Game Makers/Engines for a holiday project

I'll start by saying my one foray into coding was in C# and produced only a short and terrible text-based game for all the time I poured into it. My expertise lie more in the areas of worldbuilding and writing.

I'm looking for a program I can use to make an open, epic-ish RPG, preferably with dialogue choices and multiple endings, if such a thing exists at all. It would be in 2D - I don't have the time, knowledge or inclination to be making pretty 3D things and physics.

Any suggestions?

Fallout 2238 I think it's called (or was it called Fallout Online? I forget), is a 2D engine based on the engine of Fallout 1 & 2. That might help. Also I think Arcanum had a toolkit so you could try that one as well if you wanted more of a fantasy (albeit steampunk) feel. I'm not sure but the Infinity Engine games might have had a toolkil/SDK for that engine too.

Edit: It's called F Online, my mistake, Fallout 2238 is a SP game mod project based on that engine.

See here for more details. It's primarily an MMO engine but the SDK allows for SP games to be built from it as well.

edited 28th Sep '11 12:43:56 AM by ShadowScythe

I'm planning to create a reasonably simple game that I can give to friends as a holiday present. Glad I found this forum thread.

Did not know about F Online until today. It doesn't sound like it's necessary to own either of the first two Fallout games in order to use it. Does this tool make it easy to modify graphics? If so, then I might give it a chance.

Here's some tools mentioned on the Game Maker page:

Bethesda offers modding tools for Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3, and New Vegas. I'm not sure how easy to use these would be... If you enjoy these games on Windows, then you might want to look into the modding communities. If you're interested in modding, then you may want to start by looking at older games such as Neverwinter Nights.

Legit versions of RPG Maker XP and VX have been released in English. They are available for paid download for $30 and $60 US respectively, and will work with a decent Windows computer. The programs include default graphics, sounds, etc. Almost no programming knowledge is required, so they might be a bit too simple for some fans. If you take a few minutes to look around RMXP and RMVX fan forums and sites, then you can find quite a bit of fan-made material. And if you set your mind to it, you can create a non-linear game with these tools.

Zelda Classic is a free program. As the name implies, it lets the creator make content similar to the early Legend of Zelda games, which were relatively non-linear.

You can have a decent amount of non-linear gameplay in interactive fiction. If this is your interest, then look at the four current programs mentioned in the Game Maker article. Some are freeware, others have limited freeware versions.

If you like graphic adventure games, then Adventure Game Maker is a free, useful tool.

Renpy and Novelty Maker are two freeware programs for visual novels and simulation games. If you're willing to do some trial and error, then you can use them to make a relatively non-linear game. I know that Renpy has been used to create some reasonably complex indie games, such as Planet Stronghold and Magical Diary.

Game Maker is obviously good, of course, just look at Metal Venture.

I don't know if SFML is really an engine in itself, but it's an API, which I'm pretty sure is close enough. In any case, looks good for general development, but it isn't out yet.

Alien Swarm, meanwhile, comes with its own version of Source SDK, and while Source uses C++ (to my knowledge), it may not be the first choice for an open-world RPG, but if you end up wanting 3D graphics with a 2D perspective, the Alien Swarm SDK has that (along with a tile-based mapping system, I believe). Also, there is a single-player mod (Jastian Summer) being built off of it.

(By the way, ModDB also has engines and game makers listed on their site.)

edited 28th Sep '11 6:39:53 PM by RocketDude

SFML is only an API, i.e. you'd still have to implement the engine yourself. I wouldn't recommend if you don't want to do almost everything yourself, which is a lot of work.

edited 29th Sep '11 9:04:16 AM by Uchuujinsan

^Ah, that explains a lot.

Among Zelda engines, there is (or was) also Open Zelda, which has the 16-bit feel from the start. All in all, you should check the Game Maker page and pick one that fits the genre you want: It's a list of game makers, not a page about the specific software with the same name.

edited 30th Sep '11 2:32:59 AM by Medinoc

Can't get a hold of the F Online SDK. Site seems to have some longstanding issue.

Where have you been dling from?

Have you tried here?

The link to the SDK repository doesn't work.