RHYTHOS RPG BUILDER - A FREE AND OPEN SOURCE DEV TOOL

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Rhythos RPG Builder in a nutshell:
  • A completely free and open source game creation tool!
  • Designed to be accessible and easy to use.
  • Some basic functionality is already done, including a battle system you can play right here!
  • Dual-scripting system in Haxe: visual eventing requiring no coding knowledge + ability to directly edit code if desired.
  • Awesome 16-bit style graphics from the Liberated Pixel Cup & Open Game Art!
  • Exciting music and sound effects from Robot Horse Productions: listen here!
  • Cross-platform (Flash, PC, Mac, Linux - and with a stretch goal: HTML5, iOS, Android, Ouya).
  • Extremely flexible and expandable, with a powerful plugin system for adding more export targets, battle systems, assets, and much more!
  • Rhythos.com: a community website where YOU can post your own content, chat about the project, and request features!
  • Please consider backing the project or spreading the word to make it a reality: Rhythos RPG Builder on Kickstarter

Hey game developers!

I'm currently creating a free, open source RPG builder that will be cross platform and support many cool features, including an action/rhythm battle system which you can test out here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/616768! The builder will have an accessible dual-scripting system and be highly expandable, including a powerful plugin API. The editing capabilities are inspired by RPG Maker and based off of an older tilemap editor I have been developing on and off in my free time for the past year or so. The builder also uses the great 16-bit style graphics provided by the Liberated Pixel Cup/Open Game Art.



I know first hand how hard finishing a project like this can be. I've had experience making game development tools before including VIDE, a 2D animation tool, HTML Tactics, a DOM-based tactics game editor, and a 3d cloud and atmosphere rendering API. I'm also the founder and lead programmer of Fancy Fish Games, with 6 games released so far. I feel I have the skills to make this project a reality as well as the knowledge of what it's like to be a game developer using the tools! With my experience and a large codebase already complete, I am confident I will be able to come though and finish this project, but I'm going to need a little help!


A 2x speed example video of me creating a simple house interior in the Rhythos Map Editor.

That's why I've started a kickstarter page (which includes a lot more details about the project) here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davidmaletz/rhythos-rpg-builder! If you're able to back the project, that's great! But even if you can't contribute monetarily, feel free to contact me if you are interested in supporting the project as a coder or artist! This is truly a community-driven project and any support possible (even just spreading the word to other developers) would be awesome! You can also peruse the current codebase on github here: https://github.com/davidmaletz/rhythos . It still needs integration work and a lot of features before I'll consider it stable, but feel free to check it out and let me know if you are interesting in contributing code!



And of course, let me know if you have any questions, comments, or feature requests - this project is very expandable, and I hope to support a lot of options, features, battle systems and release targets eventually. I'm creating this tool for the community and with the community, so I want to know what you want!
I was wondering what was different about this from RPG Maker... but then I realized...

Can you export your games to Flash to be hosted on game sites? If so, fuck yeah!
Isn't Flash dying?
JayjeAthravein
Old-School GAM-MAKster DOUBLE DONATOR SUPREME!
1945
what's the scripting language?
Hopefully something somewhat common...
even if it isn't this looks awesome.
author=Archeia_Nessiah
Isn't Flash dying?


this. while html5 has some serious problems right now with browsers, it's only a matter of time before they sort those out and make Flash more or less obsolete. not to say that Flash is a bad choice for everything, but games such as Binding of Isaac demonstrate its limits pretty well. you can't go too long or too complex before it starts showing.

as for the project itself, it's interesting! cross-platform compatibility is currently a pretty big thing in game engines, and one that's conspicuously absent in RPG Maker. I was going to call your feature list sparse, but honestly I think that's a good thing in things like this -- I just can't use RPG Maker except for prototyping, since there's just so much default stuff I need to remove before I even start adding things. an ideal RPG creation toolkit takes the monotony out of all the math that's necessary for the genre and otherwise leaves the user to their own devices.

dunno if this is something I'd use personally, but good luck!
author=Archeia_Nessiah
Isn't Flash dying?
I third this, I'd dare even say flash is pretty much dead and adobe doesn't want to admit it. Also, the phrase Opensource has definitely given this project my interest and attention.
The game code is written in Haxe, which compiles to Flash, HTML5, Android, iOS and native executables (windows, linux, mac) - so yes to flash support, and yes to other platforms if you think flash is dying! Haxe is also currently in development, with new platforms like C# and Java being developed, so that's why I call the tool "future proof," as it will continue to get new export targets (and features through plugins that integrate right into the editor UI) as time goes on!

As for the scripting system, it will be in Haxe as well - this makes it easy to compile your scripts to all of the platforms without any headaches. The builder will also have a dual scripting system, which will allow you to place code in UI blocks (like RPG Maker), but then view and edit the text code that those blocks create in Haxe (and add more flexibility)!
oh, haxe is fucking beautiful. I've been fumbling with it recently (I am not a programmer) and it's becoming one of my favourite things. I'm learning it mainly so I can do more with Stencyl when 3.0 comes out, but seeing more things using it is a definite plus no matter what.
author=Emirpoen
I'd dare even say flash is pretty much dead and adobe doesn't want to admit it.

