Ok, So I’ve been doing quite a bit of work on the engine lately. I have now finished the battle system, which includes being able to use skills and items. You can also gain EXP and items from monsters. I’ve also finished the basis for creating “cut scenes” examples below -

1 ) Normal cut scene with talking and movement  + “boss” battle
2 ) NPC joins the party and moves onto the players location
3 ) NPC moves and talks depending on which direction the player  talks to them from

I’ve also added a basic side “quest” where you talk to this woman and she asks you to find her a strange mushroom in exchange she’ll make you some potions. You gain the mushroom by defeating Living Flame creatures in the mountains ( 100% chance to get it if you’ve talked to her to start the “quest”). There is then a small cut scene where she’ll walk into a building and make the potions and then return and give them to the player.

Main parts that remain now are cleaning things up and making it all as easy to understand as possible!

New download links – Mirror 1 [UpUrLoad] – Mirror 2 [Mirror Forge - Direct ]

And of course, new screen shots =D

Ok so I’ve been doing quite a bit of work on the engine lately. Mainly just cleaning things up and adding things to make it look nicer. You can now also gain exp and money from battles ( thus making it possible to actually level up! )

I’ve also created a feature I call the music box, which allows you to change music tracks that are currently playing quite easily and each room can have a track associated to it!

Some new screen shots below of what it’s looking like so far after a battle and some of the little clean up things =)

The engine now has the basics for battle. Feel free to test it out below! =)

To test out battles head north east ( top right corner ) and enter the cave. Currently, you can’t use items in battle. You also can’t gain exp points or gain items from battles.

You can download a copy of it from UpUrLoad – download now!

The GMC topic has also been updated here

Screenshots -

So I decided to release a demo of the RPG Engine I’ve been working on, everything except being able to actually battle is working, but I plan to finish it at some point…

You can download a copy of it from UpUrLoad – download now!

You can also check out the GMC topic here

Screenshots -

Yes, I’ve been slack keeping updates. But the engine goes well, I keep adding little side things like save points and inns instead of doing the battle system… I have the basis for it working, but am trying to work out exactly how I want it to work.

I’ll post some new screen shots and perhaps a new video soon =)

So I’ve been doing some more work on the engine and what not, and decided to post how the shop system is looking =)
Going to be working on the battle system next!

I should really look into getting a better screen capture program that can record for more then 30 seconds at a time… Anyway, here is a quick preview for equipment. Currently in the process of doing the inventory, oh and I really should keep the tutorial up to date!

So, here is a quick video to show you how the engine is currently going =)
( The video only includes movement, messages and a menu overview )

So I decided to work on an RPG engine for Game Maker (8.0) that will hopefully include useful things for people.

Features -
Grid based player movement ( working )
NPC movement ( working )
Message system ( working )
Window system ( working )
Inventory and items ( working )
Menu system ( working )
Equipment system ( working )
Save and Load slots ( working )
Battle system ( working )
Cut scene system ( working )
Full tutorial page for the engines use ( in progress )

Details of working and in progress features -

Grid based player movement – So, like in all RPGs the player moves around a grid. Pressing any of the arrow keys causes the player to move ( by default ) 32 pixels in the required direction at a certain speed and of course holding down said arrow key will make the player move more spaces.

NPC Movement – Setting NPC movement is meant to be an easy task. It uses the timeline feature and all you need to do is add a script that moves NPC in any direction you want. You can also set the number of spaces the NPC should move! By default the NPCs also interacts with the player, where the NPCs will not move into a space where the player is moving and the player can’t move into the space the NPC is moving into and when the player moves out of the way the NPC continues along it’s assigned path! =)

Message and Window system - These both kind of go hand in hand, you have the window appear and the message written on it. The window system is designed to draw all windows you may need, all you have to do is set the size (length and height) and where it should appear on the screen and that’s it! You can also get one object to draw multiple windows. The message system is also meant to be easy; you only need to add new lines of text to show multiple sets.

Inventory and Items - This works very similar to some older sytle RPGS ( and those made in RPG Maker ). You have a set of items that do a number of differrent things that can be used on characters when required ( such as healing and mana potions, but can also include other things such as scrolls that teach new abilities and even potions that permenantly increase stats ).

Menu system - This works using the window system and will include things like character information, shops, inns and other general details.

Equipment system – Some items can be equipped ( if set ) that increase characters stats ( available item slots include – chest, helm, weapon, trinket/other and ring/finger ).

Save and Load slots - there will be a limited number of these slots which will provide a little bit of information about the saved game, such as the current character’s level and time played.

Battle system – This is pretty self explanatory, this system handles all aspects of battling. It is a side view, similar to the older games from the Final Fantasy series. You can use your characters abilities and gained items in order to defeat monsters.

Cut scene system – This system is very useful for making the player interact with NPCs. Example -  Player makes a discovery and all characters in the party appear and walk around and talk about it and so on.

Full tutorial page – I have also started a full tutorial page, which will help people in the use of the engine.

More updates will be posted when they become available =)

So a friend of mine has convinced me to finish the game,  and even helped me find someone willing to do the graphics. I’ll have a suitable demo available in a few weeks =)

more details to come…