Lately I was working on creating a JRPG-like module for T-Engine, and I managed to recreate most of my beta-4 module in beta-38.

Impemented features are:

Party-related:

 -You control a party consisting of several members
 -You can open a party menu, which shows HP and SP of all your party member
 -You can view information about individual party members
 -Party members can gain experience and level up, increasing their stats
 -Party members have individual skills

Skills (named 'Attacks' internally):

 -Can be physical or magical based
 -Can be elemental
 -Can heal allies
 -Behaviour can be customized further
 -Damage calculation made more JRPG-ish - now characters and enemies have
  Attack and Defense stats, and damage is calculated as ATK - DEF / 2.
  Of course, this behaviour can be changed in the corresponding file.

Battles and enemies:

 -Supports random and predefined encounters
 -Battle process is handled in a separate dialog, with a few helper dialogs for player input
 -Enemies attack party members
 -Enemies can have elemental weaknesses or resistance
 -Active turn-based battle system. All combatants - players and enemies - gain energy on each tick. When a combatant's energy reaches 1000, that combatant can perform an action.

Misc.:

 -Waypoints, a way for the player to instantly teleport to a certain spot
  Not really utilized just yet.
 -Savepoints, locations where you can save and recover your party
 -You can't save normally

What's not here yet:

 -Status effects - poison, paralysis, buffs and debuffs and so on
 -Interface probably can be made more user-friendly
 -Speed (the character stat) is not used yet
 -No dialogs on party member levelup
 -No chat system implemented
 -No equipment
 -Can't choose characters to form a party
 -Maybe there's a better way to handle locations

I already have a test demo, where you can walk around a small room fighting random encounters.
The save point in that room also allows you to fight two different opponents. There's not much to see in actual gameplay sense, but I think this module demonstrates the features I've implemented.

The player party characters I'm using in this module are from Touhou Project (a Japanese shoot-em-up series). It doesn't really matter that much - this is a test demo, not an actual game.

Keybinds:

  In the dungeon:

  Enter - Open party menu
  m - Start a battle, for testing purposes

  During a battle:

  Escape - End a battle immediatly, for testing purposes

All other input is handled with List and ListColumn objects - you're presented a list of possible options, and you choose one with arrow keys & Enter, or with the mouse.

I think this module already can be used to make an actual game - the basic RPG elements are here. Keep in mind, though, that it is still currently in development and might contain bugs. If you want to make your own module based on this one, feel free. Just remember to give me credit.

If you're interested in this module's inner working, take a look in the .team file (it's just a renamed .zip file). I've tried to write enough comments in order to make my code understandable. If something is unclear to you, ask away.

Post your suggestions and bugs you discover on this blog entry, or contact me:

astralslicer(at)gmail(dot)com

The module can be downloaded here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?cl3cc9vhn3n0ccj

As of the writing of this post, there has been 20058 days 18 hours 1 minute of recorded ToME4 playtime by registered players!
That is very very nearly 55 years.

I am happy to have given 55 years of happiness to mankind and hope to provide many more centuries ;)

You can view stats there: http://te4.org/game-statistics

I'm interested whether T-Engine4 can handle modules with non-roguelike gameplay well. For instance, I wonder whether you can create more RPG-like modules, where you control a party of adventurers and walk around predefined maps, battling monsters and gathering treasures - and you control all of them directly. Here are some of my thoughts on this:

1. Making a module with more RPG-ish gameplay would probably be simple enough. The main change from standard gameplay would be that you now control several characters instead of one, and the battle system would probably need to be altered as well.

I did experiment with making a JRPG-like module, where you walk around a dungeon with random encounters. When an encounter started, the battle between the party and monsters proceeded in a separate dialog. Your characters could level up, you could use spells in combat to damage enemies, heal yourself or to temporarily power your characters up. It was back in beta4, and now I'm considering porting it to the current version.

2. A turn-based tactical RPG - think Fire Emblem, where your characters and enemies take turns moving around the battlefield and attacking, would be harder to implement. I've seen this idea proposed on this site before. In such a module, the combat situations - the area where the fight is happening and the enemy combatants - would probably have to be stored in a separate file, and loaded when required.

3. Speaking more generally, in such non-standard modules death and saving would probably have to be handled differently. Death no longer should be permanent, and saving probably can be made possible only at certain spots - in a town or at special locations in the dungeons.

As I can see, a module with RPG-like gameplay would be easiest to create. I've managed to get the basic elements working, so it looks possible.

Disclaimer: This post has been misinterpreted as an attack on DarkGod, which was never my intention. DarkGod is no racist; indeed the narrative of his game already shows a level of social awareness that elevates it above all other roguelikes in terms of depth and realism. I love this game and have enormous respect for its creator; I signed up to be a Silver Donator a couple of weeks ago and am providing ongoing financial support for its development. My concern isn't that anyone involved with the game is a racist, but that certain of the game's mechanics seem to accidentally sponsor racist thought. My suggestion is that the narrative and character descriptions be updated to accommodate these concerns (i.e., "Highers aren't actually a superior race, they just think they are."), thus removing any potential misperceptions.

