ORK Framework - The complete RPG Engine for Unity 5

Unreal is a more complete engine and not out-dated, and they also give people source code

https://www.unrealengine.com/register

the link shows the price and whatnot

 

Can anyone upload a pic with the new GUI vs the old GUI? Thanks...

 

But i guess you dont have a store with all the ready stuff here, so you will have to recreate everything from scratch. And programming is not even remotly as easy as in Unity.

Sure has some nice perks in graphics, but is not indie friendly yet. The price means nothing much, plus Unity is actually free, so has a better initial price too.

I wonder if they will also start a store though

 

They have a store, they just haven't made it were you can view it through the web browser yet

I'm waiting for the comparison to Unity 5 to Unreal 4

And Unity comes free...for a price, they hack away at the engine, making it less complete

 

Indeed, i guess both have their ups and downs

The fact of the matter is that Unity has helped me immensly with the store assets like ORK and i have managed to get some really spectacular graphics, so Unreal does not seem that appealing to me right now

But for my next game, who knows ?

 

New gameplay tutorial

This time a small gameplay bit: Visiting an Inn
Use the event system and a simple Information type HUD (to display the player's current amount of money) for the full inn experience


@VataRaven
Ok, porting ORK Framework to C++ would be quite a pain ...

@David5988
That wouldn't really tell you much - looks pretty much the same and really depends on how you set up the GUI (e.g. what backgrounds you use, etc.). It's more about the background (draw call reduction) that counts.

 

New ORK Framework beta for Unity 4.6

A new beta version is available for the new UI - this time with greatly improved draw calls and thread time.

 

Hey, could you please make a tutorial how to use ORK in a 2d environment. Just a simple to get started. Thank you!!!!

 

Hello ppl, i have a question for those of you who own's playmaker addon. What are principal differences between playmaker and ORC framework? Strong/weak sides of both. Which one is easier to learn/use and have more functions? Thank you.

 

ORK Framework 2.1.9 coming end of next week

Brings some new HUD features, new input keys (mouse/touch) and some other small improvements. See the details here.


@Devision4
There isn't that much difference between 3D and 2D in ORK Framework. You'll still use prefabs for things like your combatants - only that you're probably using sprites instead of 3D models in the prefabs.
Things to consider when going 2D:
- you'll most likely need your own custom controls, because ORK's built-in controls are for 3D (but that also depends on which gameplay style you're aiming at)
- use 2D colliders instead of the usual 3D ones, but again, this also depends on your gameplay style

@Doctor per
I don't think Playmaker and ORK Framework are really comparable. While Playmaker is a universal tool to create gameplay, ORK Framework is a highly specialized (but very flexible) RPG toolkit.
I.e. ORK focuses on things like status systems, battles, abilities, etc. - basically everything you'll need to create a RPG.

You can give the free test version a try if you're interested, I'd recommend starting with the game tutorials

 

Nice .

 

I Still wonder if a Episodic Format is Hard to to With ORKs Framework.

 

ORK Framework 2.1.9 released

This update brings new mouse and touch input keys and updates to HUDs, Menu Screens, Formulas and the Event System, use bestiary information in Battle AI and other updates and fixes.

As always, the update has already been sent out to customers and should be available in the Asset Store shortly.


@cynel
Well, just try it out?

 

Can i use ORK framework with unity free version
Are there any differences in the way it behaves with free and pro versions of unity

 

ORK Framework 2.1.9a released

Bugfix version with some small new features, see the release notes.


@karmik
Yes, ORK Framework works with the free version of Unity and there are no differences between free and pro when using it

 

Hello everyone.

How hard is to build an RPG like Gothic (open world, same camera position, same AI) with this framework?

Thanks

 

Since Worms is a turn-based game... can I make a Worms like game with this framework?

 

ORK Framework 2.1.10 coming end of next week

Will bring some great new features, e.g. Earthbound style rolling HP and battles automatically ending when the player leaves the arena. More details can be found here.


