What then is a RPG ?
And what is a RPG Generator ?
--------------------------------------------------- As seen through the eyes of Written: David W. August 20th, 2000
COPYRIGHT 2002 + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Please do not reprint or alter in any way without permission of said author. dw817@myway.com ----------------------------------------------------
Very briefly, a RPG stands for Role-Playing Game. The computer version is not to be mistaken with the one that uses paper and dice. Although its origin stems from pencil and paper with dice, they are now quite a unique race of intellectual pursuit.
The PERSONAL COMPUTER is a very lean and fine tuned machine unlike the cumbersome and bulky ones from yesteryear. Entertaining notions of writing RPGs and their Generators for computers has been well out of reach for more then several dozen years.
Dungeonmasters, or DMs as they are referred to, would lead a party of adventurers into an imaginary land comprise of dragons, fairies, damsels in dis-dress (my favorite!) :) , and they were fed and encumbered with complex strategies, armor class calculations, damage, experience, wisdom, intelligence. Each of these attributes were given a value generally no lower then 9 and not higher then 18. Dungeons and Dragons is the one that started it all. Perhaps it was Myth and Monsters by another team, but the concept in itself to have spanned as far and wide as it had is indeed contributed to the very many long and hard hours Dungeon Masters went to write on graph paper, make decision rolls based on the curve of the quest. These adventures were entered by the creative minds of the DM, with dice, paper, and pencil. And so it has been for many years until the computer was founded.
Perhaps the first RPG or serious assisting program to a RPG was Dark Towers for the Colecovision. It came not just with the cartridge but cards and dice. It was not a true Computer RPG in that it required external interface such as dice rolling and keeping track of cards and the like. But it was a start. A start to a very long and amazing journey that we see in today's modern RPGs.
The Atari 400 was born and with it came perhaps the very best RPG for its time period called Adventure. Everything was represented in big blocky images but the fun in Adventure was the ability to explore multiple rooms and use strange devices to assist you such as a Magnet, Portable Bridge, Sword, 3 different keys to open gates to colored castles, and the object of the game, to return the glowing Chalice to the Yellow Castle. Hindering the player were fearsome hungry Dragons and an annoying little Bat that liked to swap items with you when you were in its presence.
It was not until a good 3 years later someone found a secret, in playing the hardest level, an invisible object was found. Carrying it and making sure not to drop it, you could cross over to the far left or right in what normally was a solid wall. There in crude rough letters in this secret room was the original author's name of Adventure. It was so enchanting. A RPG Game that took maybe not a mere 15 minutes to play but several hours and a well- hidden secret to boot. RPGs were on their way.
When the Apple ][+ came out, aside from the all- text-only adventure games by Scott Adams which were very popular and those that merged text-only with crude vector graphics by Penguinsoft, Richard Garriott introduced to us Ultima I. The game was huge, enormous, it took several DAYS to play. After this came a large collection of Ultima wanna-be's and other creative RPGs. No longer were games crude and hand-drawn like early releases from Bill Budge like High Noon. No, cleaner-carefully-thought-out graphics were drawn. The Apple ][+ was capable of very bare color and it was exploited to its full extent.
The only RPG I can remember that was true and lasted several years was the world reknowned Final Fantasy for the Nintendo. This game took not mere hours or weeks to play but almost a month ! It was in very high demand and this game ALONE paved the way to almost every single RPG we see today.
Ultima was interesting but it was more tactical like the military and strategy games and did not have the human interaction, humor, and story-line like Final Fantasy provided. Squaresoft, the author of this very first and master RPG would become known in the future as the greatest RPG company of all time and rightly so deserved.
Not so many years ago when the Super Nintendo came out, Squaresoft released to the U.S., Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Final Fantasy 2 & 3, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, and several others.
