Homebrew [W.i.P.] RPG Maker 3DS

[Rinnegatamante]

Hello everyone,
yesterday i was wondering about what could improve 3DS homebrew scene growing and i thought about why not create a clone of RPG Maker.

RPG Maker is a really easy-to-use engine to create 2D RPG games like old Final Fantasy and similar.
Some RPG Maker products are also buyable on Steam like "To the Moon" ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/206440 ) and i think this could be a good new entry which can give a lot of homebrews to the scene.

So yesterday i started working on the Engine, here you are some info:

- Engine will be created through lpp-3ds for different motivations:

1. The PC Game Builder will be easier to create
2. LUA like RGSS (Ruby Game Script System) used on offciial RPG Maker releases is an interpreted language leading you full control on game customization
3. lpp-3ds provides by itself different features useful for the engine creation (audio streaming, GPU support, Alpha blending etc...)

Currently i have done only basics feature (Currently i have made dynamic map rendering through GPU, hero rendering, hero movement animation, random encounter prototype, map file prototype with tilesets, out-of-map collision check.)

Thanks to exelix11 for the video

If someone wants to look at the code, here is the GitHub link: https://github.com/Rinnegatamante/RPG-Maker-3DS

It doesn't work on official lpp-3ds release cause i'm using a slight modified version which will have splashcreen at startup for engine credits, i'll release a working 3DSX file soon.

I'm looking for anyone who wants to help for its development.
Are appreciated helps from:

1. LUA developers for Engine creation
2. C# developers for the PC Game Builder creation (exelix11 is currently working on it so ask him for everything around it)
   
3. A Graphic for a logo for RPG Maker (Anyone wants to try create it can leave the logo here or send me a PM), the logo for now will be used in the splashscreen on engine startup. Splashscreen is something similar to this:

 

[WeedZ]

Sweet, awesome idea rinn

 

[TheCruel]

I would prefer a port of EasyRPG, then you can utilize all RPG Maker 2K/2K3 games already made.

 

[Rinnegatamante]

I would prefer a port of EasyRPG, then you can utilize all RPG Maker 2K/2K3 games already made.

For me is a lot easier to write from scratch an engine like what i'm doing then porting a monster like this: https://github.com/EasyRPG/Player/tree/master/src

 

[WeedZ]

Wait. So is this a pc app that compiles for the 3ds or a 3ds app? Cause the ladder seems kind of awkward.

 

[Rinnegatamante]

Wait. So is this a pc app that compiles for the 3ds or a 3ds app? Cause the ladder seems kind of awkward.

Engine is what you run on 3DS but the game builder (where you work to create the 3DS RPG game) is for PC.

Also, when i get my knew USB cable for PSVITA, i'll start porting lpp-3ds to PSVITA and probably games made with RPG Maker 3DS will be fully compatible also on PSVITA.

 

[WeedZ]

Engine is what you run on 3DS but the game builder (where you work to create the 3DS RPG game) is for PC.

Also, when i get my knew USB cable for PSVITA, i'll start porting lpp-3ds to PSVITA and probably games made with RPG Maker 3DS will be fully compatible also on PSVITA.

Sweet action. I got it now. I had only used rpgmaker a handful of times. I remember it being tile based objects. I could get into it again if only to see games run on the 3ds.

 

[Selim873]

So specifically, what RPG Makers are compatible with this?? I've ALWAYS wanted to put something together on it, and it'll be cool as hell to have some full blown homebrew JRPG's on the 3DS! For the better programmers, do you think it would be possible to implement the bottom screen for point and click (Or the touch screen since we're talking about 3DS) actions?

 

[Tjessx]

Seems a pretty good idea.
I could help on the Game designer, but i would suggest a cross platform language or using something like mono or something.
If not a cross platform language, i don't mind porting everything to OSX for the mac users. aswell as developing in C# (much better then VB).

 

[StaticPain]

This should be awesome! I can't do much, but I can test things so if you need help testing 3ds, n3ds or vita I have Rejuvenate.

 

[Osga21]

Holy crap, that is amazing! Just a question though, why not "copy" something like game maker which gives you a lot more options on the game you want to create?

