New RPG development tool

[GrueMaster]

After 5 years in development, I am proud to announce the initial release of OpenRPG Maker. Development on the editor is over 90% feature complete, and game engine development is currently underway, with incremental releases coming soon.

Please give it a try, and post positive/constructive feedback.

 

[Glitchfinder]

I took a look on your sourceforge, and one of the screenshots made me a bit curious about something. I was wondering, do you have the exact formula used by Enterbrain to create stat curves when you use their curve generator? I figured out the formula by effectively brute-forcing it, and then brute-forcing the pieces, until I finally came up with the full equation, including the values they defaulted in the production version. The formula, in its entirety, allowed you to set far more than maximum and minimum stats combined with a value to determine curve. It also allowed you to dictate the maximum and minimum level that the formula would cover, and, knowing the formula would enable far more, shall we say, extreme curves, such that the stats would do something like grow to nearly maximum in a few levels, then barely change for the rest of the curve.

Also, I would like to mention that I think this may actually be the wrong place to have posted this.

 

[GrueMaster]

Actually, it is my son's program. These questions are best to ask of him on the sourceforge forum. As to this post location, It seemed to fit better than in the tutorials area, but I don't know. No opjections to relocating it.

 

[Xhukari]

Why isn't your son promoting his own software, if you do not such details?
I am curious x.x

 

[GrueMaster]

I'm helping him promote his game. I will also be helping moderate the forums, etc. As to the programming, he has progressed past me in that skill department.

 

[Xhukari]

Fair enough, perhaps you can answer this question though. How come it has taken 5 years for 90% finish editor?
If I'm not mistaken, RPG development Software's engine is crucial to the running of the program? Surely the editor is just a layered drag-and-drop WYSIWYG system, without the engine, how can you even create events, scripts, AI or any functionality?

I am just guessing here if I am honest, last time I used an RPG Development program was many, many years ago before I moved onto Flash.
Just in a very inquisitive mood

 

[GrueMaster]

Part of it is that he started the project while in high school, part of it is just time. He is completely self-taught in C/C++/Java, etc. And it hasn't been his only project. He has developed several games and programs while in school (Tux blocks, Win32Image Writer are available online, others he kept internal as class projects in High School). After graduation, he has been busy with a job until this year, when he cut back his workload and focused on this almost full time. He also wrote Eternal Labyrinth for Android, based on a game he wrote in high school.

As someone that hasn't followed the development process, it is a bit harder to understand. From my prospective, it is a monumental achievement. Check out the program and you will understand what I mean. It will of course get better once he has time to fully document it. As soon as the editor is finished, he plans on making an openly available game as a tutorial. The engine is actually the easy part, as most game engines are essentially event handlers with a bit of AI for computer controlled characters.

(edited to add links)

 

[tuxinator2009]

tuxinator2009 creator of Open RPG Maker here. Most editors that are specifically tailored for the end user not always knowing exactly what they are doing have to include alot of redundancy checks. Also I checked the amount of time actually spent working on it, and if I were doing it full time (ie. 10hours per day/5 days per week) then it would have actually only taken roughly 1.5-2 years to get this far. It's quite an immense project for one person (as was noted on several forums when I first started it). My reasoning behind the editor first is the editor is where the true difficulty lies when it comes to implementing a complex feature. If I can't get the editor to look simple, yet powerful, then I may not include said feature because it's beyond the scope and purpose of what I set out to do with Open RPG Maker. Whereas on the other hand if I come up with a feature that I think Open RPG Maker shouldn't be without, then I'll find a way to implement it, and when something like that occurs it's far simpler to add it to the editor, since you're just adding a new piece of data and telling it how to edit it's values, rather than adding a new piece of data and completely changing the engine around to be able to incorporate the new data. Plus this way people can be trying it out, giving me feedback, and starting to create some games as I get the engine out (editor is about 90% of the program's total size by itself).

 

[Xhukari]

Thank you two for taking the time to explain it all to me!
Its nice to see a lil family unit working together, the editor is looking good from what I've seen of it and I will gladly give it a go once I got some spare time!
I wish you two luck with the program, and commend Tuxinator's coding skills!

 

[Mikepjr]

Not bad, i don't mind the battle system but i have a few suggestions.
Actually.. some are questions some are suggestions.
Is their any way to upgrade the amount of colors used? Cause i think 2k and 2k3 limited the colors of image files to only 32 colors.. it get's pretty annoying.
Also, is their any way to turn on or off the ATB gauge? I like making games that are turn based more than ATB.. but i mean as an option.
And if these are things already being considered for implementation.. just forget i said anything lol