[Engine] RpgDev - An RPG development toolkit

Hi there!

I wasn't exactly sure where the best place to post this was but I am interested in getting community input on a project I am currently working on. You may be asking what is RpgDev?

I decided to start work many years ago on effectively an alternative to mainstream solutions currently available when it comes to developing 2D rpgs. I have spent many years working with different game engines and found in particular the newer RPG Makers really lack the features which several people want and does not provide the flexibility the various different types of RPGs require.

My aim for RpgDev is to provide a set of tools and a game engine for people to develop desktop-targeted RPGs. The game engine is built on cross-platform technologies so it will support Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems. Mobile isn't ruled out; the only thing stopping me going down that route currently is resource.

What's so special about RpgDev? I'll provide a list of features currently implemented:

Implemented as of 03/06/2018:
Map

• A technical layer limit of 4,294,967,295. This depends on hardware capability and realistically you would rarely use more than 2.
• Have maps as small as 1x1 or bigger than your PC can handle.
• Optimisation via batching.
• No limit on tile set height or width.
• Map sprite textures are grouped into bigger textures internally providing big performance increases and allowing you to use texture dimensions that would usually lag some other game engines.
• Assign a collection of maps to a certain world; allowing you to move seamlessly between the map instances for open world scenarios.
• Fog & tint options.
• Lighting texture for each map You can use the editor to export map screenshots to be used in creating artificial lighting effects without overriding fog.
• Collision system & terrain tags.
• Event system with auto run, touch and interact triggers.
• Mix different sprite sizes with scaling.

Game

• Support any screen size while maintaining aspect ratio.
• Built in 1x, 2x, 4x scale modes.
• Custom splash screens while starting the game.
• Midi playback support with the ability to change sound fonts on the fly, changing the playback speed and volume. Currently only support for .SF2 sound fonts.
• Fade in/out transitions.
• Font rendering.
• XML file formats
• Movement & animation.

Editor

• Real time preview of changes No need to test play the game to see fog/screen tint changes.
• Change tile set collision, priority and terrain tag options.
• Paint/erase tiles and groups of tiles.
• Modern interface supporting various screen sizes.

Scripting

• C# 6.0 Class Library scripting
• Ability to implement custom events and editors for the RpgDev Editor.
• Thread-safe scripting API that you can extend with your own class library.

This list will expand in the future and it is just a list of features currently in place, I'll be getting a website launched soon but if you would like to see a video of some functionality see the below video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bKPcKaBwvo

(Please note the above video uses assets from Inquisitor at RPG Palace and Pokemon Essentials pack)

Here is a screenshot of the editor so far (Some of the layout is liable to change when I get the event windows fleshed out):


What I would like to know, for those of you out there; If you could ask for any feature in an RPG development toolkit (Like RPG Maker) what would you want?

Any feedback on what I have currently shown is greatly appreciated. Thank you for those who take the time to check this out. I'd love to hear from you!

Visit the website at https://rpgdev.co.uk

Dan

I'd say the only thing I wish existed (or wish was easier to work with in RPG maker) is creating unique combat rules and mechanics. It's either Final Fantasy style or Pokemon Essentials basically, so that's all we ever see from those engines.

If you could come up with a way to let users script pieces of their own, or just mix & match pieces of a combat system template and throw custom animations on top, that'd be a game changer.

Yotes said:

I'd say the only thing I wish existed (or wish was easier to work with in RPG maker) is creating unique combat rules and mechanics. It's either Final Fantasy style or Pokemon Essentials basically, so that's all we ever see from those engines.

If you could come up with a way to let users script pieces of their own, or just mix & match pieces of a combat system template and throw custom animations on top, that'd be a game changer.

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Hi, thanks for replying.

Regarding this, one of the core philosophies with this engine is that it should be easy to use and flexible. You will have full extensibility when it comes to things like the battle system, title screen and with plugins you can even inherit from core functionality and extend it that way.

With battle systems I plan to implement at least three types from the get go (With the source code being fully available for people to extend on):

- Traditional first person turn based battle system
- Sideways turn based battle system
- Pokemon style battle system

Unlike other editors out there you won't be restricted on how the data in your game is formed so when it comes to creating a plugin, you'll be able to add parameters and entities to the database which you define in code and they show in the editor automatically.

This will give people the freedom to use community made plugins or even create their own, with the speed and productivity bonuses of working in a language like C#.

In a team project you could have your scripters creating plugins that add event options so you won't need to repeat tedious amounts of event commands to create custom battle systems (Like an action-based overworld battle system).

About animations, this is something I want to enhance with one of the main points of the editor being real time previews. When creating events (Like a player or NPC moves around the world) you will be able to play them real time as well as previewing animations as they would be in game.

If you have any ideas I would love to hear them.

I'm working on an easy-to-program battle system myself in Unity for my current project, so once I get those systems working and write a little article about it, I'd be happy to post here and see if it gives you any extra inspiration or ideas for your custom engine.

