[Shadow_Lancer]

Name: Mirror Forge RPG Engine

Description: Originally created as a challenge project for myself, I plan to release the full source once I'm happy with how it all works. I also want to note that I am in no way a "professional" programmer. I do this as a hobby and have learnt from experimenting and reading the game maker manual ( and of course looking at existing tutorials ). Some more information can be found here.

Features -
Grid based player movement ( working )
NPC movement ( working )
Message system ( working )
Window system ( working )
Inventory and items ( working )
Menu system ( working )
Equipment system ( working )
Save and Load slots ( working )
Battle system ( working )
Cut scene system ( working )
Full tutorial page for the engines use ( in progress )

Details of working and in progress features -

Grid based player movement - So, like in all RPGs the player moves around a grid. Pressing any of the arrow keys causes the player to move ( by default ) 32 pixels in the required direction at a certain speed and of course holding down said arrow key will make the player move more spaces.

NPC Movement - Setting NPC movement is meant to be an easy task. It uses the timeline feature and all you need to do is add a script that moves NPC in any direction you want. You can also set the number of spaces the NPC should move! By default the NPCs also interacts with the player, where the NPCs will not move into a space where the player is moving and the player can't move into the space the NPC is moving into and when the player moves out of the way the NPC continues along it's assigned path! =)

Message and Window system - These both kind of go hand in hand, you have the window appear and the message written on it. The window system is designed to draw all windows you may need, all you have to do is set the size (length and height) and where it should appear on the screen and that's it! You can also get one object to draw multiple windows. The message system is also meant to be easy; you only need to add new lines of text to show multiple sets.

Inventory and Items - This works very similar to some older sytle RPGS ( and those made in RPG Maker ). You have a set of items that do a number of differrent things that can be used on characters when required ( such as healing and mana potions, but can also include other things such as scrolls that teach new abilities and even potions that permenantly increase stats ).

Menu system - This works using the window system and will include things like character information, shops, inns and other general details.

Equipment system - Some items can be equipped ( if set ) that increase characters stats ( available item slots include - chest, helm, weapon, trinket/other and ring/finger ).

Save and Load slots - there will be a limited number of these slots which will provide a little bit of information about the saved game, such as the current character's level and time played.

Battle system - This is pretty self explanatory, this system handles all aspects of battling. It is a side view, similar to the older games from the Final Fantasy series. You can use your characters abilities and gained items in order to defeat monsters.

Cut scene system - This system is very useful for making the player interact with NPCs. Example - Player makes a discovery and all characters in the party appear and walk around and talk about it and so on.

Full tutorial page - I have also started a full tutorial page, which will help people in the use of the engine.

More updates will be posted when they become available =)


An exe copy is currently only available!

Screenshots: ( videos and more screenshots are available @ Mirror Forge )
image 1 | image 2 | image 3 | image 4

Category: RPG
File Size: 2.8mb ( .zip )
GM Version: 8.0
Vista Compatible: yes
Changes Screen Resolution: no
Download Links: Mirror 1[ UpUrLoad ( Version 0.3 ) ] Mirror 2[ Mirror Forge - Direct ] ( the save and load function may not work if the program is not extracted from the zip file )
Controls: Arrow keys for movement, Escape for menu and cancel, Space bar for confirmation.

Please feel free to post any suggestions and feed back =)

This post has been edited by Shadow_Lancer: 13 July 2010 - 08:59 PM

[Newly Discovered]

it seems like a great engine so far. battle system must not be complete?
equipment, inventory, shops, it's all good! good luck completing this engine, many will benefit!

[Mr. RPG]

Good engine thus far. Equipment and the inventory seems to work fine.

Like Discovered said the battle engine isn't complete I am guessing?

[Shadow_Lancer]

Mr. RPG, on 18 June 2010 - 12:18 PM, said:

Good engine thus far. Equipment and the inventory seems to work fine.

Like Discovered said the battle engine isn't complete I am guessing?

Ah yes, this is correct. I've been meaning to reply for a little bit, but have been quite busy =)

The battle engine is currently in the works and I hope to post a new demo in a few days.

[Shadow_Lancer]

Large Update -

Battle system now fully works ( including item and skill usage - also gain exp and items after a battle )
Use Items and Skills straight from the menu ( able to use healing potions and spells without having to be in battle )
New cut scene events ( eg. 1 . Normal cut scene with talking and movement + “boss” battle, 2. NPC joins the party and moves onto the players location, 3. NPC moves and talks depending on which direction the player talks to them from)
Basic side "quest" - information here.
And plenty of other fixes.

[Hygo25]

I defeated the boss and got OVER NINE THOUSAND exp points.

[2d_games]

Nevermind, it's an executable. Will edit with my opinion.

EDIT: Looks cool, and works really well. Does it have to be only grid based movement?

This post has been edited by 2d_games: 13 July 2010 - 06:31 PM

[Raykennaj]

WoW this is really amazing, It looks so good.

But is there anyway that you can make an grid based movement example or something? I'm not that good with things like that and this is perfect..

[theg721]

This is a commercial quality game despite being a work in progress and is definatly not going to be ignored. 10/5

[Shadow_Lancer]

2d_games, on 14 July 2010 - 04:23 AM, said:

Nevermind, it's an executable. Will edit with my opinion.

