Menu based text RPG

[Darkknight512]

I'm planning on writting menu driven text RPG for rockbox. I know C++ but I don't know C yet but will be learning starting this March break.

I'm wondering if there is any interest in something like this and what are some ideas and game mechanics you would like in the game.

Also if you know of any good C tutorials PM me.

[AlexP]

Not a feature idea, but for what you are doing this thread might be of interest: http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=24090.0

Edit: Er, someone just pointed out to me that I've just directed you to your own thread   Sorry about that

[Darkknight512]

That's alright haha.

[Strife89]

I'm planning on writting menu driven text RPG for rockbox. I know C++ but I don't know C yet but will be learning starting this March break.

I'm wondering if there is any interest in something like this and what are some ideas and game mechanics you would like in the game.

Also if you know of any good C tutorials PM me.

I have a few ideas, but what has me the most intrigued is: Do you want a "generic" story, or do you want something like a late Final Fantasy game, story-wise?

Either way, I offer my writing skills. :-)

[Darkknight512]

Please don't bump posts.

Also, if you want to do this, just do it. Maybe if you actually had some work to show for it, people could recommend improvements / tweaks. At the moment though, you've asked and incredibly open-ended question that is mostly pointless to answer at this time.

I don't see anything forbidding bumping but if you say so.

I will get on that.

Now this was my first C++ project, it is quite incomplete at the moment, it is basically a text based combat system for an RPG (which was halted). I was planning to make another version that uses ncurses/pdcurses so I can build an actual Text-User Interface with scrolling menus, sub windows and the like.

http://www.mediafire.com/?nmnnamenzfz

However I think writing a pure text adventure would not be a bad idea, something like Zork with no battle system and only a basic item system, and using 4 directional buttons + one that enters the standard rockbox menu.

[torne]

I was debating implementing the ncurses API in pluginlib at one point. Decided it wasn't worth the effort at the time (and ncurses is not that great an interface in my opinion). Do you think this'd be valuable?

[Darkknight512]

I don't think I would be the best person to ask, I have not written a lot of code, and I have never written any Rockbox code so I do not know the limitations of the pluginlib.

I think from what I have seen in the current plugins that they lack the ability to cut the screen up into sub windows and draw in each one independently. Ncurses would also allow us to make selection menus within the game. I haven't seen this in other plugins but Ncurses may give the ability to color text individually.

So depending on how hard it is, it may be worth the effort.

My question is, is there many things written in Ncurses already that will allow us to port a few things over after Ncurses is implemented into rockbox?

[torne]

We have viewports, which let you divide the screen up and draw in them independently. You can bring up menus from plugins. You can colour text. All these things already exist, but the Rockbox API is for the most part oriented around pixels; it doesn't simulate a text terminal.

There's a lot of software that uses ncurses for display, but how much of it would be useful to port, and how much will actually work with the limited screen size, is a different question.

[Yotto]

I think this is a wonderful idea. I think though (and excuse me if this is already the plan) that it should be implemented in 2 parts: engine and content. Also, the ability to save at any point is a must in a DAP, where you'll be playing this game to kill time, and must stop instantly when the real world demands your attention.

I would love to write one of these, or do a section. I can't do the code so much but have a few ideas for stories.

[Darkknight512]

My original plan was to have engine and content separate, but with my limited programming skills, I am going to need some help with that. Right now I am just reading through the wiki for all the articles that apply to me, if you have anything I should read please post it.

How would I make the game engine read scripts? And is there a format that is proven? I did look a bit into TinyXML when I was making my combat system last year.

It may take a while before I get some code done, since this is my first real project I anticipate this to be a bit of a struggle. What I posted above and the code I wrote for my highschool robotics team is pretty much all the programming I have done.

[torne]

If you are seriously considering designing a generic RPG engine which can be used by other people to make different games, then this is quite an epic task, and I would strongly suggest you either *don't* start by doing it on Rockbox, or you find an existing engine which is suitable and port that (many such engines *exist*, but how suitable they are for the limited screen size and input options will vary).

I don't want to discourage you from learning, but actually coming up with that kind of thing is not something I'd suggest anyone undertakes as a first programming project. If you are asking questions like how to make the game engine read scripts, then you are probably not qualified to be designing it, to be brutally honest

In terms of "time until something fun is created", I'd probably suggest that you be less ambitious to start with: produce a game at all, and then think about how to separate the engine for reuse later.

[Darkknight512]

Maybe I should take on the task of just building the combat system. Just have partialy randomly generated monsters and maybe character creation at the beggining. Every level you would be able to go to the item shop/weapon shop and add stat points.

I guess it would be almost 100% linear, but I guess that should be fine.

I remember using .ini files to save data in C++ before, what would be the alternative in RB?

A mini story line would still be possible.

I think that would be an easier task yet would still be a fun game, do you think that is feasible?

[saratoga]

I remember using .ini files to save data in C++ before, what would be the alternative in RB?

INI are just text files.  You can read text in rockbox using fopen.

[Darkknight512]

Ok, so pretty much everything you can do in standard C should work in Rockbox but stuff like maloc?

[torne]

*Most* standard C things work, but we lack a random assortment of functions from the C library simply because nobody has needed them and thus they haven't been implemented. You can have a working malloc() in a plugin if you want, several plugins already have this - it's only the Rockbox core which (currently) doesn't do dynamic allocation. It's generally best to avoid it if you don't really need it, though.

Your idea sounds good; it doesn't have to be super awesome the first time around, if you produce *something* that works and is playable, even if it has limited scope for story/etc, then people are much more likely to contribute ideas, content or code to help make a better version.