Perspective in Top down game art 2d

[NonsensicalD]

So I was kind of hesitant to make this video. This is not really my topic of expertise, but I also feel like it isn't talked about as much I would like. and since I do on occasion play around with this stuff I figured I might as well talk a bit about it. I've tried condensing my understanding of the topic, hopefully it is all somewhat sensible and hopefully I haven't made any mistakes. I technically don't think the projections themselves are that practically useful to know unless you try and replicate stuff in 3d, but for me it helps conceptualising what I am doing. I have also gotten quite far on a similar video for platformers, this video was originally just supposed to cover projections in general, but it kind of ballooned (this is already a way too long video :) ).

I did make a small infographics as well, just condensing some things, so that you don't have to go back to the video, I might update it in the future if necessary.

Please, if I made any mistake, comment and I'll try and fix it. (I know I say perspective instead of projection on occasion, which is more of an equivocation rather than an error, so I let it be).

[zZMazeZz]

As a non-artist who's making their own top-down game art, i didn't have the words to know how to look into these topics. Thankyou so much this it has helped tremendously.

[dylanjackson]

i love how practical this channel is. zero nonsense, well communicated, and thorough.

[SilentCypher-fcpf]

This is genuinely the best explanation on perspective in top down games i’ve seen. All the information needed without over complicating it. I’ve been looking for something like this so thank you. I had never considered the impact of sloping the walls towards a vanishing point, that really clicked for me it instantly added the illusion of height. Keep up the great content!

[mattrobb]

Fantastic 21 mins of super art education, thanks! I'll now have to spend 3 weeks thinking about this and revisiting parts of this video before I draw any more top down art. The great thing here is I learned more in this 21 mins than I did in a whole term (semester) of technical drawing lessons at school. Thanks again, you are a brilliant teacher.

[BlackkTiger]

I'm at a loss for words. This was extremely helpful. It's incredible how deftly you go from discussing technique, to style, to design philosophy, and all of it is so honest, thoughtful, and humble. Thank you!

[JohnDoe-kzs]

Hi, thank you so much for making this video.
It amazes me that it doesn’t bug me when a front view character is walking on a top view street in front of an 45-deg orthogonal projection building, when I actually play any of these games.
But my brain refuses to reconcile these different perspectives when I try to draw my own asset 😂

[CrisTitanium]

I'm an engineer who did advanced CAD for ages.

Knowing how to do technical blueprints and whatnot and being aware of these whole perspective things but not knowing how/why annoyed me to no end.

Thanks for showing me the math relations I needed to make things look somewhat accurate.

[jacksontaylorh]

This is easily the most comprehensive video on this topic. Thank you for all the work that went into this!

[KnerDraws]

dude your video and overall work is amazing! From the quality of shooting to the detailed explanation and the amount of information and work! Wow! I've been searching for someone who speaks about 2D games in general, and I'm happy YT recommended you! Gives me hope to gather my thoughts and speak about 2D mobile gaming assets which is my field of work mostly! thank you for the inspiration! Continue the amazing work!

[ginkgohue]

I never did top down art before until I got into pixel art a few months ago and as a "classic" artist, it has genuinely broken my brain trying to leave behind the perspective I'm always trying to replicate and working with this one. When you really think about it it's so difficult yet so simple.
This video helps make sense of it!!

[thequipseeker]

Thanks for this. While studying how to draw assets I was going crazy trying to understand the perspective. It's nice to know it's actually "cheated" and just to serve the "nice to see" objective!

[Cold_Oatmeal]

Thank you so much for making this video! I've been trying to wrap my head around how to make perspective work well in a 2d world, and this helped to clear it up for me! Turns out I've been mostly overthinking it all and I can get away with a lot more shenanigans than I was allowing myself. Very helpful!

[ultimaxkom]

Amazingly comprehensive for a non-expert and is very useful to greater laymen like me. Much thanks and love. (Pssst- please cover more Top-Down topics if you can)

[thewonderingvagabond]

Thank you so much for this video! I recently started working with top-down art (having previously only drawn side-scroller view) and I was having such a hard time working out the perspective. This makes so much more sense now! I also think you make a very good point that although there are theories and calculations underpinning all of this (and it's important to know them) so often it comes down to what looks good to your artistic eye, which is in the end what makes us artists.

[Beastintheomlet]

As someone who is much more of an engineer than a visual artist this video is a goldmine. I never had words to describe why 2D games often have that stubby appearance.

[alexsage]

I love your videos man. Even though the games I wanna be making are side scrollers, this was very interesting and insightful. In general, out of all the gamedev channels I've seen I enjoy your content the most, thank you!

[Trampus-]

I like it. Great explanations. Great visual representations.
Clear and punctual. Thanks!

[MarcelArtsCW]

I was looking for something different, but that vid really got me hooked with it's educational value, thank you!

[foldupgames]

Great topic! Another view that's strange is the classic Legend of Zelda where walls all stretch away from one another, so it's like you're looking into a box.
I've also found, as you touch on, that it doesn't matter if your character is actually in side view in a top-down game. The player doesn't notice and it looks fine.