Visual RPG Studio (Beta)

[LastEnd]

LastEnd Visual RPG Studio gives you the power to create your own original role-playing games without any special knowledge or training. All you need is a computer an a imagination, and your on the way to making your own game. LastEnd Visual RPG Studio allow for almost endless maps that can contain up to 4,000,000 tiles. Let's take a look at some more of its features.

You might think it's hard to make a game, but it's a breeze to find your way around LastEnd Visual RPG Studio. First, make a map that'll serve as the stage for your adventure, then set up your Player, NPC (enemy monsters), items, magic-everything you need for a good RPG. Finally, create some events and place them around the map. Once complete all you have to do is hit the build game option and your very own original RPG is complete. Mapmaking is as simple as a jigsaw puzzle when you have tiles to work with, and with 4 layers you can make it look and feel the way you want it. You can even use ready-made graphics for the player and monsters, so all you have to do is give them some stats and a name.

Feature Explorer - Full Feature Break Down

LastEnd.com - Main website, and Forums
Stumbleupon.com LastEnd - LRM Favorite sites
Twitter.com/LastEnd - Blog about the project
Youtube.com LastEnd - Find Videos about the project
Facebook.com LastEnd - Blog about the project, Find pictures and comment on the project
MySpace.com/LastEnd.com - Blog about the project, Find pictures and comment on the project

Place one or more of these in your signature or on your website to help spread the word about VRS.
LastEnd Visual RPG Studio

 

[Xaixis]

No comments yet?

Hmm, well other then the max map size, it doesn't seem like you posted any of the other features. You should probably give some more information about what is in this.

Also it would be neat if you opened it up for public discussion, like have a poll to see which features others would like to see.

 

[Alexander Morou]

Well, were I to guess, it's an advertisement, so the features are on his website.

 

[LastEnd]

Here a list of some of the features I am listing. I'm not a english major so you will have to give me time to write more. Just to let you know I am the main programmer on this project. I am a Game and Simulation programming major.

Layers
We allow for 4 Layers of graphic on the gameboard. Each layer has it own collision setting.

Layer Changing
We allow the player to change what layer they are on. This allow for things like bridges, and gives a 3D feel to the engine.

Map Size
Unlike the other RPG makers out there we allow almost endless maps that can contain over 4,000,000 tiles.

 

[Glitchfinder]

Hmm. I noticed that on your site, you have an icon stating that the ESRB has rated your obviously unfinished product as E for Everyone. Now, aside from the fact that a quick check on ESRB showed that they have not actually rated a product with this name, the very fact that you appear to have no product to test means that this is an obvious falsehood. Combine that with the amateurish design for the website, the extremely abbreviated "full list of features", the unmatched mix of in-game graphics, and the fact that all the screenshots could easily have been put together by someone with enough knowledge to design a dummy interface, and I'd have to call this vaporware. I'd love it if you could prove me wrong by providing a download, but, as I currently see nothing of the sort, I'll have to stick with what I've said.

 

[LastEnd]

Your right. I will remove the ESRB Rating from the site. The engine is real; however it is not even beta yet so I can not allow anyone to download it yet. I do hope to have beta started before the end of this year.

Once the site has a design I will apply the .css to it to give it style.

Glitchfinder I do thank you for your feedback. I will update the site tonight; however I'm still not sure how I want to design it so the .css wont be there yet.

 

[LastEnd]

I updated the site a bit. I added a video to the download page, and it also listed on youtube. The video not the greatest but it works.

What is the best software to record on screen videos?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs-ABxwymRo

 

[gRaViJa]

Looks like it isn't vaporware. What I want to know: Why should we switch from rmxp/vx to your software? Larger maps alone won't do it for me. How will the battle system be? Is there some sort of scripting language included that allows custom scripts?

 

[LastEnd]

gRaViJa,

We are looking to out do rmxp in every way. That said i'm still unsure where scripting will be applied. The base scripting language maybe Lua if used. I have work with Lua in the past when I was working on a 3D engine and found it very easy to uses and understand. I have lost sleep thinking over if the engine will have scripting. On one hand scripting can allow users to do almost anything, but on the other hand scripting can tend to uses a bit more processing time. So to script or not to script?

 

[Bird Eater]

It doesn't look that good actually =(

I'll stick with my good ol' XP

 

[Glitchfinder]

From what I see in that video, I have a few comments. First off, it looks like this has a much slower load time than RMXP and RMVX, both in-game and in the editor. Next, I noticed that you had a collision layer. One thing that piqued my interest regarding that is the fact that the collision layer reminded me of how Nintendo designs GBA games. They have one layer for tiles, one layer for collisions, and one layer for other uses. For example, the last layer was used in Golden Sun to do things like setup where a pushable object could be pushed, and how far it fell before stopping. In other games, it has other uses, such as determining where you can surf in Pokemon. Finally, I have one more comment. The bottom of your website states that everything there is copyrighted by "lastend.com". Unfortunately, this is not possible, as only individuals or groups of individuals can own a copyright. (Groups of individuals is usually interpreted as a company) This means that you'd have to specify a name, be it an alias, a company, or your real name, as the copyright holder.

 

[LastEnd]

Glitchfinder,

Unlike rmxp the collision isn't set to the graphic but to the board. Collision is painted per-layer (4). You did get me thinking about push / pull limmits. Right now collision will let you pull / push anywhere the player can move. This is bad becuase you can trap the player this way. I will process this in my head for a few days before I have that trapping problem fixed.

