Orb
Obvious RPG Building… once was JERK
Summary
Orb is a JavaScript framework built for XP-like RPG game development in the Sphere environment.
I’ve been working on this off and on for a couple months and like any typical hobby software, will always be in development.
I plan on releasing the code as soon as I get it to a point where I wouldn’t feel as embarrassed by the some-what sloppy coding and design.
Motivation
Time and time again, I witness situations where people have absolutely great ideas for RPG’s. They have the tremendous ability to construct great stories, develop characters, create intriguing puzzles and draft artwork to support these endeavors. They start with extreme, almost naive-like optimism about creating the game. I know, I’ve been there. When it comes to the point of laying down the code for the dream game, the daunting amount of programming required is a sad reality check and hangs the project until enthusiasm for it runs out.
Combine that with the nature of developing an RPG game. You have to basically develop the entire thing to-completion before releasing it. Who wants to read only a chapter in a book?
I wanted to analyze this common problem of game rot.
Comic Books + RPGs + Extreme Programming
I’m not much of a comic book reader but the concept of comic books gave me the inspiration for Orb. Unlike books, comic books can tell a story a chapter at a time in a way that makes them work. They’re easy to distribute and are based off a some-what standard framework so readers can pick up where they left off with no additional learning.
Comic books are, in a way, the XP equivalent of books. They tell an overall story through a series of iterations. So why couldn’t an RPG work the same way?
Instead of spending years on an unreleased RPG developing it to completion, one could release issues of a game, which would continue to expand as players play through the story. This way a developer can release their game straight from the gate and start telling their story right away without dealing with the monstrous task of programming it all.
However, trying to deploy games in that manner using traditional means isn’t without problems. Orb tries to solve all this. It define a standard framework the game iterations can follow and depend on without having to worry about the typical overhead involved.
