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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zulithe" data-source="post: 1951143" data-attributes="member: 4708">"The RPG tool i want to make would eventually be a cross between PCgen and OpenRPG, but initially it would be a very basic character generator that is not RPG-system specific."Very easy to say, not at all easy to do. This is going to be a very ambitious project. I encourage you to code what you like, but also keep in mind that, the more complex and ambitious the project is, the more likely you will get burnt out or find it too overwhelming, which likely could cause you to just abandon it all together. I would start smaller if I were you. Might I suggest starting smaller, perhaps with a multi-user map program, somewhat like a whitebaord that the DM can control by drawing basic maps and/or loading pre-created map images, and the players can move their tokens around for combats, dungeons, etc. Players and Dms can organize and play their games through instant messaging programs or IRC, and use the program to visualize the environments.True, other open-source programs (namely OpenRPG) have similar features, but the turnoff is that they require the user to install additional software for them to work (OpenRPG alone requires both Python and wxPython to be installed just to run it) A craftier and more user-friendly way would be to include all that your program needs right in the installer, and leave out all the bits that it DOESN'T need. Thanks to tools like <a href="http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/py2exe/" target="_blank">py2exe</a>, this wouldn't be hard to do at all. It's too bad the OpenRPG folks don't do something like that.Then, once it is reasonably complete, you could expand it to include built-in chat, dice rolling, and eventually, character generation.Breaking your idea up into smaller goals will make things easier and you'll have something to show for your efforts much faster.More on Python: While it is still in the talking stages, there are plans for a "real" compiler for Python. It's very possible, only it will take more time for Python to evolve to that point. I think it is planned for Python 3.0 (the next major release following the recent 2.4) As it stands now, Python is an interpreted language, and so isn't well-suited for process intensive tasks like full 3D games, but the introduction of a compiler to convert Python code to machine code would remedy this. Essentially, it would allow Python programs to run/launch as fast (if not faster) than those coded in C++, plus the development time would be dramatically lower. If you decide to go with Python now, you have this to look forward to in the near future. Game development in Python, which already is thriving and growing, will then become an easy choice for newbies and pros alike.Something to consider.Anyway, I'm a big supporter of Python, but C++ is still the better choice if you are willing to spend the time it takes to learn it proficiently. I just wanted to show that choosing to learn Python could pay of bigger than you may have thought. There's nothing to say you can't learn multiple languages either. Once you master one language, the others will be easier to grasp (especially if they are similar, and Python is similar to C in many ways)</blockquote>

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