The Experimental Autoit RPGenerator (CONCEPT DEMO AVAILABLE) [CREATIVE HIATUS]

[coderusa]

4-15-2024 The RPGenerator hiatus will continue for the foreseeable future, but progress is being made on the background with RPGenerator. 

I've severely pumped the brakes on the project and have returned to the drawing board on many aspects of RPGenerator, including, foremost, the graphics as well as the over all code used. The autoit concept demo that's currently available here is being discontinued due to many reasons that have led to this decision, based on various difficulties or my own dissatisfaction/frustrations with aspects of the project and where it stands. 

What's in the plans? Right now I'm developing a scriptable and modular IRC core software with Python, with this core software I plan to make the RPGenerator hub IRC bot (as mentioned previously, this part is still happening, but instead will be developed purely in python.) Autoit comes in with client programs for windows users which will be a user side chat client that features some completely redesigned graphics and is built to connect and interact with game hubs being hosted by the python bot. As far as the autoit side of this project is concerned, it has been scrapped and slated for a complete start over with autoit. Official production continuation of RPGenerator is TBD/TBA.

I'm also migrating stuff and remodeling my 'brand' thru GitHub and Patreon, which will include software, other digital products/media, and maybe one day merch. Who knows.

Do not worry, RPGenerator will be back and better than ever!

Mode60 Official Website (m0de-60.github.io)

Version 0.01 Concept (STILL AVAILABLE) DOWNLOAD: RPGenerator/windows-concept-game at main · m0de-60/RPGenerator (github.com)

Edited Saturday at 02:52 AM by coderusa

[TheDcoder]

Sounds like a cool project

Just wanted to give you some advice regarding the host, free hosts are very shady so be careful with those. Since your project is open-source you can use Tux Family for hosting, they provide their services at no cost for FOSS projects

If you want a generic host I'd recommend Uberspace.de, they have a pay-what-you-want model, so you can pay as low as 1 EUR/month, that's what I use for my hosting since it doesn't really get a lot of traffic. The recommended amount is 5 EUR.

They also do good work by defending free software in actual courts (see the YouTube-DL case in Germany)

Edited September 8, 2023 by TheDcoder

[coderusa]

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Just wanted to give you some advice regarding the host, free hosts are very shady so be careful with those. Since your project is open-source you can use Tux Family for hosting, they provide their services at no cost for FOSS projects 

Thank you for this info, I'm currently using 000webhost which used to be really good about 15 years ago IIRC, I used to the use them for everything, but now setting up this website my current experience with them has been less than stellar. They used to have free SSL and SSH access, now all I can do is FTP (not even SFTP). Anything I need thru them I'll have to purchase an upgrade thru them (Even for help support!), but my current experience has me wanting to shift somewhere else. I purchased a domain for 1 year and a SSL for year 1 but 000webhost now does not support third party SSLs, and their own SSL is about 5x the cost of the SSL I had originally purchased, just got a refund on original SSL and will have to find another. I do plan to upgrade to paid hosting (not necessarily thru 000webhost, but they used to have some good products.) I will check out your suggestions and consider a move.

Also, while I'm sticking with my purchase of the domain name, the domain registrar, NameCheap, is terrible. Just setting up the DNS records to point to the right place was an aggravating process that took an entire day of being led in circles by their help system. It was due to their poor help documentation that sends you in circles with no real solutions. Reviews are full of people complaining about that, hind sight is a powerful tool when you read reviews AFTER you purchase haha. 

I'm still debating on the open source aspect, honestly. I do want to protect my intellectual property as its slowly starting to become an investment now (software and web purchases.) Perhaps some suggestions will arise. I've been thinking about having all demo's open source and any finished versions the source code would be available to supporters (if i ever get any lol!) I'm open to ideas about open source, but I also want to protect my project from those who would want to rip it apart. The code iteself works, and so far has been relatively stable and haven't passed 14% CPU, but the code will definitely need to be refined and smoothed out. I'll go thru the code before I release anything to the public, but any suggestions on what other people do with their projects would be greatly appreciated.

I attached a screen shot I took of the work I'm doing last night, setting up a basic battle system. This particular battle "mode" will be turned based (like the old Nintendo RPGs) but I also want to add in a free-form type battle system where there's no real turn base you just go in and start swinging using strategy combined with abilities lol After the battle system is finsihed and stable, I need to spruce up the GUI and finish the chat basics then I'll be able to start putting together a demo. (No idea how long any of this will take, in my own mind when I restarted this project I figured I would have a demo out by now!)

