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Core Engine   (Read 20491 times)
Old Post April 07, 2004, 02:35:38 am
#1
Shining Asteroid *

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Core Engine
Since I'm just starting what I've decided to call "Shining Creation/Shining Force Creation", my SF fan game, I was wondering what the basics were for a Core Engine.  Not how to actually perform the task of creating the actual core engine, but just what should be in it.

I basically started out with the following:  Items(weapons, rings, condition/healing items, special items), stat increases.

I've hardly started, but I really don't understand what HAS to be in the engine.  I know of other things required in the game itself, but are what can these less "important" things be called.  It's all very confusing to me, and all I really want to know is what is most essential for starting this game?


Old Post April 07, 2004, 06:25:48 am
#2
Shining Star *

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Core Engine
You basically need a battle engine, and a walkabout engine...

Battle engine: good guys and bad guys; movement squares; a way of calculating land effect etc. to determine how many squares a character gets; cycling of turns; a menu, with attack options; bad guy AI (won't go into that here); stats displays; battle cutscene animations; damage calculators; exp calculators...the list goes on.

Perhaps you're best off starting a walkabout engine...much simpler, and you don't have to worry about AI much. Here, you'll just need your main person walking around (possibly on a grid? Most SF games are on grids), obstacles, and people to talk to...and more, but those are the basics...

hining Valour Website:
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~clark4/


Old Post April 07, 2004, 12:23:38 pm
#3
bEn
Shining Light *

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Core Engine
To say it in object oriented terms:

Everything that should be in the game needs a representation in your code.
So if people should walk around you will have some representation of people in your code who have a method/function to move them around.
Take care - these "representation" doesn't even need to include the visiual part, but it needs the logical part (like a character may move a certain distance a time in a certain way).

Did you already decide what language/system you will work with? If so I guess a good thing to get a basic idea of what you gotta do would be to build a map where a character can be moved on. A bit like the walkabout part McPhisto talked about - just with less details.

t's not like I really care


Old Post April 07, 2004, 02:39:00 pm
#4
Shining Something *

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Core Engine
For example:

prepare a character, to which you associate a coordinate in the map.
Prepare the fact that, if you press a given key, the coordinate will be changed by a given amount.
Prepare the fact that a bitmap is also associated with your character.
Prepare the fact that this bitmap is to be displayed on the map at a given coordinate of the map
Prepare the fact that, when the key is pressed, the coordinate of the bitmap might change
Prepare the display of the new bitmap on the map every time a key is pressed (for example)
etc...
If you imagine animation, you could have to display more bitmaps anytime one key is pressed.
There is another key for moving the character in the other direction (say right if left was your first choice).
There are again two other keys for moving the character up and down

etc etc...

hining Odyssey under devlopment: http://mapage.noos.fr/zylokh


Old Post April 07, 2004, 05:15:18 pm
#5
bEn
Shining Light *

Posts: 224

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Core Engine
Maybe:
-write down the typical behavior of the program
-then ask yourself the famous "What if" question and write down the results


it's like
-NPC walk around town randomly
?what if the chose a blocked field as destionation
>the movement is rejected
?what if they move too far away(out of town, etc)
>they may only move in a certain range
>they movement out of bounds (map,...) is rejected

When it comes to programming you simply sort that and write it down as code. In fact this thinking about the behavior can be done by anone and it's not important how you implement it in the end. In the meantime you can choose and learn the way of implementing of your choice.

t's not like I really care


Old Post April 07, 2004, 05:39:02 pm
#6
Shining Asteroid *

Posts: 311

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Core Engine
Thanks guys.  But then theres another question that springs to mind.  How would I change things like NPC movement.  For example, someone seen in the city as NPC walks in a selected path or a random path (whichever), but later on comes and talks to YOU.  As in, he appears to give a message or somthing.  I'm not sure if thats even possible, but if it is, how could it be done?

Also, how would I be able to stop an NPC from getting stuck in terrain they they shouldnt be walking on.  For example, atop a tree.  And then, if I found out how to reject an NPC from walking on "unwalkable" terrain, how could I change the terrain to "walkable" during an event.  For example, when Lemon jumped off a hill that was "unwalkable" terrain.


Old Post April 07, 2004, 05:59:36 pm
#7
bEn
Shining Light *

Posts: 224

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Core Engine
Woe that is a real bunch of deep going questions.
First of all I would say - build basic rules and think about exceptions later.

To the first problem:
First of all you may have 3 modes in the game - abviously battle and walkabout but maybe also "scripted" meaning that the events that will appear are written in a script like "if you walk on this field a NPC X will appear and say Y". This may be done in various ways.

Next thing can be you have different types of NPCs - some walking round randomly, some standing still, some walking a selected path, etc.

A NPC should enver get stuck in terrain he should not be walking on as he should not be able to get there then. So it might be caused by a bug. A solution might be that if the NPC can't walk anywhere he tries for a certain time and if it doesn't work till then he is reset to his starting position.

For the last problem. There might be a kind of characters that are not hindered by certain unwalkable terrain (like birds). Or you might have the possibilty to move a character no matter if the terrain is walkable from inside a script

Nevertheless as I said above - all of this a rather "special" cases instead of usual habits so I would say don't think too deep into the details if you have not already set up the basics.

t's not like I really care


Old Post April 07, 2004, 06:21:12 pm
#8
Shining Asteroid *

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Core Engine
Thnx Ben!  I'll make sure I have the basics down first.


Old Post April 07, 2004, 07:10:43 pm
#9
bEn
Shining Light *

Posts: 224

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Core Engine
De nada! In fact I am more or less at a similar point as you are - currently making the design for the game core so such thoughts are interesting for me as well.

t's not like I really care


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