One of the challenges of developing a top-down game is keeping the main character in view. Some of the objects, such as walls, going to obstruct the character. Obvious answer is to hide or make see-through anything that blocks the view of the character at the point it occludes them, but what techniques can be used to do that?

Solution 1:

The most obvious and easiest solution to that problem is to make all levels open and large. That way it is impossible to have a large obstruction between the player and the camera.

Example of open and large level in Wargame: Red Dragon

However, this doesn’t the concept of Heist Against Heretics, where gameplay takes place in a closed-space locations, such as museums, where having a big open space is rather an exception than a rule.

Solution 2:

Another solution is to use Layers. Using Layers allows us to hide specific objects from the view of Camera, allowing us to see the character. At the same time, it allows us to see those objects when they do not obstruct our view of the character.

Example of Layers in XCOM 2

The only downside is that this solution might not look too good from the visual standpoint.

Solution 3:

Third solution is to create (or buy) a custom see-through shader that will dissolve any object as the player approaches them, making sure that their view remains unobstructed.

Custom shader from the game Trifox

See-through Shader by Shadercrew. From Unity Asset Store

While this solution is the best from the visual standpoint, it is time-consuming to develop those shaders and requires additional research into that topic.

So what solution are we going to pick for our game? That’s a good question and, unfortunately, we don’t have an answer right now. Currently we are weighing our options and doing additional research to pick the best solution.