Description

RPG Maker VX Ace is OUT and we want to see what RMN can do with this new tool! The Nugget Crash Course is a competition for new Ace users to make a game to try and win a copy of RPG Maker VX Ace, courtesy of our friends at Degica (the company that markets and distributes RPG Maker outside of Japan)!

RPG Maker VX Ace is aptly named as it is RPG Maker VX {Insert Incremental Reference Here}. Imagine your regular VX with various changes and upgrades all over the place to make it a better tool all-round. The best way to see what the changes are is to download the Ace trial and give it a spin! You might even get your own copy out of it!

This is a fast and loose competition with a new tool and so will the theme. Simply make a game with RPG Maker VX Ace! It must be a new Ace game started with the English version so no carry overs from the Japanese release / trial. You can use any resources for Ace such as graphics, music, and scripts but I don't want to see any Ace-rized versions of your VX game.

Ace can handle any graphic, sound, or music VX can and more so all resources for VX are available. Ace also has a new feature of being able to create character and face graphics through putting premade templates together directly in the program. One critical difference between VX and Ace is the script backend got rewritten Ace which means a large majority of scripts for VX won't work for Ace. You can check the script repository on RMN for several scripts made to work with Ace.

Having trouble with Ace? There's a few places where you can try to get some help. Posting on the event itself is allowed but it's easy to lose track of such questions. You can post questions in RMN's Help & Request forum as long as you read the forum rules. You can also head onto RMN's IRC channel to try and get some real time assistance there too.

Judging will be handled by GreatRedSpirit, Archeia_Nessiah, Liberty, and Deckiller. After all the judges have played the games they will rank the games by their own preference. When a game is listed as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd the game gets 7, 5, or 3 points respectively. The game with the most points wins!

The dev lead for the game that scored the most points will be awarded a new Ace product key! We only have one key so teams will have to fight to the death against each other decide who gets the key. We'll also have achievements: The top prize achievement for the 1st place team, runner up achievements for the 2nd and 3rd teams, and participation achievements for everybody who participated.

Important Update! Our prize has been donated to us from our friends at Degica and RPG Maker Web:
author=Touchfuzzy
I wanted to tell Kentona first, but the dude totally JUMPED OUT THE WINDOW WHEN I WAS TRYING TO TALK TO HIM. (Ok, not really, he just left the irc channel), but I'm just too happy not to want to announce it myself.

For people who don't know, I'm Nick Palmer, I work managing the official RPG Maker English site's(RPGMakerWeb.com) blog, Facebook, Twitter, Forum, and well, a billion other hats involved in RM Marketing.

Anyway, we at Degica (the company that markets and distributes RPG Maker outside of Japan) want to show appreciation to RMN for being such a great fan community for our products. As such, we will be supplying the Medal of Honor prize copy of RPG Maker VX Ace.
This is a great boon to RMN! Thank you Touchfuzzy, and thanks Degica! Your support of RMN is apprciated.

You get half a month starting when Ace is released until the end of April 1st giving two weeks and a weekend to create your game. There is some leeway in situations where game breaking bugs are found by the judges after the 1st and the devs will be allowed to fix these bugs.

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for RPG Maker VX Ace - Nugget Crash Course.

Teams Members Entry
Honorary Entry of Mystery
Danger, danger! High voltage!
The Best Kind of Witchcraft
AwesomeTeamOfAwesomeIsAwesomeAlsoWeLikeCamelCaseAndLongNames
C# - - - - Maker of "Silent Eyes"
Team 'Who the Hell is That?'
Indy Jones and the VXAce Contest of DOOM
Never's Start
Team Youjustwastedtimereadingthislol
Let the Games Begin. . .Lady's and Gentlemen!?
Bludgeon of Inspiration
The Four Spirits
Fuck it! I want a snoopy badge but I won't get judged. XP
The Labs of Chrono
New game, come and join me!!!
Team Who Gives A Sh-
What is with all these team names?
jomarcenter studio "future helper and the seven tower"
HKOz Assal
Late Night Studio
Ace Hunters
Singing Deerhead Productions
Following the sun
For Snoopy~
oh yeah
Lovely Charmer
OOstudios
Team Wind-Up Bird
Vulkinshii productions
Attempting to complete the impossible...finishing a game
GENERIQUEST 2012: Where doing this man. Where MAKING THIS HAPEN.
QuietLife
Winter's Sorrow Announced!
Gourd Clae: Ace VxAcer
Black Skull Insignia
Team HUNGER GAMES ARE AWESOME!
Trying to not copy from the tutorial.
Ralph's Party
IDK
The Last Minute "Team" of Glory
Eternallight's Team

Posts

LEECH
who am i and how did i get in here
2599
I played Steve..
It should win.
Alright, I played through all of the entries to pass the time and wrote down some thoughts on each one as I went along. I beat them all with the exception of 2-3 but those will have it mentioned in their mini-review. Keep in mind that these are just my personal opinions and any criticism is meant to be constructive, not offensive.

