History Main / InvisibleGrid

[[caption-width-right:225:Just a bunch of randomly placed cubes. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial No grid here. Move along.]]]]

* Games in the ''Franchise/{{Lunar}}'' series have rather fine-grained grids (characters are 2 squares wide, for instance) and the lack of direct control over the {{PC}}s' movements hides it rather well.

Games which make continual use of the Invisible Grid, not only for jumping but for walking as well, are often said to be "On Rails", as if the game was played from a railcar. This style of play is common for LightGun based games and for {{Adventure Game}}s using a first person view with prerendered scenery. It is uncommon in other genres.

* ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' has a sort of "optional grid", in the form of his various climbing and landing techniques. All a jump needs to be is close, then a tap on the circle button brings Sly in for a perfect landing on a wire, vertical pole, or tiny point. Landing on bigger platforms is, in fact, trickier. In addition, all the points he can do this on are marked, representing his "thief instincts".

** ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' does this as well, although only characters (and not objects like stone pillars) are able to break off of the grid.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' adhered to this trope religiously up until ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', where it appears to be grid-based until you get roller skates, and later the bike, which lets you move in 360 degrees at any length. There are also certain areas, such as Glimmering Cave and Lumiose City, where even walking without the rollerskates or bike isn't done square-by-square. These areas also have a behind the back camera. They also don't have RandomEncounters, they're all in set places.

* Pretty much ANY 2D RPG. ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' is notable for ''not'' having a grid.

** By default, any game made with the [[http://www.byond.com/ BYOND engine]] is tile-based. You can hack around this restriction, but the majority of the games made with it will adhere to this trope.
* Early dungeon crawlers, even 3D ones which were measured in cubes, and all turns were 90 degrees. (See FauxFirstPerson3D.) Texture repetition revealed the grid. Examples include some ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}s'', ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'', and Creator/{{TSR}}'s ''Pools of Radiance'' series.

* The Sands Trilogy of ''PrinceOfPersia'' had grids everywhere, determining the launch and landing points for wallruns, leaps and chain-swings.
** The 2D ''PrinceOfPersia'' games were obviously grid-based.

* The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games on the SuperNintendo are a bit weird about this. The graphics clearly align to a grid, but characters can also take "half-steps" and stand half in one space and another. It made walking around look slightly more natural that way.

[[AC:ActionAdventure]]
* In order to clean up the controls in the 3D ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, camera control and jumping were delegated to the computer. For jumping, this worked out to an inversion of EdgeGravity where Link would automatically jump whenever he ran toward something designated as a ledge.

[[AC:PlatformGame]]

[[AC:PuzzleGame]]

[[AC:RolePlayingGame]]

[[AC:StealthBasedGame]]

[[AC:TurnBasedStrategy]]

While this takes much of the guesswork out of the process, and therefore allows the player to move quickly without aiming his jumps, it also creates artificial restrictions on the player's actions. One major feature of a game with an InvisibleGrid is the lack of an [[JumpPhysics ability to steer in the air]].

Games which make continual use of the InvisibleGrid, not only for jumping but for walking as well, are often said to be "On Rails", as if the game was played from a railcar. This style of play is common for LightGun based games and for {{Adventure Game}}s using a first person view with prerendered scenery. It is uncommon in other genres.

* Early dungeon crawlers, even 3D ones which were measured in cubes, and all turns were 90 degrees. (See FauxFirstPerson3D.) Texture repetition revealed the grid. Examples include some ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}s'', ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'', and Creator/{{TSR}}'s ''Pools of Radiance'' series.

* Early dungeon crawlers, even 3D ones which were measured in cubes, and all turns were 90 degrees. (See FauxFirstPerson3D.) Texture repetition revealed the grid. Examples include some ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}s'', ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'', and TSR's ''Pools of Radiance'' series.
* The ''DragonQuest'' games on the SuperNintendo are a bit weird about this. The graphics clearly align to a grid, but characters can also take "half-steps" and stand half in one space and another. It made walking around look slightly more natural that way.

