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[RMMV] [RMVX ACE] AN INTERESTING POINT TO REMEMBER ABOUT THE 'OCCASION' SETTING FOR ITEMS.
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Trihan
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CloseThis probably isn't something anyone with half a brain would pay any attention to or forget to do, but I found it an interesting thing to consider so I'm making a topic and there's nothing you can do about it.
So I was working on the breakdown of Scene_ItemBase for Jump into Javascript part 4 (not a typo, I already submitted 3 and am working on the next one. The things I do for you people...) when I came across something that looked a bit off to me; namely, that in the function that determines whether an item/skill is being used on an actor or not, the only actual check is whether the item/skill is "for friend"; anything that isn't for an ally or multiple allies is just used outright unless the occasion prevents it.
The potential problem there lies in the fact that by default, occasion is set to "Always" and if you forget to set this to "Battle Screen" or "Menu Screen" what you end up with is an item you can use almost literally anywhere. To wit, if you have items that target enemies and do damage to enemies, you can accidentally consume them in the item screen to do nothing. I suppose this makes sense; it's precisely what the occasion setting was made for, but it's such a "set it and forget it" part of the database settings that I honestly sometimes struggle to remember it's even there, and hopefully drawing attention to how it's treated behind the scenes will prevent any unwanted powerful item consumption on the part of my fellow developers. :)
So I was working on the breakdown of Scene_ItemBase for Jump into Javascript part 4 (not a typo, I already submitted 3 and am working on the next one. The things I do for you people...) when I came across something that looked a bit off to me; namely, that in the function that determines whether an item/skill is being used on an actor or not, the only actual check is whether the item/skill is "for friend"; anything that isn't for an ally or multiple allies is just used outright unless the occasion prevents it.
The potential problem there lies in the fact that by default, occasion is set to "Always" and if you forget to set this to "Battle Screen" or "Menu Screen" what you end up with is an item you can use almost literally anywhere. To wit, if you have items that target enemies and do damage to enemies, you can accidentally consume them in the item screen to do nothing. I suppose this makes sense; it's precisely what the occasion setting was made for, but it's such a "set it and forget it" part of the database settings that I honestly sometimes struggle to remember it's even there, and hopefully drawing attention to how it's treated behind the scenes will prevent any unwanted powerful item consumption on the part of my fellow developers. :)
Back in the original VX, karsu was working on a game called Philadelphia. One of the characters was a talking cat. There was a plot-important casette in your inventory as a key item, and karsu didn't have it set to be unusable... short story medium, i still make bad jokes about the cat eating the casette even though it's not funny any more
I remember a few games where I accidentally 'ate' stuff. One I recall was a key that was necessary to follow the plot in a specific game. The fact you could eat these important items during battle, too, didn't help. XD
It's something I've very careful to keep an eye on in my own games, though. I just tend to miss other problems instead.
It's something I've very careful to keep an eye on in my own games, though. I just tend to miss other problems instead.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
in dark souls games this is marketed as a "feature"
Remembering to set the occasion is probably one of my most common little bugs. Boss fight coming up? Don't worry, just pre-buff since almost every ability is available in the menu!
I'm considering writing a plugin that tells you which of your items/skills have their occasion set to "always" to make it easier to find ones you forgot to change.
Yeah, I've had "edible keys" on accident before! XD; Really makes you have to check twice (or thrice!) with items!
I've got myself checking these things as soon as I make the item/skill if they are useable in or out of battle or if the key item can be sold or eaten lol
Such things can really break a game for someone!
Such things can really break a game for someone!
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
I usually just copy/paste an item with similar properties to a new slot then edit the description, name, whatever. This is especially useful for key items that don't have any real use other than a conditional branch check.
Never let it be said that laziness doesn't pay.
Never let it be said that laziness doesn't pay.
Aegix_Drakan
6037
author=Red_Nova
I usually just copy/paste an item with similar properties to a new slot then edit the description, name, whatever. This is especially useful for key items that don't have any real use other than a conditional branch check.
Never let it be said that laziness doesn't pay.
This is my approach now too. I've made the mistake before and GOD do I hate it. XD
BlackWolf1992
234
Yeah, I use to have the same problems of having key items as "edible" Now, I pretty much do what Nova does as well, too much work to keep setting the same settings over and over and over...and over.
That would actually be really helpful.
author=Trihan
I'm considering writing a plugin that tells you which of your items/skills have their occasion set to "always" to make it easier to find ones you forgot to change.
That would actually be really helpful.
author=BlackWolf1992
That would actually be really helpful.
You think I should just keep its functionality limited to that or are there any other features you think would be useful in a plugin like that?
Saying if you can sell it either? That would be handy and a similar feature, so as said before, we don't sell the Master Sword or the Skeleton key or the 3rd bit of the Triforce to a random dude for 10g
BlackWolf1992
234
author=Trihanauthor=BlackWolf1992You think I should just keep its functionality limited to that or are there any other features you think would be useful in a plugin like that?
That would actually be really helpful.
Off the top of my head, I cannot really think of anything at the moment.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=Trihanauthor=BlackWolf1992You think I should just keep its functionality limited to that or are there any other features you think would be useful in a plugin like that?
That would actually be really helpful.
If you're doing it, why not include Only Battle, Only Menu, and Never settings as well? Would it be that much extra effort?
I was considering doing that, Red. Just have a menu of things to check for and then when each one is selected it'll list items that have that thing set.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Sounds great! That's all I can think of right now.
author=Kloe
Saying if you can sell it either? That would be handy and a similar feature, so as said before, we don't sell the Master Sword or the Skeleton key or the 3rd bit of the Triforce to a random dude for 10g
Have you had this issue before? Personally my issues with occurrence have been just never changing the default occurrence from "Always" to whatever's needed. The default price of items is zero aka unsellable iirc, so I am curious unless it's just another dev brainfart (I am super guilty of these myself!).
I remember somebody thinking something similar was a bug in my Swap the Middle With You game where I made a 'key item' sellable, although my intention was that the player could sell a key item that unlocks the best weapon of the game for a pile of cash where they could buy whatever (including the second best weapon of the game). An item description that described it's intended dual use probably would've helped though.