 

[KingOfHell]

So specifically, what RPG Makers are compatible with this?? I've ALWAYS wanted to put something together on it, and it'll be cool as hell to have some full blown homebrew JRPG's on the 3DS! For the better programmers, do you think it would be possible to implement the bottom screen for point and click (Or the touch screen since we're talking about 3DS) actions?

Only ones made with this, since it's a completely new engine.

 

[filfat]

You could go .NET C# and distribute the application with Mono.
Or you could simply go web, JavaScript + HTML + CSS is powerful enough these days for such projects like this.

 

[Tjessx]

You could go .NET C# and distribute the application with Mono.
Or you could simply go web, JavaScript + HTML + CSS is powerful enough these days for such projects like this.

Was thinking that at first, but it might be handier for people to have an actual program.

 

[Rinnegatamante]

So specifically, what RPG Makers are compatible with this?? I've ALWAYS wanted to put something together on it, and it'll be cool as hell to have some full blown homebrew JRPG's on the 3DS! For the better programmers, do you think it would be possible to implement the bottom screen for point and click (Or the touch screen since we're talking about 3DS) actions?

Touch screen by default will be used for menu (Status, Party, Save Game and so on) but, cause the entire engine will be developed with lpp-3ds, experienced LUA developers could do whatever they want (like changing the battle system (standard will be a round based like first final fantasy with tiles for heroes and static tiles for monsters), changing 4-diretional map base to a isometric style like KH: CoM, adding minigames with the use of touchscreen like card tavern games and so on).

Cause it will be a new "brand", games must be created with the future Game Builder and it allows you to release your game (on final concept) to every single console which support lpp-3ds (So for now only 3DS and PC using an emulator like Citra but PSVITA port is in my plans).

Seems a pretty good idea.
I could help on the Game designer, but i would suggest a cross platform language or using something like mono or something.
If not a cross platform language, i don't mind porting everything to OSX for the mac users. aswell as developing in C# (much better then VB).

You could go .NET C# and distribute the application with Mono.
Or you could simply go web, JavaScript + HTML + CSS is powerful enough these days for such projects like this.

I never touched C# so i potentially start from basic with this language. For Mono, VB.net should be also compatible but i don't know if VB.net could be a good choice.

 

[Tjessx]

I never touched C# so i potentially start from basic with this language. For Mono, VB.net should be also compatible but i don't know if VB.net could be a good choice.

In my eyes, VB.net is pretty outdated.

 

[KingOfHell]

Was gonna throw something together to render/edit the maps with c++/QT, but I'm staring at map1.lua and not feeling quite in the mood to deal with writing any code to deal with lua-scripts just yet.

Any thoughts on making the map files a binary file with either game specific metadata appended to the end or in a separate file?

EDIT: not entirely sure how I ended up quoting Tjesx...

 

[Rinnegatamante]

Was gonna throw something together to render/edit the maps with c++/QT, but I'm staring at map1.lua and not feeling quite in the mood to deal with writing any code to deal with lua-scripts just yet.

Any thoughts on making the map files a binary file with either game specific metadata appended to the end or in a separate file?

EDIT: not entirely sure how I ended up quoting Tjesx...

LUA code is not idented-dependent like Python so it should be quite easy to create a fully working LUA script through VB/C++/C# (My TriaAl Debugger [ http://gbatemp.net/threads/w-i-p-triaal-deemo-clone-for-3ds.381508/ ] is wrote in VB.net and generate a fully working LUA array also idented with tabulation chars).

Anyway, i'm charging on GitHub right now an updated version of map1.lua with some info about the code.

If some info are missing, just tell me and i'll explain the code.

 

[filfat]

Was thinking that at first, but it might be handier for people to have an actual program.

You could always deploy a website into a desktop application (somewhat like Visual Studio Code) see http://nwjs.io and http://tutorialzine.com/2015/01/your-first-node-webkit-app/

 

[Tjessx]

You could always deploy a website into a desktop application (somewhat like Visual Studio Code) see http://nwjs.io and http://tutorialzine.com/2015/01/your-first-node-webkit-app/

Actually, now i think about it, we could create a javascript application,
Javascript is a complete programming language, supported by every operating system.
We could make it so that you need to start the program and visit it using an url in browser, or give it its own window, either way it will work without the limits of a browser (limited ram and stuff)