What you see here is just me developing the battle mechanics and setting up animations, like the "ready bounce" you see in a lot RPG battles. I'll have to compile some of the sprites into GIF animations and share them. Turn rotations and the "battle panel" there will house your abilities, will use a dynamic GUI button to hide/show respective buttons, but also will be adding a command line aspect for the "legacy" users, so you could click action buttons in the panel or execute the commands thru a command line,

Edited September 8, 2023 by coderusa

[TheDcoder]

@coderusa That sounds horrible, and there's no need to pay for an SSL certificate at all in 2023, in fact you didn't have to since Oct 2015 because of the Let's Encrypt initiative:

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On October 19, 2015, the intermediate certificates became cross-signed by IdenTrust, causing all certificates issued by Let's Encrypt to be trusted by all major browsers.

They provide free SSL certificates to everyone instantly via automation and with no registration etc.

So pretty much every host now has them integrated, so it's very weird that 000web is still charging for that, at a premium rate even

Uberspace and Tux Family automatically handle the SSL certificate for you, no need to pay or even enable it.

1 hour ago, coderusa said:

Also, while I'm sticking with my purchase of the domain name, the domain registrar, NameCheap, is terrible.

I see, thanks for the PSA. I use Porkbun, I started using it because it was cheap but their service is stellar, never had any issues with the interface or the tech support, can fully recommend them

1 hour ago, coderusa said:

I'm still debating on the open source aspect, honestly.

It's your project, so at the end of the day, it is your choice... but in my opinion having this being closed source is going to reduce a lot of interest in the project.

You can still protect your IP by using a copyleft license like GPL, which requires anyone who wants to modify the code to make their changes open-source as well! Or if you want to go a step further, take a license and modify it yourself to place whatever restrictions you want, that way it is still "source-available".

AutoIt was actually licensed under GPL before it hit the v3 version. That's actually why AutoHotkey (a fork of AutoIt) is open-source, they are legally obliged to publish the source.

[coderusa]

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They provide free SSL certificates to everyone instantly via automation and with no registration etc.

So pretty much every host now has them integrated, so it's very weird that 000web is still charging for that, at a premium rate even 

Uberspace and Tux Family automatically handle the SSL certificate for you, no need to pay or even enable it.

I could use Let's Encrypt with my 000webhost just not for free. They've engineered the free hosting in a manner to where you are completely locked out of all SSL controls as well as SSH and root access (blocking SSH programs and CertBot utilities), and deny third party SSL requests (As they did with the SSL I purchased with my domain). The only thing they give you is a built-in web file manager and they allow FTP access, though my FTP client will not stay connected longer than a minute before the connection times out with a time out error. I've adjusted the time out settings, keep alive settings, web control panel settings and used the "repair" feature in the web control panel with no changes. If it manages to stay connected, if I try to access console commands it boots the connection. So far, everything I was able to do before on 000webhost has changed. They give you a spot for free but if you want to do anything with it, they make you upgrade. Not to mention their "discord help page" is a dead link and clicking on any of the "live chat" or support features leads you to the please upgrade page. I will definitely be moving to a different host in the not too distant future.

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It's your project, so at the end of the day, it is your choice... but in my opinion having this being closed source is going to reduce a lot of interest in the project.

You can still protect your IP by using a copyleft license like GPL, which requires anyone who wants to modify the code to make their changes open-source as well! Or if you want to go a step further, take a license and modify it yourself to place whatever restrictions you want, that way it is still "source-available".

AutoIt was actually licensed under GPL before it hit the v3 version. That's actually why AutoHotkey (a fork of AutoIt) is open-source, they are legally obliged to publish the source.

You have found one of my concerns in this project, interest. I have been thinking on it and I think going open source would definitely be the best route. I will definitely go the GPL route or modification. I am wary of being too restrictive because I know that modification and customization is the fore-front of this project, and thinking about it, having it closed-source would definitely not be wise. I also do want to try the "content creator" kind of thing, but this alone will not be the only article of content available, and I don't want to be the cliche creator "Hey guys please subscribe and buy my merch" I want my stuff to be entertaining, useful and enjoyable without too much pressure on the users to subscribe or donate, if you're cool with the people you don't have to ask for their support. They'll do it because they made their own decision based off what I've presented to them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[coderusa]

Managed to figure out how to get the SSL working thru the *.000webhostapp.com so now there is at least one link that is SSL.  Looking at Linode for hosting, also looking at Uberspace.de.

