I published a new addon here: construct.net/en/make-games/addons/955/25d

It introduces a new behavior for a very common requirement: handling the Z elevation of sprites in games with an angled top-down point of view, sometimes confusingly called 2.D games.

Sprites in such games can move in front or behind each other and this has to be adjusted dynamically. Attach the 2•5D behavior to all objects involved and they are arranged automatically.

The behavior works as expected with both Orthographic and Perspective projections, because it uses the screen Y, not the world Y, to calculate the Z elevation.

You can see a live example on my itch.io page. It runs in the browser: maurovanetti.itch.io/25d4c3

The example projects uses a Family called 2.5D comprising all objects that require being rendered in a 2.5D way.

Feedback is highly appreciated!

PARAMETERS

Locked

Usually false, but you might want to lock items that do not need to update their Z elevation every tick. A typical example is static sprites in an Orthographic projection (don't lock items in a Perspective projection). Another use case is a sprite that's moving along the vertical axis but this does not represent a movement on the world plane but perpendicular to it, like a jump or a dive.

Image point

ID or name of the image point used as a reference for the object. This is usually a point representing the base of the portrayed object, e.g. the feet of a character.

Max Z variation

The Z elevation varies depending on the Y position of each object on the screen. Objects along the top edge of the screen get the max Z. Objects at the middle get 0. Object along the bottom edge get max Z with a negative sign. This is only relevant when using a Perspective projection, because larger Z variations translate into larger scale variations. If this value is too large, the sprites may end up being clipped out of view by the camera constraints. In order to get a consistent result, the Max Z variation should be the same for all 2.5D objects involved.

I usually need to add multiple children to one parent. Sometime like 20 different objects. So I can see how your suggestion may be useful, but I would also prefer to keep the current method.

I would definitely keep the current method as well! It's very convenient for your use case and most users have already learned it.

The Scene Graph is awesome!

I'm using it with my students (both in high school and academy) and it's really straightforward for them to realise how to use hierarchies with triggers and the like, or as a way to connect an avatar with its Platform-powered collision box in a platformer. It's much easier to explain game design with those nice green arrows than using containers.

Still, they always struggle with remembering how to create a hierarchic relationship within the editor. Hold Shift + select both + right-click on the parent + pick Hierarchy > Add selection to this instance = huge complication.

The way they (and I) think is: we want to draw the green arrow from the parent to the child. Therefore my suggestion is: Please add a feature where you can just right-click on the parent and select Hierarchy > Add child: a green arrow would appear that can be connected to the child object.

Please tell me your opinion.