Sounds like the best way to go about something like this is to make it open source from the very start. This should benefit everyone involved the most I think.
As for using a trademark name like "Final Fantasy" in the title, I'm not too worried about it for the following reasons:
A) It never gets finished so nobody cares.
B) It gets finished in which case a C&D is too late at this point. The general rpg engine code does not violate any laws any more than someone creating a FF clone in game maker does. (I certainly will absolutely NOT be putting any copyrighted or IP into the main project.) As far as I'm concerned it's just a fan project that uses a custom game engine.
C) I forgot what I was going to say...needs sleep now.
I'll cream if this is done... Please wear your rain coats.
Yeah, I am actually pretty pumped reading this thread.....
[MENTION=40755]ctrl-alt-delete[/MENTION]
How did I miss that? lol
Well, you could push it with the 'Final Fantasy Classic' title, and upon receiving a cease and desist just alter the name to 'Terminal Epic Classic'. All the free advertising of the brand with none of the back-splash.
And I'll be taking my raincoat to the dry cleaners now, Tim. You owe me $4.
Go into stealth mode, and when it's completely done release it as "Super Final Fantasy McChrono Trigger Pants Featuring Square Enix IP", then open source it and put up a torrent and go into hiding.
As somebody who has worked on countless RPG Maker projects - I can't help but notice that this has been done. I've played perfect replicas of FF1, 2, 3, and 5 on RPG Maker VX alone.
I honestly have a much easier time working with those programs over Zelda Classic, but it's very different. Mapping out stats/weaknesses/immunities/etc for each and every enemy, then determining enemy parties, then determining each block that has the chance to encounter that enemy party. Not to mention stats and formulas for each spell; their elemental properties, their MP cost, etc. A LOT of numbers games - everything has tons of variables. Imagine putting together the battle scene - each characters locations, movements, animations, and status.
Now I don't want to be misunderstood - I am down with the idea, and I will make a fucking sick ass quest with this program, but I think the idea that it will be as intuitive as ZQuest is rather misleading.
MasterSwordUltima wrote:As somebody who has worked on countless RPG Maker projects - I can't help but notice that this has been done. I've played perfect replicas of FF1, 2, 3, and 5 on RPG Maker VX alone.I honestly have a much easier time working with those programs over Zelda Classic, but it's very different. Mapping out stats/weaknesses/immunities/etc for each and every enemy, then determining enemy parties, then determining each block that has the chance to encounter that enemy party. Not to mention stats and formulas for each spell; their elemental properties, their MP cost, etc. A LOT of numbers games - everything has tons of variables. Imagine putting together the battle scene - each characters locations, movements, animations, and status.
Now I don't want to be misunderstood - I am down with the idea, and I will make a fucking sick ass quest with this program, but I think the idea that it will be as intuitive as ZQuest is rather misleading.
I didn't know that. The only FF replicas on RPG Maker I've seen have been IV. Do you have links to any others - say, 1, or 5?
Yes, there is tons of data involved in making an RPG. I'm aware of this. I'm sure that data editing will be very primitive at first also.
I'm not trying to discourage you from going through with this. Like I said, I would dump lots of time into it. I wish AGN had more active projects, like whatever happened to the Galaga scene?
I'll snoop around on some older harddrives. I should still have the FF5VX. There added more jobs too (I remember Dark Knight was in this version).
I think bringing back projects on AGN sometime soon is very possible. AFAIK everyone's down for this, but I don't know anything more than that.
A google search didn't bring up much in RPGVX FF games other than IV (which actually looks pretty cool), would these be from japanese web sites?
(Side note; I'm sorta sad that rpg maker gets so much attention for clones of other games. ...I guess there's a reason why indie/fan rpg game engines are mostly non-existent...hmm.)
[EDIT] Added a poll with options that sound good to me. If you guys could vote for one that would be awesome, or you have something better then post it. 😊
-Right now I'm leaning toward FF: Catastrophe, as that is what I call the 2D OpenGL Engine that it will be built off of (also hints at FF6 too) so it seems to fit pretty good.
