Top down shooter with pseudo 3d camera?

[Jakus]

Hey hey,

I'm looking at making a top down shooter where things can rise from the screen (eg. helicopter or mortar) and was interested in seeing what is a good way of approaching this?

The camera would always be fixed from directly above but could be fixed to different Z heights. As in player gets shot into the air and the ground gets smaller as camera follows them into the air or player is walking on a platform higher than ground level. Also if a helicopter for example was to pass over; have them larger or smaller depending on their z level and the camera height.

If anyone has any information, tips or resources they could share with me that would be awesome.

Thank you

[pgimeno]

The world should probably be pure 3D even if drawn in pseudo-3D; therefore, each object should have a height with respect to the ground, and a thickness. Magnification factor is proportional to distance. Calculate the distance from the map to the camera, and from each object to the camera, and apply the corresponding zoom factor. Define a maximum height for the camera, and create your map in such a way that at this height, no borders are visible.