Well, sometimes the code just writes itself, nearly. I have made good progress, and now all collectibles (potions, etc), npc’s and containers (like chests) all come from area data, which can easily be manipulated, and will be easy to create from editor mode of the game also.

There is is also basic alertbox that can be evoked when needed.

You see a chest on the ground. You carefully approach it, and since there apparently are no hidden traps or lurking monsters, you decide to open the chest. Then…

I found a chest, and there seems to be no danger exploring it...

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Creating a professional level (well, nearly so anyway..) rpg alone is quite a big task, so my plan is to make a limited featured game first, and then proceed with more features. (more…)

Just a fast post with latest screenshot from engine…

Run to safety or fight back?

Looking fairly good, considering everything is pretty much in wip state…

The plot thickens and you find yourself in a dense forest and pack of wolves surrond you…

And if you are a neophyte Flash coder you are in middle of depth sorting nightmare. How does one make wolves and trees look correct so that when a wolf moves behind a tree, it disappears, and when a wolf is in front of tree, the tree is not seen over the wolf? (more…)

I’ve been working with game inventory system lately. Nothing groundbreaking, just typical rpg inventory.  Here are the specs:

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Naturally it’s possible to create a rpg game engine with no graphics, just some “stand-in boxes” for monsters, loot, environments, but I find using proper graphics from the beginning inspirational. Here are some drafts for item & monster graphics:

Potions, skeleton monster, bugs...

For enviroment graphics, like ground textures I will use Lost Garden’s splendid free game graphics. Initial character, monster and item graphics will be done by me.

Here is a concept rendering with water, and reflections, and female character:

concept image with water reflections

So, here is a Flash test .swf of my freeform pathfinding system. There is only 3 paths, and there is no handling of the possibility of not finding any proper paths, but you can get the idea. Drag the target clip to new positions and hit the recalculate button to test.

This naturally can be used for npc characters for pursuing player charcter but also to make player character navigate to new position in world.

Pathfinding  is  a game character ability to navigate in a game world, avoiding obstacles.

Creating a fast and easy to use pathfinding is a nice challenge. If you are making a traditional tile based game, then there are ready solutions to use, like A*.

Flare is a freeform engine, meaning that there is no set “grid” or tiles where items could be positioned.  So, how to make pathfinding work?

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I’ll naturally tell more about the project as soon as I have time, but just now I think its good to show you a fast sneak peak of the game engine…