Mr Ben G Tyers - GameMaker Studio Book - RPG Design and Coding

1 RPG Design & Coding 2 RPG Design & Coding First Edition 3 RPG Design & Coding 4 RPG Design & Coding GameMaker: Studio Book RPG Design & Coding 5 RPG Design & Coding Special Thanks to: Doug Morrison & Wayne Pinnow & Vadim "YellowAfterlife" Dyachenko 6 RPG Design & Coding Resources Sources: Main Artwork: GameDevelopStudio.Com / Robert Brooks Additional Objects: KennyLand Girl Pirate: RedBullet / GameDevMarket.net Wooden Background: Verver / GameDevMarket.net Zombie Pirates: CreativeGameArt / GameDevMarket.net Other Pirates: Robert Brooks / GameDevMarket.net Shop Sign: Background - Clipartkid.com Horse Foot Print: Freepik / Flaticon.com Running Horse Image: VwolfDog - OpenGameArt.org Animated Fire: Retimer - OpensGameArt.org Human Footsteps Sounds: OwlStorm Yoyodaman234 rocktopus punpcklbw Mikaelfernstrom - FreeSound.org Church Floor Tile: Osmic - OpenGameArt.org Water Sprite: codethislab / graphicriver.net Card Characters: cartoonify.de Horse Footstep Sound: HebronTheatre- FreeSound.org Fire Audio: midimagician - FreeSound.org Water Audio: InspectorJ - FreeSound.org Paint Font: Appo Paint by Grafito Design / dafont.com Butterfly: GlitchTheGame.Com Wooden Pirate Ship: Bleed / OpenGameArt.org Dice: JamesWhite / OpenGameArt.org x Icon http://icons.mysitemyway.com Card Characters:https://www.cartoonify.de/ Tree: domsson / OpenGameArt.org 7 RPG Design & Coding Resources Download You can download the resources at: http://www.gamemakerbook.com/rpgresources.zip 8 RPG Design & Coding 9 RPG Design & Coding Copyright 2016 Ben Tyers ISBN-13: 978-1540746474 ISBN-10: 154074647X 10 RPG Design & Coding Contents: 1 - Alert Text Effect 2 - Battle System 3 - Boss Characters Battle 4 - Branching Dialogue 5 - Coin System Shop 6 - CutScene 7 - Depth Based Graphics 8 - Downloading Bonus Levels From Website 9 - Drivable Vehicles 10 - Enemy Path Finding 11 - Foot Step Sounds 12 - Hints & Tips 13 - HUD 14 - Inventory 15 - Invincibility 16 Mini-Quests 17 - Multiple Locations 18 - Positional Audio 19 - Respawn Points 20 - Usable Items 21 - Weapon Control 22 - Zooming 23 - Destructible Terrain 11 RPG Design & Coding 24 - Dashing 25 - Quest Completion 26 - Road Builder 27 - Character Progression 28 - Party Mechanics 29 - Day / Night Cycle 30 - Puzzle Room 31 - Treasure Hunting 32 - Card Battle 33 - Graphical Effects 34 - Random Level Generation 35 - Fishing Mini Game 36 - Ship Mini Game 37 - Dice Rolling 38 - Mini Game & Dual View 39 - Game End 40 - Saving 12 RPG Design & Coding Introduction Introduction IntroductionIntroduction 13 RPG Design & Coding recommend that you have some planning and notes to hand.) Some casual style games may require little or no planning. (Although I would always RPGs on the other hand, require copious planning and design. Sure, you could probably wing it for a small RPG, but Id recommend against that. Designing and programming are two different disciplines constantly switching can reduce focus and creativity, and also be mentally draining. Planning is good for the following reasons: Allows you to brain storm without having to think about programming Allows you to focus your creativity and get into the zone Provides notes that can be used later when coding Can actually be a fun activity in the overall process of design & programming Means you dont have to mentally store every idea (and forget good ones) If youre working as a team, it allows you to share ideas with other team members As you will see from my initial sketches, they are basic ideas which wont win any art awards. However, they do the job of getting across the ideas.

You will also notice Ive given my designs some colour. Obviously, this step is not required, however, I find it useful. It allows you to have: Some time away from coding on your computer A break from having to think about your game The option of reviewing your ideas At any point in the planning process, feel free to throw your notes into the nearest bin, whether one page or all your notes. You should think of your notes as a kind of organic life form that can change and adapt over time. I recommend using one page for each section / element of your game, which makes changing / updating the ideas a slightly less painful affair when you do decide to make changes. The rest of this introduction covers the main 20 points to consider when making an RPG.

The main body of the book covers 40 commonly used RPG elements. Ive done it this way so you can clearly understand what is relevant to each element. Some of these elements 14 RPG Design & Coding same game theme will be used throughout. maybe used as a template for other projects, this is indicated at the start of each element. The Hopefully, having each element separate should make it easy to understand what code is relevant to that section. Programming / Source Code Notes You may reuse the code in your projects.

You cannot use any audio, sprites, backgrounds, etc. as I do not hold the necessary rights to sub-licence all of them. The code used in this book is made for someone who is relatively new to GML, it is assumed you have read and learnt what is taught in the book Practical GameMaker: Studio Language Projects or already have a basic knowledge of GML. When coding there is usually more than one method, using different GML or different approaches. The code used in this book is designed so: Someone relatively new to GML can understand it Its clear and logical Otherwise complex code appears clear and easily read Its broken into understandable bite-size blocks You can easily re-use in your projects It doesnt take a PhD to understand It looks good in print Coding comments are used to explain what each section does, allowing a newbie to grasp the basics and understand what is going on. 15 RPG Design & Coding

16 RPG Design & Coding Story Plot Plot (the plot of the story) Most RPG follow some sort of story.

The premise for this one is that a girl who lives in a windmill goes to the beach on a hot and sunny day, hires a boat and gets caught in a storm. Her boat sinks and she wakes up on an island run by pirates. She then needs to raise enough cash to get passage off the island. See the Cut-Scene section, where this premise is made into an animated introduction story. The story should then continue as the player proceeds in the game. This can be achieved through: Additional cut-scenes Dialogue with other game characters The collection / use / interaction of objects The addition of mini-quests / mini-games Changing environment Un-lockable locations Locations that the player can visit can help to form part of the plot.

When visiting new locations you can gradually provide more info for player that helps progress the plot, though bare in mind not all locations need to perform this. Having a good story not only engages the player, it sets the scene and gives the player some idea what the player will need to do. In a pirate themed RPG, you know you will be treasure hunting and fighting pirates youre unlikely to be dog-fighting an F-24 attack aircraft. Most RPGs follow a theme throughout the whole game, for the simple reason it works and is logical. 17 RPG Design & Coding