Tales of Aeldaria (West's & devman's RPG)

[Dveman115]

West and I have decided to take on a isometric rpg created in python + pygame. However, we know nothing about pygame, and the docs aren't the best . We know this is a huge goal, and we also know that the chances of us getting it done...are close to nothing. Which is why we come to you good people for help. Its going to be open source of course, and west already has some art done (If you read this, post some screens of art please!). Any knowledge of pygame + python, or art or simply anything, feel free to post here. The only requirement is that you have some messenger that can use AIM. We also understand that people may not want to help, and thats fine to, don't feel bad. We'll just keep on chugging along ourselves

-Thanks
West + Devman

Edit by West: Concept art/experimental isometric tiles/UI mockup here!

[Kestenvarn]

Huh, that concept looks better than what I expected.

So, what game mechanics are you aiming for? 'Isometric RPG' doesn't tell us much.

[West]

So, what game mechanics are you aiming for? 'Isometric RPG' doesn't tell us much.

We're aiming for something relatively simple in terms of gameplay. We will have a set of basic RPG rules and a straightforward story where the focus lies on exploration and action. However, we do want everything to be easily moddable so that we (or others!) can modify and expand on the game features later on. The game will be single player only.

As for the style of the game, we want it to have a boardgame/pen & paper RPG feel. So it's not meant to be a Diablo clone or a console-style RPG. Neither is it meant to be a dungeon crawler; we want outdoor maps mainly. Combat will take place directly on the map and will work pretty much like a pen & paper game, i.e. the character and the opponent takes turns at beating each other over the head.

As mentioned the RPG rules will be fairly basic, but our goal is that they should be sensible and fully working even if you pluck them out of the computer game context. In other words, it should be possible to use the exact same rules for a pen, paper & dice session.

The fantasy world in which the game takes place is well-documented (as of this writing, it is probably the most "finished" part of the game). It's a more down-to-earth world than most CRPG settings, and also more primitive. Think early middle ages, think dingy rather than polished, think dark, lawless times rather than grand enlightened civilizations. No gothic castles and knights in shining armor, in other words. It is human-dominated, and no other races will be playable.

Since we're still very much in the planning stage, some things of the above might change and other things might be added. But I hope that answers your question at least to some extent.

[Unnheulu]

A few things, one is in pygame, that always confused me, is the fact that you need to call pygame.display.flip() to show the screen, otherwise nothing will happen in the window, start off with storing your maps in a multiline array, this way you can simply take the constant with you tile sizes and times it by the number of lines down/across the tile is.

Also this is a difficult project, so don't give up!

[West]

start off with storing your maps in a multiline array, this way you can simply take the constant with you tile sizes and times it by the number of lines down/across the tile is.

I get a the idea of what you're saying but how to achieve that goes way above my head at least. Then again, I will most likely not be doing any complex coding. Partly because I don't have any real knack for it, and partly because there are other things I prefer focusing on. I have developed a liking for python though, so who knows what'll happen later on when I get better at it

Also this is a difficult project, so don't give up!

We realise that this is very difficult indeed. We try not to think too much about the scope of the project, we just take one thing at a time. Baby steps.

Anyway, to clarify something for those who might be interested in ledning a hand: no, we don't have a site or a forum or anything like that yet. As there's just the two of us right now there hasn't been any need. Just PM me or devman -- or post in this thread, of course -- if you have any questions or thoughts about the project.

[CIB]

Awww, SP =( *in really bad need of a Wesnoth-quality RPG with MP-mode*

[Dveman115]

Yes well, this is our first experience with this kind of thing, so don't expect Mp. I suppose if it becomes a huge success, then some other person might come and add it, but don't expect it anytime soon.

[West]

Yes, what Devman said.

Besides, multiplayer has absolutely zero priority for me. These days, multiplayer games abound and single player games are getting more and more uncommon. So for me it's more important to bring the player a really good immersive SP experience.

[mesilliac]

This looks interesting . I'm curious to see how you're coding it!

[Dveman115]

Well, the biggest challenge we've come across is how to get the maps we (west) makes it tiled, into the engine properly. It can export an image, but it can also export the map file as xml. What do you think the best way to do this is? I've done a lot of thinking, and I still don't really know...

[Blueblaze]

xml ftw

[charlieg]

I recommend you investigate existing isometric engines that will reduce the effort needed as well as consolidate development (you get the benefit of the engine developers continuing to improve the engine).

I recommend FIFE, an RPG engine that uses Python:
http://www.fifengine.de/

More information on FIFE:
http://forum.freegamedev.net/index.php? ... 14&start=0

I recommend FIFE because it has been in development for some time, is ambitious in scope and already has examples and good documentation.

[Unnheulu]

If your going for existing iso engines then use PygLibs, that is basically 100% python+pygame, which is what your using.

[West]

I recommend FIFE because it has been in development for some time, is ambitious in scope and already has examples and good documentation.

Thanks for the suggestion, but we've already looked at FIFE. Now, IANAP but FIFE looks very complex, maybe needlessly so. We want it to be fairly easy to create new content for our game and thus we depend on having a full-featured and easy to use map editor. The FIFE editor makes absolutely no sense to me.

If your going for existing iso engines then use PygLibs, that is basically 100% python+pygame, which is what your using.

PygLibs eh? Thanks. We've been searching high and low for iso engines, how the heck can we have missed that one?

[Unnheulu]

Kinda iso, I think iso is added in the last version, 0.4, if that's been released yet. Almost every game using PygLibs has used iso though so...