Also here's a couple sprites that I've converted to GIF. The animation I may not use in the actual program, just something I drew while practicing this art style I've managed to develop. Being able to use GDI+ in the script is very helpful. 

[TheDcoder]

21 minutes ago, coderusa said:

Linode for hosting

Linode is no more, they got acquired and the parent company doesn't really care about that brand anymore, so I suggest staying away from them. In fact it has been officially discontinued.

23 minutes ago, coderusa said:

just something I drew while practicing this art style

Looks pretty good to me!

23 minutes ago, coderusa said:

Being able to use GDI+ in the script is very helpful. 

Indeed, if you ever need help, just mention @UEZ, he is the resident GDI+ and graphics expert here

[coderusa]

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Linode is no more, they got acquired and the parent company doesn't really care about that brand anymore, so I suggest staying away from them. In fact it has been officially discontinued.

I see that now, it's called Akami now. I have quite a few IRC buddies who are recommending to use Linode/Akami, as they all use it and have had no issues and only sing praise about the product, but everyone's experiences will be different. I've got to wait on more funding before I leap into a nice hosting plan so I have time for plenty of consideration and research, but in my list of considerations is Uberspace, Tux Family and Linode. I'm leaning more towards Tux Family as they appear to be very FOSS friendly. 

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Looks pretty good to me!

Thank you, I've not displayed much of the artwork to the public as of yet, and I'm glad to see that people are liking it. This art style seems to be working, I personally I am satisfied with the results, as I've little experience with drawing graphics with a mouse on a color grid. Initially I was using a combination of MS Paint, Paint 3D and GIMP to draw and compile images and animations. I will say this, the Paint 3D on windows 10 is phenomenal. I wish this was a thing about 25 years ago when I would play on with the MS Paint on my uncle's Windows 95 PC. I absolutely love Paint 3D's capabilities, especially considering its a piece of stock windows software. The old process takes too long. It would take several hours to complete just one sprite drawing using this method. I recently purchased a program called Aseprite. Oh man, what a program! It's not only sped up the drawing process, but allows me to do 80% of the work in one application. I still use MS Paint and Paint 3D effects for designing textures and such, if you look at the screen shots the grass and sand textures were made with the oil brush in Paint 3D, which, surprisingly, IMO made a very good looking grass and sand texture, but this combined with the versatility of AutoIT script makes me wish I had originally chosen this language for the project!

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Indeed, if you ever need help, just mention @UEZ, he is the resident GDI+ and graphics expert here 

You are absolutely correct. In my time searching through this forum, I've found that UEZ is almost a celebrity around here, and in fact I learned how to use GDI+ and designed the graphics code for my program based off of a GDI+ example script I found from UEZ as well as some help from Andreik. I'll have to dig around to find the link again and share it in this thread! There will definitely be a Thank you and shout-out section somewhere in this project that will include several user's names from this forum as well as a thank you to the whole community itself.
 

[Andreik]

29 minutes ago, coderusa said:

You are absolutely correct. In my time searching through this forum, I've found that UEZ is almost a celebrity around here, and in fact I learned how to use GDI+ and designed the graphics code for my program based off of a GDI+ example script I found from UEZ as well as some help from Andreik. I'll have to dig around to find the link again and share it in this thread! There will definitely be a Thank you and shout-out section somewhere in this project that will include several user's names from this forum as well as a thank you to the whole community itself.

UEZ it's the real deal with plenty of examples on this subject and the community it's also very helpful if you need further assistance. I am just a troll and I blame @TheDcoder for this. 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Andreik

[TheSaint]

On 9/8/2023 at 5:53 PM, coderusa said:

I've been working on a project with AutoIT and I figure I could share with you guys what I'm doing. I've moved along to the point that I can actually show a little bit, but not much (yet).

Interesting sounding project. Hope it goes well.

@Xandy would likely be very interested in this.

[TheDcoder]

9 hours ago, coderusa said:

I have quite a few IRC buddies who are recommending to use Linode/Akami

A fellow IRC user I see, kind of rare to find those

[coderusa]

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Interesting sounding project. Hope it goes well.

@Xandy would likely be very interested in this.

Thank you, I'm hoping that people will like it. Interest gained, is a valuable thing. The description may be a little vague but as I get closer to a demo I'll put up more descriptive info, I want to leave a little bit of the experience, 'untouched' so to say.