Yotes said:

I'm working on an easy-to-program battle system myself in Unity for my current project, so once I get those systems working and write a little article about it, I'd be happy to post here and see if it gives you any extra inspiration or ideas for your custom engine.

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That's pretty cool, I'd be interested to see where you go with it. Unity was a consideration for this project at one point :)

One thing that I dislike about RPG Maker is how all the dialogue is scattered about the editor in whichever events you made it in. A centralized way of keeping track of dialogue would be very nice.

If you could allow to make a A-RPG battle system, like the 2D Zelda, that would be awesome ! There is no easy way to make an A-Rpg as of now.
As a digital artist, i wish RPG Maker would allow 64x64 tiles, because we are in the HD era, and 32x32 seems a bit too pixel for me.
Anyway, if you need assets, i can make you some custom ones, in order to avoid copyright issue. Just pm me

If it's not a problem to you, can u try to put the "Perspective Mode"? It's like a DS vision, but Essentials have a lot of bugs with this vision mode, if you put in your engine it will be awesome :0

Hey anyone have any idea when this guy is going to finish this engine and release a download? I hate to be impatient but I would love a ballpark estimate of when a release of the engine is planned, it sounds almost exactly like what I have been starving for as far as a game engine for many years now. I am really looking forward to a release of the program so I can make RPGs of both pokemon fangame and my own pixel art non pokemon related. I can't wait for this engine to become a usable alpha release. Cautiously optimistic.

Hoping this becomes a thing! :)

I have a few ideas for the engine, I like the idea of an easy, straightforward dialogue creation system, a internal pixel art editing program or a way to add an external pixel art software like graphicsgale, gimp or pyxel edit "pyxel edit is my fav pixel art program but it's a paid program, not that I don't think it's worth every penny mind you..."

Not sure if this is possible, but what about a way to line up sprites in a animation without tedious realigning of sprite positions in a spritesheet, I've yet yeyet to see a program that implements a way to easily make sprites not jitter in an animation, if anyone could solve sprite placement issues it would cut the time I'd have to spend on making a sprite down by half or more.

Editor color schemes or 'themes' I don't know how many times I wish I could either customize or choose a layout's colors.

The ability to use your software for commercial games, either through buying a license or just it being legal to do so, like GNU licensing that allows commercial products to be made with the software.

If possible a way to dynamically light worlds created in the editor, like how unity uses a second sprite with only part of the sprite in color and the rest a silhouette so the software knows which pixels emit light. Think lightmap for pixel art, basically unity uses two copies of the sprite to make certain parts of the sprite glow in game.

And finally easy to apply pre-made but still customizable templates for scripts, not everyone is able to learn to code or is good at it "e.g. me lol" I hate to admit it but I am more an artist than a coder, I'm great at copying other people when they code but I can't do it myself my brain doesn't grasp the thinking style necessary to program that well... Pre-made templates are great for artists because they can tweak it instead of coding from scratch or having to deal with learning to code on top of drawing the art.
I would love freely customizable templates for scripts.

If you see this I want to say thank you for taking the time to make this RPG engine I can't stress enough how thankful I am and that I will be cheering you on to keep working on it till the engine is finished!

Hey I can't login on your RPG engine's forum website, any chance you could help me deadly Dan?

Anyone know why deadly Dan seems to not be working on the project anymore?

GeekyRaptor said:

Anyone know why deadly Dan seems to not be working on the project anymore?

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That's the fun thing about developers... There is a 50-50 shot he has either quit completely, or has been working diligently this whole time, and we'll never know for sure xD

VeruskaDreemurr said:

That's the fun thing about developers... There is a 50-50 shot he has either quit completely, or has been working diligently this whole time, and we'll never know for sure xD

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Well I really was hoping he was still working on it, it seemed like it was gonna be an amazing tool for RPGs, even non-Pokemon ones, but it looks like he has dropped off the face of the map. Such a terrible shame.

Honestly, it seems like it was way too ambitious, and the main forum has had almost zero activity since it kicked off. Biting off more than you can chew is a really quick way for a project to die. Really, if you learn some RubyScript, you can control a whole lot within RPGMX, etc

Vowels : a,e,i,o,u
Title : [Engine] RpgDev - An RPG Development toolkit

English : Am i a Joke to you?

Braze said:

Vowels : a,e,i,o,u
Title : [Engine] RpgDev - An RPG Development toolkit

English : Am i a Joke to you?

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I don't know what you mean... not really i don't think you are a joke. Also, if this wasn't directed at me I apologize ahead of time.

I tried to make a joke, I don't know what you think.. I apologize.

Braze said:

I tried to make a joke, I don't know what you think.. I apologize.

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I'm sorry again, it looks like it's just part of every reply you post, so a tag or user phrase or something? Anyway it's fine...

Braze said:

Vowels : a,e,i,o,u
Title : [Engine] RpgDev - An RPG Development toolkit

English : Am i a Joke to you?

Click to expand...

It's words that start with a phonetic vowel (vowel sound) that recieve "an":

An Arr-Pee-Jeee