Bleare Kingdoms: Strategy RPG, (Build 1 to be released soon) Very large project, may go commercial. Options

[ZekeGames]

Hey guys. First off I just want to let you know that I have not announced this game publicly in any forum thread yet, because I was waiting for the first build. It will be released soon. But I figured I may as well open one here.

Game Website: Bleare Kingdoms: Official Devlog

ULTRA QUICK DESCRIPTION:
This is a strategy RPG game - You have soldiers and you move them on your "turn", attack with them, etc.
It takes place in the medieval times, but in a fantasy setting (as we see in most games) with wizards and magical items etc.
The Strategy/RPG part is in the battle engine, after the battle is over, the game resumes in the world map, where you move your character/party. This is where the game gets more interesting: The game world will be self interactive, meaning that empires will really fight for control of the world, using their resources, plotting assassinations, etc. You are just dumped into the huge game world.

LONG DESCRIPTION: What is Bleare Kingdoms?

Screenshots (as of now):


Yes, everyone looks the same right now.

Notice the unique move field concept.

The first build (which is free) will contain ONLY THE BATTLE SYSTEM, and it will be missing *some* features.


The best part about this game: It is easily moddable. All units, stats, armors, weapons, other items, houses, effects, battlefiels, are stored in easily editable .ini files inside of module folders that are easily switchable. You could change the whole game to some crazy zombie mod in only a few hours. This gives the mod community HUGE flexibility. We will have forums set up and have documentation available so modders can go at it with this very powerful and flexible engine.

I'll post up the first build when it is released!
EDIT: DONE, BABY
http://blearekingdoms.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/build1/

Thanks for reading,
SunnyKatt
-Lead Developer

PS: Fun quiz: What language is this made in?

[BT Games]

Sounds good. Can't wait to play it.

PS: Did you make this in... RPG Maker? XD Or C++, my next guess.

[ZekeGames]

Thanks!


RPG maker doesn't make these types of games - it can do only the classic FF type gameplay, I think. And not C++, no.
It was coded, so it wasn't any fancy "drag+drop" or editor program.

[bobbel]

My Guess is Dark basic Pro, and maybe some Lua. Pretty awesome you'll be able to mod it! looking forward to the release!

[ZekeGames]

Thanks! And yeah, it's super easy to mod. I made a zombie massacre mod during playtesting in a few hours.

And nope, not darkbasic pro/lua, but good guess. I do hang around the TGC website sometimes.

[BT Games]

One last guess: Flash?

[Alzza]

Looks great and from the screenshot it looks like it could definitely be of commercial quality. Modding is a great feature in these types of games too. Got an example of how the ini files will be structured?

As for the programming language: It has vector-like graphics so BT Games might be right about it being flash. Not really sure to be honest.

[ZekeGames]

Alzza - Thanks! The files are structured in an easy to understand method - just setting varaibles, pretty much.


Ps: Nope, not flash.

[Frozen Falcon]

Looks nice! Could the language be: Java? Brain****? C#? Visual Basic? Python? Löve? XNA?

[ZekeGames]

Thanks, and nope, none of them.

[BT Games]

Just for kicks: GML.

[ZekeGames]

Yes.


Super neat-coding combined with externally loaded sounds and graphics allow GML to be run quickly and powerfully enough for a project such as this.

[BT Games]

Thought so. I knew. (Well, actually, a guess. I looked on your site and saw on the tags of one of the updates "game maker", so yeah. And you're not a moderator on YYG for nothing! XD)

[ZekeGames]

Yeah, I figured if people prodded a bit they could guess.

[ZekeGames]

Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to give an example for the file structure.

Here is a sample of how an armor is added into the game via .ini file.

CODE

/*
Leather Armor
*/

var_armor_name = "Leather Armor"
var_armor_weight = 15;
var_armor_type = "Combat Armor"
spr_armor_sprite = sprite_add(string(global.var_base_directory) + "/data/armor/leather/spr_leather.bmp",0,1,1,0,1,15,30);

var_armor_healthadd = 10;
var_armor_damage_reduction = 4;

var_armor_magic = 0;

//////////////////////////////
// # ANIMATION VARIABLES
/////////////////////////////
var_unit_animate_body_anim_pause = 0;
var_unit_animate_body_anim_field = 3;
var_unit_animate_body_anim_speed_max = 0.3;
var_unit_animate_body_anim_speed_min = 0.1;
var_unit_animate_body_anim_pause_max = 60;
var_unit_animate_body_anim_pause_min = 10;

There the sprite and variables pertaining to the armor were added. Some other files are longer, like the ones for weapons:

