GRETGOR'S PROFILE

Hey guys, what's up?

So, I've been wondering if I should buy the new, official version of RPG Maker 2003. I've been trying to find a full changelog with a detailed list containing all changes and additions, but all I can find are vague feature descriptions from either enthusiastic or disappointed people. Does any of you know where I could find such a changelog?

I made a (slightly dreamy) list of things that could potentially interest me in the new RPG Maker 2003, and I'm curious to know if any of the items on the list check (I'm aware most of these are wishful thinking, but we can dream, right?):

• Local variables and switches for events, hopefully able to change pages within said events.
  
  
• Some way to copy/paste events such that if I change one version, all get changed (kinda like Object Orientation, that'd be cool).
  
  
• Non-kludgy ways to calculate trigonometric functions.
  
  
• Something like an option to make a sound played by an event actually sound like it's coming from the event (something like a 3D sound system or something).
  
  
• Being able to set a picture's ID number according to a variable rather than a fixed number.
  
  
• Native mouse support, or continued compatibility with Powermode in case that doesn't happen.
  
  
• The ability to use larger event sprites than the default Charset size without needing to resort to bizarre picture interactions.
  

So, can a kind soul help shed some light on this situation? Thanks in advance.

I'm currently laying down plans to make a short (very short) puzzle-adventure game based on characters from another game I made a long time ago that I only shared to a very tiny community of people (mostly because both the intro and the ending were in extremely bad taste, so I'd rather not even mention it).

I'm all set in what concerns coding in the custom stuff (in RM2K3) but I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I'll need to ask for help in the graphics department.

So, I have played the game a little bit, and I really liked what I experienced.

Now, I didn't play SF2 myself, so I might not be entirely knowledgeable of the series, but I'll try to describe what my first impressions of the game so far were.

First of all, I really like the custom menu systems and the way they function, and the title screen is very pretty with nice music.

The intro screen with the opening book, the rolling text and the dragon frame was also pretty nice. The initial premise of the story seems alright, if not too revolutionary.

You then get to pick a character you'd like to start out as, and I picked Zach for my first short play session. His story is very nice, while sad and relatable, talking about a boy who got kicked out of his own hometown due to sheer prejudice towards a non Magic user. He then grows up to be a fine bodyguard in charge of the princess of Kynoch while the king is gone. I really like Zach's story, and I'll continue playing it for a long time still, now that he's setting out to leave the kingdom.

The graphics are excellent. The good old FSM tilesets, combined with FF6-like character sets makes for a good choice in presentation. The mapping and shading choices you made for most maps was also pretty nice, I really like the way the forests and the ruins look, with shadows of trees looming on the ground and faint light in the ruins. I also like the battle animations and how the battle chars are based on the charsets, kinda like in FF6. The music is also stellar, you chose some nice songs to use, and I can't recognize where most of them come from.

Another thing I really liked is the exploration factor thrown into the maps. In the very first forest we explore as Zach, there are already a few branching paths leading to some loot, and in the birch forest before the ruins, we can see a mysterious cave that the princess won't let us in. Also, I like how the first dungeon is designed, where we have to backtrack once we discover switches to open our way, which adds a bit of investigation to be done.

There are a few problems though: the first time I opened the character select menu screen, the confirm button was mapped to Y (???), it's strange because it never happened again. Also, while I like how the charset used in the overworld is different from the charset used in the "inside" parts of the maps, I feel like the character moves a little too slow in the overworld.

The battles are mostly fun, I like that the random encounter rate is just right, not being extremely annoying, and allowing for a nice amount of exploration without being constantly interrupted. Although I did find it a bit strange that, the first time I entered birch forest, I got my a** handed to me by the random encounters. It feels strange to face such fierce encounters this early in the game.

I eventually "Flee"'d my way through the forest and was pleased to find that in the Kynoch ruins, the encounters were actually beatable, and I had a blast seeing my characters level their stats in the middle of battle due to using their weapons. It still feels a bit weird that the woods were a lot harder than the ruins, though.

The NPCs are mostly helpful, talking to them fills us in on either the story or where we have to go, but I find it weird that, in that village to the south of Kynoch gates, a woman tells us that the ruins are to the west, when we in fact need to go south to find them. Also, the pacing of the dialog is a bit slow, I get it that the pauses you inserted were meant to give more "naturality" to the lines, but I think they could be shorter.

All in all, I really enjoyed the brief experience I had so far with the game, and I'll keep playing it for a long time still. I'm not making this into a full review because I still haven't played the entire game, but I'm sure this is worth at least 4 out of 5 stars.

Too bad this was on hiatus for so long, though :(

Hello, guys! What's up?

So, it's been a heck of a long time since I last tried to develop anything substantial with RPG Maker, but recent events in my life have sparked in me an inspiration to make a certain type of adventure game that would really benefit from how the RPG Maker engine works, so I'm thinking about picking it up again after six or so years of completely stopping any game making activities.

I'm sure a lot has changed in the underground indie game developing scene since then, with an official commercial RM2K3 released which, according to the official web page, counted on the input of great RM2K3 names such as Cherry, a bunch of other RPG Maker versions coming out, like VX and MV, and the advent of rather expensive game making tools such as IG Maker and thousands of other things I'm probably not aware of.

Now, I have a few questions regarding what's still "in" in RM2K3 development, and what's completely "last decade" nowadays.

First of all: can a developer still get away with using First Seed Material (Mac and Blue) for graphics, and a soundtrack composed mostly of stock music? I ask that because I don't posses the time nor the talents needed to work on graphics and music myself. My question is: is a game with a presentation built around stock material still taken seriously? If so, that'd spare me a lot of time and headaches.

Second: back in the day, I saw many people create project pages and periodically update them with short demos of the mechanics and levels they intended to include in the game in order to potentially get some feedback from the community as they went, all so they could make the best possible gaming piece for all. Is that still common practice in RPG Maker development? I ask that because I don't want to force anyone into the commitment of becoming an "official" test player. I'd rather let people freely choose to play the demos for as long as they want and give as much feedback as they see fit without feeling like they are being forced to do so. I'm also willing to test and provide feedback on any ongoing project page that has more or less this same format, that is, if that's still a thing.

So yeah, those are not exactly technical questions, they're more like an attempt at learning the current dynamics of the RPG Maker community in the 2010's.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to answer :)