Introduction

Imagine this: You create a new paladin character with random stats and hit points, receive your first quest, and begin exploring the game world. You stumble upon a skeleton warrior pacing near a pile of treasure. You attack the skeleton, and it hits you back! You roll 1D20 and score a critical hit! The 20-point die, plus dexterity, against the skeleton’s armor class, nets a guaranteed hit. Your damage roll is 1D8 plus your strength and weapon modifier, which is 1D4, more than enough to kill the monster! It falls to the ground, a jumble of bones. Lying next to the unmoving skeleton is chain mail armor, which you pick up and equip, giving your character a huge boost in armor points. You also pick up 10 gold coins and gain 25 experience points. A magic key is also found, completing the first quest! Now you dream of finding a better sword. Off to the right, you spot a whole group of undead, the remains of a cursed Viking army, which surely have gear and gold you could use . . . and you head toward them to battle!

This is no fictional narrative. You will learn to build a game with every feature just described in detail! This book will teach you how to create your own fully functional role-playing game (RPG) using Visual Basic. You will learn step-by-step how to construct each part of the game engine using Windows Forms and GDI+, including a tiled scroller, game editors, and scripting. If you think role-playing games are fun to play, wait until you start working on your very own adventure! Constructing an RPG is more fun than playing one, because you are in complete control over the game world, and you can let your imagination loose to create adventures for others to enjoy. However, it is not easy! Just as your game character must gain experience and level up, so must you level up by reading each chapter to learn new skills!