vbGore Free Online RPG Engine

Well that is my normal subject text when joining forums, lame I know. Maybe it is time for something new, I don't know =)

Yeh, hiho, I am LinuZ_ 17 year old (today at last! xD). I am mainly a reverse engineerer, I am currently working on my maphack project called LZ-Engine for the old RTS Warcraft III.
I got this kick that I wanted to make my own Hogwarts Online game, and I found myself here redirected from The Game Programming Wiki. This Engine is surely beautiful, it is way cleaner than the sloppy sources based on the half finished Mirage source.

To be honest I wanted to program my own game engine. I joined to gather tips and trix, and to chat a bit. Well, to give a subject What should I learn to make my own game engine?
The thing is that I love vbGORE, but if I make something, I really want to make it from scratch, editing source isn't what I see as creative - I want to build it up piece by piece and make it mine, if you get what I mean. When I now downloaded the source it wasn't to rip it, it wouldn't make me feel much better to do that, it was so I would see the structure of a good and clean game engine.

So what do I need to learn? Please don't give me short answers, give me all your thoughts on the subject, I want them x)

Welcome to the community. I'm not taking part in any of the "orpg creation" so I couldn't answer your question, but I'm sure you'll get plenty of long replies from some of our members. We speak our mind here. :]

I understand completely what you mean, however I wouldn't instantly discount building something from an engine as being uncreative. Most modern games today are built from another engine, heck practically everything is made in the Unreal III engine (okay, well not everything). All an engine does is lay down the basics such as graphics, networking and some basic game mechanics. It's just there to save time, not to give you a template you can carbon copy and add a few quests to.

If, however, you're wanting to make your own game from scratch you need to first pick a language. C++ seems to be a good choice, I would go with managed C++ (i.e. C++.NET) rather than unmanaged though. C# is also quite a good choice as it's quick and easy to use, with much of the benefits of C++. If you're wanting to make a browser based game you could look into Java (RuneScape is coded in this) which is also quite easy to use.

After picking a language you'll first of all need to know how to make an RPG before you try to make an ORPG. The main thing to focus on learning is graphics. DirectX is powerful yet not exactly easy to use, for .NET languages SDL.NET is quite easy and great for 2D graphics involving sprites and the like. There are a few other graphics libraries out there to use (OpenGL for instance) so I'd just search about for which one is the best for what you're trying to do.

After that you'll need to look at networking, input, and sound. Once you've got all that you'll probably also have gained a working knowledge in the language you're working with, which you also need to create the mechanics of your game.

Well, that's pretty much it. Welcome to vbGore!

So, you want to make an engine... well first thing you need to ask yourself is. Who will your target audience be and you didn't say you wanted it to be a mmo so you should ask yourself that also.

For...
Web based games I recommend: Flash, Java
Others: C++, C#

Also using an engine doesn't make your game uncreative. When you finish your game you should only see minor resemblances between the engine and the game. Since an engine can't have everything the way everyone wants it. Just check out SVO look like vbgore? Hardly you can tell it is vbgore but almost everything is changed.

Sorry, sorry, sorry for the word uncreative I used. I ment uncreative in programming matters, not in the matters of making the game! And thousend thankZ_ for the long replies *we want more, we want more*. Unfortunately I can't reply as long since I should be sleeping and not surfing on the phone...
However on the subject now. So you think I should C#/C++ and managed, not bad advice at all! Please give me some benefits that I can think of when I look back at VB =)
Ok, so I chose C++.NET, cuz I can the basics of it, and then I pick DirectX, cuz it is used by many and seems good. What more should my backpack be filled with?
And could someonegive a little more detailed map on how I should advance!? (thanks for te basic Kyori)

Already starting to love the matureness of this community! <3

EDIT: Forgot to tell, I am wanting to make an ORP/MMORPG, which is 2D and hopefully will have nice spell effects

Learning C#/C++:
http://www.cprogramming.com/

For the flashy spells you mentioned this should help:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articl ... le1982.asp


Just don't go in offtopic category xD.

