I had a look at the Lost Halls 2.0 preview video and noticed that the holes in the floor look rather lame and flat: (They’re scuffed)
They could be a lot more impressive! Something like this:
I think there should be a new kind of object that looks like a hole in the floor, just like that above image.
Now for the more technical part. Visually, it should work just like a wall, but on a layer below the layer with the ground tiles. Its bottom, like a wall’s top, should always be visible if it has one. Its sides should only be visible next to floor tiles except all invisible tiles, such as Space. It should not block vision, walking or shots, although it should be capable of that just like any other wall or tree.
The bridge in the image is just a flat sprite object, just like a lilypad or the stuff on the lava in the Abyss of Demons. The entire moat is covered in Space tiles, except the bridge, which has invisible, but walkable tiles under it so that players and monsters can move on the bridge.
Its texture and the amount of tiles it extends downwards should be configurable. If it has the tag for it, then it should have a black gradient on it.
Proposed example XML:
<Object type="X" id="Rocky Moat">
<Class>Moat</Class>
<Texture>
<File>lofiEnvironment</File>
<Index>0x60</Index>
</Texture>
<Bottom>
<File>lofiEnvironment</File>
<Index>0x60</Index>
</Bottom>
<Depth>2</Depth>
<HitSound>monster/stone_walls_hit</HitSound>
<DeathSound>monster/stone_walls_death</DeathSound>
<Static/>
</Object>
A breakdown:
<Class>Moat</Class>
This object is a Moat, a new class just for objects like this.
<Texture>
<File>lofiEnvironment</File>
<Index>0x60</Index>
</Texture>
<Bottom>
<File>lofiEnvironment</File>
<Index>0x60</Index>
</Bottom>
This moat has a rocky texture on its sides and bottom. If a bottom texture isn’t specified, then it isn’t rendered.
<Depth>2</Depth>
This moat is 2 tiles deep. I think double walls should be deprecated and walls should be given a similar Height tag.
<HitSound>monster/stone_walls_hit</HitSound>
<DeathSound>monster/stone_walls_death</DeathSound>
These tags are even on things that can’t be hit or die, so I left them alone.
<Gradient/>
This moat’s sides have a gradient from transparent to black, top to bottom. This should be used if the moat has no bottom texture and there is no background.
The moat should have no tags that make it block movement in any way, as that is the job of the tile under it.
Edit: Boss room F from the Stone Caves of Nores 2 (575kB)
Edit: The gradient should be added by specifying a gradient color instead
