Guide to the OHR part 1 - What is the OHRRPGCE?

One of the purposes of The Hamster Burrow is to provide a guide for those new to the OHRRPGCE. In this 5-part series, we'll discuss the past and future of the OHR, some excellent games to show the power of the tools, and how to get started making your own game. Today, we'll showcase a bit of general knowledge and history.

Author: TheCube (Clint Emsley)

If you're new to this whole OHRRPGCE business, then you're probably wondering just what the heck it is. Well, technically it stands for the Official Hamster Republic Role Playing Game Creation Engine...but that doesn't say a whole lot, does it? In a nutshell, the OHRRPGCE (which I'll call the OHR from now on) is a set of tools that anyone can use to create an RPG with no knowledge of programming or advanced computer skills. It is not a new tool, and it has its limitations, but it is certainly unique among its brethren of game creation tools.

The OHR was created by one James Paige back in 1997 so that he could create his dream game, Wandering Hamster. He originally planned on selling both the game and the engine as shareware, but quickly ended up releasing both as freeware. Over time, the OHR grew a small community of dedicated game developers. Even though the feature set was limited (there weren't even sound effects until 2007), the community created some of the most strange and intriguing games the world has ever seen.

The key to understanding the aesthetic of OHR games, past and present, is to understand the limitations of the engine itself. Since it was originally created for DOS, the engine had many limitations. Despite having been ported to Windows, many of these limitations still stand. For instance, the games run at 18 FPS with 256 colors and a resolution of 320x200. Sprites are limited to just 16 colors. There are quite a few hard limits on the number of objects, heroes, and variables. This means that most anything that is made in the OHR engine is going to resemble an old-school PC game. If you have any experience playing games on a PC before 1998, it's easy to see the appeal of the unique look of an OHR game. There's also a radical DIY feeling reminiscent of an earlier era in game development that is hard to replicate in modern game development tools.

Considering the old-school roots of the engine, it's interesting that both Wandering Hamster and the OHR engine itself are still works in progress. 15 years after its debut, James Paige is still an active member of the community and developer for the OHR. To my knowledge, this is one of the longest running relationships a developer has had with the community around their software. The OHR went open source in 2005, and a few dedicated developers have worked with James to slowly but surely improve the engine and its compatibility. The newest release was this year, with another release hopefully coming soon. You can even download the nightly WIP version, containing the latest features the developers have added.

Presently, the OHR is one of the few game development tools that is open-source and in active development. There is also a thriving community that runs contests, development blogs, and supports the users of the OHR. All in all, it's a piece of the indie gaming community that has hummed along almost in secret, churning out new content. Maybe this is why it still seems to me like an untouched portion of the game development community, a throwback to people who made games because they liked to play them.

The future of the OHR engine is always a big question. The community has waxed and waned over the years, and the development of the engine is steady, but slow. It seems to me that the future lies in the community of dedicated developers, both veterans and newbies, creating new and interesting content. With contests like Heart of the OHR pushing the community to create old school RPGs and developers exploring the frontiers of procedural content, there's no real end in sight. This is one of the reasons I created this blog: to help the community showcase our best and brightest to a whole new generation of OHR fans.

Next time, we'll be talking about some must-play games that showcase some fantastic developers. Can't wait for part 2? Check out the games lists at Slime Salad and Castle Paradox. Wanna get started making your own games? Head over to the OHR wiki to download it and get cracking!