* Pretty much ANY 2D RPG. ''VideoGame/{{Lunar}}'' and ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' are notable for ''not'' having grids.
** ''Lunar'' has a grid, but it's rather fine-grained (characters are 2 squares wide, for instance) and the lack of direct control over the {{PC}}s' movements hides it rather well.

* Pretty much ANY 2D RPG. ''{{Lunar}}'' and ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' are notable for ''not'' having grids.

[[caption-width-right:225:Randomly placed cubes, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial nope no grid at all]].]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Gruntz}} uses a top-down view with a slight angle, with the levels consisting entirely of 32x32 tiles.

* The ''{{Oddworld}}'' games featured one of these, and made it very obvious by forcing you to use it for puzzles like jumping over mines laid out at certain space intervals (walking moved you one "slot" at a time, a jump moved you three, and a running jump four with another one or two of skidding afterwards.

* The NipponIchi strategy [=RPG=]s ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'' and ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'' have fairly fine grids that usually stay tucked well out of sight, but characters will visibly snap to certain positions from time to time.

* The NipponIchi strategy [=RPG=]s ''PhantomBrave'' and ''MakaiKingdom'' have fairly fine grids that usually stay tucked well out of sight, but characters will visibly snap to certain positions from time to time.

* ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic IV'' attempted to completely hide the very fine square grid used in combat (a typical unit took up 7 hexes). However, players took it as an InterfaceScrew, since you could no longer tell if you were moving the furthest you could go, or if you were exactly where you wanted to be. The game was patched so players could once again view the grid.

* ''Frachise/{{Pokemon}}'' adhered to this trope religiously up until ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', where it appears to be grid-based until you get roller skates, and later the bike, which lets you move in 360 degrees at any length. There are also certain areas, such as Glimmering Cave and Lumiose City, where even walking without the rollerskates or bike isn't done square-by-square. These areas also have a behind the back camera. They also don't have RandomEncounters, they're all in set places.

* ''{{Pokemon}}'' adhered to this trope religiously up until ''PokemonXAndY'', where it appears to be grid-based until you get roller skates, and later the bike, which lets you move in 360 degrees at any length. There are also certain areas, such as Glimmering Cave and Lumiose City, where even walking without the rollerskates or bike isn't done square-by-square. These areas also have a behind the back camera. They also don't have RandomEncounters, they're all in set places.

** Until you put on the Goron's mask in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''. The jumping puzzles required then are NintendoHard. Missing is common.
*** To clarify, the "jumps" in question aren't actually jumps: Goron Link is capable of rolling into a ball which careens around like [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]], this is often used in conjunction with ramps to catapult across enormous gaps.

* {{Pokemon}} is a notable example. Adhered to this trope religiously up until PokemonXAndY, where it appears to be grid-based until you get roller skates, and later the bike, which lets you move in 360 degrees at any length. But it's still a pretty clear example of this, as only very rarely are objects not placed according to a grid and it's easily disguised by the addition of diagonal movement when you're not using the roller skates or bike. Even the tall grass has noticeable square patches, and if you run into a battle you'll end up right in the center of the square you were closest to afterwards, showing it doesn't even save where your exact position was, only which square.
** There are certain areas that avert this entirely, however, such as Glimmering Cave and Lumiose City, where even walking without the rollerskates or bike isn't done square-by-square. These areas also have a behind the back camera. They also don't have RandomEncounters, they're all in set places.

* The first person stealth game ''Stolen'' uses a variation of this. Jumps which could be fatal if missed behave as if handled with a basic physics system, while all jumps in the "normal" parts of missions are scripted. This is semi-justified by the game locked into a third-person camera whenever moving and having to line up animations of acrobatic moves with the environment. You can, however, hop in place almost anywhere.

[[caption-width-right:225:Randomly placed cubes, [[SarcasmMode nope no grid at all]].]]

* ''SlyCooper'' has a sort of "optional grid", in the form of his various climbing and landing techniques. All a jump needs to be is close, then a tap on the circle button brings Sly in for a perfect landing on a wire, vertical pole, or tiny point. Landing on bigger platforms is, in fact, trickier. In addition, all the points he can do this on are marked, representing his "thief instincts".

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