MOD Idea: Diablo like ARPG based on 0 A.D.?

[feneur]

Yeah, never got beyond playing around with the camera angles in the config file. Not that I would have really been able to make this mod myself anyways.

However the lack of easy modding options in 0 A.D., i.e. you basically have to fork the entire engine if you want to do more than simple addition of units or such, is really a bit discouraging. But maybe I am just too used to the nice mod support in most open-source FPS engines.

Edit: but maybe this has changed by now... didn't check. And of course for a skilled programmer with in dept knowledge of 0 A.D. code base having all the source code available is the 'easiest' modding option... but for us tinkerers having a precompiled engine runtime and tinkering with configs and script through & being able to make a seperate game by simply having a subdirectory in the game folder and starting it with a execution argument or from an ingame mod menu simply makes things much more accessible.

For the fundamental idea to make a hybrid of an ARPG and a RTS, 0 A.D. still seems to be the best option however.

Well, if you need to add things rather than just change things it's always going to be difficult, regardless of how easy it is to mod the engine. However, if you are just going to change things, or are comfortable with JavaScript programming, 0 A.D. should be easy enough to mod. http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Modding_Guide will give you an overview (mods can be done adding a folder, and can be activated via an in-game mod menu/execution argument for example). There are probably still things which might need engine or at least script changes even for relatively simple things. For example I think the four resources are hardcoded in a bunch of places, but things like that should be more or less just a matter of search-and-replace with some sense to it. What might be harder is adding things like an inventory system, I have no idea if that's possible using just Javascript or if it would need C++ (i.e. engine) changes as well.

[fcxSanya]

On 14.01.2016 at 6:01 PM, feneur said:

What might be harder is adding things like an inventory system, I have no idea if that's possible using just Javascript or if it would need C++ (i.e. engine) changes as well.

(hopefully it's ok to answer a more-than-month-old post and use almost-five-years-old quotes for this purpose :D)

Inventory system should be JS-only and relative easy to do (at least in a basic form), these two quotes (from To what extent is 0ad moddable ? topic) provide a good overview of two possible implementations:

On 23.07.2011 at 8:08 PM, Zerbob said:

<...> it looks like basic items (with only passive effects) could be supported by "garrisoning" them in the bearer <...>

On 23.07.2011 at 10:30 PM, Ykkrosh said:

It'd probably be better (and maybe easier) to implement a standalone inventory system rather than hacking the garrisoning system to support it - use the GarrisonHolder component as a template to create a new Inventory component or similar, and figure out how to integrate into the GUI (maybe using basically the same code as for displaying garrison status), then remove unneeded functions (ungarrisoning etc) and add whatever's still needed.

[Lion.Kanzen]

Can be nice use inventory to heroes, like an rpg in campaing. I love how this was possible in Age of Empires online with all units.

[Najarn]

hi everyone, this is my first post.  been in love with this game for a while and modding for a few months now.  my primary goal is exactly what this thread involves, since i have yet to find an open source game that is both so easy to prototype new fantasy characters and also reminds me of the old days playing rts like cossacks etc.  just want o contribute a few ideas. i'm not a real coder yet (self-taught, i read code) but recently built my svn and want to use it to learn.  aside from new heros i made a crude system for switching between actor/entity for changing for example between melee and ranged(before i saw there was a patch lol).  also i made a system for having an inventory of items (needs rewriting) and i've been playing with some heightmap jungle arenas for balancing and testing. 

as far as mod to the engine, i would like to work on things such as ground attacking and also i REALLY want a mod that allow attacking only in the direction a character currently faces so that turning speed is less of a cosmetic attribute. 

really excited to talk to anyone with ideas about modding!  pm me or respond to talk about these possibilities. i have tons more ideas!

edit: also sorry i didn't read the newest posts and i see you have commented on some things like inventory.  my old system used garrison and yes it works but it is restricting.  i created new class of item entity template and the main issue i had was pickup.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Najarn
forgot to mention

[Najarn]

to expand, i would like input on which parts of the code to look at for facilitating attack that is synced with direction of the entity.

  as a side note i also want to rework the flying units because my airship fly through each other. is it ok if i post ogg videos on here or should i make them gif?

[av93]

Maybe if you want, FLARE is an opensource game almost in beta that fits better making a arpg. BTW, nobody stops you to contribute in 0 a.d

http://flarerpg.org/

 

[Najarn]

yeah, i've got flare.  i like 0ad a lot better but i'm going to look at flare because its been a while. 

[Najarn]

i'm not aware of any multiplayer mods for flare.  among the reasons i like 0ad best for this are the clicking to move and also camera controls.  also gives me a reason to learn blender.  i've made meshes and been through the tutorials but still get an error when i add models into my mods.  on my version of debian its a hassle to get the right blender release i.e right version # but no collada support i fixed that but now i think either its the uv wrap stage or not being able to cache as pmd.  i will discuss that elsewhere, though, i am glad to be here though!

[Najarn]

also since i mentioned it i should clarify that my weapon switch mechanic is simply an entity that spawns and causes promotion then dies.  the promoted unit does the same thing only using demotion which is identical to the promotion component.  i know thats sloppy coding but i get no errors yolo

[niektb]

11 hours ago, Najarn said:

to expand, i would like input on which parts of the code to look at for facilitating attack that is synced with direction of the entity.

Hello! You might want to visit IRC someday: https://www.wildfiregames.com/irc.html (that's the place where most of the programmers from this game are reachable)