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[DCoward]

I agree with above that Unity is overkill for 2d projects. I've been coding in HTML5 + Javascript because I made an easy to understand 2D entity-based engine with explicit drawing code (instead of magically rendering that Unity does).

https://howtomakeanrpg.com/ seems right up your alley. It does exactly what it says with fantastic detail. Worth it!

If I weren't strapped for cash right now I'd likely look into that one, it does look interesting.

I think right now, I'm gonna do some more looking into Unity. This comment:

Game Maker falls short in many areas, with most people producing decent work only after years of experience, now reluctant to ever switch because they are "just used to it".  You're better off in the long run starting off with an engine that uses a real programming language

really got me thinking that I should stick it out and do what voidSkipper mentioned (which, btw, thank you for some guidance!)

Should I get enough cash to justify that, I'll maybe look into it though, thank you!

[qMopey]

If I were you I'd just learn C# and write your own thing using SDL. This thread tells me you just need to expand your programming skills to get more of a variety of custom things finished. So, go do it

Other options here are valid, but I imagine you're familiar with C# already, and if you get the OS interface out of the way with SDL then you're in the clear and can get straight into the more nitty gritty game implementation.

[mthwl]

Just registered for a forum account specifically to post this, so, hello everyone!

First, let me say: don't get discouraged! Lots of other first time (or thereabout) gamedevs are in the same boat, myself included. Spending time learning, reading, aimlessly Googling, scheming to switch to some other engine that will make our life better, etc. After a while, it can feel like you've accomplished very little and are no closer to getting the core of your game buttoned up.

For making an 2D RPG(ish) game in Unity (which I came to just last week, after adventures in several other engines), this was what saved me:




This set of tutorials was such a breath of fresh air. It's goal is getting you from WHATISUNITY to having a small, simple RPG prototype core that can be expanded on. Then it continues, and grows the game into a something more specific. It encourages you to turn your game into whatever you want, but use the core foundation that it lays out.

Give the first few videos a shot and you'll have a character walking around a tilemap in a few hours. Such a great feeling!

If you're still looking for other engines and just not enjoying Unity, that's ok. I will offer one bit of caution: the grass can always be greener. Some other engine is always easier to learn, more performant, deploys to more platforms, has a better community, has more tutorials, has more features, has better documentation, supports HD-VR-TRIPLE-SOMETHING, has built in magic, etc. So, just pick a few that seem reasonable, make sure they can accomplish your goals (broadly speaking, like if you want to release on mobile, make sure there's a path to that), and then play around with them and see how they feel.

If you're successful in making your game (any game) then you're going to spend a lot of time with the tools that you choose. It's ok to be a bit picky (especially in the beginning). Try to stay positive and focused on your game.

I recently just spent a couple of weeks with Phaser and even though I moved to Unity, I'm glad that I spent that time. I put together a prototype that I was really happy with in a few weeks. It booted up a simple menu, launched into a game world, loaded tilemaps, set up collision layers, built a player sprite, animated it, got keyboard controls working, rigged a camera up and everything was wonderful! Spent a few days polishing it up before I decided to try it out on mobile. My experience (happy to hear if anyone has had better!) was a little disappointing, particularly around audio support. So, after some research, I decided that (for me, planning to release on iOS and Android) audio support was a core need.

I'd been staying away from Unity for what I can summarize as one reason: can I make my game, without giving up anything, with a simpler (easier, quicker) tool? The Phaser example was one (of several) attempts to answer that question. Yep, I can make that game in Phaser (again, really nice framework!), but I might have lots of problems getting audio working on mobile (or might not work at all). So, let's move on and see if something else is a better fit.

Hope some of this rambling was helpful. Good luck!

[DCoward]

It's not that I don't appreciate the attempt, it's just that's probably one of the first things that comes up when searching for relevant materials, so unsurprisingly I did watch and go through that. Though, equally unsurprisingly, since that series is depressingly short, it gives you nowhere to go really, so I quickly looked for other things that helped keep the momentum.

In a way you sort of chimed in with that grass is greener bit with the exact spirit of what I started this with -- the idea that I could have something better, but ultimately I have decided against switching, and instead I am now ditching anything that is not done by me or my team.

Currently I am making some progress in a scripting sense, but unfortunately, I've been playing catch-up since I ditched things like ORK because it was a poor fit for me.

And now I'm stuck on being able to save my game, because I r dumb and don't get Serialization well enough 

Whatcha gonna do, right?

[quantumpotato]

I'd save up for www.howtomakeanrpg.com. An experienced programmer friend showed me their copy of it and said "it's very detailed".

But since an "RPG" is so many systems, you could try breaking down some decently complex but simple RPG like Final Fantasy 1.

Overworld Map
Random encounter moving into combat
Turn based combat
Inventory and item use
Experience and leveling

etc

and break each of these systems into a sub system. Like, make a program which just has a "Warrior" class, and you press a button to give XP. Dynamically calculate how much XP is needed then adjust the stats based on some template. Then you want a "Priest" class.. wow it would suck to re-write all that code, so you can abstract it into a Role class.. now have a Party class with multiple Roles in it.. show a "+1XP" button for each of them.. now click it for each of them and watch their stats increase according to the template.. hm, it's messy to have the templates all mashed in one file.. try loading the templates from a file.. give it the same name as the Role name.. now it's dynamic and you can add more Roles to the party..

This is just off the top of my head but what I'm trying to illustrate is that to program a game you have to break it out into subcomponents and treat each subcomponent as its own project.

Make a dozen of these and then you'll realize you can put them all together and you have yourself a game.

[eerr]

A long time ago, I was a little kid who wanted to know lots of things.

So I studied on asking a better question.

I find people's experience more useful than people's opinions. If nothing else, it's based on the past, not the future.

Thus:
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=56994.0