Reality Factory as a Retro Game Creator

[ardentcrest]

Looking as RF2 is dead in the water. And the RF Fan base is almost gone.

Maybe it's time to market RF as a retro game creation suite.
Maybe it's time to put "ALL" the RF tools into one GUI.

I dont care about masive maps that you have to run all over to see this man to have to run all the way back to talk to that man.
I dont care about how real can get the graphics.

This seems to be the way all games are going.

I want real game play.

I would hate to see RF go the way of old engines and other programs.

I'm a member of WOS. "World of Spectrum" a machine over 30 years old. and that is not dead, and that is a 8 bit machine with 16k 48k and 128k of memory.

There must be a way to get some more life out of the old dog.

[realgaming135]

You are so right about this. It would be a shame if RF also got dead in the water. I don't care either about fancy graphics and overwhelming level design to the smallest detail. (even though I sometimes wish that the levels could just a little bit bigger ) I actually like old games with low poly obejcts and so on. That's why I still use RF (even though I'm using my time on milkshape in these days).

You are talking about making RF a retro game engine. Maybe you have someting in mind about how to do it?

I think that RF had potential. It is easy to use compared to other more modern engines. It would be a shame if RF ended up dead in the water.

[Gamemaker]

Let's just stick together as a family again..
let's make a project together..
that's quite my only dream

[realityfactoryusr]

I agree. Reality Factory is a fine engine, its capable of alot. Im still using it now. If only there were more games coming out for it. I don't know if its compatible with newer version of windows or other operating systems but it shouldn't go extinct. It still works up to Direct X 9 and look at S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl, that was DX9 if Im not mistaken. That was the moodiest game out there at the time and there are far too few like that. DX9 is still visually viable and Reality Factory, to my knowledge hasn't been pushed to its limits yet. But yes, I agree, the engine should not be tossed before a few more games are made with it, it still has potential as a functional game engine.

By the way, if the source code is available, im not a programmer, but could the engine be updated by volunteers?

Ill get off the soap box now

[realgaming135]

Gamemaker says:

Let's just stick together as a family again..
let's make a project together..
that's quite my only dream

I think it sounds like a good idea, making a project together. I don't really know how many full-length games there has been made with RF. I don't even know if anyone has done it. So maybe it could be a little ''advertising'' for RF, if we made a project and released it. Maybe it could bring some people to the forums again.
I also like the idea, because I always wanted to make a game with RF.

realityfactoryusr says:

to my knowledge hasn't been pushed to its limits yet. But yes, I agree, the engine should not be tossed before a few more games are made with it, it still has potential as a functional game engine.

Then we could try to push the engine to it's limits (without making the game lagging). And yes, if we make the project with RF, we atleast have one full-length game made with RF. Then we also show that RF has potential as a functional engine

[ardentcrest]

For me the only thing missing, is a fully working mulitplayer system.

[Gamemaker]

If we could join together, maybe somehow figure out how to make a multiplayer thing, we could make a kick-ass retro game with the graphics of Half-Life 1, figure out a nice story the game would be based on and we can start.

I am trying to start with something, but I have no idea of what to start with.. basically no ideas of story or type of game.

[realityfactoryusr]

Gamemaker:
I have an idea
Been working on it for the longest time now, heres the thread:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5392

Its not a shooter though, im trying to reach a wider audience. It uses all the shooter mechanics with different effects. You dont destroy the robots, you just collect them once done. Please forgive my shameless plug, its just seemed.....appropriate. The framework of this robot idea can be expanded on, i.e multiple zones on a large machine planet. Endless quests and the like.

Peace.

EDIT:
Add to that Im already working on levels, upgrades the player gets one level at a time. Trying to figure out how to get a boss to drop an item and I cant figure it out to save my life. Been studying this code for over a year now, just gonna ask for help. AS soon as I get past these last few hurdles I can actually make a playable demo.

