Plan for Tim Newell
by Tim Newell · 03/18/2002 (1:21 am) · 6 comments
I have unveiled what I am currently working on and thought I would share it with the Garagegames community. I have a small temp page up at the moment at rpgX. There is currently one screenshot of it up. (link is on the left side of the page)
Here is a small overview of rpgX from the website:
rpgX is our current game in progress that is a utility that allows you to play your favorite roleplaying games as well as other games over the internet. It uses the Torque Game Engine provided by Garagegames and once rpgX is finished it will be available on Garagegames for a low price. To maintain the spirit of the Gameshop games (like table top Pen and Paper Games) it provides an IRC-like chat interface, a dice system that can be programmed to work with any system through checks in a menu, a 3d miniature map using the Torque Rendering engine, a 2d map for the old PnP players :), and a Graphical character sheet system. It is not only for PnP games but could also be used for table top war games that require terrain and can be done through the torque 3d terrain system. You could even through clever mods create board games to play over the net.
-Tim aka Spock
Here is a small overview of rpgX from the website:
rpgX is our current game in progress that is a utility that allows you to play your favorite roleplaying games as well as other games over the internet. It uses the Torque Game Engine provided by Garagegames and once rpgX is finished it will be available on Garagegames for a low price. To maintain the spirit of the Gameshop games (like table top Pen and Paper Games) it provides an IRC-like chat interface, a dice system that can be programmed to work with any system through checks in a menu, a 3d miniature map using the Torque Rendering engine, a 2d map for the old PnP players :), and a Graphical character sheet system. It is not only for PnP games but could also be used for table top war games that require terrain and can be done through the torque 3d terrain system. You could even through clever mods create board games to play over the net.
-Tim aka Spock
#2
03/18/2002 (5:26 am)
It'll work. Very cool. Been waiting for something like this for a long time. Best of luck to you. I think this product has enormous potential. I hope you're allowing for a GM to have complete control of the world, but it might be nice to allow the GM to prescript some elements so that he might divide his attentions elsewhere. Do you plan on having a God to this game, or will a game using rpgX have to have set rules programmed in? 
#3
This is an awesome idea! I applaud the creative use of the engine.
Jeff Tunnell GG
03/18/2002 (7:15 am)
Tim,This is an awesome idea! I applaud the creative use of the engine.
Jeff Tunnell GG
#4
I also didn't mention above but I plan to ship some mods with it as long as they don't cross legal bounds. A Mod would basically consist of a Die Macro, (so you don't have to take the time to create the dice for the game from the checklist), a Character Sheet, and possibly a 2d and 3d map but there will be for sure models, buildings, and other things that fit into the game's universe so people can make levels with it.
I also have an optional online pay system for the people that want it that offers great benefits but I am not sure I will do it just yet.
03/18/2002 (12:50 pm)
It will work on the GM controlling things just like he/she would in a gameshop with physical maps. As far as blocking off areas, there will be a 2d map for that if the GM desires. He/She can use this map to make predefined maps that have blocked areas. The way we always "blocked" off 3d maps was when you came into an area the GM paused the game and set up the monsters right there...which is a form of blocking too. I will have a better description of rpgX up soon. I also didn't mention above but I plan to ship some mods with it as long as they don't cross legal bounds. A Mod would basically consist of a Die Macro, (so you don't have to take the time to create the dice for the game from the checklist), a Character Sheet, and possibly a 2d and 3d map but there will be for sure models, buildings, and other things that fit into the game's universe so people can make levels with it.
I also have an optional online pay system for the people that want it that offers great benefits but I am not sure I will do it just yet.
#5
I think the only full game to get close to this was vampire, but that wasn't really finished (seemed to have been rushed to release). NWN is probably the best attempt at a D&D system, but I guess we'll have to wait until that ships.
Looking at the sucess of other (simple) programs that attempt to do this, you're be onto a winner.
It's going to be mighty hard to build a format to ship 'systems' with, probably better to focus on the 'scripting' for this, and let the community work for you as much as possible.
I considered trying to do this a while back, and even got about 30% though a design doc, then realised it was way beyond me (this was pre-torque). Best of luck Tim, will be fantastic to see the results.
03/19/2002 (2:32 am)
An excellent idea / system. I wrote a text based client to do this properly on IRC forever ago (and then found out there were already loads :).I think the only full game to get close to this was vampire, but that wasn't really finished (seemed to have been rushed to release). NWN is probably the best attempt at a D&D system, but I guess we'll have to wait until that ships.
Looking at the sucess of other (simple) programs that attempt to do this, you're be onto a winner.
It's going to be mighty hard to build a format to ship 'systems' with, probably better to focus on the 'scripting' for this, and let the community work for you as much as possible.
I considered trying to do this a while back, and even got about 30% though a design doc, then realised it was way beyond me (this was pre-torque). Best of luck Tim, will be fantastic to see the results.
#6
03/19/2002 (12:18 pm)
I got about 75% of this done with another engine that was written in Java, but I decided to switch to torque. I plan on letting the communuity make mods but I am also going to contact the companies and ask if I can have permission to release a free mod. 
Torque Owner Matthew Shapiro
Also wit hthe 3d map how do you intend on blocking off areas that the people haven't visited yet? From the screenshot it looks like, with the 3d map you just fly around and look around, which can cause people to see monsters and areas of the map they shouldn't.
lol the more I try and think about it the more confused I'm getting with how it will work... heh
BTW nice interface!
--KallDrexx