Iphone

Question: I am currently trying to develop a 2d RPG for Windows 95/98/2000 and i have a little knowledge with C/C++. First off, i need to know which FREE compiler is best for developing a RPG game. Second, i have made all the graphics i need for the game in paint, but i do not have a map editor. Am i suppose to create my own map editor? or am i able to download one that allows me to upload my graphics into it and somehow tie it into my game? If at all possible, it will be very helpful if someone could tell me everything i need to create a 2D RPG (including language, compiler, platform, and how to imput the graphics and sounds) and where to get it. Also some tutorials would be helpful considering this is the first game i am trying to create. Thanks in advance.

Iphone

Best of luck to you - an RPG is a massive undertaking. I seriously reccomend you take the standard game programmers course, and build a few small simple games before starting on your RPG. The typical route is to make clones of Tetris, Pacman, Space Invaders, Asteroids, maybe some card games. And don't think that arcade games don't count since you are doing an RPG - the techniques are the same. You'll be amazed at how hard these simple games are to conquer as a newbie.

Anyway, back to your questions - If you are on Windows, I'd reccomend the Dev-C++ IDE (Bloodshed Software - Dev-C++) which includes the mingw compiler, which is a version of the popuar gcc compiler for Linux. This is a nice package, because you get the IDE and the compiler, and it makes it easy to use examples from both Linux and Windows, and make compatible games for both. You can also look into Borland's free compiler, or DJGPP. No one compiler is better than another for RPG's.

Next, do yourself a favor and look at the SDL and allegro libraries that will help you get a jumpstart on 2D (and 3D) programming. Really, take a look at these:
Simple DirectMedia Layer
Allegro - A game programming library

There are lots of demos and examples on the links of these pages - use them.

Lastly, take a look at happypenguin.org - this is site full of Linux games. I know you are targeting windows, but don't worry - there are hundreds of games here with full SOURCE CODE, a literel library of how-to in programming. Just compile under Windows and go, in most cases.

Lastly, look on that same happypenguin.org site for map editors, or make your own, depends on what you want to do. If you are looking at doing 3D RPG's, do a search on Google for "Crystal Space 3D". Google is your best friend for info on all this stuff.