[Gamemaker]

Send me the code or something, ill try to figure out
nice screens btw!
I have made enemies drop the weapon ammo when dying.

[MakerOfGames]

I think the idea of promoting RF as a retro game creator is a great idea. By doing so, new devs wont be compelled to compare RF to Unity, UDK, Torque etc. Although outdated with old tech, it certainly would be great to show how it can teach you optimization and is a great program for beginners. Besides, I think all game devs should learn from the past and how things were done. It makes you a better developer.

Also I am a firm believer that graphics do not make the game. My two favorite games of all time are from the N64. Ocarina of Time and Beetle Adventure Racing (cars swapped and game named as 'HSV Adventure Racing' in some regions). The graphic style from the N64 and GameCube era will forever be my favorite, but perhaps it's only because I grew up with the systems. Either way, game play is king, or else mobile games would not have come into existance and ports of old classics would not be sold today.

My only concern is that the last time I used RF it beat the heck out of my Core 2 Duo that I had at the time. With some minor engine optimizations, I am sure it would work great on anyone's PC. Perhaps multiplayer is a feature that is expected, but if its retro, I would say LAN is needed first . First game to cater to LAN party's in years could probably bring a boom back to the 'retro pc game style'.

One last thought is maybe there needs to be community assets and scripts that are bundled together to make things extremely simple for new game devs. I remember when I found RF I was looking at other items such as Game Creators 'The 3D Game Maker' but found it to be too simple.


I am sure you can get more life out of this dog. Counter Strike 1.6 is still going strong, right?

Those are just my thoughts on the idea.

[ardentcrest]

All we need is QOD's input on this. It is his baby......

[Juutis]

It still works up to Direct X 9 and look at S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl, that was DX9 if Im not mistaken. That was the moodiest game out there at the time and there are far too few like that. DX9 is still visually viable and Reality Factory, to my knowledge hasn't been pushed to its limits yet.

RF uses DirectX 6 and 7, which means it doesn't really use your GPU to do any graphics calculations. Something like S.T.A.L.K.E.R could never be realistically done with RF in its current state.

Back in 2006 there was this Tabulanis person who, in my opinion, took RF to its limits visually. He had some truly beautiful screenshots. Too bad all of those seem to be gone by now.

[Wraps]

Maybe we submit it to Gog.com? ( good ol games? )

[QuestOfDreams]

The problem I see with promoting RF as a retro game creator is that the graphics it can produce fall in a catagory that really did not age very well (compared to e.g. some 2D game graphics that have a certain charm).

[realityfactoryusr]

Wow was I way off! My DX9 rant was off by an X or two Seriously thought this engine went up to DX9. But DX 7 looks pretty good. And besides, what Reality Factory is capable of is still looks good. It runs fast and with all the new hardware out, you can build games with little hit on the CPU or graphics. Add to that the source code is openly available for modification (I think) and its free. Add to that with a few days of of reading and testing the game engine it gets easier and oddly more fun to work with. How can you go wrong?

So much of Terrymorgans site is missing, so many demos and files that would have been incredibly useful but I got my hands on the engine too late I guess. Reality Factory doesnt have the latest graphics but with it being so open for modification and already running at such a decent speed even on an old computer like mine, upgrading the engine with the OGRE system is going to be a temptation for someone out there one day that knows programming!

I think as long as Reality Factory workers crank out games it will continue to stay alive. Though I cant actually find anymore games made with it. Am I the only one still learning this engine and aiming to build something? So far Reality Factory is free, no license, TONS of functionality and runs like lightning even on slow computers!

Anyway, sorry I was wrong about the DX9 thing, gotta do more research before I fire off my mouth.....eh keyboard, before making such claims. Again if all goes well, Ill come back with a link in a few days for anyone who still is around to try out my demo. A tech demo really. I warn you its not really a game, more a collection of test rooms I built and used to tes the changelevel entity and make something that was more functional than playable. Next time though, prepare to have your socks knocked off