The Playstation videogame console came out and it was in very bad condition trying to compete against its leaner and smarter cousin the Sega Saturn. But Squaresoft dipped their hand and provided the greatest RPG the world had ever known and even today is a monumental achievement. Most Japanese companies it seems always holds back stock to their foreign countries, and to us, they were no different. It is through Final Fantasy 7 alone that MORE Playstation consoles were purchased for this single game alone. And Squaresoft, already an EXTREME leader and contender in the RPG field, did not charge hundreds of dollars WHICH the Americans would have GLADLY paid seeing the scope of this game. No, it was a mere $50. This signalled the end to the Sega Saturn, and the rebirth of the most fortunate and lucky Playstation videogame console which surely would have to yield to its more powerful and graphical contendor, the Sega Saturn which today is all but extinct.
What we called FF2 was to them FF5. We never saw the true FF2, FF4, and FF6 until recently. The Japanese market ACTUALLY believed we thought RPGs were boring and uninteresting. A business decision they may yet regret for the rest of their lives. Final Fantasy 7 was released for the Sony Playstation. Perhaps Squaresoft's greatest achievement. Greatest achievement that any videogame company would have liked to held the title for. Over $100,000 dollars in sales were made =2= weeks BEFORE it was even on the shelf. It was that good. And yes, it is. The game boasted full 3-dimensional realtime 64 million color graphics, an amazing soundtrack of over 128 original beautiful compositions, draw-dropping special effects. And super-computer generated backgrounds of the most exquisite and beautiful artwork to set the terrain and maps for the game. Claiming over 8-10 months of gameplay alone ! It was the most incredible game anyone had ever seen.
Now me, like several others enjoyed this game, but we hungered for more. And only after a long-period of playing several hundred RPGs which the internet has been kind enough to provide almost completely free, do we enter a new mode of thinking, a new desire. Many programmers were most interested in making their own custom RPGs at this time, and so several had. But some wanted something deeper then this. Something much more flexible and all- consuming interest.
A RPG Generator.
Reading word for word doing research on the internet into this mother of all projects I came across the words,
"Be warned! This is perhaps the most ambitious project to date next to writing an entire complete operating system for a computer!"
The warning didn't stop me, it only spurned me on as did the extreme LACK of any RPGMakers existing anywhere in the world prior to 2-3 years ago. I thought I had something unique and original. Sure there were some RPG Generators years ago like for the Commodore Amiga, but not one that you would become so comfortable in that it was like an entire unique world you could immerse yourself into on a daily basis as its own personal and benevolant overseer.
Most RPG Generators, the decent ones, are well-aware that building WORLDs with their systems takes many times more then a YEAR or so to do with these systems, so they have made them very clean efficient Engines. ASCII, perhaps the leader in game- builders, not just RPGMakers, but Fighter-Makers, Shooter-Makers, and Platform-Makers. ASCII I believe pioneered the way for enterprising young RPG Generators of Engines like myself and others.
Unfortunately, ASCII sued Kanjihack more then a year ago for translating their complete 100% Japanese Dante RPGMaker and Super Dante RPGMaker 2 all most 60% into English. Their words, "Our programs were never designed or intended to be seen or used in the American marketplace."
Okay, we won't go there. :) But with the trans- lation of systems, the fine work of Don Miguel translating most foreign RPGMakers 100% into English, many systems spanning greater then 7 megabytes a download, are we introduced to some crude and mechanical ways of building a decent RPG Generator for now and in the future.
Many others like myself quietly squirreled away, collecting, learning, assessing, and composing bits and pieces, chunks and fragments of RPG Generator code.
Some have released their creations and are well- reknowned today such as Verge, OhRRRPGCE, and a few others. There is not too much competition in the world of building RPG Generators because of the complexity and scope involved.
A decent RPG Generator in my opinion would have to have in it:
+ Music, at least more then 60 compositions to set mood for: Happiness, Anger, Contentment, Frustration, Loss, Bewilderment, Humor, Love, Compassion, and of course the ever-popular Adventure and combat themes.
+ Graphics, most RPG Generators are tile-based to conserve memory. That is the MAPS and WORLDS are comprised of several hundred unique individual tiles that link together in much the same way LEGO's would to form larger and greater structures. Today we are very shrewd and unforgiving to new entries into the RPG world and demand they use and have the very best graphics and capabilities or it is only 2nd best to Squaresoft.
