RHYTHOS RPG BUILDER - A FREE AND OPEN SOURCE DEV TOOL

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Oh wow, this looks awesome! Is it already useable on Macs?
Because, ahahaha so much cheaper than trying to get windows to work on a Mac and then get rpgmaker to work on there OTL
Yup! The editor is written in Java, which runs on mac (and many other platforms), and it can export games to flash, mac, windows, linux and potentially (with a stretch goal) HTML5, iOS and Android (including the Ouya console) - so you'll be able to make games on your mac, and play them on your mac and iPhone natively, without any windows on mac software in between!
author=terra0nova
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).

I don't know if I count as a lot, but I think that'd be pretty cool. One of RPG Maker's greatest weaknesses is that the tile size and the resolution are set in stone.
I tested out changing the tile size in the code, and other than requiring a few minor changes to parts of the map editor (like the walkability arrows were sized to fit a 32x32 tile), everything seems to work, so I'll add that into the project settings!

I'll also look into setting the game's resolution in the project settings - that may require a little more work as the battle system was designed for a fixed resolution, but most of the rendering should work at different resolutions, so I'll look into adding that too!
author=terra0nova
Yup! The editor is written in Java, which runs on mac (and many other platforms), and it can export games to flash, mac, windows, linux and potentially (with a stretch goal) HTML5, iOS and Android (including the Ouya console) - so you'll be able to make games on your mac, and play them on your mac and iPhone natively, without any windows on mac software in between!

...EEEEEEE <3

Okay I am hella stoked to see this project continue!
Awesome! I'm really hoping this project will go places too! If the kickstarter gets successfully funded, I plan to finish all the listed features by November of this year. I plan to continue adding features and support after November, and hope that the community will also contribute lots of features and assets too!
Oh man this gets all of my support. That's simply all I have to say on the subject.
jeez, inst there enough free 2d rpg development kits? will there ever be any advancement in the rm community?
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
author=megaman8x
jeez, inst there enough free 2d rpg development kits?

No, no there is not.
author=megaman8x
jeez, inst there enough free 2d rpg development kits? will there ever be any advancement in the rm community?


While there are several rpg development tools, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I haven't seen any free tools as feature complete as I'm planning (although I may have missed some), as a lot of tools are either unfinished or focus on one part of rpg development (like Tiled is really good at map editing). Take a look at Rhythos' feature list on our kickstarter page - it's really up to you whether it seems like a good fit for you or not!

As for advancements in the RM community, I can't promise anything there, but as CyberDagger mentioned, maybe some competition will help advance all RPG maker tools!
Right after I just bought rpg maker too... Looks like its shaping up to be pretty good though.
This looks cool, a few thing though:

-I don't like how it's open source, because anyone can rummage through and steal all your resources. The counter-argument to this is that there's always a way and those who are determined will steal anyway, but it'd be nice to have some layers of security, especially if you're paying for unique assets/expertise. You can still contribute to the community without people pillaging your game. I'd advocate an option to make it open or locked.

-Why are the stretch goals more assets and not actual features? What are your backup plans if the goal is not met? Do we still get the engine in some form?

Anyway, I'm a pixel artist and could possibly donate graphics for the expansion or the main repertoire, I specialize in environmental tile-sets but can do sprite/animations as well.
Maybe it was answered elsewhere, but is that battle system set in stone? Because while it's fun for a flash game, that would get real boring real quick in a full fledged RPG.
While the Editor is GPL, the game libraries are LGPL - meaning you do NOT have to open source your games and assets even if you use Rhythos RPG Builder. You only have to open source modifications to the editor itself, and modifications to LPC assets (as those are also GPL/CC). If you distribute just the exported game and not the project files, then your resources will not be trivial to rummage through. Of course, as you mentioned, it's not that hard to break open flash or executables and extract resources for those with the desire and knowhow (and there are tools online that do just this for any flash file or executable), but it's not particularly easier to do so with Rhythos games just because Rhythos is open source. Sure, you could look at the exporter code and try to reverse engineer it, but if you had the skill to do that, you would probably just use a general purpose extractor.

The first stretch goal is more assets because I want to give back to the LPC community which helped spawn this project, and because there are a lot of base assets that could be added (although there is already a large set of LPC assets even if we don't reach this goal). The stretch goals after that are more features, and if successful I'll continue to add features in my spare time long after the funds have run out (and hopefully others will contribute features too)!

If the goal is NOT met, I obviously wont be able to work on this full time, but like with the map editor, I will continue to work on it in my spare time (as I really want to see it complete). It may take a long time to finish or require some features being cut, or I may try to raise funds a second time for the project, but I'm really hoping that the goal will be met! And of course, either way you'll be able to keep an eye on progress on github: https://github.com/davidmaletz/rhythos (and I'll hopefully start uploading alpha releases that you can download and run without compiling code soon).

And, any pixel art you want to donate would be great! This tool will just get better as people contribute new resources! If you want to contribute to the LPC set, there's a great style guide here: http://lpc.opengameart.org/static/lpc-style-guide/index.html ! Thanks for offering to get involved!
author=Clyve
Maybe it was answered elsewhere, but is that battle system set in stone? Because while it's fun for a flash game, that would get real boring real quick in a full fledged RPG.


That battle system will be the default battle system included (and it will be balanced & expanded, having a lot of options for customization including weapons, spells, combo bars - so hopefully it wont get too repetitive). However, adding new battle systems will be doable using the Plugin API (the plugin api will handle integrating new battle systems right into the editor and database entries). I plan to eventually add new battle systems (and other members of the community can too)! Let me know if you have any specific requests for battle systems, and I'll keep it in mind!
CTB! When it's your turn, you act and likewise for the monsters. Think FFX. Gogogogogogogogogo.

Really though, glad to hear there will be plugin options for the battle system.
Yeah, I really want to make this project easy to expand, with the Plugin API handling a lot of the integration work with the editor - that's why I make the claim "future-proof," as while I can't know what platforms and features people will want in the future, I can make it easy for people (including myself) to add them!

And, CTB is probably my favorite turn-based battle system other than tactics battle systems (not to mention you can create a normal turn based battle system with a CTB by just fixing the order, so it's flexible)! I'll make that the first battle system I add after the editor is done.
I like it and I hope it goes well, unfortunately I don't think you'll be able to reach your goal of 12,000 :S
I'm hoping too! While it's true we're off to a bit of a slow start, it's too early to tell on the third day, and I definitely haven't given up hope yet! I have a few ideas that may help spread the word about the project more, I just need to build momentum!
Maybe something like an option, at battle start, called Change Battle Type (if you don't set, it defaults to the last one used) with a few menu options (ATB, CTB, Turn, and some others) and some sort of customization to variables and switches. And common event support for alot of battle stuff.

Demo video looks good so far.