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A fellow IRC user I see, kind of rare to find those 

Nice! It is rare to find fellow IRC user's these days, but yet you go to some biggernetworks and there's chats with 500 people in them lol. I started using IRC in the OG TalkCity days, back in 1998-2000s when the Star Wars chat's were huge, for the upcoming release of The Phantom Menace at the time. I idle in the Freenode AutoIT channel, it's not registered anymore, has one user (or bot named "LinkMaster") who idles in there, I just need to catch it when the bot times out randomly so I can /hop the channel and try to re-register it to hold it for people here to use. (IDK if that will work but ChanServ says channel isn't registered) My main IRC jam is EsperNet, Been chatting there 15-20ish years, I was there before their Minecraft fame, but they doubled in size when they got involved in Minecraft. I also float around some other servers. Feel free to drop me a PM if you want to know a full list of servers I frequent. I've also got a (currently dead and empty) chat on Esper, project IRC chat details can be found on my main webpage right up at the top of the webpage. (I don't want to be too spammy!) 

Edit: I also made the original version of this project years ago with mIRC script, I might still have it somewhere, but it wasn't that great. Extremely simple design, text based, very little graphics but it more-or-less worked. 

Edited September 10, 2023 by coderusa

[TheDcoder]

31 minutes ago, coderusa said:

Nice! It is rare to find fellow IRC user's these days, but yet you go to some biggernetworks and there's chats with 500 people in them lol.

Indeed, but that number is peanuts compared to the size of other online communities, still IRC lives on thanks to the small but resilient bunch

33 minutes ago, coderusa said:

I started using IRC in the OG TalkCity days, back in 1998-2000s when the Star Wars chat's were huge

Well I wasn't even born yet so...

33 minutes ago, coderusa said:

I idle in the Freenode AutoIT channel, it's not registered anymore

Interesting, since when did you start idling there? I started the original ##AutoIt channel at freenode a while back, we had a few members but no active discussions. By the way, the current "freenode" is an imposter, it is an husk of what it used to be. There was a hostile takeover and the new owner nuked the original server, since then I've never gone back to using it.

The OG freenode staff created a new server called Libera and that's where most of the people migrated to. I don't know who's controlling the AutoIt channel there.

37 minutes ago, coderusa said:

My main IRC jam is EsperNet, Been chatting there 15-20ish years, I was there before their Minecraft fame

I've haven't ventured out much outside of the 2 big tech servers, i.e. Libera and OFTC. Also I haven't heard about EsperNet's Minecraft fame... what happened? Did all the modders start using that server?

[coderusa]

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Indeed, but that number is peanuts compared to the size of other online communities, still IRC lives on thanks to the small but resilient bunch 

Very true, though a lot of servers I used to frequent have disappeared. Bigger ones are still around.

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Well I wasn't even born yet so... 

Nice to see younger generations involved with an old programming language. I'm not too old, born in '86. 
 

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Interesting, since when did you start idling there? I started the original ##AutoIt channel at freenode a while back, we had a few members but no active discussions. By the way, the current "freenode" is an imposter, it is an husk of what it used to be. There was a hostile takeover and the new owner nuked the original server, since then I've never gone back to using it.

The OG freenode staff created a new server called Libera and that's where most of the people migrated to. I don't know who's controlling the AutoIt channel there.

I'm not too impressed with "current" Freenode. I used them long ago for a while but left (probably about the same time as a lot of other people, I remember there being a bunch of drama on Freenode making me decide to leave.) Since I've restarted the project with AutoIT I've been there in Freenode #AutoIT. Upon joining that network, I was immediately harassed and banned by staff because my user name resembled an administrators name as well as someone else who apparently "attacks" their server. After confirming with them my IP address did not match any of their abuser records, they let me back in, but the staff there hasn't been the most pleasant. They also seem to get flooded a lot, which has me thinking I may leave that network again. 

I also idle on Libera and added #AutoIT to my channel list there staffer JonathanD and I used to chat on a different server and he invited me to Libera, tho as most IRC relations, we rarely chat lol. A Few more people in Libera #AutoIT. 

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I've haven't ventured out much outside of the 2 big tech servers, i.e. Libera and OFTC. Also I haven't heard about EsperNet's Minecraft fame... what happened? Did all the modders start using that server?

I've never heard of OFTC, I'll have to check them out. EsperNet hosts the official volunteer tech and help channel for Minecraft, they also (used to?) run a game server for Minecraft, IIRC one of the first game servers for the game. Not entirely sure if they still have a game server or not. I've heard (but not seen documentation) of a falling out with EsperNet and the Minecraft team. 