@primus88
I'd say around as hard as any other kind of RPG - it's still a lot of work, even with a tool as ORK Framework

@David5988
Yeah, I think that's doable.

 

How can I make the character move in my turn?

 

Hi,

I need to give orders to my allies through code. Is it possible to have some of the variables in the events affected by the distance of the hero and a target at each step ? Also can i stack orders in code, like call cast ability many times for a mage to start shooting fireballs in sequence, until runs out of mana etc

Thanks

 

ORK Framework 2.1.10 released

New auto save slot mechanic, end battles by physically running away, new event steps, assign shortcuts via menus and other updates, changes and fixes. See the full release notes here.

As usual, the update has already been sent out to customers and will be in the Asset Store shortly.


@David5988
Like a move command? That's currently not available as an extra command, but you could implement it as an ability, e.g. selecting a spot to move to using the Raycast to Variable step and set the combatant's battle spot to this position (and move the combatant there).

@nasos_333
You could let the Battle AI handle that based upon variable conditions. All you'd need to do would be setting those variables via code, e.g. ORK.Game.Variables.Set("fireballs", true).

 

Does Ork allow you to assign random values from x to y to say str, on a given character's levelup? instead of a static value at every level. Or any other formula based stat incrementation for that matter.

 

Yeah, that's possible.
Beside creating a fixed status development curve, you can also use formulas (which also allow random values) to increase the status values. Also, you can create an upgrade system where you spend experience or items for increasing your stats - or use the event system to create a custom leveling system (e.g. like this example).

 

Happy Birthday, ORK!

ORK turns 4 today – you know what this means?
50 % Birthday Discount!
Get it now for only $45 instead of $90 in the Asset Store!

 

Hello!

Got ORK today in the sales

Would this be good for making something like Kingdom Hearts combat wise?

From what I've seen, its not very suited to Elder Scrolls type combat just yet

-Sean

 

I hope other asset developers don't think like this

Honestly, people on the Unreal forum said they would buy the more useful assets (things that just aren't 3d models) if they came to the store

 

3rd party plugins are always problem, sooner or later there is no support - updates for new version of engine, etc (there is only very few exceptions which lived more than 1 year) and then you have big problem. And sad is, that you need 3rd party extensions for functionality, which each professional engine has out of box (nice example is terrain). Unity is fantastic for quick start, but once you want to finish more complex project, you usually have to change engine. There is too much instablity in core features (memory leaks), lots of features simply does not work in more compex scenes (umbra, beast...). I ve checked latest version of Unity and troubles (show stopper crashes or visual bugs) I reported 3 years ago are still not fixed.

Stories like this are very common for each more complex Unity project: http://martiancraft.com/blog/2014/08/an-unreal-decision/

 

Unfortunately C++ is night and day harder to use than C#, so the assets, at least from my perspective, would have to be sold for multiple times the price to even remotly cover for the extra time needed to implement and keep such code updated. In some cases would be totally impossible to keep the same project in C++ comparing to C#, simply due to complexity, especially for one man team.

That is why Unity is so popular in the first place. C# is like one of the most important things that happened to indie game making

My RPG project is as complex as they get and i have not run into any major issues yet, ORK is beeing developed for the best and the graphics are beyond stunning. I trully have not felt the need to move to Unreal for any reason yet. In fact without ORK, the project would have gone years behind, if it would have been possible at all. I dont see how Unreal would be any help, it seems more like it would not allow me to even start on the project, even if i only counted the C++ factor.

Sure Unity is not perfect, but is definitly working and is definitly allowing me to make my dream game, which would be impossible as things are right now in any other engine.

EDIT: I just read the article, sure it has some valid points, but most are a matter of personal preference. The C++ and Blueprint sound good for non code people, for coders like me C# is ideal and i cant work in visual environments for a serious game, it slows down development by orders of magnitude comparing to just coding stuff.

