newbie saying hello! any advice for tactical rpgs?

[Azield]

hello everyone!

righto well i'm a complete newbie, saying hello. well actually if all be honest i did actually join this forum a few years ago when, getting interested in game development but having no ideas where to start. and just found my old profile after just having made a new one, oops!

anywho, i wanted to give a big shout out to see whether there were any peeps out there specifically working on tactical rpgs in the vein of fft, tactics ogre etc and turn based strategy in general? if so i'd be really interested in having a look at any such projects in development and just getting any advice and or maybe getting involved in any collaborations?! but maybe i'm jumping the gun there a bit! let me know anyone out there!

having no idea what i'm doing things seem quite daunting as to where i should start! but i feel pretty confident that game-editor is a good place, hopefully easing me into programming/coding. i'm especially concerned about the prospect of working on a tactical rpg game engine that doesn't completely suck or have rubbish ai. i'm guessing that as a genre, it's prob not one of the easiest to dive into and get cracking!

anywho's what i have done so far is to sketch out an idea for the game structure, gameplay and storyline. i've spent quite a bit of time developing the sprites/animations which i'm quite happy with so far, but have a lot more to do. the little avatar i've got is an example, two frames from my engineer character. yup that's sposed to be a tiny little helicopter on his back if you can make it out!

sure you'd be forgiven for thinking that i'd ripped that avatar straight from a nes ff game, but that's the style i'm going for. if anyone's interested i could attach some of my sprite sheets on here sometime? i don't wanna bore you any more by going into depths of how i envision the gameplay, but i have to admit i was particularly inspired by the nes tactical rpg, just breed, great game, check it out and i'd love to see it on me and friends mobile phones at the end of it all!

tara,

Azield

[skydereign]

I started a tbs game a year or two ago, but haven't been working on it much anymore. I redid it several times making it more efficient, or adding necessary features like saving. I'm still working on the ai though, I have a notebook about half filled with factors the ai needs to consider, and how to do it... I was also considered making an isometric system, but that kind of thinking made the game way too hard to make. I've been thinking of restarting the project soon. Anyway other than myself, I believe Thanx made a tbs... but I think that is it. My initial advice, start small.

[Azield]

thanks for the reply skydereign.

no doubt i'll be asking for your help as soon as i dive in and get completely lost in game editor! i mean i'll keep you posted when i make any major developments if you're interested.

maybe we could do a collaboration if you have a half finished turn based game engine you were hoping to resurrect? although maybe a little presumptuous of me?! i also thought about using isometric graphics but i thought that'd be beyond me, at least for the foreseeable future. i did even think about trying out at hacking fft advance cos i loved the graphics but the gameplay was so slow esp with that stupid judge thing, argh! but yup i can imagine isometric graphics making the turn based game mechanics perhaps even more complicated as you suggest.

anyway, thanks for your thoughts

ps: i've attached one of my finished sprite sheets for two low level characters. i don't particularly want anyone using these with or without my permission really. well maybe if someone was really desperate and they asked nicely. but as you can see, these are really basic 8 bit-tastic little sprites anyway so... was looking at beeant's sprite and artwork for his winterblast games, now they look cool! love the cartoony 16 bit console style of them, they look really professional! ho hum.

[Azield]

hmm didn't seem to attach i'll have another go. ah there we go, silly file type first time, d'oh!

[savvy]

they look nice
i would advise starting with a simpler game, something like pong, get that going and play around a bit, then have a go at this. this sort of game requires alot of work, especially to make AIs which are half decent.
i have an idea
make a pong game where your the character and you have to walk around and hit the ball.

[Azield]

thanks for the advice savvy, i'll try and follow it. but knowing me i'll prob dive straight into trying to make something overambitious and then getting frustrated with it. once i've done that i'll start again as how you suggested!

[skydereign]

Good luck. I'd love to help out. I probably won't contribute my more recent version, as I deemed it unfit as it wasn't dynamic enough. The version I have planned out currently allows for the creation of new units and technologies by way of expansions. But if you ever get stuck just ask. One of the problems for me was graphics, as I didn't have them all done before hand, and I couldn't get terrain to match the sprites I did make. Here is a handful of the sprites I did make.

[Azield]

cool stuff skydereign.

and nice sprites btw esp the last three, yup the phantom soldier does look a bit odd/flat and the animation makes him look a little drunk rather than an loyal and alert unit! maybe if his animation was a more obvious/deliberate movement/action it might be an easier way to get a good result rather than the subtle, breathing/at ease kinda movement? how about something like just the one frame, then every 10-20 seconds or so the sprite goes through a series of frames changing his gun cartridge/checking his scope/sight or something and then going back to rest? the thought just popped into my head from playing wesnoth, where the units go through a similar animation sequence, e.g completely motionless then every now and again, brandishing their swords, stretching, checking their bowstrings are tight enough etc. i think some of the skeleton units in the undead faction do something funny like remove their heads, throw them up in the air, catch them and stick em back on again

maybe check it out though if you're not aware of it and have a look at some the unit animation for some ideas perhaps. just an idea but what do i know?! um nothing i guess.

anywho love the style of your sprites. just out of interest, are you working on different factions with different units? just wondered cos of the use of colour. i could see all the red being replaced with blue, yellow, green whatever with all factions using the same units. but i guess that might only make any sense if you were thinking of multiplayer options, with two people playing the same faction.

obviously i know i'm not really much help to anyone at the mo but if you need help with original sound fx and music, that's something i'm able to help with now, to a greater or lesser extent!

[Azield]

btw i'm having fun today designing an 8 bit fairy sprite

[Azield]

and forgot to post this link for you: http://www.wesnoth.org/

[NightOfHorror]

You have really good drawings.