RPGs have always been one of my favorite video game genres.
All the way back to the Gold Box RPGs in the early 90s, and then BioWare classics like Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. The genre has changed in the most recent generations, and I'm not sure for the better. Most of the combat has borrowed heavily from action games, amping the visuals and the kinetic feel of the game, but losing a lot of tactical problem solving. And with the advent of Hollywood style cut scenes and voice acting, most of the wildly divergent storytelling has been streamlined into one or two basic paths (good, not-so-good).
I've always wanted to build an RPG. I have tremendous respect for some of the Indie RPG developers out there, including Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb games. His model is one I'd like to emulate - focusing on a hand crafted RPG engine and building series of games with enveloping story and tactical combat, even if the graphics are lacking.
All the way back to the Gold Box RPGs in the early 90s, and then BioWare classics like Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. The genre has changed in the most recent generations, and I'm not sure for the better. Most of the combat has borrowed heavily from action games, amping the visuals and the kinetic feel of the game, but losing a lot of tactical problem solving. And with the advent of Hollywood style cut scenes and voice acting, most of the wildly divergent storytelling has been streamlined into one or two basic paths (good, not-so-good).
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| Gold Box RPG |
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| Spiderweb Software RPG |
But building an RPG can be a challenge. There aren't any difficult graphical, algorithmic or physics formulas to decipher, in something like a networked FPS. An RPG is just an excercise in coding a large complex system, with lots of moving parts and abstractions. I've made attempts in Objective-C and Javascript before, and both fell apart because working with the language was too painful.
My goal is to build an old-school tactical RPG, using 2D spritesheets and basic particle effects, similar to the Gold Box RPGs of yore. The core of the game is being written in C#, and the graphics and UI will eventually use Unity. But to start, its just going to be a standard .NET Console application. Everything will be open source and up on github.
The last time I wrote a big game, a dev blog was essential. For one - it let me share my work with the wide world, and two - it kept me accountable. Dozens of projects and prototypes have been buried in dusty drive folders simply because I got a little bored, a little burned out, and there was no motivation to continue.
We'll see if I get any farther with this.
So here's to the start.
Follow along here: https://github.com/tdonlan/SimpleRPG
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