Project StreetzRPG - A top-down(ish) urban RPG
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 8:20 am
Project StreetzRPG:"A top-down(ish) urban roleplay game."- Developed by B. Mader (Deketa)
Thread preface
Wow so on second thought, everyone elses' threads are super short and to the point; I spent hours typing this up. I hope I didn't go overboard...If tl;dr, skip down below! If you don't mind a read, I encourage you to read through this absolute monster of a post and enjoy; I put quite a bit of effort into it. All good in any case!
First and foremost, I must give some important notes out of the way. As you may notice, I have been a member of the LOVE forums for a fair amount of time, but have little to no posts here. I've been rather anxious about making this post for the past few years, but I've come to realize that only good can come of it! This will be my first showcasing post, and of my one project that's kept my attention long enough to become anything worth showcasing at all. All this being said, please be kind and constructive in any feedback or suggestions you may have. I will also note, and emphasize that this project is not currently in "active development," and is not "regularly" developed, fixed, or otherwise improved. It is, and has always been developed strictly as my hobby. That being said, of course, I do plan to continue piecing StreetzRPG into a more well-rounded, user-friendly, playable game experience in time. Whether this project is appreciated only by a few, or by many, I will always take pride knowing I built a complex (albeit rather redundant) game environment from a black screen, on my own design and knowledge. A good summary is that what I've created so far was done for sheer entertainment, rather necessarily for a solid product on every level. Anyhow! With all that out of the way, I can finally begin to tell you about Project StreetzRPG.
Media
YouTube - About the project
(I under-equalized my bad voice-over, so I'm sorry if it's a lil too quiet or cringe lol)
YouTube - NPC traffic tests
Screenshot #1 - inventory
Screenshot #2 - example of art style
Screenshot #3 - (old) character menu
Screenshot #4 - side hustle
Screenshot #5 - an at-the-time new skin
Download StreetzRPG v0.29X
For those of you that want to skip the read and try the current state of the project right away, look no further! Attached below are the most recent .love build of Project StreetzRPG, and the required save files. Please do not distribute it or the source elsewhere! If you wish to show a friend, please direct them to this forum thread or to our Discord. Thanks a million!
To run the game you will need the save files installed in your LÖVE %appdata% directory! You will find these attached in a .zip below. !!! Attempting to run the game (the .love) WITHOUT these save files preinstalled will result in the light blue error screen we all know too well.
Protip: run the .love with the console (lovec.exe) for additional output!
About me + Some history
I know, I know. I can hear your excitement already! I'll keep it sorta quick. Like I mentioned, I'm no stranger to LÖVE, and have been using it as my creative outlet for almost a decade now. I first learned programming in my tweens with VB.NET, then first learned Lua on Roblox, got a little taste of game creation. Next I picked up Java and made some purpose-specific software, and a few installers. I dabbled a little in HTML, but web design was never my cup of tea. I knew I wanted to make games.Long story in a nutshell, I edventually discovered, then fell, in LÖVE. I made a few various minigames, really, at first. A few attempts of a crude bushcraft-based survival game, a rewrite of it as a dungeon weapon-grinding game...Dozens of sideprojects in and out, some that lasted a few days, some that lasted a year or two; I'm sure you know how it goes. But none as long as why-the-heck-I'm-here-in-the-first-place.
StreetzRPG has been in and out of "active" development since the summer of 2017, when I conceived the concept: a top-down mild roleplay game with heavy influences from a few series of hit games. Most obviously, the early "Grand Theft Auto" series, but also X-Gen Studios' "Stick RPG", a dash of "The Sims" and heavy, text-based roleplay platforms such as the late GTA:SA-MP Project. On the surface, perhaps not too original of an idea. But when you dive into the rich story and RPG-driven elements - the planned/theoretical side of the game, it is perhaps more intriguing. More on that later.
Why LÖVE?
(if tl;dr: it rocks!!! duh.)
Setting aside the fact that it's virtually all I've used since discovering the framework somewhere in 2013, and that at this point, it's all I even really know how to work with anymore honestly, I did explain this elsewhere and I think you all will agree. Certainly, if you're here, you're already aware of its cross-compatibility, liberal licensing, and raw capability as a game engine. But frankly, LÖVE is just a fantastic lightweight, user-friendly and absolutely developer-empowering choice that I have never found the ability to resist for any project. In full-hearted honestly, however, I probably should migrate or rewrite a project to a heavier-weight engine, with the complexity the project is reaching. But in my eyes, the project and its source are way beyond a commitment to the method I LÖVE. I relied heavily on a (honestly) redundant, "pre-declared" or "hard-written" method when I was first designing the game. My rationale was that I can always revise and enhance the tables and libraries I created, later down the road. Ultimately, it would be a major feat with little true benefit to take the project to another engine, when there's no legitimate shortcoming of the current: just shortcomings of my design.
