Is it possible to make RPG games?

Games
#1

Hi, I’m pretty new to this game engine. English is not my main language, so I’m sorry if what I wrote sounds a bit weird or impolite. Also, I’m kind of new and not really good with this kind of thing(asking question online).

My understanding in Lua and programming itself is average and I learn to code by myself. I’ve tried Love2D game framework to make simple games like tetris, 2D platformer games, etc. (I just make games, have never publish any). I’ve also played around a bit with game engines(Unity, GDevelop, etc.) before. However, I don’t really like using game engines(even though it can speed up my progress on making games) because there are many things and buttons which I don’t understand its uses. And so, here I am right now, trying Solar2D just for fun. I intend to make games just to learn “behind the scenes” of them.

Sorry for writing to long, here is my main question :
“Is it possible to make RPG games like Undertale, Pokemon, games made with RPG Maker or something along those line using Solar2D?”

Here are my thoughts and worries :
“RPG sounds kinda complex to code using just a framework, any recommendations for free Lua-specific resources for it?”

“RPG have tiles in them right? Does that mean I need to use external software like Tiled to make levels?”

“Will Solar2D gets slowed down if there are way to many Lua scripts and assets to manage for the RPG game(not talking about spaghetti code, consider the code is clean)?”

“I’m just here to learn making games as a hobby, don’t intend to publish any of it, so I have a lot of free time to learn things even if takes some years.”

“My main programming language is Lua(because its simple and easy to learn) however, I also know a little bit of C#, C++, Javascript and Python”

Sorry if what I asked doesn’t have enough info or shouldn’t even be asked here in the first place. That’s all from me, thanks.

Here, a cookie for whoever reading this. :cookie:

#2

Yes, it’s possible and very doable. You can check out these Solar2D made games for example:

If you go for a tile-based game, then you can use Tiled to make your maps and then you can load them in Solar2D using something like ponytiled.

It’s really about choosing the best tool for your project. If all you really want to do is a classic JRPG, then RPG Maker MV, for instance, has most of the features already in it. You can also write some custom JavaScript there to create custom features. If, however, you want more freedom and control over how things work and what you can do, and you don’t necessarily want to follow the RPG Maker format so strictly, then using Solar2D would be an excellent option.

Whether or not Solar2D would get slowed down depends on how things are coded and what kind of system the game is running on. There are games like Designer City 2 that handle tens of thousands of objects, and it has no issues with performance. A poorly created game can get choked up when handling 10 objects, whereas a well-programmed game can run smoothly when handling tens of thousands of objects.

If you are already familiar with Lua, and especially if you even know some C++/C#, then picking up Solar2D should be very easy.

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#3

Thank you ! The game examples are great and I would definitely check out ponytiled.

#4

Just a few comments:

Making games is never easy, even for small games… Mark Zuckerberg said so once in an interview, when he was asked will Facebook make their own games or not, and personally I believe making games is no less than making a movie, and it requires a team of coders, graphic designers, and game designers, not to mention the audio part.

So your last problem is the programming language, as for performance, well if you program your game in a bad way, no programming language will help you, not C, not C++ not JAVA, not python
As for Lua, which Solar2D uses, it is really tough, and it is the scripting language for unreal engine, and it was designed to be light even on slower machines

John Carmack used C++ to make doom, but it was not C++ that helped him do what he did, what helped him is his algorithms and how he used C++ to accomplish what was thought of to be impossible back then.

Sometimes I play fortnite and as a developer I can appreciate how great are developers who make big games like this one, and how they care about the simplest details in RAM and CPU and GPU usage
and I’m sure they did the impossible to overcome performance issues

so Performance would rely on your way of coding not the language itself, considering that you are using the right tool for the job

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#5

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