I did have memory issues at some point, which i managed to solve in various ways, first by bypassing the problem, then by solving it at the root. This again is something that can happen anywhere, having Unreal in 64bit does not mean that is good to load 8Gb stuff at any point when you only need 1Mb data, so Unity actually helped me optimize that aspect in this case and the 64bit one is also coming.

In the end, Unreal may be better for very large teams that can afford to program from scratch and in C++, in any other case i dont see how Unreal could be a viable solution as it stands today, especially for my RPG.

Another very important aspect of Unity, is also the choice and variety you get from the store, not all solutions fit all projects and definitly not one hardcoded set of features can cover as well the needs for various projects as well as the store does. I have found myself using some assets that gave me the exact look / functionality i wanted to get, than try to invent the wheel based on something concrete and hardcoded.

 

You made some valid points and ORK framework is indeed great. But it is not that easy. Just by switching to other engine, our development was moved 1 year ahead, because what we had to manually do in unity, it was done out of box there (modern terrain system, proper streaming, no workarounds for terrible memory management needed...). Btw, 2 years after and these features are still not part of Unity core. Other thing was performances aspect, identical complex scene (thousands of objects, we migrated our scenes 1:1) have 4x smaller memory footprint and 5x higher framerate in even better visual quality. And no crashes, on Unity our artists had crashes 20 times per hour (memory leaks in complex scenes and it was only unity with assets, not even line of custom code!). One of them was so frustrated, that he quit the job. We were also crashing out of memory in small terrains (2x2km) and it was not possible to make reasonable workaround without writing half of engine again, it was (is) problem of terrain engine and implementation of physics system. Now we have 12*12km without no problem at all (tested 256*256km), visibility 20km no problem....So yes, for something Unity is really great (small casual games), but there are still serious issues, which any big RPG (game) will encounter (sooner or later, it depends what are you developing first) and without source code it is showstopper. We were lucky, that we find these things "only" after 1,5 year of development. We had to start from beginning on other engine. Our company almost bankrupted because of it. And it is no crying, we have no real issues on new engine. Instead of workarounding we started real development. This is reason, why there are no big studios developing on Unity (or very, very rarely, always with source licence and there is no real AAA project). They rather use Cryengine, UDK, or Unigine or even custom engine.

 

I see, some of these issues can be terrible if you have a big world based on large maps. My RPG is a rather different case, it is very big with 150+ maps, but is based on smaller areas with hand crafted detail and is structured like Zelda, with smaller maps for strategic combat and larger maps (but not very large) for exploration, using some verticality to enchance the feeling of scale. In this case Unity works very well and i can get the graphics i want in decent frame rates, plus ORK provides a stable ready RPG base that would be very hard for me to do from scratch. Smoothmoves is also extremely helpful and the systems i have rolled in C# (Particle Dynamic Magic, SkyMaster and GI Proxy) allows effects that are not readilly available in Unreal and would be much harder to recreate in C++.

Though i could do with extra fps counts for sure, if Unreal could provide that out of the box .

 

Hi there, I'm not sure I understand how Ork handles saving games. Does it save stuff to a file? how about encryption?, can it save over the web?
Also can i create variables that are not stats or anything, to also be saved?
About the 'multiple languages' support, how is that handled? is it like the many localization systems in the asset store? is the localization or whatnot also saved to a file/encrypted?

Also, how s the performance with Ork, on mobile these days?
I use 2dtoolkit to handle my 2d stuff, my guess is Ork will integrate well with the kit, if it does you should advertise that it does, for the 2d devs out there. 2dtk is a big name in the store.

I'm looking for a GUI solution to, as you can see, handle data saving/loading and translation, with security in mind.
I was gonna holdon to purchasing Ork til later on another project, but if it has these features I'd rather buy it than any other tool, simply for the rpg stuff, and many other things that might be useful in my games.

