate the map on SimCity and it wouldn't matter if east was left.
IMHO this is simply because the diagonal perspective is more "3D-like" and thus makes the view of the game look more natural. If you randomly select any rectangular object within your current real-world field of vision, chances are close to 100% that you see it from some diagonal angle and *not* perfectly aligned with (respectively, orthogonal to) it's edges. Furthermore, you get a much better impression of an object's shape if you look at it like this, because you can see three of it's sides (two walls + top) instead of just two (front wall + top), as it would be the case if the viewing angle was parallel to the side walls.
what is the reason all the games do it like that?
It was the easiest way to fake 3D in 2D.
Personally I think the real reason is diagonal perspective requires only two sets of sprites (up-diagonal and down-diagonal) while side-on chessboard perspective requires three sets of sprites (sideways, up, and down).
[quote name='glhf' timestamp='1342273395' post='4959060']what is the reason all the games do it like that?
It was the easiest way to fake 3D in 2D.
[/quote]
This exactly. It looked much more "modern" at the time.
1. why are most isometric rpg's diagonal camera?
2. what is the reason all the games do it like that?
1. Because they wouldn't be isometric if they weren't diagonal.
2. They don't "all" do that. There are reasons for using the isometric 2.5D perspective - it looks more realistic than a top-down view, and it looks more attractive than a straight-on 45-degree-overhead view. Also, 2.5D affords the possibility of creating the illusion of 3D - by casting shadows on the ground, you can have flying vehicles, creatures, and characters.
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