[RPG]Project ETL

Project Name: ETL

Latest release 10.11.2014

Have you ever wanted to watch an RPG being made, from the ground up? Does talk about BBcode, image compression, and Functions turn you on? Are you looking for a professional, talented, and sexy person to look up to? If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions then you are in the right place. Not only am I sexy but I am also very professional at being a professional and designing professional games. As I always say, "You don't need experience, if you have passion".

My goal in this RPG... I really don't like using the term RPG. Isn't every game a roll-playing game? I'd like to consider my game as a "not-so" interactive experience. What does that mean? I believe that people/players enjoy being told what to do. How many times have you logged into a new MMO just to spend the first hour customizing the bust size on your new female archer? When you finally login to the game world, how many times have you been overwhelmed with just dozens of UI windows, half finished tutorials, and game mechanics that make sense or take days to figure out what or why they are even there in the first place?

Let's take Everquest 1 for example. EQ1 is undoubtedly the most content rich and... this is turning into a blog post I think. Wanna read more? Come to my blog.

Small Update

Stardate 10/11/2014

-Added twenty-three sword sprites to the game. I plan to use some of them for inventory icons. I still haven't decided on an art style yet.

• Targeting mobile devices.
• Being created by a guy named Stephen.
• Designed for performance.
• Easy to jump into, hard to master.
• The most indepth RPG ever made in Construct 2.

• Icons for changeable utility page.
• Controllable Utility window on the HUD.
• Shadowed icons for GUI armor/weapon page.
• Triggers for changing maps.
• Supply Shop map/NPC/GUI.
• Weapon/Armour Shop map/NPC/GUI.
• Error messages and NPC dialogue windows. (Text updated as needed)
• Inventory System. (Needs further testing)
• Added map names to the GUI.
• Players can now leave shops and go back to their previous layout at the correct shop entrance/exit.
• Option Icons now appear when an inventory slot is selected/touched. (Now only triggers if there is at least one item in the slot)
• Each map now has two controller variables. One variable will control how many monsters spawn, the other will control the level range. This of course makes it very easy to change at a moments notice. Events with level 99 Wolfs in town? Saaaaweet!
• Monsters now have all their instance variables loaded from an Array. Level, Exp, Health, Mana, Damage, etc etc.
• Monsters now have name plates about their heads. Can be disabled in the Options window. (I may add colour coding based on the players current level. Red for more than four levels above the player. Blue for four levels below the players and everything else in between.
• Monsters now recognize a players Y coordinate and adjust their layer depth to create a 3D effect. Basically the Player can now walk in front of the monster and behind it.

• Player Stats. (STR, DEX, Attack Speed, Armour, Evasion, etc)
• Level/XP system.
• Save slots. (3)
• Achievement System.
• Arena Battle system. (1v1, 2v2)
• Ranged Attacks and Spells.
• Buff and de-buff system.
• Add Monster AI for Path Finding, Attacks, Skill use.
• Prevent Monsters from spawning on top of solids.
• Add a respawner after Monster is killed.
• Beastiary.
• Equip-able Items.
• All audio.
• Name bubbles above players/npc.
• Questing framework.
• Update the To-Do list.

Vladoss(Inventory), GeometriX(Global UI), smitchell(Shops), Kyatric(Drop Rates), Minor(Array Loading), Magistross(Array Picking), HeartBeast(3D Recognition)

Inventory Update

• Added max items allowed in inventory (Set to 40). Trying to add more than the max allowed to your inventory will generate an error message.
• Items are now stack-able and display their amount, up to 99. Having more than 99 of an item will force the remainder to a new inventory slot. (Just realized possible future bug with items going over the 99 limit and inventory being full at the same time.)
• Player inventory will now automatically be saved locally when an item is added/removed.
• Touching an item will now display a popup window with three options. Equip, Info, Destroy.

• Allow the user to move items in inventory.(Scraped for now)
• Sorting feature. (Maybe... seems like a lot of work)

Cool if you can make this big game for mobiles...

any playable stuff yet ?

any playable stuff yet ?

Unfortunately no. In the next few weeks I could put something out.

