This is a standard 16x16 isometric tile. Now the thing about a tiles is that in order for perfect tessellation, the pink area of the tile must be the exact same shape as the empty space indicated by the dark green. This must hold true for all four quadrants/corners (8x8 subdivision) of the tile entry. That means freaky tiles like the one on the right can also tesselate "isometrically".
ok, so here's a possible way to give the mapper tile map data. it'd be harder on the user when it comes to using the tilemap for hit detection, but it might be easier just to give the mapper an x,y coordinate. white space is "empty" where there's no tiles.
ok, so here's probably what most programmer's want. just simply aligning the tilemap info into a diamond shape so the programmer can use it for hit detection along the isometric plane. more inputs are probably needed because a tile x,y coordinate is probably needed, and then which amount of scrolling would need to be indicated.
thoughts?
basically, I'd like to know what you guys think the "standard" tile shape should be, and how you'd like to give inputs to display a specific part of a "map. imho, I like the first method better because it'd be easier to create "artificial backdrops in the "empty space". but then a separate map is needed to track hit detection on the "ground"