I am planning to make a tile turn-based game like Final Fantasy Tactics. Now, I am brainstorming of how can I implements the map arena system (the battle arena where there are block by block tile so that character can walk on) such that it is easy to merge an art consisting of whole arena terrain onto the game.
I planned to create a full-map sprite, modelling it after a real place, then put it into the game. The problem is how do I code the program such that it will know the height and location of each tile out of a large single-sprite map? If I am to do that, then I should create some kind of editor that generate such data.
If I implements a tile by tile map creation, such that I use separate art sprite for each tile, then it would be hard to put the full map onto the game. I will have to build the map from tiny sprite, tile by tile.
I would kindly ask any professional or people who have done these type of game before, which method would you suggest me to do?
Another question that I want to ask is, if any of you know, how does game like final fantasy tactics layout their background map to make it look 3D? Do they simply make a sprite tile created from an angled (user's ) view instead of flat sprite with top-view? Or do they simply use flat top-view sprite and maps it on a 3D plane/terrain ?