This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Channel 9.
Found today's project via DungeonScript is a simple browser tool for building dungeon crawlers and checked it out. Then I looked up and realized three hours had passed!
If you've EVER thought of creating a 3D Dungeon game, or are just looking for something really cool to play with, you have to check this out...
DungeonScript
So here’s a thing. A thing called DungeonScript, which you can find right here. You can use it to make games, or play games, like this new 3D edition of Dungeon Janitor. Go! Enjoy!
The other day Blue Manchu’s Jon mentioned he wouldn’t know where to start designing a Dungeon Master style game. That got me wondering how I’d start designing a Dungeon Master style game, and what tools I’d use. Immediately I thought of increpare’s very wonderful PuzzleScript, which is great for turn and grid based puzzle game development, but, like, in first person. That’d be really cool, I thought. If only PuzzleScript would draw in first person.
So that’s what DungeonScript is. It’s PuzzleScript in first person.
What’s most wonderful about PuzzleScript, and therefore also DungeonScript, is that you can build and share an entire game using just the editor webpage screenshotted above. Everything from the art to the audio to the game logic sits in one simple text file, and there’s a share button right there on the screen. Some fantastic games have come out of PuzzleScript, and I’m hoping people will use DungeonScript to create crazy new worlds for us to explore.
So… hop in! Have a play. I’d love to see what you come up with.
About
About PuzzleScript
PuzzleScript was developed by me (with the assistance/feedback of many other people + tools), Stephen Lavelle (@increpare). Programming puzzle games isn't all that hard in the grand scheme of things, but the barrier to entry is way higher than it needs to be.
It's not a general purpose game making tool, it's not even a general purpose puzzle game making tool. Or even a avatar-based turn-based puzzle game making tool - games like DROD don't work, or games with very nuanced behaviours, like Puzzles proved impossible. But it is a tool, and I think it might prove handy/enabling for a number of people, if one is accepting of its limitations.
I've worked on a lot of puzzle games, and decided on a particular group of those that could be handily modelled with a scripting language. I've seen someone do a similar pattern-matching system before (I can't remember who, though), but it was a lot less flexible - the movement system in this engine is what gives it its real power.
Getting the engine out the door, so to speek, took several weeks of full-time, unreumerated work, and no doubt there's plenty more to come. I am not a wealthy man, I'm an impoverished, self-employed independent game developer whose involvement with such projects amounts to happy indiscretions. If you appreciate this piece of software, please consider chipping some money my way, okay? :)
I've you've made something cool with the engine, please let me know ( analytic@gmail.com or @increpare ) - I'd love to highlight (and maybe even host as examples) wonderful things that people've made with this.
About DungeonScript
DungeonScript is what happened when I , Farbs, downloaded the PuzzleScript source and shoehorned a simple 3D renderer into it. Someone mentioned to me they had no idea how to build a Dungeon Master style game, which made me think about how I'd make it, which made me think about tile based puzzle game tools and also first person perspectives... and now here we are.
Documentation
Basic
Intermediate
Advanced
Miscellanea
Enough, go check it out, http://dungeonscript.farbs.org/!
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