Pseudo-three-dimensional

Pseudo 3D Platform Snake Rattle 'n' Roll (1990)

Pseudo -three-dimensionality (or “2.5-dimensionality”, 2.5D) is a computer term that is mainly used in relation to computer games or gaming technologies , the graphics of which try to imitate three-dimensional game space, but it is not three-dimensional.

An example of games that use pseudo-three-dimensionality can be called platformers that became popular in the late 1980s with isometric display of game levels. Often the game character in such games could only move along two axes, while changing its position relative to the floor (taking off or bouncing).

A more complex example of a pseudo-three-dimensional computer game is Doom , a first-person shooter, as well as the first-person RPG Might and Magic series. Despite the fact that the environment in this game is three-dimensional and the player can move freely in all three planes, in fact, the game levels consist of separate room-sectors with different floor and ceiling heights, while a situation in which one room would be over other. Also, opponents of the player and the vast majority of Doom elements are sprite , that is, they are not three-dimensional models, but animated two-dimensional images that move around the level and are replaced with ready-made versions from the existing library depending on the position of the object relative to the observer ( see his sprite, depicting the monster's back).

Despite the fact that most of the games on the market are three-dimensional games, pseudo-three-dimensional games continued to exist, turning into the style in which they perform the graphics of the game. There are many games ( Trine , Shadow Complex , Never Alone , Inside ) where the level is drawn by a three-dimensional engine, but movement and collision checking is limited to the X and Y axes. This principle is often done by remakes of retro games: Duck Tales Remastered , retro levels by Prince of Persia .