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          <h1>In The Beginning; Idea Behind BeyondRM.</h1>
          <p>This is how the BeyondRM idea came to be, and where it is going.</p>
          <hr>
          <span class="credits left">Project maintained by <a href="https://github.com/BeyondRM">BeyondRM</a></span>
          <span class="credits right">Hosted on GitHub Pages &mdash; Theme by <a href="https://twitter.com/michigangraham">mattgraham</a></span>
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        <a id="before" class="anchor" href="#before" aria-hidden="true"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>
        <h2>Beginning Ideas.</h2>
        If you have played any number of freely-available role-playing and simulation games, you might come across some
        mentions of the <strong>RPG Maker</strong> game editor and engine, for making and playing fairly decent classic
        RPG-style games, similar in nature to many of the classic console games. And I am no exception to this; several
        of the games are quite easily obtainable, as the RPG-Maker forums are active, with participants ranging to both
        genders and across many ages.
        <p></p>
        For myself, the attempt to "create my own game" is a persistent draw; but, I also wanted to be informed of some
        of the "limitations" and drawbacks of such a game-making piece of software. And so, the search began; and found
        the "Suggestions for the next 'RPG Maker'" thread in the forum. This topic includes literally <em>hundreds</em>
        of requests, for enhancements or fixes. Some of the suggestions might not have been possible without a complete
        revamp of the editor and game components, but many if not most requests are for better editing features, better
        and larger game screens, and so on.
        <p></p>
        Further; having been programming in Java for some time, I took the thought of creating my own RPG Maker, using
        the Java skills I have been developing, and considering many of the relevant suggestions from the above list. I
        have been considering many of the feature suggestions, and quite a few are actually possible to develop in Java
        (with a little inspiration and ingenuity), using some class libraries for back-end functionality and to further
        development.
        <p></p>
        Generally, game creation in BeyondRM will follow a similar work-flow as it is for using RPG Maker, though quite
        a few differences might be present, for the better. Editing game content is in a tabbed interface that can keep
        nearly all the editor interface within a few navigation clicks &hellip; reducing the necessity to open a dialog
        window. Improvement to the game screens may be implemented, to see a more natural "full-screen" view of what is
        being played. The overall "open-source" nature of this project's parts will mean that the target engine or data
        will be quite a bit more extensible, for those who want to fully customize their game.

        <a id="during" class="anchor" href="#during" aria-hidden="true"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>
        <h2>During Development.</h2>
        While the original "RPG Maker" is made in a C/C++ language with scripting of a platform in Ruby, we are taking
        the stance that an "RPG Maker" can be almost entirely made in Java, with similar scripting capabilities, where
        necessary.
        <p></p>
        Development of BeyondRM is primarily in Java (using Java version 1.8.0_25), using modern practices. Aspects of
        the editor are being implemented with JavaFX-based FXML infrastructure, a lightweight application GUI component
        framework that is easily styled with CSS for beautiful appearance.
        <p></p>
        Since this is a different program from Enterbrain's program, scripting will not be the same. Any number of Java
        class-libraries exist to allow scripting languages to be used with Java programs; I have selected a formidable
        [lua](http://lua.org/ Lua, a modern scripting language) variation.
        <p></p>
        This meta-project is essentially a collection of sub-projects, with individual dependencies upon each other, as
        necessary. These projects belong to either the Editor (for the editing of game content), Engine (for playing of
        game content), or Platform (for management of game content) infrastructure.
        <ul>
          <li>Starting from the very bottom, the Platform modules provide the definitions of the data types used within
            both the Editor and Engine modules; some parts of it is merely the "data loaders" for the baseline contents
            created in the Editor modules, and other parts function as baseline game-management features. This is for
            handling primary data that does not change in a game, such as the character classes and conditions, various
            forms of metadata used in other modules as dependencies, et cetera.</li>
          <li>The Engine modules handle initializing the game states and such; it initializes the Platform modules with
            actual content data files. The engine components are being developed upon a state-based ideology; to say it
            simply, various aspects of a game are defined as a "state" in the lifetime of a game.</li>
          <li>The Editor modules bring all the other parts together, by allowing seamless editing and test-playing of
            games, where possible. One intention is to simplify editing features, and another is to make possible fully
            cooperative, "team-based" development of games.</li>
        </ul>

        <a id="finish" class="anchor" href="#finish" aria-hidden="true"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>
        <h2>Finishing Thoughts.</h2>
        It is a long and interesting journey in developing a meta-project, to allow the creation of Java role-playing
        games. The intent is to always keep this free, and to keep to a regular development and release cycle. I should
        note that many of the comments regarding development of this Editor-Engine-Platform meta-project actually state
        an inclusive "we" instead of just "I". Even if it is just myself as the developer, I would like this to become
        a feature-rich editor, capable of making appealing games, and as extendable as possible, for those people who
        desire this. I will be generally open to most ideas for its implementation.
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