Thanks again,
Cheers

 

Sorry guys, have been ill the last 3 weeks, so with some delay:

ORK Framework 2.1.11 released

This update brings a new override question dialogue for the auto save slot selection, Unity 5 compatibility and other changes and fixes.

As always, the update has already been sent out to customers and is available in the Unity Asset Store.


@Kiori
You can either save to Unity's PlayerPrefs or to save game files. The location of both depends on the OS the game is running on, e.g. on windows, the player prefs save to the registry and the save game files into a directory in your user's directory (which depends on the company/game title you set up in Unity).
Everything you set up in ORK, e.g. game variables to keep track of game progress, will be saved with the save game. You can also optionally exclude things from being saved (lots of settings for that).

The multiple languages are pretty straight forward - add a language in the editor and set up the names and descriptions for the various items, combatants or abilities of your game. All the data (names, settings, etc.) are saved into a single asset file and can optionally be encrypted (the save games can also be encrypted optionally).

There are already projects using 2D toolkit (e.g. Dead Gear), Unity's 2D functionality is also supported. In regards of performance, that's mostly up to what you pack into the game (graphics, effects, etc.), ORK wont be a bottleneck there

You should probably just download the free test version and try it out yourself. I'd recommend going through the game tutorials to learn using ORK Framework.

Since Unity 4.6 came out yesterday, the ORK beta for 4.6 will soon become ORK 2.2.0 for official support of the new UI.

 

I needed a solution so i ended up buying easy save2. But tell me, do you use unity's regular serialization method to save the data into files or did you create your own method?
One of the reasons i decided to pick ES2 up was that they have their own solution that is faster and more reliable than the traditional unity way.
Also do you offer or plan to offer whole scene saving(roughly speaking), like a auto-save of sorts feature?

I'm glad Ork has so many features I'll pick it up later on.
What are the limitations of the free version? just so I know what I'm to expect when testing.

thanks btw.

 

ORK uses its own custom XML serialization which is pretty fast - it's used for the data you create in the editor and in save games.
Whole scene saving is something I'd like to add in the future, but I can't really say when that will happen

The free version is only limited in regards of data quantity, e.g. you can only create 10 items. There are no feature limitations, you can work with everything and test everything - you just aren't able to create enough items, combatants, etc. to create a full game

 

ORK Framework 2.2.0 released

This update brings official support for the New UI and Unity 4.6 - and some other small features and fixes.
See the full release notes for details.

The update has already been sent out to customers and will be available in the Asset Store shortly.

 

ORK Framework 2.2.1 released

New functionality to save custom save data with ORK save games, new base experience factor for combatants, stackable status effects and other new features, changes and fixes.
You can learn more about this update in the release notes.


New How-To: Custom Save Data

Here's a how-to on the new custom save data functionality, including a short code example.

 

Thanks GiL! The support on this asset is one of the most professional in the Unity ecosystem.

I highly recommend it for anyone making a single-player RPG.

 

ORK Framework 2.2.2 released

This update brings new shortcut lists functionality (i.e. combatants can have multiple sets of shortcuts), optionally class based shortcut lists and other small features, changes and fixes. In short - a huge boost to the shortcut system
See the full release notes for details.

As usual, the update has already been sent out to customers and will be available in the Asset Store shortly.

Happy holidays, everyone!

 

wow that was a surprise anyways i accepted that UMA support wont come i just like the idea of modular character design for ORK.

 

Happy holidays and thanks for the cool updates

 

watching this. there are a couple things that I feel are still missing and/or do not fully understand, but will most certainly buy this once 5 is out and this is updated to 5-compatiblity

EDIT: while waiting for that, however, those that have it, can you list which other Unity Extensions work nicely with this one? and I mean WITH, not overwriting anything!

 

How feasible is ORK for creating a non-RPG, such as an RTS game? Just curious

 

ORK Framework 2.2.3 released

This update brings new status requirements and use of them for conditional status changes (e.g. abilities, items), loads of new event system steps and other new features, changes and fixes.
See the full list of new features, changes and fixes in the release notes.