Okay, so what IS it?
StreetzRPG is a top-down (again, -ish) urban roleplay game, of course, written on the framework we LÖVE so much. It incorporates the open-world, adventure, action, shoot-em-up and roleplay genres and themes, above all else.
StreetzRPG takes place in the semi-fictional city of Parkwood. The year is 1994, and crime rates have never been higher. Three gangs battle the police for the slums, and are the cause for almost all the bloodshed here. In a city where money means everything, there's always a way to make a buck in Parkwood - on one side of the law...or another.
The preceding years in the early 90s has lead to complete warfare between three local gangs, each trying to claim the city's throne. While the Uptown Project Killas in the northeast, and the Parkwood Perpz in the south continue their bloody rivalry, the Las Leyandas stay neutral. Instead, taking the opportunity to fuel the war themselves, they use their home turf in the dockyards to control the flow of drugs and weapons to both weaken their rivals and strengthen themselves. With both honest and corrupt cops trying to survive in this chaos,
the people of Parkwood are in for an unforseen state of war. Both for their very lives, and for the future of their beloved city. It is up to the player, through their character, to determine the outcome of Parkwood, and whether its throne will be of justice or infamy. Or, y'know...you could just smoke some joints and go fishing, instead. It IS the player's city, after all.
The game is open-world, across (currently) NINE neighborhoods. The player can discover various side activities, explore Parkwood and its 'hoods, shop at a few stores, met and chat with NPCs of various backgrounds and faction affinities, and partake in a number of activities that both soccer moms and Parkwood police do not approve of. That's all that I can specify, in the existing state of gameplay. In the future, however, a detailed story with semi-dynamic endings is planned, from each of the faction's perspectives. Side missions and even more activities and minigames will be available, as well. I'd like to add in some form of creative skill and perk system, granting unique character builds and special abilities.
Story time! (Factions)
Parkwood offers a number of factions the player will be able to join and develop the story under. If the freelance, work-on-the-side life as a civilian doesn't suit you, perhaps a faction is up your alley. First and foremost is the Parkwood Police Department. Blue shirts, gold stripes, and a few dozen pounds of plate carrier: it can be glamorous at times, sure, but it's simply how to survive here, for many. A personal cruiser, and partner to watch your back. Oh, and guns. What more could you ask for? Just don't get caught taking your bribes. The rare humanitarian to be found in Parkwood likely works for Parkwood Fire & Rescue. A fast-paced life of 72-hour shifts at station and around-the-clock GSW calls. It never ends in Parkwood, and you've got to be ready to put your life on the line for a city that does not appreciate what you do. If the rapid lifestyle of first-responding isn't for you, maybe Sprinter Logistics is for you. The not-so-proud #3 trucking company in the state, it is run by an enthusiastic team of road veterans looking to restore the company to its former glory, but to do so, they need a hand with the increase of jobs to be done...and maybe help with that damned paperwork later down the line, if you've got the eye for it. What's that? You came to Parkwood to see blood, explosions, other wonderful adult themes? Well don't shy away quite yet, this city is in all-out warfare, and you really think it's against the cops, paramedics, and truckers? Oh, no. Well, okay, no, that would be kind of cool, but for another game. The Uptown Project Killaz are arguably the oldest gang to remain over time in the streets of Parkwood. They idolize family values, city pride, and acts of bravery to protect it. You see, back in the late 80s, UPK came together, labeled as "extremists" by their former Neighborhood Watch communities. When an explosion of cheap illicit drugs started flooding Parkwood, supplied by the Las Leyandas, UPK sparked a short-lived gang war against the Latino gang, lasting a whole week before half the Leyandas lieutenants were systematically killed in a series of drive-by shootings. UPK would declare a ban on hard drugs across the city, and spared no opposition. Not long after, a new generation of Las Leyandas, having been deprived the majority of their income, would of course seek to push drugs back into the city and seek their former glory. Cooperating with a newly formed group of young thugs, the Parkwood PERPz, hard drugs were back coursing the veins of Parkwood once again by 1990. UPK found themselves quickly in a war of deception against PPK, all the while being played by TLL. The path you wish to take in the midst of all this blood-filled drama, is up to the player. Whether you prefer the protection of police life, waging war on crime to wipe the stain it is on the city off once and for all, or take part in a scheme to take over the city for your gang's colors, is entirely up to you. Or, you could puff herbs on the beach. It's up to you. Disclaimer: Anything described in regard to gameplay above is only planned; there is little faction functionality at the moment other than NPC reactions.
