Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby clintbellanger » 15 Mar 2011, 08:39

Flare (Free/Libre Action Roleplaying Engine) is a system for building fast-paced action RPG games (e.g. in the same genre as Diablo).
(The project was previously named OSARE -- Open Source Action Roleplaying Engine)

Website and Developer Blog: http://clintbellanger.net/rpg/
Google Code projects and subversion: http://code.google.com/p/flare-engine/
Discussion Forums: http://opengameart.org/forums/projects/flare
I'm most likely to be hanging out in #opengameart on irc.freenode.net

Flare is written in C++ using SDL. Game data is stored in easy-to-edit files. Art is pre-rendered using Blender. Maps are drawn using Tiled.

The code is licensed GPL v2 or later.
The art is licensed CC-BY-SA 3.0 or later.
(other licenses available; e.g. most art is also available as GPL v2)

These philosophies have guided the development of Flare so far:

    Make the fun parts first.
    Make it playable now and configurable later
    Rather than plan an extensive framework, build several similar games and reuse/refactor code each time. The result will be a proven engine.
    Invest in a few decent art assets early. Add more variety later.
    Make something good enough and move to the next thing. There will be time to redo code/art once everything else is finished.
    Keep it absolutely simple for now. No online component, no scripting engine, no 3D, no real-time lighting. All those can come later.
    Stick to one thing. This engine will make games that are heavy action, light rpg. Don't try to be a "do-it-all" 2D engine.

Flare v0.01 was released Jan 1st 2010. Today (March 15, 2011) I released Flare v0.12. Releases happen about once per month.

The engine is still Alpha. Here's the basic roadmap to Flare Beta:

    v0.12 NPC Dialog/Conversations. Simple Quests
    v0.13 Main Menu, Load Menu, Character Create Menu
    v0.14 Unicode and Translations support
    Several releases of configuration options

The playable demo shows the early assets and functionality of the engine. Once Flare (the engine) reaches Beta, I will be focusing on creating more art (tilesets, enemies, etc) and tutorials on how to use the engine. Meanwhile this medieval hack & slash demo will grow into a game of its own.

This recent video shows off some of the game action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFQplibkoSE

Screenshots:
Image
Image

So far most of Flare has almost been a one-man show (I've done about 90% of the visual art and the code, and the good folks at OpenGameArt have helped with the audio). Recently I've received a large number of spontaneous contributors from around the world. If you like where the project is going and are interested in helping, just let me know.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby charlie » 15 Mar 2011, 22:25

It's coming along really nicely. I have, as many others here will have, followed development closely since you startd publicizing it through OpenGameArt and it is really impressive.

Feedback:
- the near-walls obscure too much play area; this is 'hacked' around in the catacomb area using a half-size wall, but is really intrusive in the cave area. I think a long term solution is better than imposing 'smart design' requirements on levels (i.e. the half-size wall hack).
- it's early, so gameplay balance is obviously not a priority yet, but it seemed a little bit... what to do? Oh, fight, run around ...aimless.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby richardjames13 » 16 Mar 2011, 14:03

charlie {l Wrote}:Feedback:
- the near-walls obscure too much play area; this is 'hacked' around in the catacomb area using a half-size wall, but is really intrusive in the cave area. I think a long term solution is better than imposing 'smart design' requirements on levels (i.e. the half-size wall hack).


I just played some Torchlight to get a comparison of this problem. The solution as used in Torchlight is many fold.
  • They have much thinner walls.
  • Objects hidden by walls appear as ghosted.
  • Some areas on the edges of the screen often do not have walls at all. They appear as half height areas with chasms beyond.
  • The rooms are very big so the player is not often near a wall.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby shazzner » 18 Mar 2011, 07:09

You should be able to ghost the near-walls in SDL while keeping a consistent level.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby oberhamsi » 21 Mar 2011, 20:32

I like your dev style and it looks like this is getting you somewhere.

next time i want to make an RPG engine i'll definitely try flare.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby oberhamsi » 23 Mar 2011, 19:07

okay, I finally tried it! Smooth. Starting with the build instructions I was impressed how polished and detailed it all is.

I think the fact that you planned to do this as a super minimal game, with the framework being the main product, actually helped the game! The game isn't big but what you see in a few minutes is very detailed and hints towards greater possibilities - like the skill tree, various enemies already in the first level! (i mean some AAA games have only 1 enemy the whole first level), stuff to buy, dialogs, the books, all the health/mana bars (didn't actually understand *everything* i saw).

So I think your philosophy is working out! Make that one level that is super great to play. If it is then everyone else will want to make the 2nd level with your engine hehe

I like your philosophy, your tools (tiled!) and what I see so far.

