erebus - a new rpg which reuses flare graphics
Hi all,
Just came across this one. It's a game which reuses many/most of flare graphics. See http://sourceforge.net/projects/erebusrpg/
For reasons not understood, the developer has made the code and the graphics in two different places. I have suggested him to put the whole thing in git repo. To try it out do a 'git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/erebusrpg/code' without the atostrophes obviously.
Then download the graphics and music from the launchpad site at https://launchpad.net/erebus/+download and then copy them over to the git clone.
To compile you just have to do qmake erebus.pro
And then 'make' or if it's multi-core 'make -j4' using other processors a bit as well.
Overall a fun game giving couple of hrs. to fun-time. Sometimes it would be hard to figure out even if you are playing it in easy mode, at least for me it was. The dev. could have made respawns of low-level monsters but then it's just a two quest thing for now.
If anybody knows of any newish rpg's lemme know either on github, gitorious, sourceforge.net, bitbucket and berlios. Looking forward to any info. or interesting game if anybody knows.
Hi,
I thought I should comment as the author :) Thanks for the plug, and your helpful comments in email to me. And also many thanks to Clint Bellanger and other FLARE contributors, which as noted have provided a significant amount of the graphics, especially for animations (as I'm sure plenty of you know, finding a good set of consistent animated sprites to use in a game is far harder than static images). I should add that it is intended to be an original game in its own right - other than also being an RPG of course :) (See http://erebusrpg.sourceforge.net/#licences for full list of licences/sources - many of the others have been sourced from Open Game Art.)
It's in its early stages so far, though demonstrates some gameplay with a couple of quests.
I've just released version 0.4 (Windows binary, and source for Linux).
About the repo - yes, I think I'll add the binary data into the Git repository soon. The question of how to handle large binary files in Git isn't one that seems clear to me (do others here have any opinions?), but it's probably best to keep it altogether.
mark
I *think* you can use it in git, have seen many projects using git to host the binary images or even source images (.xcf) without an issue. For e.g. see http://freedroid.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=freedroid/freedroi... .
If you do make the changes just lemme know and lemme know if I should remove the existing graphics or just let them be and let git handle the conflicts (if any arise) .
The trouble with large binary files is that your repo is going to store a copy of every binary blob you upload - that can get very large, very fast. It has another area where you can upload files (like executables) to the github PAGE via the web, without actually committing them to the repo. This allows you to get the executable up onto GitHub without bloating your repo.
I've now added the graphics to the Git repository (I haven't done the sound/music yet, as these are less essential to keep in sync).
Reading various places where people ask the question, there doesn't seem to be a good answer or consensus regarding binaries and source control. As makrohn says, the size can grow large, because every modification requires a new copy of the file to be kept. A lot of advantages of source control (like merging diffs) don't apply to binaries. The options seem to be:
1. Simply include the binaries.
2. Include them in a subfolder, which has its own separate Git repository (possibly managed using Git Submodule).
3. Use one of various ports/add-ons that are meant to be better at handling binaries (e.g., bup, git-bigfiles git annex).
I rejected 3 as I don't want to be dependent on something more obscure, and possibly not available for some platforms (e.g., git annex isn't available for Windows).
I was tempted to go for 2 - but I figured the total size would still end up being the same, and it would mean more hassle. One advantage would be that I could always revert if it caused problems.
So I've gone with 1 - the data I have isn't that large and shouldn't change too much, so hopefully it won't be a problem.
Although I'm using Git, I'm using Sourceforge rather than Github, and I don't know if Sourceforge has something similar for binaries(?) (I mean, I know I can upload separate files with the binaries, which is what I was doing previously, but it's harder to keep that in sync.)
I'm not sure if Git will overwrite the local files - when I tested, it didn't seem to, so it may be better to rename/delete your local gfx/ folder to be sure. (To ensure it works, the gfx/textures/wall.png image should now be 256x256 instead of 128x128.)
Somehow I missed this thread earlier. I'm always excited when this art gets more mileage!
I'll find some time soon to try this game out.
Let me/us know if you like it.
Also see if you or somebody can make some similar models to our hero as you can see he's supposed to be different people and right now it's just the name and the characteristics which tells he's different. Any help would be nice.
I've just released v0.5 (though anyone playing from the Repository will already have the recent changes of course).
Additional player graphics would be great (I know FLARE already has a female player that I could also use), but it's not a high priority right now - as an easier first step, I will try to add some 2D static portrait/avatar images for each character.
@mdwh are you going to make more quests ?
Yep, I have several more planned, but they will take some time to write/implement each of them. (Am also thinking of having some kind of random level or quest generation, to help extend the playability.)
Erebus is now available for Android phones/tablets on Google Play! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.erebusrpg
Recent versions have added a 3rd quest, and a new gameplay mode with a random dungeon, among various other improvements.
I've tested it on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the Android emulator, so please let me know if anyone experiences problems. It requires Android 2.3.3 or better, and a resolution of 800x480 or higher. This also requires installing the app Ministro, which you should be prompted to do when you first run Erebus (if it's not already installed). Ministro manages the required Qt libraries on Android. The libraries can take up to around 25MB, so it may be best to download over a Wifi connection.