+ Cinemography and interaction. This is actually absent from most of the newest entries into the world of RPG Generators, and with good reason. It is EXTREMELY difficult to program a system that acting upon certain flags, categories, talismans, events, and scope into a said custom-designed universe has the capability to change tempo, music, theme, allow entry and unique animations of several hundred sprites acting entirely upon a unique user-definable program put into them and behaving if I dare use the word, like a HUMAN would. Yielding the envelope of COMPASSION for the other computer-driven characters they meet in this unique world. ANGER towards the said bad- guys and villians in the series who almost always manage to get the goods before you do. :) Squaresoft has done an INCREDIBLE job of keeping this very vital attribute in all of their creations.
An Example: You touch a person somewhere, the music fades to a new emotion, text appears on the screen mentioning what the character you are talking to is saying, more people pour into your field, introduce themselves as friends of whom you just conversed with, swap over 20 items with you, set multiple invisible flags, a few may join you in your adventure, and it is your responsibility now for their well-being in the game you are playing, the quest is accomplished that one more 1% through more then a ten minute cinemographic RPG story. This is a difficult thing to put in a RPG Generator but in my opinion absolutely VITAL. Without this human interaction, without this sorrow that a player sheds REAL tears over the loss of one of their close friends as played in a carefully thought-out loss, then the system is mechanic, robotic, and tactical, and has no real soul. Today any RPG that has no soul has a very short lifespan indeed irregardless of its fine or superior graphics and/or music. It must have a soul or it becomes predictable, boring, and uninteresting.
+ Animation. Most RPGs and RPG Generators allow the usual of 8 sprites per unique image of a person in the game. Squaresoft goes a few steps beyond this with head tilts to represent concern, eyes wide open comically to represent surprise, and a fallen form of them to represent a moment of weakness or defeat. It is not just Squaresoft that makes these games. There are a large number of contendors out there who have made RPGs, but ONLY ASCII and a few programmers such as myself hack away at building a unique build-your-own-world system and interface.
+ Special Effects. Combat in most RPGs is frantic, funny, and frenzied, if it's done well. It occurs about every 2 minutes of gameplay when exploring outside or in dangerous territories. They are called Encounters. If it's not done well, it pulls the player away from the actual game and yields them to thoughts of boredom, frustration, and inability to either want or need to continue playing. Special effects in combat are the icing to the cake. Large several hundred color plasma explosions, ghosts of ray-traced summoned spirits and elemental-types, mind-boggling creative binding graphics that will always WOW the player are an important part of any good RPG or RPG Generator.
+ Growth. Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo is a good example of a game that does NOT do this. This unusual RPG requires the player to FIND their growth. In this case, graphic images of HEARTS so they can have more Hitpoints, the life points of a player or many players in a RPG. Most RPGs and RPG Generators make use of a different sort of creature. A curious variable called Experience Points, which are granted and gained to all the active players in a combat party upon succesfully defeating their said determined or random encounter opponent. It is through experience points that a player is raised to a NEW level, with greater strengths, defense, cunning, and other abilities. Experience Points if done well in a system gives the HUMAN player a feeling of growth themselves, of maturing in a game and of becoming wiser and smarter.
A well-designed system makes it harder with a larger number to get to even higher and higher levels. Naturally the more difficult the random encounters are in combat, the more experience points to be gained.
+ Replay ability. Ever gone to see a movie that had good reviews and, after seeing it, you agreed it was a good movie, BUT you would not want to see it again ? What was missing. What elements could they have added or removed that would make you want to see it again ? This is a very rare attribute in programs years ago and is becoming a demanded item for today. Critical reviewers of RPGs which tell the story to gameplayers around the world are ruthless and cutting, just the way most videogamers like them to be, and will mention every single flaw a videogame has in it to detract the consumer. They do not do this deliberately to be mean. We live in a world now where what was a minute a year ago today is now considered a second. We demand the very best and replay ability must be amongst them. Movie makers would like to make a movie that has rewatch value because the consumer will not only go out to see it again with their friends but may go out to a store to purchase it as well so they can enjoy it on their own.
