cRPG engine & toolsets?

[Konjad]

Let's say I want to make a cRPG. But I have no idea about programming. I heard abour RPG Maker but is this the only possibility? Are there any good alternatives?

 

[J_C]

Let's say I want to make a cRPG. But I have no idea about programming. I heard abour RPG Maker but is this the only possibility? Are there any good alternatives?

Although it is not a stand alone RPG maker, but Aurore engine toolset, from Neverwinter Nights 1 (or 2, although this is a bit more complex) is quite good. The toolset is quite flexible, and but not too difficult to get the hang of it, only problem is that you can only make moduls for Neverwinter Nights with it. So it won't be a stand-alone game.

 

[Xor]

Let's say I want to make a cRPG.

Good, good.

But I have no idea about programming.

You're pretty much fucked. No matter what kind of abstraction you use when working on your game you'll need to do some kind of programming or scripting eventually or your game will suck.

RPGMaker is easy to use, but it's not really capable of doing more than simple oldschoolish JRPGs even if you extensively fuck around with the ruby scripts. To my knowledge, there aren't any other real feature-rich RPG development platforms out there - probably because RPGs are such monsters to create.

Your only other option is to team up with someone who knows the programming side of things, but that generally doesn't work unless you have another talent to bring to the table.

Also, game design is a skill that's not easy to learn overnight unless you're an ubermench like Cleve.

 

[ecliptic]

If you've got the stomach for scripting, give the Unity3D engine a shot. It's as close to a fully featured klik-n-play as you're going to get.

 

[shihonage]

You're pretty much fucked. No matter what kind of abstraction you use when working on your game you'll need to do some kind of programming or scripting eventually or your game will suck.

[intelligence] What he said.

 

[Jools]

J_C's is a valid suggestion.

My suggestion is, as usual, source engine, here are a few advantages:

-best support ever, it is being patched on a weekly basis even now, years after its release
-comes almost for free, you just need to buy some source game on steam (the old ones are really cheap)
-a lot of non-official support, people have been using it for so long that there is just shitloads of knowledge all around the interweb
-flexible: FPS, 3rd person, top down, static, whatever. you can do whatever game you want with it.
-low-requirements: source games can run extrememly smooth even on old machines
-technology: physics, HDR, bloomfest, you name it. it's got it all.
-easily moddable: fiddle around with Garry's mod or try one of those adventure mods for HL2, or just download the SDK and start messing around, it's quite a user-friendly environment

 

[bhlaab]

If you work really really hard you might be able to get something out of Multimedia Fusion 2, but for someting as complex as a crpg you might as well just learn programming

 

[7hm]

As others have said, you're pretty well fucked if you're not willing to learn some programming.

That said... what style of crpg are you trying to make? That makes a big difference.

You may want to explore either modding or a game system like FRUA or Blades of Exile / Avernum or NWN or something.

 

[mutile]

unlimited adventures

 

[roll-a-die]

RPGMaker,

advantages

It's a OLDSKOOL JRPG maker, Dialogue will be easy, as will making levels, branching dialogue may be harder, competent levels even harder.

Can import tiles from other OLDSKOOL JRPG's

Can Import Sprites from OLDSKOOL JRPG's

Disadvantages

OLDSKOOL JRPG CLONES Are prolific, and you'll look generic.

Hard to do anything major with the combat system, though I have seen real time combat on an RPGMaker game(Violated Heroine).

Generic Gameplay.


Note that all of these can be countered with quality production and story, or at least lulz.

 

[ecliptic]

Any alternative to RPGMaker is a good alternative.

Just do like I did when I was 11, make a game out using batch files!

 

[Xor]

Or you could do what I did and make RPGs on your graphing calculator instead of paying attention in math class.

 

[OminousBlueDot]

Steal the assests of FanMadeFallout, Konjad. :D Ah, bad idea ... the scripting is weird and you're limited by the Fallout 1/2 executable.

If you're going to the Source engine way, there's also the UDK ... Though I've not had time to play with either.

jMonkey and the SDL, but that's getting into the programming side of things. Python includes a library for creating simple games, if I recall. The fellow who produced Doom/Diablo/Aliens ~RL produced a Lua (for use in Pascal?) library for rouge-like production.

Like RPG Maker, there is also Game Maker. Seems to have the same problems as mentioned above for RPG Maker, plus it produces huge executable files.

 

[Fowyr]

Make short module for FRUA or Blades of Exile. Also you SHOULD have some programming skill. Knowledge about ifs, cycles, variables, functions and arrays will suffice.

 

[Scream Phoenix]

An RPG is probably the worst choice for your first game, yet, the most popular one among new indie devs. That shit almost never gets done.

 

[ksjav]

Programming ain't rocket science, there are TONS of tutorials to get you started on the web. From learning the basics to making your own 3D engine.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

FOnline SDK

 

[Dele]

NWN module editor since its fast and easy to learn and you can still make some nice stuff with it.

 

[Radisshu]

RPGMaker,

advantages

It's a OLDSKOOL JRPG maker, Dialogue will be easy, as will making levels, branching dialogue may be harder, competent levels even harder.

Can import tiles from other OLDSKOOL JRPG's

Can Import Sprites from OLDSKOOL JRPG's

Disadvantages

OLDSKOOL JRPG CLONES Are prolific, and you'll look generic.

Hard to do anything major with the combat system, though I have seen real time combat on an RPGMaker game(Violated Heroine).

Generic Gameplay.


Note that all of these can be countered with quality production and story, or at least lulz.

There are newer versions of RPG Maker 2000 that lets you customise things a bit more, but that requires coding, so..

 

[Raghar]

Let's say I want to make a cRPG. But I have no idea about programming. I heard abour RPG Maker but is this the only possibility? Are there any good alternatives?

Have you did DM in PnP RPG? Created assets for session?

If not you are hosed. You would need to learn not only programming, but also these other things. See you in three years. (assuming 5 hours per day in your spare time.)

Google for desocupado, you'd look like him in the first half year. These who leave it during that harsh half year are the scum that never does anything. These other might have talent.

NWN2 had some toolset. You might try to do something with that. (Or with NWN toolset.)

 

[siliconavatar]

There are a few more possibilities.

http://www.scirra.com/
http://www.engine001.com/gamemaker.htm
http://rpgtoolkit.net/ (down at the moment - they are redoing the site).

Those engines probably lean more toward Zelda style RPG than old-school tile game RPG. The only old-school game maker I can remember (besides FRUA) was DCGames, but it was only for DOS.

There's an open source version of FRUA but I don't know how far along it is.

http://uaf.sourceforge.net/

Most of the engines still require some scripting to customize your scenarios.

 

[roll-a-die]

Exalt from what I recall is also a possibility, considering how much you can modify that now. Would require some coding though as far as I know.

 

[CrunchyHemorrhoids]

Baby steps. Start by making 30 minutes' worth of fun with the nwn1 toolset.

 

[Hobo Elf]

RM2K is p. easy to use, and it does have some hidden depth and complexity to it provided that you have some minimal understanding about programming and scripting. You don't have to write lines of code, but there will be familiar elements between RM2K scripting and coding.