I want to make a scrolling RPG game...

[Kevin Jennings]

Remember Ultima III and Ultima IV? Heh, I'm dating myself here! I had a
Commodore 64 and I would play those games for hours and hours! The graphics
were simple. The sound was good. But the story and gameplay were
incredible! I bet I could still play those games and love them better than
the souped-up eye-candy that's available now.

Anyway, I've had an itch lately to write a game. I'd like to do it in Java.
The type of game that I'd like to write would be almost a clone of Ultima
III/IV. Now, on the Commodore 64 you would take your available characters
(a,b,c,d,etc) and redesign them into shapes to use in your game. Basically,
you could turn the letter 'A' into an alien with green skin and four arms
(it would be a tiny alien, of course. 8 by 8 bits) Doing this you could
draw landscape tiles, treasure chests, monsters, etc. I'm thinking that
with Java, all I'd have to do is create some tile images of the
aforementioned items (maybe using Paint or some other simple graphic editor)
and I wouldn't have to worry about taking the ascii characters and
redesigning them.

Anyway, I want to write this game as a full screen game. I recently
purchased a nice book, "Developing Games in Java" that basically deals with
creating full screen Java games. I haven't read the book, yet, however.
I'm just going through my mind what it is that I want this game to do and
how I'll put it together.

So, instead of me just rambling on, if any of you Java game developers would
like to offer some hints or insight into the world of Java game programming,
I would greatly appreciate it! I'm not really doing this game to sell or
anything. I just want to do it to see if I can. And, maybe, learn a good
bit from the whole design/development process.

So, I'm gonna start reading chapter one of this book. Hopefully, when I
check back later I'll have some replies from you seasoned programmers out
there. I welcome all comments and advice.

Thanks!

Kevin

 

[Carl G.]

Remember Ultima III and Ultima IV? Heh, I'm dating myself here! I had a
Commodore 64 and I would play those games for hours and hours! The graphics
were simple. The sound was good. But the story and gameplay were
incredible! I bet I could still play those games and love them better than
the souped-up eye-candy that's available now.

Anyway, I've had an itch lately to write a game. I'd like to do it in Java.
The type of game that I'd like to write would be almost a clone of Ultima
III/IV. Now, on the Commodore 64 you would take your available characters
(a,b,c,d,etc) and redesign them into shapes to use in your game. Basically,
you could turn the letter 'A' into an alien with green skin and four arms
(it would be a tiny alien, of course. 8 by 8 bits) Doing this you could
draw landscape tiles, treasure chests, monsters, etc. I'm thinking that
with Java, all I'd have to do is create some tile images of the
aforementioned items (maybe using Paint or some other simple graphic editor)
and I wouldn't have to worry about taking the ascii characters and
redesigning them.

Anyway, I want to write this game as a full screen game. I recently
purchased a nice book, "Developing Games in Java" that basically deals with
creating full screen Java games. I haven't read the book, yet, however.
I'm just going through my mind what it is that I want this game to do and
how I'll put it together.

So, instead of me just rambling on, if any of you Java game developers would
like to offer some hints or insight into the world of Java game programming,
I would greatly appreciate it! I'm not really doing this game to sell or
anything. I just want to do it to see if I can. And, maybe, learn a good
bit from the whole design/development process.

So, I'm gonna start reading chapter one of this book. Hopefully, when I
check back later I'll have some replies from you seasoned programmers out
there. I welcome all comments and advice.

Thanks!

Kevin

Java should be ideal for developing games similar to those that Origin
Systems Inc.developed (Ultima series, 2400 AD, etc.). Here are some initial
thoughts:

You should be able to get much better looking graphics than the limited ones
used with on Commodore 64s, but, get the game engine working before you
polish your graphics. For example, you don't want to waste time drawing
several 32 by 32 pixel tiles and then find out later that you need 48 by 48
pixel tiles to see them properly. Same thing with sound effects and music.
I have known several would-be game developers that get stuck on the art and
never finish a working game.

Use an object oriented approach (Java is very good for this).

Don't over-complicate the user interface (Ultima was pretty good along these
lines).

Using an Ultima game for a model is a good idea, but don't copy someone
else's game. Be original and base your first game on something that you
enjoy. For example, if you know a lot about insects, create a game based on
a termite colony, or if you like rock music, create a game based on getting
a recording contract.

