RPG Kit for Unity – Part 1

In my last post I talked a bit about the idea behind the RPG kit for unity, what it should be capable of and how it should be controlled. Today, let's talk about what it IS capable of …

I'll begin with some general details. The RPG kit consists of several Editor Windows and Components.
The Editors are used to set up your RPG project elements, create events (e.g. dialogues) and all the other stuff you need in an RPG (shops, menus, etc.). The Components are used to bring your settings (e.g. items, dialogues, shops, etc.) into your game – click here to learn more about Unity's Component system.
The RPG kit saves all data in XML format, but you don't have to worry about that, since you'll never have to touch this part.

The following Editors will be included in the RPG kit:

• Project Editor (finished)
  
• Battle System Editor (in development)
  
• Menu Editor
  
• Event (Dialogue) Editor
  
• Shop Editor
  

There'll most likely be some changes in the development process – like integrating an Editor into another.

Project Editor
The Project Editor is the main tool of the RPG kit for Unity. It is used to set up all of your RPG projects settings and data:

• Languages
  
• Text colors (to be used in dialogues, etc.)
  
• Status values
  
• Status effects
  
• Elements
  
• Formulas (easily set up your own formulas for skill calculations, etc.)
  
• Skills (and skill types)
  
• Items (and item types)
  
• Equipment's (Weapons/Armors)
  
• Characters and classes
  
• Enemies and enemy AI
  

Like I said in the last post – the RPG kit should be flexible, and flexible it is! Let me give you a small example:
For your gameplay idea you need two different health status values and like three different values to be used when casting skills … No problem – configure them in the Status Value tab of the Project Editor and use them in skills and formulas, let equipment give them bonuses or items increase/refresh their values, or manipulate them with a status effect.

Status Value Tab

Armor Tab

That's how it works. Define the stuff you need and use them where you need it. I'll get back to the details of the Project Editor in the next posts …

Battle System Editor
This Editor will most likely be integrated into the Project Editor, but since it's in development right now, I'll handle it as a standalone editor (and stay short on details).
For now, the Battle System Editor allows you to create turn based or active time battle systems and will be extended by a real time system in the future. Besides that, you can use formulas to determine the order of actions (when every battle participant can make its move), choose which information you want to be shown on the screen and where (e.g. health bar) and set up the menu for battle commands.

Well, that's it for today, stay tuned …

Dev is love!

Since this is the first post, I'll write some words about the intentions behind this blog.

First of all, this blog is about game development … Independent game development, to be precise. I'm doing practically all of the development stuff on my own (everything but sound effects), so there will be more than enough topics I'm going to talk about. I guess I'll rather focus on the design part than on pure coding – such as game, level, character and gameplay design, composing and selecting the right music for the right scene, etc.
Stuff like that, yeah.
Oh, and of course: how the fuck can I turn all my thoughts and ideas into a working game? That's the key question, isn't it?

I've been an indie game developer for almost three years now, released two (smaller) games and currently I'm working on a more complex/bigger game – a RPG. This brings me to another reason for writing this blog – marketing.
I don't know how you feel about marketing, but I hate it. Well, it has to be done, so why not combine it with something fun, like talking about the stuff I do?

But let's get back to the fun stuff. My current project is being developed with Unity, a pretty awesome game development tool (visit their website to learn more about it).
Like you all know, RPG's are very complex and have a lot of things to be thought about – items, enemies, equipment, skills, etc. – and everything has to work together, somehow.
While working on the base game mechanics for my new RPG, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to create a good, reusable system, which will also work in future projects with other gameplay elements and needs.

To allow other developers to use it in their own projects, I came up with the idea of developing a RPG kit for Unity. This RPG kit should be flexible (e.g. allow the definition of your own status values), support the definition of multiple languages (e.g. different item names per language) and allow all settings to be made through a "simple" editor.

Worked out pretty well till now – one-third of the RPG kit is already finished, details and screenshots will follow in the next post(s).