Allright, I''m not sure which forum this question belongs into but it seems this one here isn''t too far off. I''m planning on programming an RPG with little to no action sequences, relying mainly on roleplaying. I''m planning to release this thing as shareware and I''m doing this in my freetime, so I have no budget to speak of and right now I''m alone with the project. Now, the question is, how do I visualize this? Do I write my own crappy little 2d engine and editor or are there free ones out there? Should I go 3d and take one of those free open source engines? How much greater will the effort of using the 3d engine be compared to the 2d engine? What kind of perspective works best? Now, I''m not looking for a patent solution. I''m looking for oppinions and experiences. What would be the way to go? Oh yeah, it will be a future setting so there will be lots of high objects like skyskrapers, etc. ----------------------------- "Mr Sandman bring me a dream"

First off a simple question. How much experience do you have making games? Any? Because if you have little or no experience then plan to make a 2D game. As far as engine goes your decision should depend on whether or not the free engines available offer you all the features you want.

As to graphics, no budget doesn''t necesarily mean crappy graphics. It depends on how much time and effort you plan on putting into it as opposed to programming. 2D may or may not be easier to do then 3D depending on your experience in art and such. Why don''t you tell us what tools you already have to work with?

First off: You''re going to have to code your own engine or be prepared to share profits with whatever open source engine you use.

Second: Amount of personal experience is a must-know bit of info. It sounds like you have little to no experience with programming or design. Before starting on this project, you probably need at least a few ''simple'' games up and working bug free before moving on to anything commercial-grade.

-This is where the world drops off
-ryan@lecherousjester.com

Check out GameMaking.com for links to free game making tools. We have about 3 engines listed and a couple "kits" that sounds like they might work..

Nathan Fahrenthold
Gamemaking.com: Free tools for game making!

Ok, sorry for the gaps in my description:
I do have some very nice tools for the creation and editing of 2d and 3d graphics BUT I have virtually no talent as an artist. I''m a programmer and thinker (i.e. designer). I''m willing to design and program the whole thing but I do need someone else to do the graphics. Of course I''d like to keep the team as small as possible (less people to share with , so I would only ask one artist to join pretty late in the production process. I''m planning on getting the game done as well as possible with placeholders which I can make up on my own and then, when the game is almost finished, replace these wildcards with the actual graphics. This enables me to develop the game pretty much independantly from the artist. And since there is no real need to do graphics testing with the real graphics in beforehand if I use the 2d approach (no lighting, etc), I can safely do this.

You''re right, I do have no experience in GAME programming, meaning I never finished a game. I started one or two, but didn''t finish them. However, I do have a lot of experience with programming, I have taken several classes, I have worked as a programmer in a company for quite some time now, I have written a couple of multimedia programs, so, yes, I am very well capable of writing my own 2d engine and the game that is connected with it. If I had the time and the will to do so I could even write my own 3d engine.
I also have a lot of theoretical knowledge about game design and production.
And for tools: I do have MSVC++ 6.0

I think I can exclude the 3d engine alternative, since their not as easy to use as a home-made 2d engine and 3d in general takes more effort than 2d (if I only think about the movement routines of my last attempt and the implementation of an object selection interface!).
I would really like to go 3d since it tends to draw players deeper into the game and provides a more intensive athmosphere but the cost just isn''t worth it. And I would have even more money deducted from the already meager profits coming from a shareware game, which I have to share with my artist anyways...
However if going 2d I would like to implement a field-of-view, so that the player can not see what''s happening behind his/her back. As of now I have no idea how to do this but I''m sure I''ll find a way.

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"Mr Sandman bring me a dream"

Easiest way to do FOV effects in 2D is using "fog of war" - leave buildings etc visible, but don''t show mobile objects except, maybe, a small area behind/beside the character. Oh, and, of course, show full details in front as far as LOS extends (or to the edge of the screen)

Yeah, that''s what I was planning (fog of war). When I said I had no clue as of how to do this I meant the technical part. I have no idea how to atually program a fog of war, since it isn''t made up of primitives, doesn''t have a sharp edge, etc. Just putting some semi-translucent polygons over the non-visible areas won''t cut it. And how am I supposed to render partly visible objects on the rim of the fog of war?

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"Mr Sandman bring me a dream"

No idea how practical this idea is, but you could try drawing your "foggy" image as a background layer, then superimposing the LOS image, clipped to the boundaries of vision. The part I''d have most qualms about is "shadows" of buildings, etc.

As to partially visible objects, that depends partly on how realistic your representation of objects is. If you''re reasonably realistic, then just cutting off objects in the middle would be reasonable. If you''re going for something more abstract, then you''d probably want to use an "unknown object" icon - you might want to use something similar for things in the fog anyway if the character can tell there''s something there.