Questions regarding EK and Flare game engine

[Borondil]

Hey, I have a question concerning David or maybe anyone else who has experince is game development.
Seeing all the things David did in EK inspired my and now I'm planning on developing my own CRPG. The game is supposed to be released on PC first but I plan on porting it to mobile later on as well. My strength is writing and world building. I'm not good at composing music or drawing art myself so I'm planning on using graphics from the flare game project and some free music from OGA. Since I have never coded before the big question ahead is which engine to use:
1. Solely flare engine: It seems convenient and easy to use but since the engine is made for ARPG's I fear I might not be able to implement some of the deeper conversation and character development systems I want to have. In addition to that I'm uncertain whether it is easy to get into the engine since there are only few tutorials.
2. Like EK a mixture between flare and a self coded engine: I guess this would offer me most options but it probably requires the deepest knowledge about programming. (I would be fine with using the EK engine but as far as I know David thinks that it is not ready to be used by anyone but him yet).
3. Unity engine: I guess this would be a lot of work since I'd need to learn a lot of new things, but considering the amount of available tutorials I don't expect it to be difficult. Since this one leaves me a lot of options and is easy to port I seriously consider using it.
I'm new to this forum and have never posted a thread before so I hope I did nothing wrong. Thanks in advance to anyone who replies to this post.

 

[VDX_360]

Since you've never coded before, I suggest you stick with using only one system and scrap any plans for a mobile port.

Using just one system and gearing towards one platform will avoid a lot of headaches, compatibility problems, update issues, and trouble shooting nightmares. The fact you don't seem to understand why the EK engine isn't portable seems to indicate you are better served by not touching it.

Now, for some tough love support:

You state "....My strength is writing and world building..."

Those are the most useless traits to have when making a game. The world is filled with "creative" people that completely suck at getting anything done.

Digital game development is all about the code challenges. Creating content ideas is the easiest part. Actually creating the content is the work.

By now means is this post intended to deter your quest. Far from it.

You will be well served in having a honest conversation with yourself about what you can realistically learn to code, what you can realistically learn to program, troubleshoot, and manage. Than make your game.

If you do what all the other "creative" people do, you'll have thousands of pages of ideas, detailed conversation options, multi-outcome quests, an expansive world.... but three lines of code.

As for those "deeper conversations".... No. Just no.

80-page dialogue you think is the cleverest thing since the first pun will read as tedious, boring, and come off at as the work of a narcistic jerk. That's not just thoughts, that's real world reviews, and tester feedback. And no, you don't get to say "well my game isn't for everyone, it's for the smart people." That's the defense of the idiots.

Keep your dialogue short, crisp and on-point. This will save you billions of hours of frustration and translation issues. And if your quest triggers are dialogue based, you'll avoid exponential issues with bugs and non-working options.

Take a coding class.

I look forward to purchasing you game when it comes out.

 

[Borondil]

Thank you very much, this helps a lot.

I'm well aware that my game is not going to be liked be everyone. CRPG's are quite niche and most gamers don't find enjoyment in them. This is fine, I don't need to make a living from that game. My game is supposed to resemble Planescape Torment so people who dislike that game will probably not appreciate mine either (but in no way would I call the people who like these kind of games smart. They're simply different.)

The coding is going to be the biggest obstacle in my path but I am ready to invest a lot of time in order to overcome it and present a fully fleshed out game. In order to keep the effort as small as possible I want to stick with the same engine from the beginning. Thanks to your reply I can already exclude the engine of EK. But what about the decision between flare and unity engine? Could you also recommend one of these?

Hope you have a nice day

 

[p4ran0id]

Hmmm, if you want to make a game for multiple platforms I recommend you to get used to unity instead. That way cross platform will be much easier. But you have to spend some time to learn how to code for sure. Friend of mine (but he has some coding experience) managed to get used to it in 2 weeks and build up a base similar to EK (looks similar)

 

[VDX_360]

Planescape Torment was made by the people who made Fallout. A full powerful house of a company made a division that made the game.

That might be well above what is realistic for a single person that is new to coding.

Unity is written in a mix of C++ and C#.

Flare is written in C++ and SLDR.

My best advice is for you to take a coding class. Community college or a tech college, but if you are solid independent learner, there are some decent online classes. Trying to do Youtube classes might be problematic when you have a question.

My totally-not-going-to-be-liable-for-your-decision: You should do your homework in looking at both engines, and see which one is better suited for your concept.

 

[VDX_360]

Unity is much better for mobile games. That's kind of it's thing.

But for a person with no coding experience, mobile game challenges might be problematic.

 

[Borondil]

I'm planning on leaving the "port to mobile" part out until I have a game to show on PC so this is not quite my focus at the moment. Yet even without considering the port your replies make me think unity is the right decision here. Thanks to both of you for the time you took to help me here
Oh and don't worry I'm not planning on making a game of the size, depth or quality of planescape, that would only end in frustration. It's simply supposed to be that type of style.
For now I'll stick to You-Tube self teaching and if that proves to be insufficient I might take coding classes as well.
As before, I hope you have a nice day