This is where YOU come in!
Like I implied before, I've put off making a forum post for StreetzRPG for quite some time, for a few reasons. Mostly, however, because I've been trying to get the game more well-rounded and in a state worthy of showcasing and sharing. I think I can finally safely say that time has come. While, of course, there are TONS of things left to implement, fix, improve, and redesign entirely, I am ready to show off the project in its entirety up to this point. I'd like to describe the current state of the game as an "advanced tech demo," despite it not fitting the description of a tech demo, simply due to the immense amount of work to be done, even for a relatively playable game. I've come to realize, however, the first step to achieving that goal is to showcase the project, and get a wider spectrum of fellow game developers, designers, testers, and players to at least lay eyes on things, and at least give a bit of advice or feedback. This is where YOU come in! I urge you to give the game a quick try, and see if it sparks your interest at all. I am looking for any and all constructive feedback, tips, suggestions, and ideas. Additionally, I've been seeking contributors to lend their time and hand to the project, if that is something you'd be interested in. Specifically, I am looking for volunteer testers, scripters, and artists. I have a small Discord server set up, mostly to document and showcase any specific news, updates,and releases, but it also offers discussion and media chats amongst our humble community's members. So if you're interested to follow or assist in the development of the project in any way, don't be shy to join! Otherwise, please give StreetzRPG a half hour of your time and tell me what you think overall, down below! Again, I appreciate any and all feedback so long as it's constructive and well thought. I know it's far from perfect, especially for a five-year-old project, but do try to judge with kind precision as to how it could be better.
Getting started
Assuming you were smart, read the warning, and have the save files installed properly, you are free to load up any of the three sample characters on the PLAY menu. Choosing one will pull that slot's data, and spawn you in. I have provided a "developer copy" of the game with this post, meaning "developer mode" is yours to abuse. Push F1 to easily toggle it. This not only gives you a "noclip" feel of zooming around the map, but also permits cheats, developer commands, and other secret utilities that are not otherwise available. Push T to open the command bar, and ESC or ENTER to close it. All commands use the / prefix. You can use /log at any time to exit to menu, but be sure to /save if you wish to keep your "progress." StreetzRPG does not, and likely will not, feature an autosave feature. Protip: use /cmds for an albeit slightly out-of-date but relatively complete list of commands. The /set command will likely prove the most useful to you. In the future, most things will be interacted thru a UI box, or keypress, like somethings are. Be sure to read through the control bindings in the SETTINGS submenu!
Future plans
As I mentioned many times before, I develop this project as a hobby. I do not permit myself to feel pressured or inclined to put my time or energy into it, for a number of reasons, the strongest being that shoddy craftsmanship is very easy in times of stress. However, with a recent increase of time on my hands, I aim to put more focus into the project's development, and hopefully get it kicked into a higher gear. That's half of why I am here making this post: I want to form a slightly larger community and expand awareness a tad of the project, so I have another motivator keeping me inspired to write content for the game: a player-base, or at least a proper community of people interested in some regard. Whether or not I am able to find that, I certainly plan to further develop StreetzRPG especially for PC and Android platforms for quite some time, both because I've come too far with it to simply stop, and so I, myself have a neat "time-killer" game to play. I have found out the hard way not to give dates or promises on anything related to development, but it is my personal goal to have what most people would call "beta" out for PC and Android for sure by Winter 2022. Even longer term, as I first envisioned back in 2017, I'd like to expand on the base game with at least one DLC, well-developed and rich of content, set in an alternate biome. But that's all assuming we finish the base game any time soon.
A closing note...
If I did not stress it enough above, I'd like to state again that despite being in-and-out of development for five or so years, StreetzRPG is far from complete, or even playable enjoyably. So much more elbow grease and creativity is due to go into the project, so I do ask for your patience there. If you have any specific issues with the attached build of the game, feel free to include them in your reply, but I will again invite you to join my Discord server for the project, as I will likely forget I even posted this thread as soon as tomorrow! We'll have to see, but don't be shy to say hi and share your opinions with either method! And I will mention again, if you find this project interesting enough to volunteer your script or art skills, or even just significant time testing and bug finding, please don't be shy to express your interest in so! I urge you to check out some of the below media, consider joining our Discord if this strikes your interest particularly, install and try the game, and please don't restrain your constructive criticism and feedback! I hope I did alright for my first post here. It was worth the wait, and only good can come of this. Even if the game is a mess right now and I'm giving a bad example!!!
Revisions to come; don't be shy to lurk the thread, if you're interested.
