Tutorials!

Hey all!

So I'm trying my best this year to figure out how to scale up game development while not burning myself out. The strategy I'm going with is developing tutorials so that people who want to help with development can learn how to add content to the game and can then work asynchronously with me!

Even if you aren't already on the dev team, feel free to follow along if you are interested in joining the team, or just making your own custom content! Fair warning: My tools and development process will not be as seamless as something like RPG Maker or Game Maker, but hopefully most people will get the hang of it.

Getting Setup

Step 1: Download the source code

Click the above link to go to the git page. If you have git and understand source control, just clone the repo. If not, click the green "Code" button, and choose "Download Zip"

Step 2: Download Love2D 0.10.2

Scroll down to "Assets" and click the link name that matches your operating system: 

If you are on windows, click "love-0.10.2-win32.exe" 

If you are on mac, click "love-0.10.2-macosx-x64.zip" 

NOTE: Do "not" download a newer version of Love2D! Sonic RPG relies on this version of the love engine specifically and trying to run the game with any other version can result in anything from visual errors to complete inoperability

Step 3: Download Tiled

This is a program I use for editing levels. Right now, I am using an older version of the software (1.1.5), but from my experience, Tiled has been pretty good at maintaining backwards compatibility.

If you have any trouble with using the latest version of Tiled to edit levels, please let me know on discord!

Step 4: Unzip the source code and try running the game

For windows, double click run_win.bat

For mac, double click the run_mac.command 

NOTE: If you are on mac and your computer complains about permissions, open "Terminal" (*Can find this by doing a ctrl + space search) and type: 

chmod 777 ~/Downloads/sonicrpg-master/run_mac.command

Press enter, and then try double clicking run_mac.command again.

Step 5: If the game looks like it's working, you're ready for the first tutorial! If not, ping me on discord and I can try to help you troubleshoot.

The first tutorial is not done yet, but here's a sneak peak on what it will contain!

Tutorial 1: Level Editing Basics

This first tutorial will get you introduced to basic level editing. By the end of this tutorial you should be able to:

• Control which level you enter on game start
  
  
• Place tiles/environment art and add collision (e.g. make areas "unwalkable")
  
  
• Add enemies to a scene and define their patrolling behavior
  
  
• Add shadows, hiding spots, run puzzles, chests, save points, NPCs 
  
  
• Add entrances/exits that switch levels on touch

Will post more soon!