Can I make an action RPG?

[Gladamir]

Zelda IS most certainly an action role-playing game, you pretend to be a hero and upgrade and collect items so that you can kill enemies in real time.

 

[Milkdud]

Zelda IS most certainly an action role-playing game, you pretend to be a hero and upgrade and collect items so that you can kill enemies in real time.

Then by this definition, every game that isn't turn-based is an Action RPG.

The Legend of Zelda series is an action-adventure game.

 

[amerk]

I typically view any game (aside from platform and shooters) to be an rpg of sorts, even if it doesn't have you gaining gold, grinding for experience, and leveling up. But that also means I classify games like Resident Evil and Metal Gear into a sort of categorized rpg as well. Essentially, any game with rpg elements can be viewed as a sort of rpg, or rpg-hybrid.

Personally, I have viewed Zelda as a sort of action rpg myself, only because you move through various dungeons, gain money, purchase new items, etc., but classifying it as an action adventure game with rpg elements helps distinguish it from other similar games like Secret of Mana that incorporates more rpg elements.

Either way, though, Zelda is a type of rpg, just like Galaga and Defender for the atari were different types of space shooters, but space shooters all the same.

 

[Gladamir]

I just think of it as role playing game, where you pretend to be something else and follow through an imaginary tale, so I pretty much consider all games in this genre, I just divide them between action ( real time) or turn based games. And JRPG's don't necessarily mean turned based, it just means it's Japanese. Examples of this are Odin's Sphere and Muramasa: the demon blade. They are both JRPG's.

 

[Yasha]

Hi, I am considering buying rpg maker ace. Like the title of this thread I am also interested in making action rpgs (among other things). I have looked at several tutorials and youtube video guides, and I really like the graphic assets included, and the simplicity and logic of the system. I am coming from a background of gamemaking in multi-media fusion and Construct, which are easy to make "actiony/platformer" type games with but extremely difficult to make rpgs in.

I have seen that i can create a fairly deep crafting and inventory system with rpg maker (or at least thats the impression I get) but I really do not like the static old style JRPG battle system- especially the front facing system in ACE. I have scoured the net for a workable game making software that combines what I see in RPG maker on the RPG-system front, with an easily implemented action-type battle system like in mmf, but I have found no workable solution (there are things like Torque and Unity, but these are complex and you need to build all the systems from scratch, which is what i want to avoid because it is so time consuming; another called engine001 is close but just seems to be an undocumented, confusing mess).

I have read some replies here that you can implement different battle systems with scripting, and many of you have said that it is difficult. My question is if any of you have used construct or mmf, is scripting to change the battle system and the like, similar in complexity to editing events in MMF or is it more like heavy programming? Are there solid documentation to get you started, or is it more like you have to learn Ruby enmasse from ground up to do anything? (in which case there are other languages I would probably want to devote that time to).

I may just buy it because it looks so fun to play with, and I absolutely love the graphical resources, map editor, and what I've seen of the conditional editors, but if only I could make action rpgs with it easily it would be a no-brainer. Will no company rise to fill this niche?

 

[sabao]

As pointed out before, there are scripts already out. You could take the easy way, just copy and paste one of any scripts floating around that can enable support for such a battle system, follow the instructions usually supplied in the documentation, and you probably wouldn't have to touch the script anymore at all. The only trouble everyone here's talking about is for those cases when you want to add a new function into the system, or even just apply minor aesthetic/functional modifications. It's not an absolute necessity, but for the sake of personalizing your work, knowing how to script or the very least understanding it enough to apply whatever modifications you please is convenient.

 

[Yasha]

Thanks Sabao, I'll have to check it out in more depth then. I am also impressed by such an active community and all the tutorials and resources I see.

 

[Tsukihime]

I just think of it as role playing game, where you pretend to be something else and follow through an imaginary tale, so I pretty much consider all games in this genre, I just divide them between action ( real time) or turn based games. And JRPG's don't necessarily mean turned based, it just means it's Japanese. Examples of this are Odin's Sphere and Muramasa: the demon blade. They are both JRPG's.

If everything is RPG then there's no point in calling them RPG's since it is implied.

The question is whether they fall under the action genre, which is what the replies were directed to, not the fact that they're "not RPG's"