Nothing is offtopic when its my topc
However, thanks for 2nd link, proved usefull when I fast read through... Sadly it was the 1st time I heard anything like templates in C++, I guess it is something new... But thanks again!
Well, I will still take a look at some other graphic engines as DirectX surely is nice but I am not sure I need such power...
More thoughts apprieciated!

I think he meant not to go into the offtopic section of the board, we're not so mature in that section

Like you said, DirectX is maybe a bit too much work just to get what you're wanting. However it could be handy for those "spell effects" you mentioned. I'm not sure but I don't think SDL.NET does anything in the way of particle effects, so that might not be any good, unless you want to use SDL.NET for your backgrounds and sprites, and then DirectX or OpenGL for the effects.

I'd do some research on wikipedia or something, look up graphics libraries and see which one suits you best, there are a ton more than what I've mentioned.

Oh and it's not sad that you've found something and you don't know about it in C++, it's great, it means there's something new for you to learn and apply to different projects in the future. If you're sad every time you find something you don't know you're gonna end up one depressed guy

Unfortunately there is really only 2 choices which constitute a big difference in performance. Those 2 choices being Software or Hardware rendering. Software is pretty much a goner these days unless you are using flash, they are so archaic that blitting seems to be the new high-performance method.

So realistic there is only one choice, hardware rendering. Then you have 2 choices again, OpenGL or DirectX. But it ends up being the same as the difference between Software and Hardware rendering, realistically there should only be one choice... OpenGL

OpenGL is simpler, faster performing, has neater and more features, than DX. It is also cross-platform and open-source. It is also supported by Java Applets (yes OpenGL on a browser), and 90% of programming languages.

You then have 2 choices again, OpenGL 1 or 2. Well unless you plan to work for a high-profile game company OpenGL1 is good enough.

I agree with teh bake. But don't discount SDL.NET and other libraries, most are wrappers for OpenGL or DirectX, meaning that you get the functionality of the big libraries with an interface more suited to what you're trying to do.

Allright! Thanks for the tips', I will look on OpenGL. And it was just a former of speach Kyori x) I am not getting sad by not knowing something... And I see, about the offtopic section =)
So I'll go C++.NET and OpenGL atm =)

I know, I'm just a grammar-nazi

Haha, I was that before but my about an year long relationships with skiddies and leecher haven't been good to the grammar... You start using shortenings of every word and mix in some 1337speak, dull shizz...
Muhahahaa, we are turning this thread into multiple pages soon.

However on the subject =)
I haven't had a chance to use the computer the latest two days, but I will probably get in business tomorrow or maybe maybe tonight (which I highly doubt as my parents are wierd people who doesn't understand the passion of programming), I am currently on the phone typing in this message *arght*. But well, as I can do so little I love to ask questions and read answers... Here are some questions for you:
Q: Why prefer OpenGL over DirectX? Pros and cons.
Q: How is it possible to make 'a flawless gameworld', no map loadings and visually no limits in the game, including auto scrolling? Explain the logic.
Q: How is it possible to make movement smoother, ie also vertically instead of just x++ or y++? Explain the logic.

Thanks and sorry for being such a noob =]
Keep in mind when looking at the question and thinking "Ain't gonna put 5min of my life into writing an answer to those questions" that I spent 30min writing this down xD (j/k, it is your time, obviously). Giving a basic picture of the logic is just awesome =) Links are also apprieciated as googling on the phone is slow as hell =P

1000xSpankZ_!

EDIT: And Kyori, a link to that library you mentioned!!! Tried searching some, but as said I've been a bit crippled the last two days, and I would love to read about it! Would speed up the learning progress a lot =]

Ask the devs of Uncharted 2 full 3d game and you'll never see a loading screen. Their reasoning... "Seeing a loading screen is like seeing a commercial it gives you a reason to put the controller down.We don't give you that option."

xD nice, who are the devs? Warp them here for me, please! =P