I’ve been tinkering with the procedural generation part of this project for a couple of months, but have yet to make it into any kind of game. The 2023 32-bit spring cleaning jam is the perfect excuse actually to do something meaningful with this project! So, can I whip this into an open-world browser-based RPG in just 2 weeks' time? Probably not a feature complete one, so I had better set some achievable goals. I plan to implement the following features before the end of the jam:

NPCs for the player to interact with

I have grand plans for how NPC interactions could play out in the long run. But for this milestone, the player will simply be able to initiate a dialogue with them and learn something about the world. What dungeons may be nearby? What kind of beasts or treasures can be found within?

A weapon for the player to wield

What is an RPG without a multitude of weapons and armour to equip? The starting point for this Jam will be a single sword. As a stretch goal (time permitting) perhaps an axe as an alternative?

I am going to skip inventory for now as I am sure that will eat up far too much time. 

Combat and enemies to slay! 

I have been playing around on paper with a potential combat system for some months. I hope to get the basics for this implemented within the jam timeframe. The premise is that the player will have 3 basic attacks to choose from. Slash, stab, and clobber. Each attack will put the player in a specific stance with different strengths and weaknesses. A slashing attack is strong against an opponent in a stabbing stance but weak against an opponent in a clobbering stance. 

As for enemies, it would be nice to have more than one but we shall see how it goes. Ideally, enemies will follow the same combat system as the player having multiple attack types and stances that present strengths and weaknesses.

Dungeons to explore

The next most important piece of a procedurally generated RPG is dungeons! I have yet to play around with dungeon generation in this project having been focused on the overworld. I plan to utilize the code used to generate villages and towns to create some simple dungeons based on a binary partition tree algorithm. Access to these dungeons will be through some teleportation or doors on the overworld. This prevents me from wasting time trying to figure out how to cut holes in the procedurally generated terrain.

The usual suspects

Of course, I will also need to implement all the usual stuff such as title screens, music, sound effects, menus, and credits for any creative commons assets used.

So do I think I can achieve all of the above? I don’t have a lot of free time to work on this so it will be tight. But I think I can have something playable and hopefully fun by the end of the Jam 🙂

And if by some stroke of luck, I have extra time, here are some other things I would like to implement:

• Loot and treasure
• NPC trade
• Simple character progression
• More above-ground locations (farms, villages, ruins, etc.)
• Town interiors
• Map clutter (bushes, crates, barrels, carts, etc.)
• …