It is a rare ability and item for a videogame to have any really good replay value but in today's times is being assessed as one of the most sought after and valuable characteristics in a game. A game that has zero replay value will either be rented for a short while and returned, or have enough bad reviews written about it that it detracts would-be gameplayers to it.
+ Manipulation and Change. A RPG or RPGMaker would not be so very interesting or desirable to keep if the elements stayed the same throughout the entire course of the game. Final Fantasy 3 from Squaresoft is a good example of change. First know this game takes a good 3-4 months to play and, of course, SAVING your game so you can play tomorrow is very vital.
An example from one of Squaresoft's crowning RPGs:
In Final Fantasy 3, Kefka, an evil dictator is seeking out the Espers, a magical race of beings, to usurp power and control the world. Halfway into the game enormous special-effects and story are introduced. The entire planet cracks, images of hundreds of lives being lost are seen in full cinema animation done entirely by animating small sprites, shaking the screen, and the movement of tiles. Known maps that the player has memorized over their 30 days in playing the system are reformed and restructured. Favorite party members in quest are lost, irrovocably, so it seems. Flash, Fire, and Thunder rain down upon the earth, people scream, and the screen fades to black.
The screen shows a 3-Dimensional view of the top of the world and its new map and the camera pans down to a small remote island where we find Celes.
Celes, one of the main characters in the game, finds herself on a small beach. Locke, her true love is not with her. She examines the new location she is in and muses to herself that nothing is important to her except being with him, she cries and tears are seen in her eyes as she runs away. She climbs to the top of a peak, the screen fades to a lovely violet/blue hue and the music changes to a heart-throbbing beautiful composition. She jumps.
* Now, if this game has done well so far, and if the game has REALLY hooked the player, then the ACTUAL real-live person playing the RPG game will be MOVED to real TEARS and cry as she commits this very emotional and distraught act of suicide. As she falls, the music cascades into a crystal of tears that are shed by all now, and the screen fades to black lingering on the last beautiful notes with very tiny sparkling crystals coming from her eyes to represent her tears of extreme sorrow.
Transition and change again, she is only mootly injured having fallen on some soft sand, and finds Locke's scarf a small dove is carrying. With new resolve and new commitment she now seeks to find him and continue on in this massive quest. The things changed, any and all transportation such as Airships to cross mighty distances has been lost. She fashions a crude raft from timbers on the beach and sets out the open ocean completely alone and by herself to recover and locate her lost 8 friends who are major characters in the game.
* IF this game has entranced and captured the HUMAN LIVE player correctly, a mental and physical RUSH of adrenalin will be felt shivering them, and making them more HUNGRY and EAGER then ever before to see how the story turns out. A story that they have almost 100% control over.
If a game is not capable of change, it becomes stagnant, predictable and uninteresting. Squaresoft introduced the most mighty of changes for Final Fantasy 3 by introducing an entire NEW WORLD in the middle of the game forcing the player to rethink strategies and to place new goals and new destinations in mind with them.
+ The Anime principle. It is not until only recently has Anime, a unique type of cartoon that almost entirely comes from Japan that has artwork of BIG round faces with BIG eyes, little bodies, and in almost all ways are insufferably cute. This is getting to be a vital attribute for RPGs and RPG Generators. There is a very strong link between watching a Japanese Animation saga and playing a RPG. It is not too surprising to find that most people who enjoy playing a RPG also enjoy immersing themselves into a rich and wonderful world that is presented in well- thought and and animated Japanese Anime. To assist RPGs in this development, full-drawn faces to each of the important characters in the game are presented both in communicating with others and in viewing their vital statistics. A RPG is much more interesting and believable to play when you can actually see your character and associate a fondness and familiarity with them by seeing their likeness. Keeping tempo with all RPGs, most heros and heroines are dazzlingly beautiful, severely innocent and naieve in early stages of the RPG, and very easy to become fond of.
