Months ago I tried to explain to some friends the smart use of using 2.5 Assets while using an Isometric Camera, but I failed to explain carefully how this would work.
I am glad that a friend of mine actually found this link of GCD (Game Conference Development Talk) by Christian Lichtner.
The way that this works, is by using painted textures (or already prerendered) work, place it in planes, and connect the planes to give the paralax effect.
I may create an environment tech with this in mind (with having the camera set to a dimension)
Great advantages of using this, is giving a painterly feel to the environments while costing very low polygon count.
The disadvantage is however, its only suited for a particular camera angle or for assets that are at a distance or our of reach.
Another disadvantage also, more thought and more time on texture painting. Figuring out what works as a 2.5 asset.
After clicking the link, if you want to skip, click on The Game Canvas – 2.5 Geometry Trees
I do recommend watching the entire talk however 🙂
In this GDC Vault Talk, the Blizzard Artist carefully explains how art with high fidelity can be displayed using low triangulation. A way to remain art un-aged.