EDIT: Looks cool, and works really well. Does it have to be only grid based movement?

That's what I've designed the engine to do, but it doesn't have to do just that. What other movement did you have in mind?

Raykennaj, on 14 July 2010 - 05:29 AM, said:

WoW this is really amazing, It looks so good.

But is there anyway that you can make an grid based movement example or something? I'm not that good with things like that and this is perfect..

That can be arranged, I just need to find some time to do it =)

Thank you all for the comments! I hope to have more updates in the near future!

[2d_games]

Personally, I prefer free movement. Like Secret of Mana/golden Sun/whatever else.

But the engine was very good. A few suggestions though:

1) Perhaps having typing text? Would look better imo
2) When equipping items, instead of having the item appear to the right as equipped, how about leaving them in the item menu but giving them an equipped icon like a big "E". It just seems like that would look better imo.
3) When buying items, I couldn't see anyway to give the bought items to any particular character, I also didn't see any way to give one characters equipment to other characters. Just something for you to think about adding.

I liked it regardless, good job.

[theg721]

The description of one of the spells includes "Put the smackdown" or something. Is this, by any chance, a reference to Dwayne Johnson?

[sub]

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF it's a reference to the rock, jabrowny

this engine is super crispy with 99% less fat and is recommended by 8 out of 10 orphans.

add support for changing team members.
add a char. generation routine.
add trading items or something, as 2D said.

the char moves a bit slow.. make it faster or someth.. *zzZZZzz*

this showcases your content well.. the cutscene on the cliff does a good job of showing what's possible (as far as cut scenes go) *make an alternate ending for if the player read the sign or not*

make the chars move a little during the combat phase or something.. (it was VERY difficult to know what was going on in combat, or even whose turn it was supposed to be) that was the only low point of the experience.. the mystery cave thing looked a little odd (empty space squares) the effect/concept was good, but the 'square cell' nature of how it was built looks a bit naff.. try making a few more tiles to break up the 'squarey-ness'?

good job. do more.

[Shadow_Lancer]

Sorry about the lack of updates, work has been busy. Also attempting to write a tutorial for everything is far from fun

ok, couple of responses to suggestions and what not -

Quote

1) Perhaps having typing text? Would look better imo

I'll have a look into this and figure out how difficult this might be to add. ( as in make it work with what I already have. )

Quote

2) When equipping items, instead of having the item appear to the right as equipped, how about leaving them in the item menu but giving them an equipped icon like a big "E". It just seems like that would look better imo.

I'm not quite sure on this one, I might have a mess around with it. But it might not be something I add. ( I do plan on adding support for equip items that do more then just add stats )

Quote

3) When buying items, I couldn't see anyway to give the bought items to any particular character, I also didn't see any way to give one characters equipment to other characters. Just something for you to think about adding.

Only way to give a bought item ( equipment ) is through the equipment window. The only problem with being able to give items to another character is that, that character may not be able to actually equip those items. I do plan on adding an "unequip single" option so that you don't have to unequip all items everytime to speard them around.

Quote

add support for changing team members.

I was actually thinking about this, and have some ideas on how to make it work.

Quote

add a char. generation routine.

As in say, the first character? Being able to name them and what not?

Quote

the char moves a bit slow.. make it faster or someth.. *zzZZZzz*

This one I'm not too worried about, the character movement variables are quite easy to change and can be done when someone is building their own game ( though I will add a mock item that can be equipped to improve movement speed )

Quote

*make an alternate ending for if the player read the sign or not*

Simple enough to add.

Quote

make the chars move a little during the combat phase or something..

I was thinking about this one, I'll make the character take a few steps forward so you can tell who's turn it is. I'll also probably make the character "run in" when using a melee attack. ( not all attacks, just a few so people can see how to set it up ). - Added for the next version.

Quote

the mystery cave thing looked a little odd (empty space squares) the effect/concept was good, but the 'square cell' nature of how it was built looks a bit naff.. try making a few more tiles to break up the 'squarey-ness'?

I didn't want to spend much time on level design, but more on actually making things work. I may go back and mess with a few things though =)

If you have any other suggestions, or questions. Please let me know!

This post has been edited by Shadow_Lancer: 30 July 2010 - 06:56 AM

[sub]

Quote

As in say, the first character? Being able to name them and what not?

exactly.
select race , class , gender , assign stats , etc.. ..just for the main char is cool.

i have tonnes of ideas for RPG's, i mostly play RPG's and develop them. i can spew out a litany of ideas when i see more of the latest build.

this is a crisp and clean engine. one of my fave RPG engines here at GMC. i'd probably use it to develop a little game if it could manage certain things.. i'll know more about what it's capable of by seeing the next build.

small 'attack' animations during combat are vital. good to know they are being added.

about that 'swapping / trading' issue;
the equipment items should probably be stored in a 'party' inventory (same way everyone has access to a healing potion or something) and just check thru the party inventory to see if the item is wearable for that character.. when unequipped, just place it back in the party inventory?

my main hang up with RPG's is the magic items.. if i can't potentially find a magic sword (or whatever) with a plethora of various enchantments, or an item that potentially can 'talk' with the player (eg: "lilacor", baldurs gate: SOA), i'm not interested.