History Main / TwoDSpace

* Space is ''very'' 3D in the Microsoft-turned-Open Source game ''VideoGame/{{Allegiance}}''; rolling the ship to present the narrowest profile (and most weapons) is critical, enemies will fly at you from any direction, asteroids, stations, [[OurWormholesAreDifferent alephs]], and valuable items may be vastly above or below you. The tutorial specifically advises dropping scanner probes above and below the plane of the ecliptic, since pilots are less likely to look for them there. However, it is not a ''perfect'' aversion, as the "sectors" in which combat takes place are not entirely spherical, but somewhat squashed -- there is less "up and down" room than "side to side" or "back and forth," and sometimes this becomes important in gameplay (such as when trying to hide in a stealthy ship). Also, there is still a well-defined "plane" lying across the middle of the sector, and while some asteroids will be found far above and below, most of them will be scattered relatively close to it. In the end, however, the game is still remarkable for averting, if imperfectly, this and many other SpaceIsAnOcean and SpaceIsAir tropes while remaining very fun to play.

** ''X3: Albion Prelude'' adds major variations in station altitude to the Terran sectors. This becomes very annoying in the Asteroid Belt since they put the sector's main dock about a dozen kilometers below the ecliptic, with its docking ports on the ''bottom''. Given the [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfVelocity absurdly slow]] ships in the game, this borders on a ScrappyMechanic.

** ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' has an interesting mix of 2D and 3D. On the one hand, there is a universal "up", ships only have 4 shields (front/back, port/starboard), and ships can only travel 45 degrees up or down. On the other hand, the combat space is entirely three-dimensional, allowing ships to pass over or under each other, come at each other from top or bottom (well, at a 45 degree angle) and be in or out of weapons range in a full sphere around a target.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'', everything, that is, ''everything'', lies in the same two-dimensional plane: planets, bases, trade lanes, jump holes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The player, however, can move along the vertical axis, allowing for some really intense space battles. Since gameplay would certainly be harder if the game followed the actual three-dimensional structure of the space, this is part of the many AcceptableBreaksFromReality that can be seen on video games.\\\
Due to the fact that planets tend to be almost exactly in a horizontal plane around their local star, that's not so bad -- if the planets are on that plane, the lanes joining them would be as well, and since the axis of rotation also tends to be perpendicular to that same plane, geostationary satellites would be on it- so any stations orbiting the planet could well be in the same plane to make it easier to set up ground-based logistics. Granted, the jump holes and the stations not associated with any particular planet have no reason to be in that plane (except, perhaps, ease of mapping...). Granted, it is possible to place everything over and under the same plane. In many mods new objects, space stations, jumpholes etc. ARE over and under the classical 2D plane, making it sometimes much harder to find. Of course, the in-game map is also in 2D.

* Multi-beam Frigates in ''Cataclysm'' did this in the un-modded game, and also didn't bother with the orientation convention. In-universe they were designed for this role from the ground up, with weapon placements allowing them to engage at any angle.

* The first ''Star Control'' had a 3D starmap in 1990, but it was ''really'' simple-looking and confusing. In the manual, ''Star Control 2'' attempts to justify its two-dimensionality by explaining it as an unusual property of HyperSpace... but this doesn't explain the equally two-dimensional non-hyperspace combat.
** ''Star Control 3'' reverted to 3D starmap. It was considerably more difficult to remember where anything was and a good deal less pretty -- for a start it lacked the "spheres of influence" from ''[=SC2=]''. Of course, "circles of influence" would have been a more accurate term.

* In ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft}}'', the maps in Space take place on man-made orbital platforms and [[SpaceIsAnOcean the space between them is like the water on other maps]], so they are functionally no different from the maps that are on the surfaces of planets. So guardians, air units that can only attack ground, still can't attack other air units even with the freedom of space, and the siege tanks' attacks are still restricted to the surface of the platform, though they would presumably be able to hit air units in the low gravity conditions. And none of the aerial or space-faring units can fly over the enemy defences.

* Played straight in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestV'' when Roger Wilco has to rescue his chief engineer, Cliffy in the ''SCS Eureka's'' EVA pod. You locate him using a radar and navigate space as if it was the ocean, with no changes in any vertical direction. The second use of the pod is a little more lenient, when you use it to sneak aboard Captain Quirk's warship, the ''SCS Goliath'' by locating a section of one of the vertical decks.

** Defenders surrounding a planet with orbital battlestations defy the trope since they know people could just "go around" if said stations are merely arranged in a ring. Instead, they're arranged in a sphere around the whole planet.

** All battles are fought in 2D, regardless of a lot of them occuring high above the ground. This is very much a [[RuleOfFun playability consideration]], as the games are [[BulletHell difficult enough]] without adding an entire extra dimension; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyTxURGwu98 this Reimu vs Utsuho]] FanVid is one fan's interpretation of what a 3D Spell Card duel would look like, and it is ''nuts''. There is also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09ngfE279uk&NR=1 this fangame]] that is basically Touhou in 3D.

* The ''Videogame/MountAndBlade'' GameMod ''VideoGame/StarWarsConquest'' has a worldmap which is a two-dimensional representation of the Galaxy, with the space vacuum instead of Calradian land, and several kind of planets and space stations instead of the villages, castles, and towns.