As usual, the update has already been sent out to customers and is available in the Asset Store.


@cynel
You should already be able to use UMA with ORK by using the event system and the lately implemented custom save data system. Probably requires some custom scripting.

@Dark_Ansem
I guess we already solved/discussed that in the ORK Community forum

@Exeneva
RTS would probably work, but not out of the box. You'll most likely need some custom controls, but a lot can already be covered with the event system.
You could just give it a try with the free test version of ORK Framework. I'd recommend going through the game tutorials first to learn the basics, before jumping on RTS

 

Here is what I have been using the original ORK (as well as TBTK):

I'll be putting it on Steam Green-light today! I'm so excited! Been working towards this for years!

 

ORK Framework 2.2.4 released

This time, there's a new Crafting List menu screen to allow crafting based on added ingredients, new requirement settings for dialogue choices, an update to value bars and lots of other new features, changes and fixes.

See the release notes for all new features, changes and fixes. The update has already been sent out to customers and is available in the Unity Asset Store.


@drewradley
Looking good - how's it going with getting greenlit?

 

Do you NEED the Interaction controller for NPC interaction? Because I removed mine and it still worked...

 

Hi,
I have downloaded your free demo and have to say I have been very impressed by the capabilites of your program (the tutorial is really impressive!). However, the more I play with it, the more unsure I am if my idea is compatible/half compatible.

Basically I'm looking for a system where my player character is an assasin type guy and thus his main weapoon is a gun, not a sword/spear etc. I'd be looking to have the shooting aim controlled by the player's mouse with enemies aiming via a AI script which determines accuracy based on their rank etc. I'd also ideally look to have the player character be able to buy better weapons at black market shops, which would improve the damage of the shots.

Does this sound like it is something implementable (even partially, say via the shop mechanic) with your system or would I have to look elsewhere?

Thanks

 

@AliquidHacker
Actually, yes, the interaction controller is needed - if you removed it in the running game, it's possible that a reference is still available.

@455224
Yes, that's possible, and there are already some projects using ORK Framework as an FPS (e.g. firing projectile prefabs or using raycasts). Depending on the actual controls you want in your game, you may need your own custom controls (see this how-to for more details on using your own control scripts).
Buying weapons would be handled by the shop system

The ORK Community forum is a good place to ask those kind of questions - usually there's someone who already did something like that and can help you.

 

ORK Framework 2.3.0 released

This is the biggest update since the initial release with a massive load of new features. Some of the highlights are:

• Group Abilities
  Let a group learn an ability instead of a combatant, making it available to all members of the group.
• Shops selling Abilities
  That’s right – no need to sell scrolls, immediately learn new abilities when buying them in the shop.
• Status Effect Types
  Separate your status effects into different types, e.g. allows removing all negative effects with a curing ability/item.
• Attack/Defence Status Effects
  Automatically use the user’s attack effects on the target, or the target’s defence effects on the user of an ability.
  E.g. for things like poison knifes or toxic enemies that poison everyone who physically attacks them.
• Equipment Durability
  Weapons and armors can now optionally wear off!
  Outworn equipment can either not give bonuses, be unequipped or destroyed.
• Circle Choice Mode
  GUI Boxes can now display choices in a circle, creating radial menus.
  You can even set up Shortcut HUDs in circles now.
• Custom Input Script Support
  You can now optionally use custom input scripts for Input Keys.

For more details, check out the full release notes.
The update has already been sent out to customers and will be available in the Asset Store shortly.

 

Hey, I'm finally starting a project with the new ORK and would like to know how I check what the current game control is in a script? i.e. if it's in an event or not. I need to manually check for that in some scripts because setting it up to let ORK control the 3rd party player control scripts causes all kinds of problems so I want to do it the old fashioned way. I just cant seem to figure out what the code is to find the current game control or state.

heh. Kept plugging things in and finally found it: ORKFramework.ORK.Control.InEvent