+ Reward Factor. Very few RPGs would be expressed with interest if there was not a reward factor involved. This then is the game rewarding the player through uncalled and above-board ingenuity in solving puzzles that very few people may understand or recognize in the course of the RPG. The grand and glorious ending that MUST be in the RPG. I mean let's see now, over 8 months of playing a RPG you don't JUST want to see the text YOU WIN, GAME OVER, PLAY AGAIN . No .. You want to see ALL the important characters that you met and have literally gained a friendship and tangible attachment to. You want to see them all in their completed lives. You want to see an ending to a RPG that may go as long as a half hour or more playing incredible adrenalin-driven music, BRIGHT beaming faces of the literal THOUSANDS of people you had met in the game, and a sense of EXTREME satisfaction in having surmounted these incredible odds, these difficult journeys, these unbelievable escapades, and cry REAL tears of JOY because the HUMAN player is so HAPPY to have done so much in this game to help and assist others over a period of TRUE 3-4 months of playing.
You want to travel the world at the speed of sound and see hundreds of people waving at you, read long messages on the screen as each famous character interacts with each other in a complex Cinemographic script for the very last time, each with their own dreams, ambitions, and desires known fully to the human player. You want to see all these things, a shimmering thousand rainbow crystals, two lovers reunited, kingdoms rebuilt, families found, and purposes attained once again. These then are the REWARDS that a RPG player will go to see and DEMAND to see in the most awe-inspiring and cataclysmically complex game type ever, the R P G .
Most recent additions to REWARD concepts in RPG is the introduction of tapestries and pictures that the player can WIN only through extremely difficult measures and carry around which is very well-drawn artwork of any of their player characters usually in a seductive or enticing environment for a female, and heroic and gallant rigidity for the heros. It's a pretty new concept but one of which I plan to include in my RPG system.
This then is the world of RPGs and RPGMakers. This then is perhaps the most intelligent and consuming of all videogame types that are out today. Sure, we all enjoy a good 3D Racer, maybe like to jump on the heads of critters in a cute platform game.
But have you noticed recently that most of these predictable games are introducing RPG elements into them ? With the multiple facial expressions of our heroes and heroines in these shooters, platforms, and racers, slight RPG elements are seen such as verbal interaction with the player's competitors. "Trophies" such as seeing their opponent defeated after a quick game and having a nice small if not outstanding ending are starting to be more and more added to these smaller games.
But nothing comes close to the complexity that spans beyond chess, the compassion that spans beyond the best romance novel, and the involvement of a player. Nothing goes beyond this save the very under- estimated and mighty R P G Game.
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* AFTERWORD
Today ? RPGs are one very hot item and of extreme interest to all, especially those that enjoy complex scenarios, and feed off of the difficult and seemingly impossible odds placed against them. These games are so consuming that even at 4 hours a day 7 days a week in playing them, perhaps only several months later will you see the grand and glorious ending to the game. The reward factor is high and it must be. After ever single combat or small puzzle solved a very catchy RIFF of music may be heard, new locks may be opened, and new paths may be explored.
We players are a demanding bunch of people now holding zero pity for any games made today that are not in every way excellent, flawless, and oustanding in every possible facet of its existence. RPGs allow others if just for a moment to leave their own lives and help and assist these other incredible, naieve computer-driven characters into their world from their first humble beginnings to their final climactic endings.
From the time RPGs were many years ago to the paper, dice, and hand-drawn charts on graph paper to the Dungeonmaster, so now do we yield to a greater and more complex form of entertainment. No longer restricted by the limitations of memory and inability of poor computers. Creativity and raw brilliance can be seen and highlighted on today's most modern of computers. With these computers of today, the awesome and mighty power of the average personal PC computer spans gigabytes of storage and boasting several hundred megahertz of speed. So now, and beyond this momentous year 2000 can large companies and individuals like you and me consider this most amazing and difficult journey of all, to build your own custom RPG Generator. Let it begin with you.
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