text based RPGs again....
Author
I''m sory.
Used the wrong username in the last post. So here it is again:
Ok,
I''m in the following situation:
For my programming class I have to finish a project withiin half a year. It has to run on WinNT.
We''re completely free handed about the subject.
As I''m a bad artist I thought about a text based "thing" (program, game, whatever)
I''m a real RPG freak, so that would be a good idea.
But that leaves me with some problems.
GUI. Impossible. A player would like to view character stats and inventory during the game. As I can''t display the scene description and stats at the same time I would have to switch between the output modes (scene, stats, inventory...).
Any ideas about text based RPGs and a User Interface?
Or any alternatives to RPGs?
You can actually delete your own messages if you want ( I''ve already deleted the last one for you though ).
Just click on "edit message", and check the box "delete message" at the top, which will remove the message.
People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~
Just click on "edit message", and check the box "delete message" at the top, which will remove the message.
People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~
Why can''t you display the scene description and statistics at the same time? It would seem that having a split display should be relatively easy. Of course the ease of implementing a split screen display depends on the programming language your using. That leads me to a second question; what language are you using to program this project in? I''m sorry to bring up more questions than answers, but they are important.
Umm, why not use the same systems as many muds?
Actually why not code a uhhmmm.. SUD (Single User Dungeon)
The biggest problem will be the textparser, just so you know it.
Actually why not code a uhhmmm.. SUD (Single User Dungeon)
The biggest problem will be the textparser, just so you know it.
I think you really want to have a look at Roguelike games ...
especially my favorite : ADOM
(plus, you''ll be happy, the guy is german
)
youpla :-P
especially my favorite : ADOM
(plus, you''ll be happy, the guy is german
)youpla :-P
Author
Thanx for your replies!
Just to answer silicon''s question: I''m using C++.
And what do you mean by "splitscreen"??? In dos??? Or do you want to talk me into MFC? I wasn''t planning to use that as I find it very confusing with all the classes and include structures and class scopes and stuff.
And I didn''t plan to use a text parser either.
I mean, why should I? It''s a challenging idea though. Probably it would even be fun to do that, but which advantage would it have?
I originally planned to use a flexible, situation dependant multi-choice system (i.e. press 1 to go through the door, 2 to look at the painting, 3 to talk to the old man and so on...).
Of course this isn''t as ''free choice like'' but there''s a limited number of actions anyway.
BTW: i''m really impressed by adom! Great game!
Just to answer silicon''s question: I''m using C++.
And what do you mean by "splitscreen"??? In dos??? Or do you want to talk me into MFC? I wasn''t planning to use that as I find it very confusing with all the classes and include structures and class scopes and stuff.
And I didn''t plan to use a text parser either.
I mean, why should I? It''s a challenging idea though. Probably it would even be fun to do that, but which advantage would it have?
I originally planned to use a flexible, situation dependant multi-choice system (i.e. press 1 to go through the door, 2 to look at the painting, 3 to talk to the old man and so on...).
Of course this isn''t as ''free choice like'' but there''s a limited number of actions anyway.
BTW: i''m really impressed by adom! Great game!
quote:robably it would even be fun to do that, but which advantage
would it have?
I originally planned to use a flexible, situation dependant multi-choice system (i.e. press 1 to go through the door, 2 to
look at the painting, 3 to talk to the old man and so on...).
Well for one it''s faster to type what you want to do than read 10 options.
I think he means you will have a list of options that you can do in a room - not a lot, just enough to cover what you probably be doing with a mouse anyways.
Art works should still be drawn up in order to help you visialize each location you are going to in your adventure. As for choosing text because you can''t do art, I can''t agree with that solution. What you might consider is coming up with creatures looking like what you can make. Not only will this make things unique to you, it will also keep things from looking thrown together. I really have no room to comment on your decision because the first experiment I want to do with SEB is a small text based RPG that will be slowly moved to 3D. I can''t draw 2d art, but I can model fairly well. Later down the road I might buy one of those model painting programs as I have problems texturing with what I have.
The cost for simple 3D:
* Modeller - $40 for AC3D - not strong on texturing, but adequate, the modelling functions are good and I picked how to use it in a month. I still prefer to at least start the model in AC3D and then migrate to another for finishing.
* Paint program - just use MS Paint that comes with windows. To migrate between image formats, download a free image converter - there are tons of them out there.