It strikes me that there's a bit of racism built into this game, though it doesn't appear intentional. It's all fun and games when there are differing races of nonhumans with differing traits, even if some seem superior to others. I think D&D used to divide the elf race into "wood elves" and "high elves," for example. That's fine, because elves and dwarves are not human beings and different rules may apply.

In Tolkien the Men of Middle Earth are not to be confused with the human beings of the real world, and Tolkien himself unequivocally denounced racism in all its forms. The Dunedain, controversial though they may be, are therefore little different from high elves. Tolkien intended them as an allegory of Atlanteans rather than Aryans, though given the supposed roots of the latter the distinction may be somewhat fine.

Cornacians and Highers are explicitly defined as different types of human beings, however. Not metahuman, or demihuman, or psuedohuman. Not "Men." Human. They're people, like ourselves. So we run straight into a problem that the fantasy genre has so often flirted with, which is that we're saying that certain people are inherently better than others from birth. This is the very definition of racism.

Highers are described as refusing to breed with other kinds of humans in order to keep their race "pure," and they possess racial traits such as "Gift of the Highborn ('Pureborn' in their intro)," and "Overseer of Nations." Note the plurality. They are naturally stronger and more agile than other humans, and have greater willpower, stronger senses, and a closer connection to the magical forces of the world.

Highers are so superior to other human beings that to play them necessitates an experience penalty. Cornacians, by contrast, are supposed to be more "adaptable," and can learn different skills more readily, making them the perfect servant race to the longer-lived and more powerful Highers. That the Shockbolt interface literally turns Higher characters' hair blond really drives home the point: Highers might as well be called "Übermenschen," and Cornacians "Untermenschen."

I'm not saying that the Highers should be removed from the game, or that their presence will encourage racist beliefs in the real world. But I know I can't be the only one to have had the thought that they are an inherently racist concept, and that it's probably best to not make it seem as though racist ideas are actually valid. Perhaps a good solution would be to make the racism a part of the narrative, a social problem in the context of the game itself rather than a biological superiority ordained by the laws of the universe.

Highers already refuse to breed with other humans, let's hear what they think about them! Let's hear about what the Cornacians think about the Highers! Let's hear about the history of interaction between the two, and how it has shaped their societies. And instead of simply calling them “Highers,” as if their only distinction is their superiority, let’s call them something else. In this manner, not only would any concerns about racism be removed, but the story of Mag'Eyal would be enriched, and feel all the more realistic.

Version

Version Major: 

0

Version Minor: 

3

Version Patch: 

8

File

File: 

tome-magebow.teaa

b38 version of the magebow not heavily tested.

Version

Version Major: 

1

Version Minor: 

0

Version Patch: 

3

File

File: 

tome-magebow.teaa

b37 version for mac-users.

If you don't know what a 7DRL is, let me explain. Sleep deprivation, shunning all social interaction, and a lot of dishes. And coding. Lots of coding. A 7DRL is an annual contest to create a Roguelike game (similar to ToME) in just a week. I've worked a lot on the tactical AI for bosses and uniques in ToME and wanted to take base an entire game on intelligent, 1v1 fights. The result is "Equal in Death", my 7DRL using the T-Engine and outright stealing the beautiful UI from ToME b38.

Here is the module file (drop it in "game/modules" folder): http://db.tt/Ugf023r1

Here are some pre-packaged downloads to help get you guys going.

Windows:http://db.tt/sXcDORMA

Linux: http://db.tt/aBXKMAaH

I would love any feedback (and the eventual bug reports) on the Forums, over here: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=33172

Cheers!

Well after 6 or so days I have gotten my 7drl finished (there could be hidden stuff). The premise is you are a necromancer and you can build customizable undead. So you can select what arms and other body parts you can use. The game is short and is a coffee break rougelike so it would be nice if you could test it out.

here is the link to the forum thread where the module is available and you can post feedback. I have about 17 hours left from the time of posting so I can fix bugs and add tweaks
http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=33375&p=130227#p130227

here is the module
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?aig6jbndib16enj
and here is the standalone
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?vcsh1q245l5wkmf

OldRPG tileset for ToME beta 38

http://www.mediafire.com/?844et0dm9xunk6f
tome-oldrpg-beta38.teaa 19.6 MB

Download at the above link.

Simply drop the .teaa file into your t-engine\game\addons\ folder.
Choose OldRPG from the graphic mode menu after you load a character.

Have fun!

New things:
-lots and lots

Please post your comments / see previews at the addon forums!
http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=31310

Also, check out the complimentary Darkwood UI in the addon section here on the te4.org site. It was deigned with oldrpg in mind!