Dev Blog #01
Tags: gamedev, writing, rpg, design
Published: 2022-10-23 22:34:20

Hello and welcome to the first development blog for **_Monster Killer_**! Before we get into it, let me give you a little bit of background on the project.

Monster Killer is a super early alpha build of a fantasy RPG text based adventure game that I was working on in Python that is currently on hold due to a multitude of reasons. When I say early alpha, I mean EARLY alpha. The game, if you can call it that, is just a "print" script that prints a bit of story and an ASCAII screen. It was my very first Python project and I wanted to work on it as I learned more about the language but, things beyond my control happened and I had to sadly put the project on hold. If you're interested in "playing" or just checking out the code, you can find it on my **[GitHub](https://github.com/kurtissfrost/Monster-Killer)** page. But anyway, on to the point of this topic.

![divider_sword](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/e805qw3q123lf3hghw5l.png)

One thing I love is RPGs. I love them all. JRPG, ARPG, MMO, TTRPG, you name it and I can probably give you a list of games in each genre that I like. So, with hat, I had the thought that most RPG lovers have: _"I wonder if I can create my own RPG?"_ and that is exactly what I am attempting to do.

What started out as a Python project has now evolved into an RPG Maker MV project. I am currently working on a proof of concept to see if this can be achieved using the medium I have selected. While it can, I still have a lot of tweaking to do for it. So that is what I am currently doing.

![divider_armor](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hrgewcmbm6bvxt9txfzq.png)

Currently I am heading into Google docs to begin writing and working on the alpha build of Monster Killer. I think I am going to keep the game small, maybe 4 bosses? I am still trying to iron out how I want everything to work. So, I think I am going to try and write a short little story and then work on the classes, armor, items, weapons, and enemies. This sounds like a lot because it is. I have never been able to get all the way through a project like this before because I wind up getting overwhelmed. That is what happened with the proof of concept build. I was making it all up as I went along and when I got to a certain point, I completely got confused and wound up destroying the project. I am notoriously bad about forgetting to make backups of files as I go and as I added new features and progressed in the game, I got to a point where the game just quit working and I had no idea how to fix it. Since I didn't make any backups, I was stuck. I could just delete whole chunks of the game but, that seemed like just as much work. So I decided that I would start over. But this time, I was going to document everything and try to come up with a plan so that I didn't get lost again.

The thing about how Monster Killer is made is that, it's all text driven with a few graphics sprinkled here and there. If you've never used RPG Maker before, it can be used either by making everything with the in-game editor, or you can program your own JavaScript files to make it act like you want. I have no idea how to do JavaScript so I am completely making this game in the built in editor. This feature is called an event in the game. Here is an example of what that looks like:


![event_editor 1](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ftk3w2ib643ql8xd24qq.png)
In this example, I just added a few of the different choices you can add to make the game do what you want using the in game editor.


![event_editor_2](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rz2rbmscppgtde89iskg.png)
Here is an example of some of the pseudo code used for the proof of concept game.

![Idivider_book](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/lq4efs352qggkbyw2l8m.png) 
So, using the pseudo code, I want to try to event the entire game. I will be importing a few community JavaScript files to get the game to do the things it doesn't do out of the box. Luckily, RPG Maker MV has been out long enough that there is a strong community of people who write scripts for the game and let people use them.

As far as a "release" goes, more than likely, I will be uploading the finished project on my **[GitHub](https://github.com/kurtissfrost)** page.

I am looking to as chronicle the process and steps I take along the way and post them here so look for those in the future. But, I think that is about all I have for blog #1. Like I said, keep your eyes peeled for more. Thank you so much for reading and have a great day!


![signature](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wccf77cnbffgoze7bexw.png)