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LDanarkos
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I've been playing with RM2K since 2000. Been working on my current project since 2006. My approach to game-making involves attempting to do things that I've never seen in other games, and incorporating all of the elements of film making (lighting, music, symbolism, deep structure, plot twists, panning, zooming, cuts, etc.) into game making. The RPG's I've spent the most time playing are FF1 and FF6, followed by Super Mario RPG, FF4, and FF5.
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Need help eventing a custom-type of attack
If this were on RM2K, my only area of expertise, then I see no way this can be done as-is, because the get input command (called Enter Password in RM2K) can't register two inputs at the same time. If you altered it slightly so that you hit enter once to freeze all events, then faced any direction, and hit enter again to resume events and execute the attack, then you'd have a much easier time pulling it off. Another similar thing you could do, but slightly differently, is press enter once to freeze all events, and press the direction key to face a direction and unfreeze events, without the need to hit enter again.
You could make some sort of common event that's a parallel process with an appearance condition switch called "Combat Map." Whenever you teleport to a combat map, turn the switch on, and when you teleport to a non-combat map, turn the switch off. The common event can be like...
Wait 0.0
Enter Password: 'Input' (Don't check 'wait until key hit')
Fork Optn: Varb 'Input'-5 (assuming 5 is the action key for your RPG Maker)
<>Stop All
<>Disable System Menu (you might not want the player to be able to call the Menu while in freeze mode)
<>Set Screen Tone (You'll probably want a dimmer screen while events are stopped, for effect)
<>Enter Password: 'Input' (Wait until key hit. You may or may not want to disable the action key and the menu / cancel keys, that's up to you. As long as you have a plan for them and don't just overlook them)
Then put all of the forks for if Input = 1, Move Event Hero, face down, etc. for each different direction.
<>Set Screen Tone (return screen to normal tone)
Then put your code for how the attack works, etc.
<>Enable System Menu
<>Move All
End Case
You could make some sort of common event that's a parallel process with an appearance condition switch called "Combat Map." Whenever you teleport to a combat map, turn the switch on, and when you teleport to a non-combat map, turn the switch off. The common event can be like...
Wait 0.0
Enter Password: 'Input' (Don't check 'wait until key hit')
Fork Optn: Varb 'Input'-5 (assuming 5 is the action key for your RPG Maker)
<>Stop All
<>Disable System Menu (you might not want the player to be able to call the Menu while in freeze mode)
<>Set Screen Tone (You'll probably want a dimmer screen while events are stopped, for effect)
<>Enter Password: 'Input' (Wait until key hit. You may or may not want to disable the action key and the menu / cancel keys, that's up to you. As long as you have a plan for them and don't just overlook them)
Then put all of the forks for if Input = 1, Move Event Hero, face down, etc. for each different direction.
<>Set Screen Tone (return screen to normal tone)
Then put your code for how the attack works, etc.
<>Enable System Menu
<>Move All
End Case
My first completed cutscene! Any feedback, suggestions?
You could have made the map wider on the left side so that all four of those soldiers were standing out of frame and then walk into frame. As it is now, some people might not notice, but anyone who's paying attention can tell that they're basically appearing into position.
Also, is a total lack of music the correct choice for this scene?
Also, is a total lack of music the correct choice for this scene?
Game Idea Concept: Can This Be Done?
I'd make a variable for each monster and start each variable at 5. Whenever you kill a monster party, the corresponding variable drops by 1. The plants on your map are events, and each one has a switch so that if you choose to chop it down, it turns the switch on. I would make an auto-start event that calls each plant event (it calls plant 1, plant 1 calls plant 2, etc.) and then deletes itself (is this command called Clear Timer in RM2K3?), and for each plant whose switch is off (i.e. it isn't chopped down), it will increase the corresponding monster's variable by 1 (perhaps up to a maximum of 10). Then, whichever plant event is last in this succession will call the monster generator. The monster generator will generate monster events according to how big their variable is.
Some balance may be required, because since the monsters' variables may go up much faster than they go down. One way of balancing it could be, instead of plants definitely increasing the variable by 1, you use a random number generator to give it a possibility of going up by 1 (i.e. random number X is 1-10. If X is 1, 2, or 3, then increase the monster variable by 1. So there's a 30% chance of it increasing).
Wouldn't take too long.
Some balance may be required, because since the monsters' variables may go up much faster than they go down. One way of balancing it could be, instead of plants definitely increasing the variable by 1, you use a random number generator to give it a possibility of going up by 1 (i.e. random number X is 1-10. If X is 1, 2, or 3, then increase the monster variable by 1. So there's a 30% chance of it increasing).
Wouldn't take too long.
