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[SeiferTim]

So, I started another new project, which is rapidly gone from a lofty idea to something approaching completion.  I'm hoping to get a little bit of feedback from people outside my immediate circle of friends.
Anyone who's remotely interested, please take a look: http://seifertim.exofire.net/
The goal is to first make a complete engine that can be distributed for other people to make their own games, and then I'll turn my attention to building a game of my own with it.  You can read more about my goals here: http://seifertim.exofire.net/2008/04/24/future-plans/
Please keep in mind that all the graphics and everything are temporary while I get the code working.  Once I have it finished, I'll be wiping out the current graphics, maps, items, NPCs, etc, leaving just a few simple samples for others to use, and then have much more polished resources in my final game.
Comments, suggestions, feedback, hate mail, are all welcome!  Post here, leave comments in my blog, or e-mail me.
Thanks! 

Edit: For those who want to jump in and try the test game:

Arrow Keys: Move
X: Swing Weapon/Talk/Interact
Z: Use Alternate Item

[ninjascience]

this is very cool!  and a great start.  Lots of folks could have quite
a bit of fun with this.

If you need any assistance let me know.  I've got lots of AS3 experience.

some feedback:

• you might want to make the collision area for walking and for enemies different so that when walking into an obstacle above the character, his head overlaps it a bit, giving some perspective
• figure out how you will want to handle perspective.  Will you do it the GBA Zelda way where all four wall directions are visible or the FFIII way where only the top wall is visible and characters can actually walk behind the lower wall

[SeiferTim]

this is very cool!  and a great start.  Lots of folks could have quite
a bit of fun with this.

If you need any assistance let me know.  I've got lots of AS3 experience.

some feedback:

• you might want to make the collision area for walking and for enemies different so that when walking into an obstacle above the character, his head overlaps it a bit, giving some perspective
• figure out how you will want to handle perspective.  Will you do it the GBA Zelda way where all four wall directions are visible or the FFIII way where only the top wall is visible and characters can actually walk behind the lower wall

I think that for my game, I'll be using a Link's Awakening-ish style for tiles.  I'm intentionally leaning towards old-school, pixel sprite-style.  Of course, when the engine is released, everyone can use their own style for their games
While I don't have any examples of it yet, the framework for using layers of tiles is there.  I plan on throwing some stuff in there, which would allow for the FFVI style that lets some walls be in front of the player, some can be other tiles, etc.  I'll probably be expanding that feature when I open up the map editor.
There is also be an option for how much of the top of the player's sprite can overlap walls - I've got it set to '0' for now, mostly because my graphics look really bad right now.

This project is partly a challenge to myself to see if I can pull it off, so I'm not really looking for help in the coding department - after I get the editors done, I'll release the code for everyone to play with, but the offer is very much appreciated.  :D  Thanks for the feedback!

[SeiferTim]

Well, here's the first release of my engine for anyone to play with:
http://seifertim.exofire.net/2008/04/30/release-targengine-01b/
Enjoy!

[dustin]

I'd love a compiled version so that I could give feedback.  I don't have flash...

[SeiferTim]

I'd love a compiled version so that I could give feedback.  I don't have flash...

Almost all the other posts on my Blog have the latest version up to show it in action, the latest one can be found here: http://seifertim.exofire.net/2008/04/29/game-development-log-day-1525/

[lowpoly]

very cool, I like the demo version you have posted on your site a lot, but I haven't tried the engine yet. I started prototyping an rpg in Flash as well so I can appreciate where you're going with it. Will keep an eye out for this one

[dustin]

wow very nice.  It was dropping frames quite a bit but then I restarted my browser and it worked fine so probably not your problem. 

1.  I really liked it and would love to see a full game
2.  walking diagonally it feels like you go a lot faster?  Feels a bit weird to my just FYI
3.  Is there any way to view the items?

[SeiferTim]

wow very nice.  It was dropping frames quite a bit but then I restarted my browser and it worked fine so probably not your problem. 

1.  I really liked it and would love to see a full game
2.  walking diagonally it feels like you go a lot faster?  Feels a bit weird to my just FYI
3.  Is there any way to view the items?

Thanks :D

1: I'll be working on the full game after I iron out the engine and get the editors built and working.
2: The speed should be the same when moving diaganally, but I'll double check.
3: I'm not sure what you mean by "viewing items"... if you hit "P", and click weapons, you can change weapons, and if you hit items, you can change items... I think there's only one weapon in the latest version, but you can find up to 3 items.

[SeiferTim]

I've got the start of the Map editor working... I'm having a little trouble coming up with the best interface that would make sense to people, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know :D  You can post them here: http://seifertim.exofire.net/2008/05/03/map-editor/

[SeiferTim]

Update:
Version 0.2b is ready, and available for download now.
This release includes version 0.1b of the Map Editor.  Please let me know what you think! :D

[SeiferTim]

I've slowly started working on the Documentation... I haven't had much time to get very much done, but I think I'm on the right track (this is the first time I've had to write something so technical and so large).  I would like to get most, if not all of the documentation written up before tying up any loose ends in the engine, and then jumping over to work on my game.  Can anyone think of anything that I'm blatantly missing?

You can see what I have of the documentation so far, here.

[SeiferTim]

Unfortunately, this project has basically died after a series of 'real life' events intervened.  I still have all the files and source for this available, if anyone would like to extend on what I completed so far...

[Craig Stern]

Neat idea! Unfortunately, I don't have Flash CS3, so I can't open the fla. I was just browsing through the as files, though, and as I expected, it looked like gibberish to me. :D I'm so lousy at programming...