You can use a free graphics engine to do your models in or just use NEHE and the NEHE forum to learn OpenGL - you can quickly pick up OpenGL and there are new tutorials at NEHE that show how to do model loading. Also, you can use text to display options for each object taken from your text game prototype.
So for a few hours of your time (40-80 depending on how much you want to learn) and $40 you can do a simple 3D game. Of course that 40-80 hours time is just getting ready to program in OpenGL.
The choice is yours.
Art works should still be drawn up in order to help you visialize each location you are going to in your adventure. As for choosing text because you can''t do art, I can''t agree with that solution. What you might consider is coming up with creatures looking like what you can make. Not only will this make things unique to you, it will also keep things from looking thrown together. I really have no room to comment on your decision because the first experiment I want to do with SEB is a small text based RPG that will be slowly moved to 3D. I can''t draw 2d art, but I can model fairly well. Later down the road I might buy one of those model painting programs as I have problems texturing with what I have.
The cost for simple 3D:
* Modeller - $40 for AC3D - not strong on texturing, but adequate, the modelling functions are good and I picked how to use it in a month. I still prefer to at least start the model in AC3D and then migrate to another for finishing.
* Paint program - just use MS Paint that comes with windows. To migrate between image formats, download a free image converter - there are tons of them out there.
You can use a free graphics engine to do your models in or just use NEHE and the NEHE forum to learn OpenGL - you can quickly pick up OpenGL and there are new tutorials at NEHE that show how to do model loading. Also, you can use text to display options for each object taken from your text game prototype.
So for a few hours of your time (40-80 depending on how much you want to learn) and $40 you can do a simple 3D game. Of course that 40-80 hours time is just getting ready to program in OpenGL.
The choice is yours.
I had to do the same project my first semseter at DigiPen Institute of Technology. We were limited to using ASCII only. You can get around those problems using buffers. Make a copy of the current game screen. Now blit the screen you want to show over the current screen. When you''re done blit the saved copy back over and your back where you started. We used this technique for our game. I made a whole save/load GUI with mouse support that listed the files in the directory and had "buttons" for save, load, and exit. It worked really well. Get yourself a good ASCII editor also.
Whirlwind : you really should have a try (not just look) at any roguelike game.
Sometimes, it''s better to do for pure text, rather than crappy, "I can''t draw but I try hard" graphics ...
Not trying to be annoying. But it''s better to go for something you know you can achieve (OK, now let''s start a flame war about what is easier : good grpahics or good texts ...)
MrSandman : I don''t know if ADOM is exactly what you had in mind, but if you think that DIablo is really a rip off of those roguelike games, you understand that there is no shame in sticking to text. Flavor texts in ADOM add a great deal of atmosphere. The different stat screens are very well done, etc.
as for splitscreens, of course you can do them in DOS !
you''d just have to make your own windows system in DOS... it''s not that hard. you can do similar stuff on curses for unix system, though using telnet usually destroy all the nice effects you can come up with.
Maybe you should go on the web and get some source code on MUDs so you can get an idea of what it is. Then do that, but with an ADOM interface !
*that* would be original.
youpla :-P
ps : what year are you in ? What are you learning in your other classes ... this greatly influence what you can choose to study in your project, and how you''ll be judged. If you are learning C++ this year, doing all your project in C++ would be a GoodThing(tm) for instance.
Sometimes, it''s better to do for pure text, rather than crappy, "I can''t draw but I try hard" graphics ...
Not trying to be annoying. But it''s better to go for something you know you can achieve (OK, now let''s start a flame war about what is easier : good grpahics or good texts ...)
MrSandman : I don''t know if ADOM is exactly what you had in mind, but if you think that DIablo is really a rip off of those roguelike games, you understand that there is no shame in sticking to text. Flavor texts in ADOM add a great deal of atmosphere. The different stat screens are very well done, etc.
as for splitscreens, of course you can do them in DOS !
you''d just have to make your own windows system in DOS... it''s not that hard. you can do similar stuff on curses for unix system, though using telnet usually destroy all the nice effects you can come up with.
Maybe you should go on the web and get some source code on MUDs so you can get an idea of what it is. Then do that, but with an ADOM interface !
*that* would be original.
youpla :-P
ps : what year are you in ? What are you learning in your other classes ... this greatly influence what you can choose to study in your project, and how you''ll be judged. If you are learning C++ this year, doing all your project in C++ would be a GoodThing(tm) for instance.
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