Not a fan of the player sprite, but those item icons look incredible! nice

Derqs, here ya go: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/44976.htm

Also, looking forward to what you'll be doing with the game, Tekniko, just be wary of revealing anything here to the folks at Enterbrain or the RPGM sites, since, as far as I've been told, you cannot publicly release a game using RMVX/Ace/XP graphics as per EULA: http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/support/information/eula

Edit: also, the license for the icon set is CC BY 3.0 is anyone is wondering.

Edit again: nope yeah, reading more into the EULA, you can't distribute anything with the RTP graphics unless it's explicitly made with one of their other RPG Maker titles.

DatapawWolf and Derqs All the graphics you see are just place holders. Some of the weapon and armor icons will be kept and used because they were from OpenGameArt.org. Everything else will be designed by myself or my wife.

DatapawWolf and Derqs All the graphics you see are just place holders. Some of the weapon and armor icons will be kept and used because they were from OpenGameArt.org. Everything else will be designed by myself or my wife.

ounds good! I only mentioned it because I've seen a project actually sell with RMVX resources even with said ToU.

Good luck with the project! :)

Monster Generator Update

The screenshot below may not look like much, but trust me. I just spent the past two days trying to make that work. So, what are we looking at?! Let's make a list!

• Each map now has two controller variables. One variable will control how many monsters spawn, the other will control the level range. This of course makes it very easy to change at a moments notice. Events with level 99 Wolfs in town? Saaaaweet!
• Monsters now have all their instance variables loaded from an Array. Level, Exp, Health, Mana, Damage, etc etc.
• Monsters now have name plates about their heads. Can be disabled in the Options window. (I may add colour coding based on the players current level. Red for more than four levels above the player. Blue for four levels below the players and everything else in between.
• Monsters now recognize a players Y coordinate and adjust their layer depth to create a 3D effect. Basically the Player can now walk in front of the monster and behind it.

• Add Monster AI for Path Finding, Attacks, Skill use.
• Prevent Monsters from spawning on top of solids.
• Add a respawner after Monster is killed.

Well, I took a break from this project because I was looking forward to dissecting the Dungeon Buster Open Source, found here. I figured this would be a great learning experience and I could cross reference some of my techniques with what other people were doing. Well... that was supposed to be released May 31st and it is now September 29th. I think I'll stop waiting.

I spent the past few months enjoying the summer with the family and worked on a few smaller games in my spare time. I didn't learn too many new things as far as logic and game design go, but, I was able to focus on art styles, animation, and colour theory; which I believe is vital to have a successful game.

As for Project ETL, this has now been moved to the front of the queue. Computer jokes Stay tuned for future updates.

Wow I like the fact that the GUI looks like a hand held console! Great idea!

Thank you! DuckfaceNinja

One thing I despise in mobile games, is having to move my hands all around the screen. Sure, it's "the focus" of mobile gaming but it doesn't belong in an action RPG. The player should be focused on the game and not have to worry about how to hold up their heavy tablet with one hand and cut down monsters with the other.

Sticking with movement and information control to the left hand and leaving actions/spells in the right hand, I will be giving players a familiar sense of control without having to explain a thing.

Here are some swords I made the other night. Probably spent about two - three hours on this.

Christmas vacation... oh how I miss you!

One advantage of learning how to make a game, while you make it, is that you get to learn how to make a game!! This has a negative side effect unfortunately. As you learn more, you realize everything that you have already made is complete garbage. Your events are weak and prone to bugs. Art assets are way too big and there are way too many of them. Performance is bogged down by memory leaks and unwarranted collision detection. Thankfully, most of us learn from our mistakes and use that knowledge to grow ourselves and our product. That is what I have been doing for the past month so here is a list of what has changed "under the hood".

-Removed nearly 100 events.

-300kb removed.

-Removed 30+ collision detections.

-Taught myself to use a debugger. (Very important)

-Most events are now controlled with Functions.

-Switched to a Global Layer for the GUI.

So that is what has been going on since my last update. I have also reinstated my sister for art creation. Let's hope that doesn't turn into a headache.