Top 5 Favorites - These will be placed in order of favorite of them all being #1.

1) Boutalles - Caught my interest with the title screen. Then from there, everything turned out to be absolutely amazing. Mapping is really detailed and well-placed. I like the battle system a lot. Class system with subclasses is a major plus. Game is actually fairly challenging. My favorite by a long shot.

2) Steve - Hilarious and witty.

3) Shinwa - I actually really liked it. It was different and actually felt like an emotional experience. Looking forward to Ep2.

4) The Only One Left - Really liked the party invite and world map systems, even though I generally dislike not being able to explore towns and such.

5) Lucidity - First portions of the game kind of dragged. Text looked a bit... off/blurred at parts - not sure if that was my end or what. I did really like the little "chatting while walking" texts. The castle portion looked great. Guess I just really like those chip/charsets. Liked the Castiel reference btw.

Bottom 3 - The 3 I disliked the most. #1 being most disliked.

1) Heir of the King - Incredibly buggy game, from the get-go. I'm guessing English isn't main language of the creator. Grammar/Spelling is still better than "Future Helper" though. Music choices/timing... awkward. Maps really basic. Entire time I was playing I was thinking "wtf?". Had to quit playing after a while. Didn't finish. Sorry.

2) Future Helper - I know that you're from the Phillipines but your English too poor to even start enjoying the game. Encounter rate is WAY too high. The command center place jerks you back and forth too often. Was unintentionally funny though.

3) Island of Farnor - No plot whatsoever. Everything else is too repetitive. Encounter rate drove me crazy.

Everything else

Valeria - Decent demo. One of the map tiles allows you to entirely skip the first portion of the dungeon (bottom left). Not enough of the story to tell whether I'd actually enjoy the game or not.

Terra - Wasn't expecting it to end when it did. :( Love the names for everything. Boss fight was interesting. Would LOVE to see this be made into a full game.

Following the Sun - Not really my cup of tea. Maybe something children would like. Mini-games are fairly buggy. Art was pretty good though.

In Search for Dragons - Nice demo. Personally, can't seem to get invested in what little storyline there is -so far-. Everything else is decent.

Uchioniko - I liked it. Wish it were longer though.

To Save A Land - Didn't like it. Felt too generic. I also dislike the Wizardry-style "no town" town list thing. Buttttt that's just me.

The Legend of Ace - Just a generic demo. I admit that I fell for the Death NPC trick. Curiosity kills.

The Hallowed Tower - It was alright. Basic dungeon-crawler. Didn't like the barriers that required you to grind until you hit the level to open them. Last crystal at the summit bugged my game when I used it after re-entering since it showed the entire "Chapter 2" beginning again. Had to go to the title and reload.

The King's Aces - Neutral on this one. Not good nor bad, just uninteresting personally.

Silent Eyes - Liked the story and music. I did get through both endings (thankfully I read the game page this time). I really don't like the fact that you have to talk to NPCs until they start repeating in order to know what to do next. There's just a general gist of no direction. Not everyone is going to know to do these things unless they read your game page or you let them know. I did like that void area and I generally like your dungeon maps. I also happened to find a glitch for you... In the 2nd town, when you enter the Inn and go to exit it, you end back up exiting from the Inn in Sedesta.

The Four Spirits - Extremely basic/generic/cliche game. Guessing it was done solely for the participation achievement.

Quest of Dude 3 - More of a boss battle runner than anything else, with maps that felt very flat; however, overall I enjoyed it.

Obelisk Devilkiller - I'll praise this for being unique but it's just not something I enjoy playing. Didn't finish.

alter perfect - Not really sure what I'm playing here... I had to quit after about 10 minutes, sorry! Fairly sure this was just made for the participation achievement anyhow.

Death Lord - Either I was missing something or there was no prompt that the demo was over because I couldn't get past that obelisk at the end of that temple. That aside, wasn't really "feeling it". Just felt lacking in terms of general direction and plot. Minor flaw - nearly all of the "I"s were lowercase, which was kind of strange.

Adventure Ace - I commend the usage of all of the custom graphics - looks good. I also found the entire gameplay to be fairly unique and well thought-out. However, I'm personally not into these types of simulation games. Good work though.
LEECH
who am i and how did i get in here
2599
author=Acrypt
Death Lord- Either I was missing something or there was no prompt that the demo was over because I couldn't get past that obelisk at the end of that temple. That aside, wasn't really "feeling it". Just felt lacking in terms of general direction and plot. Minor flaw - nearly all of the "I"s were lowercase, which was kind of strange.


Yeah, you have to push it. From the left. Probably should have explained that lol..
Theres a boss battle after it.

