How to implement a 3rd-person moving background (Space Harrier)?

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Was looking at Space Harrier, one of the earliest third-person shooters. Was wondering what is the best way to implement the moving background in the game? The first way I could think of would be to create several backgrounds and make them animated. But is there a better method?

http://youtu.be/usiaujwjv4M

#2

I think this is what’s known in Sega talk as “Mode 7”.  Part of the cool things you can do with Graphics 2.0 (requires a Pro subscription or higher) is to do things like that.  See this forum thread where one of our developers built a Mode 7 demo:

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/40443-mode-7-demo-full-source/

Rob

#3

Thanks Rob for introducing me to the Mode 7 concept.

I do notice however that the Sega Master System version in the YouTube video (unlike Space Harrier 2 on the Genesis) only has the ground moving forwards, so you can’t pan it left or right as the player moves around.  So in this case, isn’t possible to just animate a set of images for the ground?  And for the enemies have animated sprites in various scalings?

#4

“Mode 7” is actually a graphics feature found on the SNES. It has nothing to do with Sega. Space Harrier uses a variation of the “raster road” algorithm that was used in most 8-bit and 16-bit machines of the eighties and early nineties. You can get an explanation of how that’s done here and here.

#5

Great! Thank you, this is awesome reading material. I will dive in…

#6

I think this is what’s known in Sega talk as “Mode 7”.  Part of the cool things you can do with Graphics 2.0 (requires a Pro subscription or higher) is to do things like that.  See this forum thread where one of our developers built a Mode 7 demo:

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/40443-mode-7-demo-full-source/

Rob

#7

Thanks Rob for introducing me to the Mode 7 concept.

I do notice however that the Sega Master System version in the YouTube video (unlike Space Harrier 2 on the Genesis) only has the ground moving forwards, so you can’t pan it left or right as the player moves around.  So in this case, isn’t possible to just animate a set of images for the ground?  And for the enemies have animated sprites in various scalings?

#8

“Mode 7” is actually a graphics feature found on the SNES. It has nothing to do with Sega. Space Harrier uses a variation of the “raster road” algorithm that was used in most 8-bit and 16-bit machines of the eighties and early nineties. You can get an explanation of how that’s done here and here.

#9

Great! Thank you, this is awesome reading material. I will dive in…