Untitled RPG Project

[Hugues Ross]

I started making a "map editor" at one point in hopes of streamlining/automating the process as much as possible, but then realized that I could design areas/levels just as fast in an image editor using a few layers and a grid with marked coordinants, and then code all the actual data later.

Ah yes, this is a solid approach for simple maps too! I had an abandoned love project that was doing that a few years back: https://huguesross.net/2021/02/atlantis

Currently the map editor is still in progress, I got the first pass on tile and trigger volume editing done and started on entities before the first of the 'medically-induced breaks' I alluded to last month hit...for obvious reasons that'll be on hold for a few weeks, but in the meantime I'm doing a little more work on the script for chapter 1 via dictation.

Beyond that, there's still a little bit of work to do before the first draft version of the editor is production-ready but I don't think it'll take super long either.

As for the fun...I'm looking forward to making full-blown segments of the game without constantly diving into the code. It'll be nice seeing the plans come together into a real game

[zingo]

Well...with any luck you won't have anymore serious "medically-induced breaks".

Even a "small" RPG is a beast to tackle, because there are so many seperate parts that need to ultimately mesh together into a cohesive final product...and that's just the game mechanics, so I greatly admire your perseverance

On a side note...as you suggested, I actually decided to use "sprite batches" for tiles, because those are much more efficient, and only require a single draw call. However, the table for each map now also needs to include the X and Y locations of all the tiles (as well as a reference to the image atlas,) so there's a bit more data to keep track of than just the quad number, although the payoff is worth it.

Anyway...everything should go a lot smoother once you get into the more interesting aspects, such as story, characters, art, music, etc. You already seem to have a solid idea for all of that, so I'm really looking forward to eventually seeing what this is all about

Onto another tangent...one of my personal favorite RPGs of all time is Final Fantasy 6 for either the SNES or PS1, because it was a sort of "steam-punk" departure from the traditional "medieval" setting, and for me, became the "standard" for what I expected for future titles in that series (and RPGs in general). Also, Kefka was one of the most entertaining villians I can recall from the 16-bit era, and I'll never forget the literal "world shattering" last portion.

Good luck. Stay healthy, and keep at it.

[Hugues Ross]

Alright, it has been a few months so let’s get a little update post out. This is sadly gonna be another one of those slim updates, but hopefully we’ll be out of those soon enough. In the meantime, let’s talk level editor.

Doneish
At the end of last year, I had started on the level editor. And now, I can announce that it’s…erm…mostly done. Pretty much all of the basic tools, tile editing, object & trigger editing, undo/redo, etc. work as expected. But as is customary for most software, the devil’s in the details. There are lots of little things to fix and adjust, particularly since I had to update the game’s map format to make it all work.

Nevertheless, I could probably take a little video showing off what’s there. I’m trying to avoid using my hand while I rest (all of of the text I’ve written recently is dictated, not typed), but hopefully I can put out a mini-update in a couple weeks showing how it all works. For now, you’ll have to make do with a screenshot:


About That Hand…
One of the perennial problems with this project has been my health, particularly various hand & wrist problems. I went in and got surgery on one of my wrists in January, which should ultimately be a boon but unfortunately also means post-op. I’ve previously alluded to some expected breaks this year, this is the cause of those. As a result of that, and a slightly rocky recovery where I tried going back to work too soon, there have been long periods were I couldn’t do much. Things will hopefully have cleared up (at least for the first wrist) on that front by the time I make my next update, but in the meantime it’s obviously delaying things a lot.

And of course, the editor itself doesn’t have a voice interface yet. That was planned for future dev, but sadly I could really use it now!

In the meantime, I’ve been keeping myself busy/entertained with voice-art. It’s mostly off-topic, but I did scrape together a few icons for assets that I can add to the editor later:

02-26-big.png (3.09 KiB) Viewed 891 times

Each icon represents an asset type but exists in the game right now, though some of them are a little convoluted. If you're bored of waiting for me to make progress, why not try to guess what they are?

In other news, I also figured out a title for this game! The RPG technically isn’t untitled anymore! But I’m a terrible drama goblin, so I’ll hold off on actually revealing the new name until I’ve finished this long ongoing process of restructuring the project. You’ll just have to sit tight until then

[Hugues Ross]

For those wondering "why did he post now instead of waiting to recover fully?" it's stupid.
I thought the date this thread started was the end of Feb/start of March. It was, in fact, the end of March.