Don't worry about making money with your first game, just do it for fun.

Plan as much as you can before you start coding. If you don't already have
examples, get some non-computer RPG games to examine the tables that are
used to determine outcomes based on player attributes (intelligence,
strength, agility, magical skill, etc.).

To avoid getting discouraged, start with a small test "world" and get it up
and running quickly. For larger worlds, consider creating a "world editor"
that allows you to make changes more quickly than editing text files or
source code. World editors can also make the development process more fun.

Personally, I like playing games that run in a window that doesn't take up
the full screen. You might consider designing a game that works at multiple
screen resolutions and window sizes.

Get someone to test your games and offer suggestions. When the game is
almost done, offer them a reward if they can find a new bug in the program.

Consider teaming up with others. You can probably find other people that
would also like to develop an "Ultima"-style game. Look over some of the
"open source" project web-sites.

Carl G.

 

[Kevin]

Java should be ideal for developing games similar to those that Origin
Systems Inc.developed (Ultima series, 2400 AD, etc.). Here are some initial
thoughts:

You should be able to get much better looking graphics than the limited ones
used with on Commodore 64s, but, get the game engine working before you
polish your graphics. For example, you don't want to waste time drawing
several 32 by 32 pixel tiles and then find out later that you need 48 by 48
pixel tiles to see them properly. Same thing with sound effects and music.
I have known several would-be game developers that get stuck on the art and
never finish a working game.
<...>

Carl, man! Thank you very, very much for your thoughts on this! I
appreciate the fact that you took the time to post your insightful
comments as I was almost expecting NO comments from anyone!

I agree with you on everything that you said. Even the full-screen vs
window issue. I actually played a little bit of Ultima IV last night
on my PC and I enjoyed it a lot more in windowed mode. So, I'll go
that route.

I totally agree about the graphics part, too. I'm going to go for a
simple look until I can get the 'core' of the game working good. Then
I'll concentrate on the graphics and sound.

I hadn't thought about checking with some of the open-source sites out
there. I bet there's several groups out there wanting to write (or in
the process of writing) this type of game. I'll see what I can find
out.

Again, thank you for your thoughts. I appreciate it very much!

Have a great weekend!

Kevin Jennings

 

[Andrew Jens]

Try http://sourceforge.net/projects/ultima-java/

Java should be ideal for developing games similar to those that Origin
Systems Inc.developed (Ultima series, 2400 AD, etc.). Here are some initial
thoughts:

You should be able to get much better looking graphics than the limited ones
used with on Commodore 64s, but, get the game engine working before you
polish your graphics. For example, you don't want to waste time drawing
several 32 by 32 pixel tiles and then find out later that you need 48 by 48
pixel tiles to see them properly. Same thing with sound effects and music.
I have known several would-be game developers that get stuck on the art and
never finish a working game.

Use an object oriented approach (Java is very good for this).

Don't over-complicate the user interface (Ultima was pretty good along these
lines).

Using an Ultima game for a model is a good idea, but don't copy someone
else's game. Be original and base your first game on something that you
enjoy. For example, if you know a lot about insects, create a game based on
a termite colony, or if you like rock music, create a game based on getting
a recording contract.

Don't worry about making money with your first game, just do it for fun.

Plan as much as you can before you start coding. If you don't already have
examples, get some non-computer RPG games to examine the tables that are
used to determine outcomes based on player attributes (intelligence,
strength, agility, magical skill, etc.).

To avoid getting discouraged, start with a small test "world" and get it up
and running quickly. For larger worlds, consider creating a "world editor"
that allows you to make changes more quickly than editing text files or
source code. World editors can also make the development process more fun.

Personally, I like playing games that run in a window that doesn't take up
the full screen. You might consider designing a game that works at multiple
screen resolutions and window sizes.

Get someone to test your games and offer suggestions. When the game is
almost done, offer them a reward if they can find a new bug in the program.

Consider teaming up with others. You can probably find other people that
would also like to develop an "Ultima"-style game. Look over some of the
"open source" project web-sites.

Carl G.

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Try http://sourceforge.net/projects/ultima-java/

Try <http://www.physci.org/kbd.jsp?key=del>

[ helps get rid of those
unnecessary lines in replies.. ]

F'Ups set to c.l.j.p.