User:RavynousHunter/Reign

The Beginning
My ideas for Reign began several years back when I was a freshman in High School. It started out as a Morrowind-esque game based in a world called "Gideon." However, a few months after coming up with that idea, the game took its original form, a TI-83 calculator game that I hand-coded myself.

Idealizing Phase
Well, for several months, I had many other tasks to distract me from development of this game. When time came for me to start my sophomore year, I began to think up a story behind this world; and it started with a great war. However, this war would not have a true story until much later, and also took several forms before a "final" design was decided upon. I began to draw little maps of various people and things, just tooling around with the idea, nothing serious. Again, however, school became the major distraction it had always been and this project got left in an unfinished state for some time.

The True Work Begins
Shortly after the beginning of my junior year, I found some of my old notes on this world, and noticed how unfinished and slightly silly the world was in its current state. By that time, I took up an interest in D&D, and designed the game around a campaign that took place in this world. It was there that I began to actually work on the world of Gideon, I began mapping the continents, creating cities, backstories, people, heroes, villains; all the great things you find in more modern games.

This is where the story of the Great War began. It was a war that was fought 1,000 years before the story of the D&D campaign I was planning; fought between the side of Maat Onortsar, a half-daemon, half-angel paladin; and the side of the Devil King, Baphomet. That's all I'm getting into right now, suffice to say the world was beginning to take its true shape.

Design Phase
During and after my senior year, I began actually designing the world, in a more serious form than I had previously done. I scrapped my original system that I was going to use in favor of the more proven D&D 3.5 system. I begun work on actually programming the game some 6-7 months into my senior year.

As It Stands Today
Its been almost an entire year since I graduated, and the game still lies unfinished. I've been working mostly on the world and the Eldritch language, but I've also been working on programming this game under Direct-X 8, and beginning the arduous task of developing a scripting system. I've had several distractions that have taken me away from my work; be it life, or having to move to a new place and getting all that crap situated. So far, I have a working SourceForge page, SVN repository, and forum dedicated to this game. Its all rather barren at the moment, but I'm still working on this project of mine in conjunction with the LAN Project.

Updates
03:54, 14 June 2008 (UTC) -->  Working on fleshing out the character handling system, stumbled upon a working (albeit a bit aged) graphics rendering engine (made by the late Seumas McNally). While the SVN has been updated for the character handling (minus a few minor changes); the graphics system hasn't, and won't until I get the system converted from DirectDraw to DirectX 8.0 SDK.

07:54, 15 June 2008 (UTC) --> Decided to go with SDL in lieu DirectX, due to problems converting the aged code to comply with DX8 SDK. Also decided to re-work script system to instead fill out object data from XML files instead of scripts.

11:20, 24 June 2008 (UTC) --> Happened upon a working engine core for my game (under SDL and OpenGL). SVN suppository has been updated with this change. Will also continue work on the storyline, important NPCs, and such. Check this page for updates every now and then.

06:28, 17 July 2008 (UTC) --> Begun working on spell scripts, first commit of Spells.xml to SVN repository.

18:29, 9 August 2008 (UTC) --> Begun work on class and race scripts, first commission of both Classes.xml and Races.xml to SVN repository.

18:27, 20 August 2008 (UTC) --> Waiting for full PC recovery after having to reformat and repartition main HDD. Begun designing savefile architecture.

02:37, 23 August 2008 (UTC) --> Reworked HitCheck function in DnD_Math namespace to identify critical hits. Begun working on item scripts (ie: Cheese). Will update SVN when more work has been completed.

23:52, 26 August 2008 (UTC) --> Begun working on Feat script file, Feats.xml. Will update SVN with new data when I get the chance.

09:00, 27 August 2008 (UTC) --> Committed Feats.xml, modified DnD_Math.h and DnD_Math.cpp, and Items.xml to SVN repository.

21:39, 23 February 2009 (UTC) --> Decided to toss the C++ idea due to a lack of easily acquired tools and a computer crash + HDD malfunction and have decided to work it using C# and the Tao framework (amongst other possible extensions). That said, the SVN is pretty much out-of-date and I have gotten at least some work done on things such as the scripting system; which will be a separate .DLL instead of a series of XML files (thank you for the solution-project model you've given me, Microsoft). It will still be freeware and the world will be the same, it will just have the added requirement of the 3.5 version of the .Net framework and a bit bigger once done.

Note
I must insist that no one steal my ideas. The game in and of itself is open-source, that does not mean that the story, world, characters, and the like are. In fact, they are not. While you can edit the bare guts of the game and modify it to your pleasure, you can not take my ideas. The world of Gideon, its people, its lands, and its history are mine. I have only this to say to would-be thieves : "Get your own idea."

However, if you wish to make a Reign-inspired game, all you need to do is throw me an email (to RavynousHunter@yahoo.com) asking for permission, and maybe a short description of your story and whatnot. So long as you get permission first, I don't mind one bit.

Links

 * Reign Boards
 * Reign SourceForge Page
 * TTLG Forums Thread (contains various info on the game, including my progress on the Eldritch language)
 * Notable People of Gideon (Past and Present)
 * Races of Gideon aside from those found in the Player's Handbook
 * The Story of Reign
 * Eldritch Language Guide
 * The Future of Gideon
 * Gideon's Past
 * Unique Denizens of Gideon
 * Unique Destinations (separated by continent)
 * Help Wanted Sign