Now I'm trying to come up with something bad or people will think you posted this yourself (did I?) lol...

ps.: Oh yeah and the ghosting: I didn't notice the wall problem much, but I too have seen ghosting solve this.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby starinfidel » 27 Mar 2011, 14:50

Tried v0.12 recently. Great stuff! This has the potential of being the ultimate open-source 2D action RPG :)

About the perceived problems:
* Sometimes when I stand near the monster (almost on top of it) clicking on it produces the animation but I always miss. So any antlion could potentially be deadly. Also now that I think about it, blood splashes on each hit would be awesome.
* I can't discern which objects are active and which aren't. Clicking and hovering mouse on the tomes on the pedestals, for ex, does nothing but when running towards it, they activate. Probably Diablo ALT key is a good solution for that.
* Why antlions are bigger than antlion hatchlings but have lower level and hp? :)
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby clintbellanger » 02 May 2011, 08:58

Flare v0.13 is ready! The new release features a basic quest chain.
http://clintbellanger.net/rpg/blog/20110502
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby shazzner » 02 May 2011, 16:13

Hooray
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby qubodup » 15 Jul 2011, 08:26

0.14 has been ready for a while:
http://clintbellanger.net/rpg/blog/20110707

I wrote about it on Free Gamer Blog:
http://freegamer.blogspot.com/2011/07/f ... nd-hd.html
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby clintbellanger » 24 Dec 2011, 05:53

Flare v0.15 is ready! http://clintbellanger.net/rpg/blog/20111223

Now with support for translations, game data mods, and a new overworld tile set.
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Flare is COMPLETED!

Postby Wuzzy » 14 Jun 2018, 00:52

Great news, everyone!
In April 2018, Flare 1.0 has been released!

And together with Flare, the first official game, named “Empyrean Campaign” has been completed!

Empyrean Campaign trailer on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLrUYYulcss

Empyrean Campaign homepage:
http://flarerpg.org/index.php/mods/flare-empyrean/

Flare homepage:
http://flarerpg.org/

I'm so glad to see this engine, and its first official game finally being finished. I will post here again when I have completed Empyrean Campaign. :)
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby Wuzzy » 18 Jun 2018, 17:58

So I have completed Flare: Empyrean Campaign.
This is basically just your average hack-and-slay RPG. You basically run through the world, hack your world through dungeons and gain better skills and loot. The maps are clearly designed in a way that you often have no other choice but to fight. Trying to run past the hordes of enemies is a good way to get killed.

Levelling up is rather slow, so you need to distribute your points wisely. Health potions help you survive, but it's better to save them and try to avoid damage as they are limited and will continue to become more expensive over time.
There are many items which come in many varieties with different properties, so it's useful to have several items around.

Don't expect a deep story here, as it is almost non-existing, the focus is clearly on combat here.

The game wasn't really difficult to beat, but I have enjoyed it nonetheless. Clear recommendation from my side.

It took me about 10-11 hours to complete, but your mileage may vary.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby Danimal » 20 Jun 2018, 15:02

I recently played it to the end, so ill put my 2 cents as well:

The game is a nice recreation of action-rpgs that could very well be located in between Diablo and Diablo2, graphics and sound wise.

Combat is nice, but the current campaign abuses ranged enemies so playing melee can become a pain, actually even while playing melee you will be using a ranged attack (throwing axe) half the time.

Maps are way too lineal and with poor variety, you are forced to go from A to B almost all the time.

Story is just a bad excuse to kill things and going from A to B, and mostly inexistant as said before.

Needs lots of variety at the moment, from skills, to items, enemies...

So why did you play it to the end?, you can ask me; well, the game is nice, just in need of some love from modellers and someone with writing skills. Currently it seems to be run by just a few persons and its obvious in the development speed, and it seems they are all programmers, so originality is pretty low. But their effort can be felt overall, it plays fluid, no bugs, nice combat...
Im giving it a 7/10, a good game all things cosidered with lots of potential to grow and above all fully Libre.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby Wuzzy » 21 Jun 2018, 20:04

I think I would leave Empyrean Campaign just as-is and use Flare to create new, better games. ^^
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby Jastiv » 09 Nov 2018, 20:38

The main thing games like diablo and diablo2 have over flare is multi-player. A lot of people still play those games for ladder to see how fast they can level up their characters over a period of months.
I've been working on wograld for a while, and it does have multi-player, random dungeons and quest, but to be honest the user interface in wograld is still far from where I think it needs to be.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby Danimal » 11 Nov 2018, 21:55

Want to know flare worst point? accesibility, i asked months ago for pointers on how to get new creatures into the game since i couldnt make sense of the few tutorials present, i got no real answer. A real pity since the goblins and zombies get old real fast; and i had the motivation to start my own mod, but discarded it. Forget about anything new that its not a recolour or code related.
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby Jastiv » 02 Aug 2019, 05:42

Adding creatures is easy to do in Wograld, in fact maybe a little bit too easy. That is part of how Wograld got so big. On the other hand, flare combat is, in some ways more fun. I particularly like the better melee and archery.
This isn't just an issue with flare, but a lot of free software projects don't put enough effort into documentation, that is documenting how to compile it, run it, and modify it. Or, as I like to say for the old school unix gurus WTFM (write the fine manual)
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Re: Flare, 2D action RPG engine

Postby fluffrabbit » 02 Aug 2019, 12:16

Yes, WTFM. Few devs do.

It takes a hero like Jastiv to keep an unwieldy extreme niche RPG alive, while Flare gets by on graphics alone. The graphics enticed me to play, I hated it and uninstalled.
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