[TheSaint]

TheDcoder and I along with Xandy, and occasionally a few others, used to chat regularly on the AutoIt channel on freenode, then at his recommendation we moved from freenode to OTFC. But I eventually decided I was wasting too much time on such chats, had too many other better things to do, and it had just devolved to TheDcoder and I, and we mostly argued about all sorts of things, which grew tiresome in the end ... and now he argues with me all the time here ... there is no escape. He is young and contrary ... you have been warned.  

By the way, it is AutoIt not AutoIT ... as in automate it, not an IT department ... especially not one for Autos.  

P.S. Actually the channel we use/used was #AutoIt4Life.  

P.S.S. I was born in 1959, so yes I am old, and my head has nearly fallen off, due to all the negatory shaking that TheDcoder causes me to do ... not to mention the eye-rolling.

[coderusa]

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TheDcoder and I along with Xandy, and occasionally a few others, used to chat regularly on the AutoIt channel on freenode, then at his recommendation we moved from freenode to OTFC. But I eventually decided I was wasting too much time on such chats, had too many other better things to do, and it had just devolved to TheDcoder and I, and we mostly argued about all sorts of things, which grew tiresome in the end ... and now he argues with me all the time here ... there is no escape. He is young and contrary ... you have been warned.  

By the way, it is AutoIt not AutoIT ... as in automate it, not an IT department ... especially not one for Autos.  

P.S. Actually the channel we use/used was #AutoIt4Life.  

P.S.S. I was born in 1959, so yes I am old, and my head has nearly fallen off, due to all the negatory shaking that TheDcoder causes me to do ... not to mention the eye-rolling. 

I don't chat much on IRC, anymore just idle. I'll chat with a few people, most of the time that I am active I'm chatting in the espernet minecraft channel with a few of the other regulars there. Out of all the networks I idle or visit, the espernet minecraft channel is one of the most active I've seen lately. 

Aah, you get that with the younger generations, even my own! 

You know, I've call it Autoit and refer to it like that in speech, but several tech/programming people I've conversated with in person say it like Auto-IT and I guess when I'm typing the muscle memory to the shift key is just there lol

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by coderusa

[coderusa]

A little progress today, have the battle system engaging properly, this particular mode chooses who gets first strike randomly. Other modes will use stats or other values to determine first strike. Setting up the "battle panel" which will appear and disappearon the left as needed, as well as switch between the attack turn controls and the defense turn controls. Also idle battle animation code is done and loops properly without losing GUI response.

I think I'm also going to move the text display over to the right so that it fits nicely under the GDI canvas, and moving the stuff on the right over to the opposite side. Also thinking I may do away with the user and friend list boxes and instead use a treeview. 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by coderusa

[coderusa]

Progress update, I have a good chunk of the battle system code knocked out. Moved some GUI controls around also. Need to draw and finish some more animations for performing selected actions. I have the battle panel working as far as action selections go, and it will switch the applicable options between attack and defense. Currently, the program waits for player input before proceeding (With attack and defense turns). For this battle mode, which I'm calling the "arcade mode" will be turn based battle, but on your defense turn, I plan to add a timer so if you goof around too long on your defense turn to decide to defend, attempt a dodge or take attack, the opponent will attack anyways, catching you off guard. I also have a rough mock up of the damage and stats calculation. 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by coderusa

[coderusa]

Spent the weekend making animations and putting more of the battle system code together. It's coming along. Making the animations is quite time consuming (even with Aseprite). I've got another screen shot but the forum thing says the file is too big  I'll have to downsize the file and try again later.

Decided to make a note of the source size. As of 9/19/2023 over 5500 lines of code across the entire project

Here's some compiled animations
 

Spoiler

 

 

[coderusa]

Preview Video Available! Nothing too fantastic yet, the game is no where near finished, but I threw together a quick video of some screen recordings. I'll post the 3 links of the video, take your pick. The patreon or directly from my website are the better video quality options. (Patreon video is public/free no subscription required)

Some of the graphics are definitely a bit choppy, but I know what to do to fix that. I've currently got this split up into multiple sections for easier working, but when i combine everything together its smooth  Only getting better from here!

Video links in the spoiler!

Spoiler

Direct from my website (better quality): https://codeusa.000webhostapp.com/0001/Preview.mp4

Patreon page (better quality):  https://www.patreon.com/posts/rpg-series-video-89899124

Youtube (crap quality idk why): 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by coderusa