Chapter 11. 2D Game Programming

 

“PICTURE: A representation in two dimensions of something wearisome in three.”

 
 --Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

KEY TOPICS

  • On Older Hardware

  • Data Structures for 2D Games

  • Mapping Matrices

  • 2D Game Algorithms

  • Special Effects

  • In Closing

The first generation of video games were all two dimensional. The internal representation of the game world had only two axes at most (usually up-down or left-right). Some games, such as Diablo, tried to give the illusion of depth by using isometric perspective, but it was all make-believe.

Two-dimensional games are mostly gone from high-end platforms such as PCs and consoles. However, there are many other uses of two-dimensional technologies, which still remain today. Handhelds, game-capable ...

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