* Gets a BetterThanABareBulb mention in one ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novel, where he mentions the Imperial Navy's commissars would have a better grasp of the space battle than himself, having trained in 3D tactics.

--> '''Keyro:''' "Sorry. I guess I've lived on a planet for too long and I've gotten used to working in only two dimensions instead of three."

-->''It also gave him great perspective, allowing him to remember that in space battles, as opposed to ground battles, the attacks could come from any position: above, below, behind, or sideways. So many commanders forgot that after years out of a fighter pilot's chair.''

--> [[OhCrap "Oh! I didn't think of that!"]]

-->'''Leela:''' When you were planning this peace ring, didn't you realize spaceships can move in three dimensions?\\

* Exploited in ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'' and its sequel, ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', – anyone who plays this trope straight ends up losing because [[GenreSavvy someone else]] [[ExploitedTrope thought in three dimensions]]. For example...

* In ''LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars'' and its sequel ''Banner of the Stars'', hyperspace is ''literally'' two-dimensional, with important strategic and tactical consequences. Though the spaceships create bubbles of regular time-space around themselves to navigate in this 2D hyperspace, and when two of those intersect the fight is locally tridimensional.

* ''LightNovel/{{Tytania}}'' plays this straight for the most part. Some of the tactical formations shown on the command screens were 3 dimensional. Alas, most of the actual fleet battle scenes consisted of opposing walls of ships shooting in straight lines at each other, shared horizon et al.

** ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' depicts the final battle between the ''Enterprise'' and the ''Scimitar'' with both ships utilizing full directional advantage. After taking substantial damage to a particular side of the DeflectorShield, the ''Enterprise'' would rotate less damaged sections away from the line of sight of the ''Scimitar'' to offer more time for repairs, which involves the image of turning sideways or upside down. Previously, and most of the time afterward, even combat against large cruisers played out more like an OldSchoolDogfight, some twist and turns but largely staying on the same relative plane as the opponent.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' is played totally on a 2D field. Ships might barely appear to maneuver a bit over or under the plane of operations, but are still tied to it. Functionally, there is not much difference from the map of Europa Universalis, with provinces being replaced by star systems.

* Parodied in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9W7pvOLxmQ Every Episode of Popular Space Show™]] by Creator/AlasdairBeckettKing, in which two spacecraft captains, during a confrontation, complain that the other's ship is at a weird angle. This cumulates in one teleporting the other onboard, sideways.

*** To be fair, the orbital mechanics may check out. It may seem strange for a ship to jump from the ground to orbital velocity, but consider that planets and star systems are often moving in very different directions from one another; if a hyperspace jump cannot cause a change in normal-space velocity, then a ship making a jump into another system would sometimes find itself flying out of the system at a significant fraction of the speed of light... And we definitely don't see any ships turning and firing their main engines to compensate for this.

** Exploited in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', where the page quote comes from. Kirk and his ''Enterprise'', battling Khan in a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie sensor-jamming nebula]], manage to duck under Khan's ''Reliant'' and then rise to deliver the fatal shots. However, for all the implications that his "two-dimensional thinking" was a critical flaw in Khan's strategic prowess (he's never fought a space battle before, because almost all of the time he's been in space was as a HumanPopsicle), this is [[OneShotRevisionism one of perhaps two times]] in the franchise's entire history that anyone tries anything like this. There's also the fact that the ''Enterprise'' has to "rise up" behind the ''Reliant'' before firing on it. While this is certainly dramatic, realistically there's no reason why the ship couldn't fire on the ''Reliant'' while still under it. Even if the weapon systems were all forward facing, all they would have to do is rotate the ''Enterprise'' until it was pointed directly at the ''Reliant'''s underside.

** In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' the Trade Federation blockade Naboo with a fleet of ships arranged in a ring around the planet. Instead of just flying around them, the main characters try to fly through them and barely survive.

* Gets a BetterThanABareBulb mention in one ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novel, where he mentions the Imperial Navy's commissars would have a better grasp of the space battle, having trained in 3D tactics.

*** Another episode concerned a Klingon plot to place mines around the Bajoran system. Near the end of the episode the minefield is detonated, and they are shown to have been placed in a shallow ring around the system. Neither the Klingons nor the [=DS9=] crew seem to realize that it would've been easy enough just to fly over or under the mines.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. Lampshaded hilariously in one episode when Wash tries to lose a pursuing spaceship by flying into a narrow canyon. After some fancy maneuvering and bragging on Wash's part, a pan out reveals their pursuer simply flying over the canyon.

* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' has an interesting mix of 2D and 3D: while there is a universal "up", ships only have 4 shields (front/back, port/starboard), and ships can only travel 45 degrees up or down, the combat space is entirely three-dimensional, allowing ships to pass over or under each other, come at each other from top or bottom (well, at a 45 degree angle) and be in or out of weapons range in a full sphere around a target.
** Can be really annoying, when the most efficient maneuver in a situation might be a loop, but you apparently can't do that. No, not even in a fighter.

* Standard in ''VideoGame/{{Stars}}'' where the universe is set out on a 2-D plane.

* Done to death in nearly every piece of the ''StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]: