Hi,
I was wondering what the actual vision and roadmap for Solarus is for the mid- to far future?
I saw the "Situation Review" blog post from mid-2017 [1], but this is more like a snapshot and does not really answer where the engine project is going.
Suggestion:
To put my question into perspective, I have a few ideas of my own. Disclaimer: However, please let me start with underlining how amazing Solarus already is and how much joy I had in particular with Mystery of Solarus DX. Further I am fully aware that any of the points below probably mean month or years of work. Therefore please just treat it as general suggestion / idea source.
I would love to see many more games like MoS DX, even would love to create my own zelda-like ARPG, but time-requirement to create such games even with the amazing Quest Editor seems astronomical. I just can't spend 1000h+. And I assume many other can't as well. Therefore I suggest to add an "additional layer" on top of the Solarus Quest Editor to hide away more of the (needed!) complexity underneath to simplify game creation and focus more on story and puzzle creation - at the cost of flexibility.
What I have in mind is a "standardized" Solarus zelda-like game set where for example >20 weapons/items are pre-defined, >50 enemy types are pre-defined, mutiple tile sets with preconfigures tile-functionality and pre-configured entities (e.g. NPC house) etc. Yes, this already there but mixed with all the customization possibilities and level of detail the Quest Editor has. Yes, of course I will eventually need to touch some lua code to create my custom events. Yes, of course I will eventually need to manually change some wall tiles to passable to create a secret entry, etc. But unless I'm at that level of polishing I would love to see that hidden away behind GUI elements and drag&drop to further ease creating games. Somewhat (a very bit) like RPG maker but with the full power of the Solarus Quest Editor underneath if needed.
In short: I would love to have a "Simple Mode" available in the Quest Editor so I can just drag and drop standard enemies and maybe even standard rooms and puzzles together. Of course one size does not fit all, but I imagine it would be a great way to reduce entry level skill needed and maybe get more people into creating games - and who knows, maybe the best puzzle designers and story tellers are not the best coders and therefore hiding the coding more would maybe increase not only quantity but also quality? To run the thought even longer, at some point this website could even host dozens or hundred of Solarus games, maybe community rated and such... (now I get carried away).
Thanks!
Marcus
[1] http://www.solarus-games.org/2017/08/29/situation-review-for-solarus-projects/
I was wondering what the actual vision and roadmap for Solarus is for the mid- to far future?
I saw the "Situation Review" blog post from mid-2017 [1], but this is more like a snapshot and does not really answer where the engine project is going.
Suggestion:
To put my question into perspective, I have a few ideas of my own. Disclaimer: However, please let me start with underlining how amazing Solarus already is and how much joy I had in particular with Mystery of Solarus DX. Further I am fully aware that any of the points below probably mean month or years of work. Therefore please just treat it as general suggestion / idea source.
I would love to see many more games like MoS DX, even would love to create my own zelda-like ARPG, but time-requirement to create such games even with the amazing Quest Editor seems astronomical. I just can't spend 1000h+. And I assume many other can't as well. Therefore I suggest to add an "additional layer" on top of the Solarus Quest Editor to hide away more of the (needed!) complexity underneath to simplify game creation and focus more on story and puzzle creation - at the cost of flexibility.
What I have in mind is a "standardized" Solarus zelda-like game set where for example >20 weapons/items are pre-defined, >50 enemy types are pre-defined, mutiple tile sets with preconfigures tile-functionality and pre-configured entities (e.g. NPC house) etc. Yes, this already there but mixed with all the customization possibilities and level of detail the Quest Editor has. Yes, of course I will eventually need to touch some lua code to create my custom events. Yes, of course I will eventually need to manually change some wall tiles to passable to create a secret entry, etc. But unless I'm at that level of polishing I would love to see that hidden away behind GUI elements and drag&drop to further ease creating games. Somewhat (a very bit) like RPG maker but with the full power of the Solarus Quest Editor underneath if needed.
In short: I would love to have a "Simple Mode" available in the Quest Editor so I can just drag and drop standard enemies and maybe even standard rooms and puzzles together. Of course one size does not fit all, but I imagine it would be a great way to reduce entry level skill needed and maybe get more people into creating games - and who knows, maybe the best puzzle designers and story tellers are not the best coders and therefore hiding the coding more would maybe increase not only quantity but also quality? To run the thought even longer, at some point this website could even host dozens or hundred of Solarus games, maybe community rated and such... (now I get carried away).
Thanks!
Marcus
[1] http://www.solarus-games.org/2017/08/29/situation-review-for-solarus-projects/
I am really grateful and consider donating a bit once I've completed it. I am very much amazed by the overall quality - not only by the game but also e.g. by the walkthrough PDF which you created with so much love. This is absolutely fantastic! I would go into more detail what I like and the very few points I don't, but I understand the game is anyhow finished, right?