Flash is in no way dead, it's just mutating. As time passes it's becoming less a program for creating interactive content and more an animation tool. That's what the future of Flash is, animation, and the increasing ammount of profassional animation works that are being made with Flash proves it.

author=terra0nova
The game code is written in Haxe, which compiles to Flash, HTML5, Android, iOS and native executables (windows, linux, mac) - so yes to flash support, and yes to other platforms if you think flash is dying! Haxe is also currently in development, with new platforms like C# and Java being developed, so that's why I call the tool "future proof," as it will continue to get new export targets (and features through plugins that integrate right into the editor UI) as time goes on!

Haxe sounds awesome. I'll have to give it a look.

author=terra0nova
The builder will also have a dual scripting system, which will allow you to place code in UI blocks (like RPG Maker), but then view and edit the text code that those blocks create in Haxe (and add more flexibility)!

That is brilliant!
Oh this sounds cool! You have made this??? Oh yeah! This looks so cool! ´Can just anyone join to your Fancy fish company (I dont know is it a company but i dunno)?
So its the user friendliness of Rpg Maker with more options and the ability to export in different formats?
I just want to be able to play all of these custom built RPGs that our community makes on my phone.
@Arandomgamemaker - that, and being free and open source with a flexible plugin API that will make it easy for the community to contribute plugins that seamlessly integrate with the editor! There's also a few features that RPG Maker doesn't support (sprite layering for changing hair, equipment and the action/rhythm battle system)!

@Shade_Hunter - it is currently being made, and I recently set up a kickstarter to fund the completion of the project! The map editor is already done (from an old project of mine), and I have a bunch of general purpose RPG functions from Rhythos Arcade BETA (the battle system, choice dialogs, dialog boxes, character customization, shop). Fancy Fish Games isn't a registered company, just a group of people who make games (with me being the founder and primary coder), so all you have to do to join is get in touch and make a game with me :). And Rhythos is meant to be a community project, so everyone can contribute code, art and music to it!
author=terra0nova
sprite layering for changing hair, equipment

It's possible to do that in RPG Maker already with Ruby scripts, but it's great to have it by default without having to do weird workarounds. Thumbs up for that.

And you know, people talk about this or that feature that Enterbrain's RPG Maker needs, but I stand by my opinion that the feature that RPG Maker needs the most is competition. Without any competition in the field, it stagnates. It doesn't need to innovate because it holds a monopoly in the market of RPG focused game development tools. This will not only be a breath of fresh air, but it will actually push Enterbrain to step up their game if it becomes successful. As such, this has all my support.
This looks really cool! But I'm a bit concerned about the mapping. Looking at that video it seems slightly more complicated than in RPG Maker and I don't know yet if that's a good or a bad thing. My skepticism derives from the fact that every version of RPG Maker always seemed to have something wrong with its mapping: lack of space for tiles, lack of layers, unintuitive controls, you-name-it. (I think the most flexible one to date was XP's) So I'm wondering what kind of features yours have...

In fact, because of the above, people are too prone to use "parallax" mapping these days (Incorrect name, I know). So a mapping tool that could 'emulate' that would be neat. Letting you pick any graphic you want and place anywhere you want... Oh, and Pixel Movement would be a nice plus too! Let Tile-based Movement retire already. ;P
author=CyberDagger
Flash is in no way dead, it's just mutating. As time passes it's becoming less a program for creating interactive content and more an animation tool. That's what the future of Flash is, animation, and the increasing ammount of profassional animation works that are being made with Flash proves it.


the future bears an uncanny resemblance to the past.
The basic editing tools of the map editor are pretty similar to RPG Maker 2003, so at it's core it's not that complicated, but it has a lot of features to address the flexibility issues you mentioned:

* It allows for up to 20 layers (and you can set which layer the player is in, allowing the player to walk on bridges over a town, and then walk under the bridge just by moving up/down a layer).
* The tile maps can be any size (in tiles - it will add a scroll bar if needed), and maps can have tiles from any tileset in the project (so, you could have half the map be from the forest tileset, and half the map be from the forest town tileset.
* The eventing system will allow you to place sprites on ANY layer, and can be used to place trees and other graphics anywhere you want. This is actually the preferred method for placing large graphics, as then they properly depth sort with other events (tiles are either above or below the player, but a tree may be above the player if he's behind it, and below the player if he's in front of it).

My goal is to give simplicity on the surface, but complexity for those who want it (and giving game developers room to grow) - so that's why I'm using a grid based system as it's easy to manage and work with. Adding a pixel movement and placement system wouldn't be that hard for me (or another community member) to add with the plugin system!
Is there any reason why the size of the tiles is set at 32x32 pixels, or is that something that will be possible to change with plugins?
It's set at 32x32 pixels because it's a pretty standard tilesize (other than the old RPGMakers using 16x16). As for changing the tilesize, it would be doable just by changing some constants in the code as long as the project uses the same tilesize for everything (mixing 16x16 and 32x32 tiles would be more work) - if there's a lot of desire for this, I could add a project option that sets the project's tilesize (and would invalidate tilesets and maps when changed - so you would probably want to set the tilesize in the project properties, and stick with it).
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