Time RPG Engine

[Roik]

I've been creating an RPG engine that incorporates time in a way few games have.  I'd like to say no game has done it, but I'm sure there has to be some out there.

While the engine is not complete, I thought I'd share the current progress.  The main feature on display is the constantly flowing time.  One of the major pieces is character change through aging.  Character stats and graphics can be altered from year to year.  All of it is customized through the game creator application.  The idea is to reduce the amount of experience grinding needed.  There will be support for characters becoming too old to adventure.  A year or two before a character's max age, they will hint that they don't have much longer.  Eventually, a character could die.  On the flip side, a new character could become available because they are of fighting age after several years.

The other major time element will be events that are triggered through time.  The main evil boss isn't sitting around waiting for you to show up.  They have plans that they are trying to accomplish.  For example, a dragon may be released after 5-10 years that goes around destroying towns every few months.  These events would cause a permanent change to the world.  A player would no longer be able to access those areas.  New areas could also be opened up over time.

Time passage is per second of real time.  The two modes available currently are minute and hour of game time.

The calendar is customizable.  The calendar of this game is one month with 4 days to keep the demo short.  This game example shows a chicken from egg to chick to chicken over 3 years.  This example also shows a cave opening after a few days and a sapling growing into a large tree over 4 years.

The demo isn't a representation of the game I'm going to be working on once the engine is complete.  It is mostly just a little example.  The graphics were created by me, so they're pretty terrible.

I'm also working on a game creator along side this engine.  This will be the primary location to create and alter RPGs.  The example was made entirely using the game creator (graphics and sound created outside and imported into the creator).  However, I can't release a demo of it as it isn't user friendly.

You can download the current progress at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2xELTn...9QSWs/view.  There is a README as well as a DOCX that have control information.  Both contain much of the same information here, but the DOCX provides more than the README.

Here are the current features of the game engine (may not be final version of the feature):
Progressive time
-Character aging
-Events executed based on time
Map
-Transition from one map to another
-Vertical and horizontal looping
-Three layers (behind hero, same level as hero, and in front of hero)
Party screen
-Inventory screen
-Equipment screen
-Status screen
Combat (currently accessed through Options in Party screen)
-Basic combat for Hero and Enemy
-Experience and Gold reward
Events
-Multiple sub events fired for one event
-Sound
-Dialog
-Giving item to party
-Changing map
NPC
UI Navigation
UI content dynamic to position of UI pieces
Xbox 360 Controller support
Keyboard support
Save support

[Kelvin]

Rather not download before I've seen some screenshots.

[Roik]

I only have two posts so it's reasonable to be cautious about downloading something from someone you don't know.

I've placed the images in spoilers so that they don't extend the post as much.  I can remove the spoiler if the preference is to not have them or use them in this way.

The demo isn't really a game.  It's showing off the features of the engine.  I've made some screenshots to try and show the major features mentioned in the first post.  I've got 22 screenshots, but you can't see much of the cave ones due to being dark and posting all 22 is probably too much.  I also excluded the screenshots of combat and the tree growing to its full size.  I can post them if you want or maybe try and create a video.

Here's what the New Game looks like.  The Hero starts at a location set by the game creator.  These are the party and status screens of the Hero at New Game.  These are the base stats of the Hero without equipment at Age 1, Level 1, and modified by the race of the Hero.

Spoiler

           

Here's the Hero on the map in a new location at age 2.  The graphics have been changed from an egg to a chick.  This location also shows the start of the tree growing north of the water.  These are the party and status screens of the Hero at age 2.  I fought one combat and equipped some gear.  The equipment only modified Defense and Damage.  You'll notice that other stats have increased even though the Hero is still level 1.  This is the other change available through a Hero aging.

Spoiler

           

Here's the Hero at age 3 as a chicken.  The tree has grown a little bit between the Hero at age 2 and age 3.  These are the party and status screens of the Hero at age 3.

Spoiler

           

Here's the other example of environment changing over time.  The cave opens and is accessible on the second day.

Spoiler

       

[puggsoy]

I've mostly skimmed this but it sounds like an interesting idea. I do think that it would be a challenge to pull this off while still making the game fun and playable but not frustrating or making the player hurry through everything. However if you do manage that I think it would be a very good and fresh game.

In any case sounds promising, good luck!

[Roik]

I've thought of the possible issue of time restraint.  I'm actually more worried that players won't make it far in the timeline before finishing the game.

My initial calculations were based purely on traveling the overworld.  With time moving at 1 hr in game per 1 second of real life, this results in 150 days in game per 1 hr of real life.  For a standard calendar, this results in 2.5 hrs of real life being just over (10 days) a year in game.  I was planning on the game lasting around 10-20 years in game.  The game would probably go on for an additional 10-20 years after this, but this would be the time frame when the evil ruler is taking over and some allies are no longer able to fight with you.  It wouldn't be hopeless though.  I would have some new areas with some powerful gear or new allies to help balance.

However, most time will probably be spent in towns and dungeons.  Time will move at 1 minute in game per 1 second of real life in these areas.  Even if time was split 50% in each area, the real world time of 2 hours would be under half a year (around 152.5 days) in game.

I thought about creating an NPC system or a menu item that you can look at to give you information on the major time events that are coming up.  NPC system downside is that you would have to travel to them.  Maybe they're in every town.  The menu item means that you can access it any time you have access to the party screen.  They would work similarly in the sense of "Hey, I heard that there's a town to the North West that is going to come under attack in a few months!".  Detail of the event could vary to very specific "Day X of Month Y, Year Z" to more general like the previous example.  The information would be dynamic so that the message would reflect how much time is left.  A "few months" would turn into "a month" as time progresses.

Setting up the events will definitely require some care as to not spread the locations out to areas that would be un-feasible for a player to reach in time, unless it has a purpose.  For instance (although a little cliche), choose to save A or B, but you can't save both.  It might be more of evil ruler starts event in the East so that you'll investigate it while evil ruler enacts real plan in the West.