Features
Previous Top Next

A World of Text

            The TBG Engine Suite is a set of GUI based tools that are being developed to create Text Based Games for Windows XP and now with the Alpha release of the engine, Windows Mobile! Want to create a room? Just a couple clicks of the button and you're done! Need to add an item? Simply use the Item Wizard styled editor to create it, then with a single click of the mouse button you can have it added into your room in just a matter of seconds! The new TBG Engine Suite is the first MUD styled Game Engine that is GUI based and can run on a mobile platform along side the desktop PC!

The Tools

  The TBG Engine currently includes 6 editors\tools that developers will use to design their text based games. Each editor will work the same on both the PC and Mobile versions of the engine. While the editors might look a little different you can achieve the same results, regardless of which platform you are currently running the Engine suite on.
  The included 6 editors are listed below along with an explanation of how the editor is used in the course of development.
Project Editor
Manages all project related information, along with testing(PC Edition only) and publishing your project
Room Editor
Create rooms, link them together, place objects into the room all with a couple clicks of the mouse.
Item Editor
Quickly create healing or damaging items, add Gold to the player, create a weapon or armor that can be used throughout your project.
NPC & Dialog Editor
Create NPC's that can talk and interact with the user. A Branching Dialog Editor is built into the NPC Editor so the player can interact with NPC's and help move the story line along.
Monster Editor
Create your own custom monsters; assign them skills that have been created with the Skill Designer and then place them into the world with the Room Editor.
Skill Designer
The skill designer is currently only used by the Monster Editor. While users can't have skills assigned to their players just yet, it is a feature being planned for the near future.
TBG Runtime
Play the projects that you have created or downloaded from other users! The runtime works similar to a MUD styled game, the user enters commands through text and the engine outputs the results to the window. There is an optional GUI that can be turned on or off, allowing the users to move about the rooms with the click of a button.


What's Under the Hood


            The TBG Engine Suite is currently being developed for Microsoft’s Windows XP, Microsoft’s PocketPC 2003 and Windows Mobile compatible devices.
            The TBG Engine Suite has been written in Visual Basic.Net 2003 for the PC Edition and Basic4PPC for the Mobile Edition. The Source code to both the PC and Mobile Editions of the engine can be downloaded and modified to fit each developers needs for his\her projects. The source code has been well documented and the TBG Engine Suite includes a complete set of tutorials on how to use the TBG Engine Suite's Game Development Tools and documentation on how the source code is laid out, what the major components are and what the differences are between the Mobile version and the PC version.
 
            Development on the Mobile edition has just started and you might encounter some bugs, as development of the TBG Engine Suite moves on, extensive testing is done to ensure no issues exist. If any due, I will work hard to resolve the issue and get the fix released ASAP.