Draw order of pseudo-3D games

[Cyrix]

I've been trying to figure out for weeks now, how are games like Urbz for DS or Medal of Honor: Infiltrator for GBA made in regards to draw order? Are they tile based? Layered images? I ask because I plan on making a game with this draw style, however I can't figure out how this is done. I've given the multi-layer style a try, but the problem arises when you move below something that draws over you (breaking perspective). How might I make a game like this? I currently have a collision layer that is overlapped by multiple decor layers, but that's when the perspective breaking happens.

Urbz
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/GTLWPMa.jpg[/IMG]

MoH:Infiltrator
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/FGAN6Kw.jpg[/IMG]

[Meatpuppet]

i'm pretty sure they are tile based where images with bounding boxes are overlayed onto it

i might be completely wrong though

[editline]13th April 2013[/editline]

if you want doorways you could make an object that fades out when you get within a certain area of it and draws the tile below

[Zyx]

The top one is isometric, which is pretty easy to do:
There is a 2D array of stacks. Each stack contains X amount of elements. For simplicity, an element is a basic .png image of a 3D cube.
(It can be expanded upon, so each element contains 6 other images (floor, NW wall, NE wall, SW wall, SE wall, roof). They just gotta be drawn in the correct order as well.

Image:
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99717/isoDrawTut.png[/img]

Draw order pseudo code:

[cpp](for every tile in in the grid the image order)
{
(for every element in the stack from bottom up)
{
element.draw();
}
}[/cpp]

Hope this helps more than it confuses.

For the lower one, I presume it's the same principle. It's rotated to have vertical and horizontal lines.

[larikang]

If you're doing non-isometric tiles, layers are enough. The trick is designing your artwork and levels such that the perspective-breaking doesn't happen. I.e. for an arch the sprite would need to be separated into several pieces: one piece for the base (which will always be drawn before the player) and one piece for the top portion (which will always be drawn after the player).

[FPSMango]

The guy behind Project Zomboid made a big writeup about Isometric development on his [url=http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2011/04/isometric-development/]blog[/url]. The pictures are all broken though, which makes it hard to understand what he's talking about, but it's still a good read.

[Cyrix]

[QUOTE=Larikang;40281594]If you're doing non-isometric tiles, layers are enough. The trick is designing your artwork and levels such that the perspective-breaking doesn't happen. I.e. for an arch the sprite would need to be separated into several pieces: one piece for the base (which will always be drawn before the player) and one piece for the top portion (which will always be drawn after the player).[/QUOTE]

This might become my approach. It presents a few limitations in the creation of the map, however it would be better for my artist, as he would prefer not to create tiles sets.

[larikang]

I recommend taking a look at the RPG Maker assets. That uses layered sprites, so you can learn a few tricks by seeing how they arrange things.

[fpro]

I just assumed that the 2.5d effect was created by resorting the draw order of objects on the screen.

[Tamschi]

It's also a good idea to have a buffer texture for each static layer that you can draw at various offsets/wrap around, that way you only have to draw each tile once once it gets reasonable close to the view.