With the plot and all, i plan to go through it again, add more story. With the i thing, i just dont capitilize em for some reason. 0.0

I also need to make the boulder puzzles into actually puzzles... But i might need someones help with that... I suck at making boulder puzzles.. I love them though.. ):

Im just happy i wasnt in your bottom 3. :P
author=ldida1
Yeah, you have to push it. From the left. Probably should have explained that lol..Theres a boss battle after it.

I spent a good maybe 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get past that. I did try pushing from the left and right a few times, went out of the entire place searching to see if I missed anything, then went back and tried pushing boulders against it to get it to move... nothing would work for me :x

Edit: I may have done something wrong though, so it may not be on your part.
LEECH
who am i and how did i get in here
2599
author=Acrypt
author=ldida1
Yeah, you have to push it. From the left. Probably should have explained that lol..Theres a boss battle after it.
I spent a good maybe 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get past that. I did try pushing from the left and right a few times, went out of the entire place searching to see if I missed anything, then went back and tried pushing boulders against it to get it to move... nothing would work for me :x


Maybe theres a bug.. Will check... I tested it before i submited it though, and it worked.
LEECH
who am i and how did i get in here
2599
NM, found the bug. Am i aloud to reupload it? Or is that against the rules. (I had an extra event page over it with no switch...)
I think game-breaking bugs can be re-uploaded (especially simple ones like that) - but a judge should probably confirm.

Also: Yay, someone enjoyed it!
Acrypt, thanks for the feedback on mine (The Four Spirits). Is/was my first time using the editor, so figured a simple project that helps me learn how to use the program was best.
You can reupload it but we will still judge the outdated entry we obtained 'w')/
LEECH
who am i and how did i get in here
2599
author=Archeia_Nessiah
You can reupload it but we will still judge the outdated entry we obtained 'w')/


Damnit... Fine, but, im asking the mods to download the unencrypter, then hold CTRL while walking through the piller... Thank you for your cooperation.
LEECH
who am i and how did i get in here
2599
author=Archeia_Nessiah
Unencrypter?


Theres an unencrypter floating round the web that unencrypts RPG Maker archives. Use it. Open it in test mode. Hold CTRL. Fight the skeleton boss.
The judges shouldn't have to unencrypt a project just to complete it. Encrypting your project means that people can't play it through playtest mode, and this is something you should have thought about when making the decision of whether or not to encrypt.
Puddor
if squallbutts was a misao category i'd win every damn year
5702
Penta's right about this. The judges shouldn't have to go out of their way to complete a contest entry. It's your responsibility to provide a completable version- the judges have 20+ other entries they have to complete and several impatient competitors.
@Acrypt: hey, nice to see Lucidity in your top five ^^ Castiel ftw.
(if anyone can give me a list of all the references made in Lucidity, I will draw a promo poster specifically as a prize :p)
Note: if I have spelling mistakes, blame my iPhone.

edit: pentresponsibilitya hm, iPhone? ._.'
author=Acrypt
Alright, I played through all of the entries to pass the time and wrote down some thoughts on each one as I went along. I beat them all with the exception of 2-3 but those will have it mentioned in their mini-review. Keep in mind that these are just my personal opinions and any criticism is meant to be constructive, not offensive.

Silent Eyes - Guessing the end of the demo is supposed to occur after getting Shadow, since I can't enter the Ice Palace. Random movespeed shifting and I ended up getting lost a few times. Overall, seems interesting but too short to really tell.


Have you entered the second town yet? You won't be able to access the Ice Castle until you enter Namibis.
author=Studio Zytharros
Have you entered the second town yet? You won't be able to access the Ice Castle until you enter Namibis.

Not sure if I did or not. I'll replay it and try again. I realize now that your game was completed and not a demo to begin with (Was attempting to play them all without reading too much on the game pages to keep it more 'anonymous') . *facepalm*

I'll edit my initial post after replaying.

Edit: Alright, I've updated it. *thumbs up*
I found an edge-case error in mine that crashes it, if you try to synth a blank item into a blank item, you can sometimes select a blank space on the left one and when you try to synth it crashes.

Can we warn the judges about errors like this?

Basically: Don't try to synth a blank item on the left!
author=Acrypt
author=Studio Zytharros
Have you entered the second town yet? You won't be able to access the Ice Castle until you enter Namibis.
Not sure if I did or not. I'll replay it and try again. I realize now that your game was completed and not a demo to begin with (Was attempting to play them all without reading too much on the game pages to keep it more 'anonymous') . *facepalm*

I'll edit my initial post after replaying.

Edit: Alright, I've updated it. *thumbs up*


XD I know about the glitch. I was pondering just leaving it in, but I probably won't.
LEECH
who am i and how did i get in here
2599
Still attempting to upload the new version... keeps timing out... ):
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
5 down, 16 to go.