There's a program out there called RPG Maker, which lets amateurs build their own video games. (The newer editions of RPG Maker, you have to pay for, but there are old versions that are free.) I was talking with some fellow Trigun fans online and mentioned that I had once thought about making a Trigun game on RPG Maker, but the amount of work it would take scared me away. I was really surprised when several people said that sounded like an awesome idea and that they'd love to help work on something like that. And the next thing I knew people were throwing ideas around and volunteering to help make the sprites, and it just kind of... happened. And now there's about eight of us who are building a video game.
Honestly, I feel really weird about this. Part of it is that I'm not much of a gamer. I play once in a while when the whim strikes me, but I feel underqualified to be a part of the project. Mostly, though, I have a strong fear that the initial novelty will wear off, and everyone will ditch the idea. I don't know. We'll have to see what happens.
My major job will be to work on "programming" the game inside RPG Maker. I've downloaded it and started learning the ropes. It's easy to use, but getting things to actually happen in the game requires coding them a certain way, and that's the tricky part. It's giving me flashbacks of the computer programming class I took in high school, which is kind of a good thing, actually, because I liked that class. While reading tutorials, I've been testing out what I'm learning by building a test game, which isn't really much of a game, but more like a place where the character runs around and random stuff happens for no very good reason.
But I did put together a mini game this afternoon using what I've learned so far. You have to collect chickens for an old lady. RPG Maker comes with freebie graphics to use, although you're encouraged to make your own. I used those to make things easy, and then started throwing chickens around just to see if I could make a coherent game. (And, yes, certain friends will note that my very first coherent game I made involves chickens. Of course it does.)
I recorded myself playing the game, although the video quality stinks out loud, because I'm a noob at recording my screen, so sorry about that. The video starts out in RPG Maker, and then I open the game in a new window. You gotta give me a second, because I wasn't sure if I was recording or not. XD
So, yeah, that's what I've been up to. I'll likely be updating my progress here on my blog.
That's it, I guess. Peace out!
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