The map you seen loading in 'World' on the video is 4,000,000 (19mb uncompressed) tiles large so yea it does take a bit longer. If I would go back in to the house it load time is about 1 sec.

The company name is LastEnd.com. A simple who-is shows the owners name.

 

[Glitchfinder]

Glitchfinder,

Unlike rmxp the collision isn't set to the graphic but to the board. Collision is painted per-layer (4). You did get me thinking about push / pull limmits. Right now collision will let you pull / push anywhere the player can move. This is bad becuase you can trap the player this way. I will process this in my head for a few days before I have that trapping problem fixed.

The map you seen loading in 'World' on the video is 4,000,000 (19mb uncompressed) tiles large so yea it does take a bit longer. If I would go back in to the house it load time is about 1 sec.

The company name is LastEnd.com. A simple who-is shows the owners name.

All right. First off, is this a real company, with all the paperwork processed? Next, I didn't say the collisions was like RMXP, but instead noted that you had a layer for it. (Although I didn't say that it was layer 4) Finally, you shouldn't limit it to just push/pull limits. In GBA games, the layer stored a number, which was then used by other parts of the game to determine what it did. (For example, in Pokemon, the layer was used to determine when you could Surf, when you could walk, and when you would slip and slide on ice, while in Golden Sun, it was used for limiting where an object could be pushed, as well as determining when you (or an object) would stop falling after jumping off of a ledge)

 

[LastEnd]

Lol you with the IRS? Arizona State law allows for us to run LastEnd.com under the owner personal tax id. So yes, and no. Once the engine is out of beta i'm sure the owner will switch to a business tax id.

 

[LastEnd]

Looks like I will be redoing the memory management on Objects an Events this up coming week. The new system I have in mind will allow for endless effects and objects without taking a hit to the processing speed.

The next video will contain sound and less lag in the main world. This could take me all week. :smoke: I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[Alexander Morou]

Are you employing any level of compression in the map save/load process?

When you say 4,000,000 tiles, do you mean that with all layers considered? So a map that is 1000x1000 (1000x1000, 4 layers), or a map that is 2000x2000? Simple RLE compression should expedite load times, since expanding simple structures in memory is far quicker than loading a 19mb blob from the user's hard drive. You could even modify the RLE algorithm for your own specific needs so that you can evaluate areas that aren't RLE friendly (forests, natural environment maps). With proper RLE your maps should also take far less space to store. If I recall correctly Rpgmaker 95's old map system used RLE of some form (I wrote a converter for them years ago).

You also need to work on your graphics and maps. The sense of space on your characters/town is off. The character doesn't quite fit the door to the buildings. While these things are more important in a later design phase, if you're advertising your product, you need to be aware that users are interested in the presentation of the full package, that includes how your videos portray your product.

Also one last tip, if you don't mind: making something that has more, just for the sake of it, doesn't make it better. What makes it better is how easy the program is to use, and, as a minimum, meeting the standard that you are trying to best.

 

[LastEnd]

I will indeed look into RLE compression. From what I have read on it so far it looks like pictures uses this method. Picture can be way over 1,000 x 1,000 x 4 (ARGB) so I agree 100%.

I have more hats in this project than hands. Some of my hats like artist arn't my strong points. At some point later in the project We will be looking into getting a few poeple from AI to do are art.

We are willing to look at any artist work that is looking for thier name in the credits.

"how easy the program is to use" is our main focus at this time. My self I didn't like the way RPG Maker focuses on having almost everything under one Event Dialog. I do understand having it all link to a single point on the board {board[x,y}; However I don't think the user should have to design in the editor in one dialog to get this effect.

 

[Alexander Morou]

. . .
I have more hats in this project than hands. Some of my hats like artist arn't my strong points. At some point later in the project We will be looking into getting a few poeple from AI to do are art.

We are willing to look at any artist work that is looking for their name in the credits.

"how easy the program is to use" is our main focus at this time. My self I didn't like the way RPG Maker focuses on having almost everything under one Event Dialog. I do understand having it all link to a single point on the board {board[x,y}; However I don't think the user should have to design in the editor in one dialog to get this effect.

You're interchanging between 'we' and 'me/my/I'. I don't think you're British nobility, so might I ask: are you working alone, or aren't you? You're confusing. If you represent the lead of the project and what you say goes, use a singular flavor, swapping back and forth makes you appear crazy ("there's voices in my head, and we speak together!").

We are willing to look at any artist work that is looking for their name in the credits.

That's a good way to get people, not talent.

I could raise my hand and say I'd make you some art, I can somewhat draw, but I'm no pixel artist. If you wish to raise the bar, raise the bar, don't settle for anything less.

 

[LastEnd]

As a programmer, yes I'm indeed crazy. Right now the engine has what I like to call programmer art. If you did draw that then I can see you already have more talented in art than me. I could see something like that being used in a banner if it had color.

 

[Alexander Morou]

Yes, I did draw that, along with a few others; however, I haven't drawn in over a year due to my focus on a certain programming project.

My primary point was, don't just accept people interested in fame and adulation alone, make sure they're up to snuff first.

Also, as a programmer, there's not one person I know in real life that considers me normal, and when I speak about programming, they think I'm crazy. Probably because I know exactly zero programmers in real life.