Question about Torque, and RPG and FPS's
by Carl · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 05/30/2007 (7:49 pm) · 9 replies
Hey I'm looking into purchasing the Torque engine, maybe TEGA, but I'm not sure if the game design I had is supported by Torque, so here it is.
I'd like to make a role-playing game, similar to... well World of Warcraft but single player with everyone else being NPC's, and I'd like to be able to have the player 'communicate' with them with unique responses.
But now to the hard part, I'd like for there to be "instances" where the gameplay switched from RPG to FPS. For example, walking around talking to people buy a gun in the store, then go off into an "instance" and the game turns into an FPS, and upon conclusion of the game (fps) it returns back into RPG form.
If someone can please let me know if Torque would support this and also if there are any games out there that are similar because I haven't found any. This would be a 4 person project, all of us know our roles, I'm going to code/3d model. I know C++ but I haven't encountered anything along these lines so I was wondering if Torque could help me out. Thanks guys!
Walk of Faith
I'd like to make a role-playing game, similar to... well World of Warcraft but single player with everyone else being NPC's, and I'd like to be able to have the player 'communicate' with them with unique responses.
But now to the hard part, I'd like for there to be "instances" where the gameplay switched from RPG to FPS. For example, walking around talking to people buy a gun in the store, then go off into an "instance" and the game turns into an FPS, and upon conclusion of the game (fps) it returns back into RPG form.
If someone can please let me know if Torque would support this and also if there are any games out there that are similar because I haven't found any. This would be a 4 person project, all of us know our roles, I'm going to code/3d model. I know C++ but I haven't encountered anything along these lines so I was wondering if Torque could help me out. Thanks guys!
Walk of Faith
#2
05/30/2007 (8:25 pm)
Do you mean allowing you to choose between playing rpg or playing fps? 'cause that kinda defeats the purpose. I wanted you to be able to load an FPS level inside of the RPG game. If you email me at welivetodie@sbcglobal.net I can send you either the basic design document or the full design document, if you promise not to steal the idea of course, and that should probably clear up what I was talking about.
#3
05/30/2007 (9:09 pm)
I would get TGEA. It would work better for an MMO and you could create better graphics. I bought TGE and TGEA and I started out using TGEA for a 3rd person shooter and its looking real nice.
#4
06/01/2007 (3:46 pm)
But the thing is I don't want to make a 3rd person shooter, I want to make a 3rd person RPG and then, in certain instances (imagine instances in WoW), have gameplay be FIRST PERSON shooter
#5
There are a few resources available that implement RPG dialog, as well as inventory resources. I think that would be your best place to start.
06/01/2007 (3:52 pm)
@Carl - Torque would have no problem handling that at all. If you use the starter.fps as the base of the game, you just need to add in new game types to script, and flag certain zones as RPG or FPS. That way when a player zones into a battle zone, the scripts switch to the fps code. When you zone back into town, you execute code to disable the fps component.There are a few resources available that implement RPG dialog, as well as inventory resources. I think that would be your best place to start.
#6
06/01/2007 (8:22 pm)
Will things such as kills be able to track skills (for x number of kills in FPS mode you get y number of xp), and have that carry over to RPG mode and influence interaction with NPCs and stuff? 
#7
As for your qustion, yes, you could transfer kills to XP or what-have-you. When you make a kill in FPS mode, just increase a global variable. Then when you get back to RPG mode, check that variable and convert it to XP. You could even just add to the XP directly when you kill something, without bothering to wait to go back to RPG mode.
06/02/2007 (4:46 am)
When you think about the inherent differences between RPG style and FPS style, you can see there aren't really many hurdles to your goal. Almost all that needs to change between RPG and FPS modes is the control scheme (push and pop bind maps?) and camera behaviour.As for your qustion, yes, you could transfer kills to XP or what-have-you. When you make a kill in FPS mode, just increase a global variable. Then when you get back to RPG mode, check that variable and convert it to XP. You could even just add to the XP directly when you kill something, without bothering to wait to go back to RPG mode.
#8
06/02/2007 (11:33 am)
Ok thanks guys. I'm going to be buying the engine today now that I know that want I want to do is possible. Thanks a lot! Also does anyone know if there are any "civilian" model packs available? (like regular people)
#9
06/30/2007 (10:26 pm)
The idea sounds good as well. I have always thought about this because for a while companies have tried to make a game that was an mmorpg but with real time fps so that aiming and real life skill counts, but no companies have made anything decent yet. I think your idea of running the fps part in instances so that an enviornment setup where lag can be controlled is a great idea, good luck with the project 
Torque Owner Anton Bursch
Yeah, this is a great way to use Torque. If I were you I would simply make two types game modes that you can toggle: rpg and fps. Then make seperate mission levels for them. Simply load up the mission you want to use when you are going to fps mode and vice versa.