LOL, the poll links to an old thread from 2002 when you make a selection.
If you can't see it, the thread is here.
Anyway, Final Fantasy Catastrophe sounds pretty good.
[MENTION=42714]Gleeok[/MENTION], I deleted the polls. Can you try again please?
Wow, I just realized my post sounds kind of... jerk-ass-y. I didn't mean it like that, I thought it was funny because the poll automatically recycled an old thread. It was not intended as an attack against Gleeok.
CJC wrote:LOL, the poll links to an old thread from 2002 when you make a selection.
If you can't see it, the thread is here.
Dammit. That's why!. ..(I was trying to figure out what was causing that). Apparently I am like a magnet to these forum bugs. x_x
Let's try this again.
[edit]
CJC wrote:
Wow, I just realized my post sounds kind of... jerk-ass-y. I didn't mean it like that, I thought it was funny because the poll automatically recycled an old thread. It was not intended as an attack against Gleeok.
No worries. Didn't even read it that way.
MasterSwordUltima wrote:As somebody who has worked on countless RPG Maker projects - I can't help but notice that this has been done. I've played perfect replicas of FF1, 2, 3, and 5 on RPG Maker VX alone.
Forgive me if this is a stupid question, as I don't know much of anything about RPG Maker... but how easy (or even possible) would it be for someone to take one of these replicas you speak of and use it as a template to make their own adventure with? If you say it's impossible (like the quest file is locked down or some such), then a Final Fantasy Classic that gives people a jump-start on making their own Final Fantasy could be a huge value-add to the Internet community over RPG Maker.
What I'm about to say next might sound crazy and is just a shot in the dark, but what if Gleeok's Final Fantasy Classic were merely a tool that spits out files compatible with RPG Maker, but the tool is centered and optimized around a Final Fantasy setting? Surely by now someone has reverse engineered their file format. This could be a way to not have to re-invent a whole new run-time and would also give us instant in-roads to the RPG Maker community.
RPG Maker projects come with all of the resources, maps, events, scripting, openly viewable to anyone who owns RPG Maker. You can download the games as stand-alone exe's, but they also need to have the resources (tiles, sprites, sounds, music, etc) - so that all becomes available to anyone who downloads the game. You can EASILY use a pre-made game as a template - the only problem will be figuring out how they set up the events.
I would keep away from the RPG Maker compatibility all together - it's not worth it. From what I've seen of this, it's exactly how it should be going. No need to muddle it up by trying to compare it with RPG Maker.
I don't see any good reason to try and handle rpg maker formats at all. I just find it interesting that these remakes exist at all, really, since it seems to me it would actually be pretty difficult to do.
I've just been working on some data classes and fixing about 600 or so compiler errors. Scripting should be almost ready to go at least, though there's only bindings for math API types, strings, and template containers so far. It's fun determining the easiest way to store/handle actors and object's stats and attributes. Right now everything that is fight-able or usable (items, monsters, spells, characters) has base attributes. Seems like a waste for something like a simple potion though. :P Oh well.
All in all I'm finding it fun figuring out how to reduce complexity and work out all the low level design stuff from a genre of game I've played my whole life. 😊
Less talking, more playing.
I'm late to the party, it seems. Anyway, I'd just like to throw my support behind this idea. A classic Final Fantasy-style could be great.
How classic are you thinking? NES era, or SNES era?
Looks like "FF Classic" is the most popular. I hope that name isn't misleading people to think it is an exact clone of FF1 or it is "the FF version of ZC"; that is not the case.
Janus wrote:
How classic are you thinking? NES era, or SNES era?