(crap, it uses word wrap. Try to pretend the comments are all on the same line)

CODE

/*
Sword
A generic weapon
*/

var_weapon_name = "testsword"
var_weapon_weight = 10; //10 is about a sword. You can use decimals here.
var_weapon_type = "Sword"
var_weapon_blade = 1; // 0 is a blunt weapon, 1 is bladed.
var_weapon_damage = 5; // Base for damage. Strength etc. are added to this.
var_weapon_piercing = 5; // # of damage reistance taken off by weapon.
var_weapon_hands = 1; // 1 for one handed, 2 for two handed
var_weapon_evasion_multiplier = 1.2; // increases chance of blocking an attack with the weapon. Average for a weapon is about 1.2, some wide bladed weapons made for blocking will be higher, while shorter weapons like daggers will have lower, usually not lower than 1.0, which means it doesn't add anything to your ability. do < 1 to subtract ability.
var_weapon_range = 100; // 100 pixels average for a sword
var_weapon_melee = 1; // yes, you do swing it.

var_weapon_projectile = 0; // no, it doesn't use a projectile IF VAR_WEAPON_MELEE is 1 THEN THIS SHOULD BE 0!
var_weapon_base_accuracy = 0; // RANGED ONLY the more, the less accurate. It's a sword, so we don't need to worry about this. 0

var_weapon_grip_x = 5//where you hold it
var_weapon_grip_y = 7

spr_weapon_sprite = sprite_add(string(global.var_base_directory) + "/data/weapons/testsword/spr_testsword.bmp",0,1,1,0,1,var_weapon_grip_x,var_weapon_grip_y);  //loads the sprite

var_weapon_skew_angle = 20; //Amount of degrees off of rotation the weapon is defualt held at.
/////////////////////////////////////
//# PROJECTILE DEFINITIONS
/////////////////////////////////////

if var_weapon_projectile = 1
    {
    var_weapon_projectile_speed = 0; // how fast in pixels it appears to go.
    var_weapon_projectile_trail_sprite = 0; // LOAD A SPRITE HERE! should be a rectangle about 10 pixels long and only 2 or so pixels wide.
    var_weapon_projectile_trail_fade_time = 0; // how many frames it takes to fade away. Average is 5.
    var_weapon_projectile_trail_start_alhpa = 0; // start alpha. Defualt is 0.5 or so.
    }
////////////////////////////////////
// # ANIMATION VARIABLES
////////////////////////////////////
var_unit_animate_weapon_pause = 0;
var_unit_animate_weapon_field = 50; //set these to zero to cancel them
var_unit_animate_weapon_speed_max = 0.5; //Don't go above the field amount.
var_unit_animate_weapon_speed_min = 0.1; //Don't go at or below 0.
var_unit_animate_weapon_pause_max = 5;
var_unit_animate_weapon_pause_min = 1;

var_unit_animate_weapon_pause_tilt = 0;
var_unit_animate_weapon_tilt_min_y = 1; //low number of tilting along y axis
var_unit_animate_weapon_tilt_max_y = 1; //shouldn't go above 1;
var_unit_animate_tilt_speed_max_y = 0;
var_unit_animate_tilt_speed_min_y = 0;
var_unit_animate_weapon_tilt_pause_max = 0;
var_unit_animate_weapon_tilt_pause_min = 0;

But you get the idea. Pretty easy to change.

[BT Games]

Hm, good. Must be a mother trying to remember all of those variables though. XD I use nearly a quarter of variables you are using and my mind's all messed up.

But it does look easy to change. Is all of that from one written INI file?

EDIT: I've started to use some external images for my games. I have to say, the quality is much better than GM's old editor. Any ideas on how to keep people from messing with the images?

[ZekeGames]

Thanks, that is a separate file for the helm and a separate one for the weapon. Remembering variables is hard, I have to look them up all the time, but I usually can remember them because I use nice naming methods.

I don't mind if people mess with my images, but you can encrypt them using a DLL, I think.

[Alzza]

Amazing what Game Maker can achieve! I'm excited to see how this turns out - it's looking really promising.

[Red Fortune]

This looks like one of those games you know people will magnetize to!

Great looking game, too, smooth, anti-aliased, footprints even!

[ZekeGames]

Thanks guys. I wanted to make a sort of "stereotype shatterer" sort of game with Game Maker, so this is what I did. Code is code, you can do stuff with enough of it.

Right now the engine for the first build is all finished. We're just making the content for the demo level, and then we need to code in the sounds and music and make the main menu screen. Not much!

Red fortune - Yeah, the game takes full use of .png transparency.