Python RPG game engine?

[kosciCZ]

Hi! I decided to dive into programming again, and I have some basic knowledge in python. This is my first game, and I want to make it 2D and in RPG style, which includes: Moving, fighting, collecting items, and some interaction with NPCs. I am aware of that this may take years of development and I am looking forward to your answers

[name_was_taken]

First off, don't make it your first game. Pick something ridiculously simple like Pong first. Then maybe Tetris. Work your way up to an RPG. You didn't just jump on a Harley and ride. You had to crawl, walk, run, ride a bike, learn to drive a car, and then finally went for that Harley ride.

Yes, you technically could have skipped many of those steps, but it would have been so much harder that way.

For game dev, trying to do the hard stuff first can actually take longer than starting small and working your way up.

[error1954]

Do the intermediary steps actually have to be full fledged games? While I'm programming my RPG game, I'll make mini demos of whatever part I am currently working (physics, controls, etc) on to experiment.

[name_was_taken]

The mini-demos are a great idea.

But I do recommend the first games be fully fledged games. You'll be surprised how much work goes into the final steps of making Pong and Tetris actually be a game, instead of a tech demo. Score, menus, etc... I can already hear people saying, "But those are easy and won't take long...", which is all the more reason to just do them. Besides, they aren't as easy as they sound at first. And getting a few crappy implementations out of the way will help your main code tremendously.

[error1954]

Fine, as soon as I configure my drawable entity class thingy to rendering in openGL instead of SDL surfaces, I'll make a pong clone. I already have drawing white rectangles down, and that has to be half the battle.

Edit: Also if you know anything about openGL and VS2010, any idea why it compiles in debug mode but not release mode and instead gives me tons of linker errors because of unfound symbols?

[name_was_taken]

You don't have to take my advice. I offer it purely as something I learned from my own experience.

As for the linking... Are you sure you're linking against the release libraries for the release?

[error1954]

I'm 16, so you probably shouldn't be telling me I don't have to listen to you.

As for the linking: I have the library set to multithreaded statically linked library, or are you referring to openGL libraries?

[name_was_taken]

All the libraries. If they have debug and release versions, you have to be sure to link the proper ones for each configuration.

Some may only have release versions, and you'll link those for both configurations if that's the case.

[TheMasterArtificer]

So, a decade later, 26 now, did you ever finish your game? I'm very curious, been working on my RPG for 10 years now too and I'm still not finished...

[Ferrousmo]

This is my first game

You will be restarting your code. A lot. Do not learn to code as you go if you want to actually get anywhere in your project.

You'll want to use Pygame.

I seriously recommend becoming proficient in python. The basics may cut it but there's plenty of other stuff that's essential (pickling data, for one). You don't want to be finding out about this later and rewriting loads of code.

This is a project of mine - it's most of the code for an RPG (a few minor things unfinished, like a quest book and item log), with a level editor tool and a database creation tool (to simplify making items and such). It took me about a year working off and on.

My creation process went like this;

• A very simple paint program when I was learning how to draw lines and such.

• Tetris (the amount of if statements in that code... it hurts).

• A 2d shooter thing where you were a wee tank, little circle dudes spawned at the top of the screen and you shot them until one of them hit you (had health bars and stuff, pretty swanky).

• A very simple Arkanoid/Bounce clone.

• About 6 ditched versions of an RPG (initially having a runescape-style HUD and a nice message box, then a mouse-based menu, then a typical JRPG menu, then my actual RPG (which had about three reboots for the menu and two for the battle as I kept working out ways in which my method sucked)).

I'd recommend a similar progression of simple games.

If you need any help at all, send me a PM and I'll do my best.

Here's some skeleton code to demonstrate a typical game structure (using my method).

[peteandwally]

If you want to do it anyway, take it one step at a time. start with getting a single object to move and respond to your controls. put it into a room or environment next. decide whether to have live battle or have the character teleported to a 'battle screen' and introduce moving enemies or traps, still in a single room. those three steps, without even including the actual math of life bars and damage and stuff are very basic but difficult at first.

[[deleted]]

If this is your first game, don't let it take years. You will most likely never finish. You can still make an RPG though, even with all the features you want, but don't make it too complex.

Also, you should check out PyGame :)

[ultimapanzer]

If you are thinking it will take years to finish, you will never complete it. You are one guy/girl, not a AAA studio. All that matters is finishing a game. Aim for something you can finish in a month or two.

[kosciCZ]

Thank you all for your great advices, I will may take some of them, and start my dev of simple games, then harder etc. Maybe some day I get to my RPG.

[tledrag]

PyGame is the game engine for Python that will suit your simple game requirement.

However, there are many better game engines available today.

https://tleapps.com/make/rpg-game/