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I'll start updating again soon.


gmRPG is a toolkit for Game Maker Studio geared toward building role-playing games of all types in Game Maker. It will consist of an integrated development environment (IDE), constructed in C#/Windows Forms, that will augment Game Maker Studio's abilities in order to better focus them toward role-playing game development.

gmRPG's goal is not only to allow its user to build an RPG quickly and easily, but also to allow the user to utilize all of Game Maker Studio's features, which include:

- deploying a game to the following platforms*: Android/Ouya, Apple OS X and iOS, Ubuntu Linux**, Windows, Windows 8 Native, Windows 8 Phone, PlayStation 3^, PlayStation 4^, and PlayStation Vita^
- advanced features such as shaders, native compilation, networking, and cross-platform gamepad support
- an evolving codebase with robust QA support and a large community able to assist with the vast majority of programming and software problems

How it works:

gmRPG works by letting the IDE hook into Game Maker Studio project .gmx files, which are built in the Extensible Markup Language (XML). It will load the game into memory based on the information in the project files, and then the user can use the IDE to edit their game. Saving the game will update the project files. At that point, the user can load the game into Game Maker Studio and compile their game.

Advanced users don't even need to use the IDE! They can edit the Game Maker Language (GML) script to their every whim in Game Maker Studio itself, much like users write custom Ruby scripts for RPG Maker XP/VX. gmRPG will be just as much a fully-functional RPG engine as an IDE.

Notes:

- gmRPG will only be available for Windows, since Game Maker Studio is Windows-only.
- gmRPG requires Game Maker Studio Master Collection, Professional, or Standard. I have no plans at this time to support Lite or Free versions of the Game Maker software.
- gmRPG will not support Game Maker 8.1 and below. Since the planned gmRPG IDE hooks directly into the Game Maker Studio project XML files, it will be incompatible with any "black-box" version of Game Maker.
- This engine comes as-is with no explicit or implied warranty. If you decide to integrate this into your Game Maker source and lose all your code in the process, it's not my problem. Besides, you should use some form of version control or keep backups!
- I have no plans to watermark or otherwise hinder any game built in gmRPG. The games this engine produces are designed to be transparent to the player.

*: in order to deploy to a specific platform, you must have that platform's export module. The list of Game Maker Studio export modules can be found here.
**: Ubuntu is the only distribution of Linux that officially works with Game Maker Studio, but don't let that stop you from trying - other people have run Game Maker Studio games successfully on other distros (Mint, etc).
^: These platforms require the user to be a Licensed Developer and to sign a tools agreement.

Latest Blog

Progress Report (8/16)

Hey, y'all. You may find that, from time to time, I am unable to post every Saturday. I'll try to keep that from happening in the future. No promises, though.

Localization / Keyboard Layouts

So, some raw stuff went in today that pulls the OS's language and country and runs some QWERTZ and AZERTY checks when a gmRPG game starts up. Most countries and languages are covered. Eventually, this will hook into the Localization Manager using the ISO 639-1 standard (for languages) and the ISO 3166-1 standard (for countries). I understand that someone may prefer to play a game in a different language than the one specified by their OS, so I'll build in the ability to override as the Localization Manager takes shape. You'll probably use the Menu Designer (remember that?) to draw up a classic language selection menu.

Scaling the Application Surface

So, recently, all versions of the Game Maker Studio engine exposed a surface variable called application_surface. This is the surface that everything except the GUI gets drawn on. A neat thing about the Application Surface is that it is able to be manipulated - stretched, skewed, shaded, whatever.

Naturally, this is what's going to be used for pixel-perfect scaling of a game. There are still some issues to be worked through on this front - there's a weird sort of diagonal tearing along vertex lines in the surface quad that I can only get rid of by forsaking the GUI layer altogether. But that's on me to fix; the end user shouldn't even have to mess with this stuff.

Anyway, thanks for reading.
  • Hiatus
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  • 11/01/2011 12:17 AM
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I want this so bad. I need something like this so I can create Action Rpg games at will. Right now I am working on a game called Fantasia:Rise of a legend, it is something like an action platformer. Check it when you get the chance. Anyway, This has definitely caught my eye, Subscribed.

Aye, I've been dying to make some Metroidvanias for a long time!
Hey quick questions:

1) How will gmRPG be distributed? I have GM Pro via Steam - how would I be able to "install" it or hook it into my GM projects? (I haven't really started with GM at all so I am in the dark here on how it all works)
2) Are you planning on selling gmRPG?
3) Can commercial games be produced and sold using gmRPG?
Hi!

1) The likeliest scenario is that the gmRPG engine will be distributed in a .zip containing a .gex extension, documentation, and the IDE as an application. This is still kind of iffy because a few modules don't have extension support yet. I imagine I'll need to put the raw scripts in with the distributable, in this case.

You would import the extension into your project (or you could create a project directly from the IDE with the extension automatically hooked in), and you'd get to working in the IDE. Any script editing on top of that in GMS would be preserved, as the IDE only messes with certain scripts that are clearly marked in the engine; these generally have "UserDefined_" in front of them.

The only real question mark at this point is how to streamline writing custom scripts in GMS while working in gmRPG, as the "hook-in" points will be a mystery to me until the thing's mostly done.

2) Nope. I'm not sure I'm even legally allowed to, and I don't want to step on the toes of GMS QA Core Team, who I would like to maintain a good relationship with (as I need to appeal to them whenever a runner error breaks something in AC, for instance).

3) Yes, all games ultimately adhere to GMS's EULA, which allows for export of commercial games as long as you legally own the export module. In addition, games made using gmRPG will not be watermarked or functionally hindered in any way. gmRPG's license mostly applies to the engine components and other data files packaged with and generated by the IDE. It will be made clear that all user-generated content is owned strictly by the user and no one else. Generation code and engine backend is owned by me, but with a license to edit and remix however the user pleases provided proper credit is given.
Wow, this is brilliant. Having something prebuilt to jumpstart an RPG in GM would be tremendous. While coding the menus and inventories from scratch has been good GML practice, it takes a ridiculous amount of time. Best of luck on the project, hope to use it in the future!
Shame you can't get game maker for Linux... we so need some tools for gaming making on there... It's what's keeping me from totally moving on to Linux.. there is nothing like i can get for windows.
So, I'm going to have to put this on hold for a bit. I can't tell you why just yet, but I'm hoping I'll be able to soon. It's not bad (well, except for the hiatus), but it definitely means that I won't have time to work on this. I just wanted to be up front with y'all and let you know.

Buuut just because it's being put on hold doesn't mean I'm throwing it away or that I've lost passion for it (quite the contrary, actually). I just have to give my time to something else right now. I really want to continue, and I hope the time comes in the near future. I hope you'll understand.

Sorry :(
Hey, you're doing this on your free time, it's not like it's your job or anything like that. Shit happens, we all know that. You focus on what's necessary for now, we understand.
Ditto what Dagger said. As someone who's just realized GM's potential as an engine, I think GMRPG would help a lot of newcomers get into the swing of things. I hope you'll continue work on it whenever it's convenient.
It's a great script for making my new project on Game Maker Studio Standard version. I'll subscribe it.
Since summer's over, I need to concentrate on school and work and I've got a lot on my plate. I'll try to update sporadically, but I'm not promising anything.

Thanks for your patience with me.
o_o;

P.S. for the record, I'll still work on this when I have the time, but I can't guarantee weekly updates anymore.
As someone (very slowly) making an RPG in Game Maker, I'm eagerly anticipating this tool. Seems like a lot of work to put together, so take your time.
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