CodeWalrus

b/PC, Mac & Vintage Computers publicado por u/pimathbrainiac January 30, 2016, 04:19:38 PM

Unnamed JRPG - For School Project

Hello! This semester, one of my classes is a directed study. In other words, I get to do something I want to do, and there are gradable checkpoints every week or two. As the title of this post suggests, I'm making a JRPG. I have a story concept, but I don't have a name atm

Below I'm going to put what the assignments are and when they are due-ish (since it's okay if they are a day or so late, according to the teacher).

Stats Outline – A plan for what stats characters may have, how they affect battles, and how stat growth occurs when leveling up (1/22) complete
Character Outline – A plan for a cast of characters, both party members and NPCs, and certain character attributes about them unrelated to state | In addition, create classes and plan how they affect stats (1/29) complete
Movement Engine Outline – A plan for the mechanics of the movement engine (2/5) complete
Event Engine Outline – A plan for the mechanics of the event engine (2/11)
Battle Engine Outline – A plan for the mechanics of the battle engine (2/19)
World Map – A map that includes the entire explorable area of the game, as well as the placement of events and NPCs (2/26)
Midterm – Present the entire plan for the game (3/4)
Story – A written version of what the story will be in the game (3/18)
Create movement engine (3/25)
Create tile map – A computerized version of the world map, including events and NPCs (4/1)
Create event engine (4/15)
Create battle engine (4/22)
Implement Story through events and dialogue (4/29)
Write and implement music "loops" – 60-120 second pieces that repeat and set the mood for various areas (5/13)
Final – Present the finished game (5/20)

I'll update this post with the assignments as they happen (later today for the first two). The full story will be view-able, so I'll put it in layered spoilers. I won't give the story concept until then, so when I release the characters, you won't have any background

All things considered, I didn't have time to put art in my schedule so either
A) I'll have to get art off Open Game Art (And make the game open source)
or
B) If one of you guys is willing to do art I'd be willing to credit you (and give you a share of the profits if I decide to sell the game instead of just open-sourcing it. That is tbd).

movement engine flowchart

Last Edit: February 29, 2016, 07:48:16 PM by pimathbrainiac

Inicia sesión o crea una cuenta para dejar un comentario

u/novenary January 30, 2016, 04:35:59 PM

Sounds fun, it would be great if I had a schedule like that for my projects. Otherwise I just mess around. :/

u/c4ooo January 31, 2016, 02:50:43 AM

Quote from: Streetwalrus on January 30, 2016, 04:35:59 PM
Sounds fun, it would be great if I had a schedule like that for my projects. Otherwise I just mess around. :/

Yep ^.^ ; cant wait till my classes require me to write RPGs

Good luck pimath, hopefully you can get the highest grade in the class

(will walruses be included btw?)

u/pimathbrainiac January 31, 2016, 03:25:52 AM

Edited first post to include links to the current planning documents.

u/pimathbrainiac February 01, 2016, 07:00:12 PM

Bump!

Poll the masses time! This week I'm working on the design for the movement engine. I know it will be 2D and tilemap-based. I would like to know whether or not people like the screen being centered on the player (like pokemon), the screen being area-by area (like Zelda 1) and the player moving on the screen, or some sort of hybrid (like LoZ: The Minish Cap). Adding a poll.

Also @DJ Omnimaga what do you think of the stats/calculations? Do you think they're reasonable? You have experience here, so your input would mean a lot.

u/novenary February 01, 2016, 07:38:14 PM

I prefer a scrolling map personally.

u/Dream of Omnimaga February 04, 2016, 07:16:47 AM

Sounds like an interesting school project. As for camera movement hybrid might be better since you might want to have separate maps sometimes, such as when you enter a dungeon or if a particular area is huge and needs to be split into multiple parts.

As for the stats they seem fine to me (although resistance should be renamed to reflect that it's magic defense maybe).

As for the damage formulas, they seem fine, but only as long as weapon/magic upgrades offers significant benefits. For example, if you buy a new sword and all it does is 1 extra damage then that is problematic. Of course it also depends of what is the max damage, though. If you plan max damage to be something like 10 or 99 then high increases between upgrades aren't necessary.

What I want to suggest though is to not start too big or complex, so you can meet your deadline.

u/Unicorn February 04, 2016, 07:59:24 AM

QuoteWhat I want to suggest though is to not start to big or conplex, so you can meet your deadline.

DJ and other peoples RPGs

Kidding aside, this sounds like fun! If you make it free besure to give us download!

u/Dream of Omnimaga February 04, 2016, 09:00:22 AM

Well to be fair, just to show how much of an hassle an RPG can be to create, have you noticed how despite my experience in TI programming, only two of my RPGs have armor/protecting equipment?

u/pimathbrainiac February 04, 2016, 06:28:24 PM

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 04, 2016, 07:16:47 AM
Sounds like an interesting school project. As for camera movement hybrid might be better since you might want to have separate maps sometimes, such as when you enter a dungeon or if a particular area is huge and needs to be split into multiple parts.

As for the stats they seem fine to me (although resistance should be renamed to reflect that it's magic defense maybe).

As for the damage formulas, they seem fine, but only as long as weapon/magic upgrades offers significant benefits. For example, if you buy a new sword and all it does is 1 extra damage then that is problematic. Of course it also depends of what is the max damage, though. If you plan max damage to be something like 10 or 99 then high increases between upgrades aren't necessary.

What I want to suggest though is to not start too big or complex, so you can meet your deadline.

Thanks for the advice! It probably won't be that big or complex for school purposes, but when I continue it past school, I'll expand it.

u/Dream of Omnimaga February 17, 2016, 06:57:44 AM

Have you gotten any progress on this, by the way, pimath? Also, I don't remember if I made ROL1 map draft before writing down the storyline and planning the rest of the game, but it can be hard to gauge how large the game will be when you draw a tilemap, since you don't know how many dungeons there will be and if they will all fit there. You could probably make an empty world map with some dungeons scattered here and there, then if you realize the game will be longer, then slowly add more dungeon spots. Also it can be hard to decide of the map layout before knowing the story, since you will most likely have locked paths at first, requiring your map layout to be a certain way.

u/pimathbrainiac February 17, 2016, 11:25:00 AM

Yeah, I've made some progress, I've just forgotten to post about it. This week I'm working on the battle engine. I'll post some flowcharts for the two weeks previous when I get the chance. Thanks for reminding me.

u/aetios February 17, 2016, 08:15:20 PM

I would recommend a hybrid scrolling movement engine: You would have multiple tilemaps and at the borders of them you scroll to the next map.

u/Dudeman313 February 23, 2016, 01:02:17 AM

How is this going so far, pimath? Will we see screenies?

u/pimathbrainiac February 29, 2016, 07:50:52 PM

Quote from: Dudeman313 on February 23, 2016, 01:02:17 AM
How is this going so far, pimath? Will we see screenies?

It's going. I've been falling a bit behind, but I should have most of the planning/flowchart stuff done by the end of the week. I just updated the first post to include the movement engine flowchart.
Also no screenies because I'm still in planning stages