Hi.
You probably don't know me but if you check out Diablo and Beastmaster Dungeons for DM by Robikz then know that these were made by me (and I think I was 13 when I made these so imagine the quality...)
Introduction to what I've made already:
For past 6 months I've been doing a college project where I developed an engine for 3D arcade space shooter - it's kind of an Asteroids game but in full 3D. The game itself sucks of course and you get bored after 5 minutes but nevertheless the engine is there and I'm thinking about the future applications.
A small list of features:
- Written in C++
- Uses SDL + OpenGL and CMake to generate makefiles/projects and will compile on Windows and Unix (and MacOS I think but I don't care).
- Is able to do model-to-model collisions (obviously not useful for oldschool dungeon crawler), with collision reaction based on objects' bounding spheres.
- Is unable to create level geometry ( this needs to be implemented )
- Defineable actors through a Decorate based interface, with simultaneously running actions instead of states (Me either walks or eats your brains out is not an acceptable model nowadays ; right now must be hardcoded though ).
- Reads TrueType fonts, .png (and other formats) pictures, unanimated .3DS models, can read resources from both .zip files and directories at the same time, is able to render sprites.
- Configuration stored in .INI files instead of retarded Bill invention called system registry (portable application model for Windows and $HOME/.<whatever-you-wanna-put-here> on *nix).
- UI controlled by keyboard (mouse for UI needs to be implemented).
- Plays sounds and music (including MIDI and modules) through FMODEx.
- Rather minimal use of external libraries: SDL, SDLimage, FreeType, FMODEx, OpenGL, ZLib - none of these have any heavy dependencies unlike some other libraries available on the net (I remember what I did to get Agar working only to discover that it's a piece of crap...)
Some screenshots:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Sorry for links instead of pics but I didn't want to destroy the site's layout and spoiler tag works different here than what I'm used to.
It's not yet finished as you can see by the lack of textures on the actual asteroids.
Let's get to the point though:
Recently I've been playing some of the good ol' RPGs (or rather re-playing some of them) and I thought to myself "Hey, I can do that too". We've already got many DM clones but I have issues with all of them.
- RTC - very nice, very easy to modify, but still requires complicated wall themes to make things work. I aim for single wall - single texture approach (like Doom/Wolfenstein). Also it's really annoying that it needs to play all the introduction animations fully before starting the actual game. That's what thrown me away from creating a custom dungeon for this engine. I once read somewhere that RTC actually "loads" the data in the background and I'd have to wait anyway... Sorry sir, been there, done that, you're wrong or your code is extremely wrong.
- Lua scriptable engine - Lua is nice and I really need to learn how to connect this to C++ classes but apart from that it really scared the heck out of me and I didn't get into that engine at all.
- Modern clones with full 3D environment, smooth move and 3D models instead of sprites - sorry brother, but that's not oldschool anymore and doesn't have the same appeal.
The opposite of the things mentioned above.
A game with modern looks but oldschool gameplay. 3D models for wall/level objects but sprites for enemies and items. Grid based map with 90 degrees rotation and fixed step (midsteps like in DM2 or Lands of Lore as optional feature, personally I think they're nice). Easy to use map editor and easy editing with Doom like linedef/sector approach where you can texture entire dungeon section with single click instead of spamming cells with "theme" objects. Minimal use of scripts - seriously, if the game requires from the mapper to learn a scripting language in order to open a door when a button is pressed then someone has screwed his job. Also texturing the level would be done with a single picture instead of "near texture set", "medium texture set" and "far texture set".
What I need
Sum tasty hoo-mans!
No really, my school is full of Java. At first it was Java basics, then it was Java basics where the main class inherits from Servlet class, then it was Java basics where the main class inherits from MIDlet class and I have no one to help me. Most of my current knowledge was obtained through Internet and trial and error. Ironically it's easier to find people who can do graphics instead of actual programmers, and anyone who's skilled enough is not interested in doing a free project, because why if they can make money. And to be honest I got a work too now so I don't know how much time I could sacrifice for a project like this, especially since my BSc Thesis (I think that's how it's called in English) is also coming up. If anyone would be willing to help then Uncle Sam will welcome you
Some thoughts
I think I've played most of the dungeon crawlers of the old era (I don't count those that had Commodore like graphics because I don't count them as games). Eye of the Beholder trilogy, Dungeon Master 1&2, Black Crypt, Albion, Ambermoon (didn't finish it), Knightmare, Lands of Lore, Betrayal at Krondor, Stonekeep, Perihelion, Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny, Menzoberranzan (a terrible game), Realms of Arkania: Star Trail (even worse game), Wizardry 7 (the worst game EVER), and so on. I've been wondering how to solve the combat system.
This might be the wrong board to say this but DM style of combat is flawed. If you can side step then even the mighty beholder Xanathar and even mightier Dran Draggore are wusses. I really like Arkania style of combat, where the game goes to a battlescape and you fight the Sectoids (err.. I mean Orcs) there and it adds some strategy aspect to the game. However this doesn't cope very well with monsters being able to walk around the dungeon and what I didn't like about Blade of Destiny was that the dungeon was an empty place where all interactions were done by text messages and you couldn't drop anything on the floor. Anyone has an idea how to combine these features to create the "best of both worlds" thing here?