Will there be a 3D Mode?

Airport CEO Support
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I was wondering, if they have a concept photo in 3D, does that mean there might be a 3D mode? Just sayin’…
Photo For Reference:

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While these models are in 3D, the actual stuff ingame is all 2D images, we don’t have real 3D models ingame :frowning: sorry!

We use 3D models for the art as this solves the “where do shadows go” puzzle rather easily.
The computer will generate a shadow on the 3D model, we take a picture (sprite) and put that ingame.

So unfortunately it won’t be like a “secret feature that allows you to tilt the camera and suddenly you see everything in 3D”

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Thanks for the Clarification!

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So sad that it won’t be like the prison architect game :frowning:

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@Jettuh Thanks for your input and feedback. As a game development noob could you tell me why create such beautiful 3D models and then use a 2D graphics engine?

I always though Airport CEO is 2D simply because it’s easier to create 2D models instead of 3D. But if you create 3D models anyway, why downgrade to the year 1990 and only use 2D vision?

Again, there might be a good reason, but nowadays 3D should be the least you can expect from a game.

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Tycoon games are usually played by older players who maybe have a laptop/desktop for other functions than gaming. A 2d engine works better on lower end machines and therefore increase your market access. A good art style/gameplay will make up for lack of dimension!

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Thanks for the feedback and understood. I cannot really believe, however, that there are still so many old machines out there where graphics performance is an issue. Look at all the old titles such as Cities Skylines, Transport Fever, etc. that are running in 3D.

But I guess the developers originally decided to go 2D and it probably is difficult to switch at this stage of the game.

I agree with you that gameplay, art style and realism make up for lack of dimension, but in my opinion one should always go for the best solution, so combine great gameplay and realism with a decent 3D graphic (understandably for a tycoon game you do not necessarily need a Flight Simulator X graphic).

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There are a few aspects to this. One of the most prominent one is that there was simply a very good match between @Jettuh’s visual artstyle, a swift and easy creation process in 3Ds Max that matches our workflow and a good alignment with the general art direction we wanted to take the game in. It’s possible that a very skilled 2D artist could create similar quality art in Photoshop but for us this works really well, just because you’re making a 2D game doesn’t mean you have to limit you tooling and mindset to two dimensions.

It’s also in many cases very difficult to represent certain objects well in a 2D top down perspective. Creating them in 3D and then simply rendering them from a top down 2D perspective takes away a lot of guess work, so instead of sitting there and wondering about how certain angles and shadows fall on a APU when seen from above we simply create the full model in 3D and then 3Ds Max gives us an exact result (granted, not all vehicles have finished bottoms because they’re not visible, and so forth).

Working in 3D also has other benefits that we might talk about in a later stage, while we will never go full 3D with Airport CEO it’s actually still a 3D game with mostly 2D assets. For example, the street lamps are more or less perceived as 3D but consist of 2D art - which is because it simply didn’t look good enough without the depth perspective.

In my opinion, just because something is in 2D doesn’t automatically means it has worse art than a 3D equivalent. A game isn’t made entirely on its visual look, it’s complemented by it. There are many great games out there with a brilliant, non-3D art style but they on their own wouldn’t hold up if the game mechanics suck. I’m getting off track here a bit but Cuphead is a perfect example of a game with a great, non-3D art style and great mechanics. Both of them complement each-other and make it a great game, if the game mechanics suck the art wouldn’t really matter.

I disagree! I listened to a pretty interesting podcast episode about this, it’s sadly in Swedish though (but has an English interview) and it’s episode description (translated by google) goes like this:

Ever since the first computer games, development has been clear - the graphics have always been better and better. But today, when the graphics cards glow in order to cope with the latest 4K resolution, there are also those who are drawn to the opposite. In this section of Extraliv we hear stories about people who prefer clumsy pixels in front of hyperrealism.

When all AAA studios focus so heavily on realistic graphics it’s natural, and wonderful, that a different take on graphics pops up and that we get to experience more and different art styles through the lens of indie developers.

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Hi Olof,

thanks for your detailed explanation, especially why there is a benefit in using 3D objects to create 2D graphics.

You state many good points and I fully agree with you that the game mechanics, level of realism, game balance etc. are more important than graphics.

I also agree that there is no need to go 4K and use extra brilliant graphics for a Tycoon game. As I said in my previous post, no need for a Flight Simulator X graphics. And I rather play a well designed 2D game than a 3D game that has the looks of a badly drawn comic. But the above shown concepts look fabulous and at least an angled view (like in Sim City 4) would add a lot of value to the game IMHO.

And please don’t get me wrong. The reason I play Airport CEO is that the gameplay and the level of detail and realism is just great and makes a lot of fun. I just always thought that you guys were using 2D because it is simpler to do and thus was surprised to see that you use 3D “originals” to create 2D images.

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I think it’s a really interesting discussion, and I agree with this point too! The next Apoapsis Studios game will probably be something in 3D, utilizing everything we’ve learnt from Airport CEO… but that’s some time down the road to say the least! :wink:

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With lots of things having been build in 3D, do you believe there might ever (like in a couple of years)become a mode to loook down in an angle on your airport instead of face down?

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Maybe in Airport C20 somewhere down the road… :wink:

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maybe someday do what Prison Architect did, experiment with 3D in the future and just see how it handles but not make it a priority over anything. Just a little something you can mess about with on a break or getting back in after a break from coding.

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This is what I’ve been thinking. The current game engine supports a 3D conversion, and I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be possible, however at the moment its just extremely extremely impractical, as the current game is not feature complete and making the game 3D would take a whole lot of time and resources and testing etc. But i definitely think its doable, especially once multi floor terminals are implemented, as that will provide the framework for things like 3D pathfinding and assets that have a presence on more than one floor (elevators, stands with jetways etc).

I like the idea of a Prison architect approach-make it possible for experimental purposes (and maybe the community will come up with something?).

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Yep, this pretty much sums it up. It is absolutely doable but I don’t see the point throwing months of development time into such feature at this point. I think if we were to ever make it in 3D, it would be much easier to do a sequel as a lot of the code and scripts are based around 2D vectors.

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