Current Events > I want to make a professional RPG, what should I use/know?

(+) Yeah! (+)

You might have read some of my topics in the past. I started working on a project in Java, just to keep the programming juices flowing. Now I have a lot more ideas and want to expand. The problem is that all I've done is only text based and I want a "real" game. I see three main paths forward:

1) Continue in Java, maybe learn jframes.
2) Starting learning how to make a mobile app. I would like to do this anyway, but not sure if my RPG ideas would transfer well to mobile and how it would handle the scale. Also not sure how much code I can transfer, though that's not a huge deal.
3) Learn Unity and work from there.

And just to get it out of the way, no I don't want to use RPG maker. I don't think it's fit for my purposes.

Have you used RPGMaker? It's limited, but you could make a basic version of the full game you intend to make, which could help you figure out exactly where you want to do trickier stuff with code.

Evening_Dragon posted...

Have you used RPGMaker? It's limited, but you could make a basic version of the full game you intend to make, which could help you figure out exactly where you want to do trickier stuff with code.

I'm going to make a character with multiple classes and complex spells. Every RPG maker game I've played the RPG aspects of it really kinda suck, it's generally a vehicle for storytelling. While I have a story in mind, I'd like to focus on the game aspects, first.

ChocoboMog123 posted...

Continue in Java, maybe learn jframes.

Do not do this. Jesus fucking Christ do not do this.

All that is possible with RPG Maker thanks to plugins on top of being easy to use and having all the basic tools to make an RPG. I commissioned a plugin a while back that mimics the skill systems from the first two fallouts and it works fine.

There are, btw, some stupidly complex games made in RPG maker. There's even a few online games made in RPG maker. The limit is your coding ability.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Do not do this. Jesus fucking Christ do not do this.

He's going to learn how to use Paint, and you're going to like it! >:O

honestly I think rpgmaker would totally work but I can understand not wanting to use it

unity can just build mobile releases so 2-3 are sort of the same

Tyranthraxus posted...

Do not do this. Jesus fucking Christ do not do this.

What's a better way to do graphics/games in Java?

Tyranthraxus posted...

There are, btw, some stupidly complex games made in RPG maker. There's even a few online games made in RPG maker. The limit is your coding ability.

I guess I'll look into it.

kirbymuncher posted...

unity can just build mobile releases so 2-3 are sort of the same

Can it? I was always told Java/Kotlin are the best for android development. If that's the case, I'll probably use Unity, thanks.

Unity, Game Maker or Godot. Look em' up and see what works best for you. RPG Maker isn't worth your time if you have programming skills.

ChocoboMog123 posted...

What's a better way to do graphics/games in Java?

Don't. Notch's biggest regret was doing Minecraft in Java.

ChocoboMog123 posted...

Can it? I was always told Java/Kotlin are the best for android development. If that's the case, I'll probably use Unity, thanks.

Kotlin is the standard for Android but games aren't exactly standard. They have different requirements than regular applications. Kotlin also has no real world usage outside of Android (despite once being billed as the Java killer) so unless you plan to only ever make Android apps it's a useless skill.

OHRRPGCE is pretty awesome. It's got it's own coding language too that you can use to do stuff that's not by default.

Don't use unity or vanilla Java. Java's performance is dismal and unoptimizable, especially at scale, due to GC. Unity was recently acquired by a group that has a history of spyware. If you want to use an engine try learning UE4.

If you want to just work in a basic programming language (like java), you want to learn C++. The syntax is a little tougher, the concepts are heavy, but it's substantially more powerful.

Also don't forget about Game Maker. It's really strong and you can make anything with it.

warlock7735 posted...

due to GC

This isn't why Java is bad. Especially not on Android where there's an abstraction layer and C++ is managing the memory whether you code for it or not.

Tyranthraxus posted...

This isn't why Java is bad. Especially not on Android where there's an abstraction layer and C++ is managing the memory whether you code for it or not.

There's also the issue of the JVM being terrible, but unless C++ changed in the last 10 years or so, you still have to manage memory. Not to the same extent as C with malloc, but it's still important to handle explicit deconstruction.

warlock7735 posted...

There's also the issue of the JVM being terrible, but unless C++ changed in the last 10 years or so, you still have to manage memory. Not to the same extent as C with malloc, but it's still important to handle explicit deconstruction.

New and delete are the same thing as malloc and free just extended for C++ specific things but regardless it's 2022 and GCs have come a long way and usually do a better job of managing memory than most programmers.

Tyranthraxus posted...

New and delete are the same thing as malloc and free just extended for C++ specific things but regardless it's 2022 and GCs have come a long way and usually do a better job of managing memory than most programmers.

It's more along the lines of handling dead references - it's very likely to accidentally hold references to objects that you want to unload in GC'd code, especially when you're dealing with visual objects. Better to just manage it manually.

warlock7735 posted...

Unity was recently acquired by a group that has a history of spyware.

they weren't acquired by, they acquired

still not great and I wouldn't really be too fond of unity because of this

There's some value in plain old top-down procedural programming, where all the variables are declared upfront, and always exist until the entire program ends.

kirbymuncher posted...

they weren't acquired by, they acquired

still not great and I wouldn't really be too fond of unity because of this

Everyone is pushing for Godot now. Unity has shit all over its goodwill spectacularly in the past 2 months or so.

I personally like godot a lot but I have no idea if it can do mobile so I didn't mention it