Let me preface this with a disclaimer, I'm a programmer first, and an artist third.

I'm currently working on an isometric (okay, it's actually dimetric, but whatever) tile based game and I had a question as to which of these to "styles" is preferred, or the "most correct" way of doing things.



I dislike how inconsistent the vertical "corner" lines tend to be in the two-wide example, but all production quality pixel art I find does it this way.



This seems a lot more consistent, even if it causes an offset of the "steps" on the top and bottom of the tile.

I plan on hiring a proper artist to do the art once the project gets closer to completion, but I would like to have my placeholder images match the final style, as this seems like it could have a dramatic impact over dozens of tiles.

As well, does it matter, from an artist's perspective, which style is used? Is it considered rude to request an artist use one style over another?

Sorry if this is painfully basic or if I've posted to the wrong board. I appreciate any feed back I can get!

Here's a mockup of what I've done using the three-wide style:

This corner issue with iso projects comes down to programming. If the code uses tiles or places assets individually then you have to use 2px corners only.
3px corners are for standalone iso assets or details within a 2px corner tile (fake center).

Its not rude in any way to ask an artist to make all assets 3px corners but it is cruel to ask an artist to remake every single asset into 2px because the programmer did not plan ahead.

I would suggest you keep your OCD in check and seriously consider the 2px corner tile method :p

Edited by jalonso - 10 November 2014 at 6:10am