Something in-between the early games with more modern graphics capabilities. (I don't mean higher resolution game sprites or anything, just that it supports it, along with pixel shaders and arbitrary resolutions, etc. ..The "FF1 remake" will probably just default to a viewport of 320x240)
Here's an old shot of the overworld map which I am using the original graghics for (I like them anyway😊). -I wrote an algorithm that can convert an image to tiles and create a single-layer map of it from the tileset, so 95% of the mapping is done with a few clicks. 😊
Looks awesome-ing! :kitty:
I'm curious if it will be possible to create 'wandering' enemies, like Omega from FFV. Combined with enemy spawn points, like the snake pits from the pyramid dungeon in that same game, it might be interesting to make an FF style game that doesn't have random 'invisible' encounters.
...It might end up somewhat like the first Blue Dragon, actually. But that's not a bad thing.
It's looking good so far, though. I'm already very excited about this project.
Also, in terms of competition with the swarm of remakes, I don't believe it will be as big a problem as it seems. Most FF remakes at this point are using three-dimensional graphic capabilities, so this is more of a throwback than anything else.
OH! Terminal Legend! That's a great name too!
[Bizarre Brain Train]
When Pepsi made that soda that was suppose to be the equivalent of Coca-cola's classic, they called it the 'throwback'. I hated the name, because it sounded like a fish that was too small to keep in the boat, ya know? There was something inherently wrong about it. So I though about synonyms for classic that would be more competitive, and I came up with "Pepsi Legend: The Pepsi of the Golden Age".
So in general, throwbacks should become legends. Otherwise you have "The Throwback of Zelda"! : P
[/Bizarre Brain Train]
Anyway, you've already picked the name, so I was just blathering there. Sorry.
Whoa, looks like we're rolling now. :eyespop:
Thanks everybody for the positive support. My main focus right now is getting a source code repository together, and pooling together what resources are available and getting a feel for where I'm at with everything.
Gleeok I'm sure you've got plenty of sources, but if you need ANY tiles from any of the early Final Fantasy's throw me a line. I've been ripping them like crazy for Shattered Earth and will gladly share. This is looking fantastic!
ZC...FFC...
This is going to get confusing real quick, isn't it? Anyways, I like this idea. Could we have scripting support from the start this time, though?
MasterSwordUltima wrote:Gleeok I'm sure you've got plenty of sources, but if you need ANY tiles from any of the early Final Fantasy's throw me a line. I've been ripping them like crazy for Shattered Earth and will gladly share. This is looking fantastic!
Sweet. Thanks! 😊 I will probably do so later on.
Moosh wrote:ZC...FFC...This is going to get confusing real quick, isn't it? Anyways, I like this idea. Could we have scripting support from the start this time, though?
..To be honest I did not think that far ahead. >_<
..So your saying you want FFC scripting then? :tan: :tan:
Gleeok wrote: ..So your saying you want FFC scripting then? :tan: :tan:
That pun hurt me...and the worst part is I set myself up for it completely. So when I think about it, scripting might not be needed at all provided FFC has a complex enough event editor for both in the field and in battle. Since Final Fantasy is a lot less dynamic than Zelda, I suppose it should be treated as a completely different beast from a level editor standpoint.
The faster you release this, the faster I can play it. Just in case you didn't know.
Moosh wrote:That pun hurt me...and the worst part is I set myself up for it completely. So when I think about it, scripting might not be needed at all provided FFC has a complex enough event editor for both in the field and in battle. Since Final Fantasy is a lot less dynamic than Zelda, I suppose it should be treated as a completely different beast from a level editor standpoint.
No way. Believe it or not it is more dynamic in a lot of ways. It has to combine real-time, event and data driven programming, strongly integrated but flexable scripting with item, effect, inventory, menu management. maps, cameras, sprites, etc.. Everything is also "dynamic".
Your welcome to suggest things for the scripting language as well. I have a *lot* done so far. I'll try and get a script design/reference thread soon so I can get feedback.
Anyways. Everyone welcome [MENTION=38890]Flash Man[/MENTION] to the team. 😃 He's gonna put together a more complete editor framework for it and help out with various design stuff! :banana:
We'll have a source code repository with some content in it shortly so stay tuned. -- Anybody have any problems with GPL as the license?