It’s a Room Sandwich

September 25, 2020

In finalizing the rooms for Sleuthhounds: Cruise there’s been one that I’ve revisited more than most. One that I’ll come back to, work on for a little bit, and then move onto something else because, in a way, it’s not really one room. It’s four! All stacked one above the other.

The atrium is the most important connecting room in the entire game. It provides access to six different floors in the cruise ship: the sky deck, the lido deck, the lodgings deck, the rec deck, the promenade, and engineering. The middle four of these are all represented within the atrium itself, with stairs and an elevator leading to the other two. Stairs and the elevator also connect the four parts of this room, which, in game, scrolls vertically as players move up or down.

It’s been quite the technical challenge getting this room finished. The elevator alone required a fair bit of work, what with being able to open and close its doors on the correct levels, moving characters between floors, and synchronizing all of that with moving needles that display above the entrances.

Then there are the stairs. Characters need to be able to walk both in front of and behind the stairs in the same way that they might need to be able to walk in front of and behind a table or a chair in any other room. However, they must also be able to walk up and down the stairs. And since the image for this room is fundamentally a two dimensional one, well, it takes quite a bit of technical sleight-of-hand to get characters looking like they’re standing and moving where they’re supposed to be.

The good news is that, after dabbling in this room in dribs and drabs across many months, it’s finally done. Put a checkmark in the completed column!

[The lido deck.]
The lido deck.

[The lodgings deck; with a mob!]
The lodgings deck; with a mob!

[The rec deck.]
The rec deck.

[The lido deck.]
The promenade.