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// $Id:$
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RPG
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This module provides a base for creating an online role-playing game, at its
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basic similar in nature to Lord of the Red Dragon or Urban Dead, but as
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development progresses, able to handle increasingly complex games including
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graphics and jquery. Being integrated with Drupal, it will allow administrators
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to fully utilize other features of Drupal, integrating forums, organic groups,
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and more with the RPG.
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NOTE: This engine is still in development. Not only does it not do anything at
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the moment (besides the admin screens), it is likely to change drastically as
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time goes on.
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IMPORTANT: Go to DrupalRPG.org and the Drupal Games and Game APIs group page
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for ongoing discussions and plans concerning the progress of this module.
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RPG
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Created by Aaron Winborn
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aaron at advomatic dot com
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Begun 6 December 2006
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Rewrite of engine 12 April 2007
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Begun support for rulesets 18 August 2007
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The engine itself does little more than provide a core to build a game with.
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Although it is intended to be for online RPG's, there is no reason the base
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couldn't be expanded to create other types of games, such as Turn-Based
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Strategy games, RTS games, or even slidescrollers. The engine is able to do
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this by providing basic functionality for administrators to create, use, and
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share 'rulesets'.
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Rulesets are definitions of the Types, Attributes, and Actions used to create
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in-game objects. They may be created in forms available to game administrators,
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and may also be imported/exported from forms or even files. RPG Object Types
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follow inheritance rules, and may even include multiple parents, allowing types
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to share and even override attributes and actions.
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Types
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All in-game objects are derived from an RPG type. Types include anything from an
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abstract 'tangible' object, to a 'weapon' that 'swords' or 'hammers' inherit, to
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an 'orc' that could be used as an NPC or a user's PC. Types follow inheritance
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rules, so for instance, you might have tangible -> weapon -> sword -> flaming
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sword, or something more complex where in addition to the 'sword' that 'flaming
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sword' derives from, it might have an additional parent of 'magical item', so that
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it inherits attributes and actions from both types, and so on down the line.
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Types will inherit the Attributes and Actions of all its parents (and their parents,
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etc.). In addition to defining new Attributes and Actions, they may override any from
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their parent types. For instance, the aforementioned magic sword might inherit the
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action 'take sword' from the 'tangible' type, the action 'swing sword at $target'
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from 'weapon', and 'charge sword mana' from 'magical item'. It might furthermore
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override the 'charge sword mana', which might normally allow charging by any wizard,
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to only allow charging by a wizard with a weaponsmith skill.
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Types may be defined and modified from various admin screens, available from
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/admin/rpg/types.
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Attributes
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Most RPG object types will define and/or inherit attributes. Attributes will be stored
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for individual objects, so that each object will (usually) have its own unique values
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for the attributes defined by its type.
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Attributes will be one of several 'classes'. Several classes come with the RPG module,
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and others may be defined by other contributed or custom modules. The attributes
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shipped with the module include 'text', 'number', 'boolean', 'object array', 'figured',
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'sprite', 'node', 'view' and 'link'.
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The text, number, and boolean attributes are what they sound like. Text attributes
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will store unique text for the object, such as a name, description, or message to be
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displayed when the object explodes. Number attributes currently only store integers.
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Booleans are simple true or false values, set by a checkbox in the admin screens.
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Object arrays will store an array of rpg objects, and are useful for such things as
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a list of items contained within a chest, or a list of wizards who have read a
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certain scroll.
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Figured attributes may not be set for an individual object, but rather are figured
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on the fly. For instance, 'mobile actors' might have 'max hit points' that are
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figured by a combination of 'class', 'race', 'health', and 'level'. They are
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defined as a snippet of php code that will be evaluated as needed.
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In actuality, any attribute may make use of this code; for instance, when setting
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'location', the snippet might also ensure that an object is removed from it's old
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location's 'contents', and added to the new. However, the technical difference
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with figured attributes is that they do not store a value in the database. For
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those technically minded, there are three php snippets available to all attributes:
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'get', 'verify', and 'set'. When present in a type, 'get' is evaluated before an
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attribute's value is called for an object, 'verify' just before setting the value
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(which will fail if it returns false, thus not setting the new value), and 'set',
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which is called just before setting the new value (and if provided, the new value
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will be set to the number returned by that snippet).
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Continuing through the attribute classes, 'sprites' are images (or other files,
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such as animated gifs or embedded flash objects) that may be displayed as needed.
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For instance, chests might have a static image, potions might have an animated
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gif, and orcs might have animated gifs that change direction as the orc moves in
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a certain direction.
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'Node' classed attributes reference Drupal nodes. This might be used to embed a
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link to a group page for assassins, to display a news item teaser, to show an ad
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for a book sold by the site, or many other creative uses. Likewise, 'view'
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attributes reference a View on the site, assuming the Views module is installed.
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Finally, 'link' is any URL, internal or external, for similar purposes.
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Actions
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Actions are used to affect the game state of objects. They may be called by players
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on the site, or internally by other actions, depending on their definition.
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For instance, our flaming sword type might inherit an action of 'take sword'. This
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action would first check that the sword may be taken by the player, which is a
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figured attribute called 'may_take' (which in turn examines 'moveable' and makes
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certain the object is in the same room as the player). Assuming this check passes,
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the sword is moved to the player's inventory.
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Another action might be 'wield sword', which by default might simply set the
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'wielded' attribute to true, assuming it's in the player's inventory. However, the
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flaming sword might override this behavior, so that if a player is an orc, the
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player might be damaged when grasping its hilt.
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Objects
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In code, objects are always referenced by their id, and never directly. Functions
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are provided for this, such as rpg_get($object, $attribute) and rpg_set($object,
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$attribute, $value). This is particularly important with setting attributes -- this
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ensures the new value will be saved to the database.
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Meta Game
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Rulesets may also define their own meta game values. This includes how often a
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turn takes place, how many 'action points' are available to characters, how many
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characters a player may use, what the weather is like, etc. As with every other
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aspect of the RPG module, these values may be changed from various admin forms and
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by importing/exporting rulesets.
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Drudge Ruleset
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The RPG currently is shipped with the Drudge ruleset. This is a generic ruleset,
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defining some basic object types, skills, and simple actions. It is meant to be
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built upon for an individual game's flavor, but is also meant to be robust enough
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to be meaningful with little modification.
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Other rulesets may be available in the future. Admins are encouraged to contribute
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their own rulesets. Please see the discussions at DrupalRPG.org and the Drupal Games
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and Game APIs group page for more information.
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