RPGM2K3 - Standard item treasure chests - how to copy and paste?
a) Making a treasure chest isn't hard. Of all the things that wouldn't need shortcuts...
b) Once you make one chest, just copy it, paste it, change all instances of Switch:ChestA to Switch:ChestB, and change the reward if necessary. This can all be done within 30 seconds.
c) If you want to streamline the process even further, by a few dozen seconds, then, for example, if you had a dungeon oversaturated with rewards, and it had 8 chests that gave potions, 12 that gave gold, 13 that gave antidotes, etc., then you could cut down on time by pasting all of the potion chests first (mindful to give each one a different switch), then paste all of the gold chests (still mindful to give each one a different switch), then paste all of the antidote chests (again mindful to give each one a different switch). So even if your dungeon has a preposterously high 33 treasure chests, you could probably make them all in 15 minutes or less.
b) Once you make one chest, just copy it, paste it, change all instances of Switch:ChestA to Switch:ChestB, and change the reward if necessary. This can all be done within 30 seconds.
c) If you want to streamline the process even further, by a few dozen seconds, then, for example, if you had a dungeon oversaturated with rewards, and it had 8 chests that gave potions, 12 that gave gold, 13 that gave antidotes, etc., then you could cut down on time by pasting all of the potion chests first (mindful to give each one a different switch), then paste all of the gold chests (still mindful to give each one a different switch), then paste all of the antidote chests (again mindful to give each one a different switch). So even if your dungeon has a preposterously high 33 treasure chests, you could probably make them all in 15 minutes or less.
Can someone get me the animated town water tiles from FF6?
Paying for Patience
Yeah, my design approach is the same way. I assume that the player has no attention span and no devotion to playing my game. So I try my best to keep things moving along as quickly as possible, with an emphasis on eliminating super-lengthy dialogue, long stretches of grinding, and large maps that you can get lost in.
Movie Influences
Yeah, my game is taken from every movie. It's like The Matrix, Conan The Barbarian, a bad movie called Dangerous Ground, a little bit of The Crow, a little bit of Star Wars, there's gonna be a Fight Club subplot, and it's gonna be directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Well actually it's directed by me, but I will try to max-out on the zany turns in the plot and scenery as though it were North By Northwest.
Background Stories for NPCs
I don't even think about doing this with my NPC's, aside from the few that matter a lot, but it's something that should be done. It's good to bring your world to life and not have everything just be one-dimensional and hollow. It is always good to fool the player into thinking that every NPC has an entire life, a whole story, a relationship status, drama, friends, enemies, ambitions, and all of that. You don't have time to map out the entire life of every NPC. You have to give the player a little taste, and that little hint should be enough for the player's imagination to take over and fill-in all of the gaps. For example, in Star Wars Episode 3, we see the jedis going underground and the empire rising to power. By Star Wars Episode 4, the empire is in total control, and the rebels are fully hidden. What happened in the interim? Well, you don't see it in the movies, you can either read the novels, or you can let your imagination try to figure it out, as long as it starts with point A and ends at point B. I think that's the trick, is if you want a player to fill-in the gaps, you should give them a starting point and an ending point and ask them to fill-in the middle. So maybe we know where character A is right now, and we also hear from character B that they used to be friends, but that was a long time ago, and 15 years ago character A was doing ______. Or if you give the player some indication of an NPC's personality (i.e. are they goal-oriented, are they sex-crazed, are they lazy, are they pleasure-seeking, are they damaged goods, are they truth-seeking, are they revolutionary, etc.), then the player can assume A LOT about that character's life based on what the life of this type of person is usually like.
Discussing Replay Value
I should say first off that I don't think community games have as great a need for replay value as professional games do. All that anyone could ask for is that people play their game once from beginning to end and that should make you happy. For the most part, we like to play a variety of games to give many designers their fair shake, and we have less time to do that if we're just playing one game over and over.
One factor that makes me want to replay games later is when I get to the end and think "now that I understand the strategies, if I replay the game again with good strategy, I think might be able to beat it in 20% of the time and have a much stronger end game." Some examples include:
-In Ogre Battle, you need to properly manage the charisma and alignment of your characters to get the second class promotions (i.e. from Fighter to Knight to Paladin). If you don't manage this carefully, you will eventually reach a point where your Knights and other characters can't promote to Paladins or any similar-tiered class because their charisma is 0. They would be 33% weaker in battle than they should / could be at that point, and therefore, you won't even be able to beat new stages anymore and you'll have to start over, especially since the opportunity for EXP grinding is pretty limited in that game.
-In FF6, if you try to make it through the game with as low a level as possible, and don't start leveling-up your characters until everyone (or anyone you care about) has joined your party in the second half of the game, then you can maximize the level-up gains that the espers give you, which results in certain stats getting ultra high and makes for Godly characters. Not that you need it, because in that game, if all of your equipment configuration is optimal, then you have a Godly endgame anyway, with or without Godly stats to go with it, and the final bosses just aren't strong enough to resist you at all.
-In FF1, initial party selection is a very crucial element in how easily you get through the game, and aside from overall strength of the party, you also should factor-in late game strength, early game strength, and the ability to abuse the experience beacon near the second town. Ultimately, there is the temptation to replay the game with different party configurations to theorize what configuration is best and then test your hypothesis.
Another element that gives a game replay value is when you have to make choices that will show you something, but then you don't get to see something else. It could be that you have a choice, and choice A leads to you seeing cutscene A and choice B leads you to seeing cutscene B. Other consequences of choices could involve the death of NPC's, whether you character A or character B joins your party, which town gets burnt down, which faction becomes the prevailing authority (i.e. late game towns could be occupied by mobsters one way, or nazi types the other way), different end game bosses, and so on. If you make it obvious to the player that they're making a choice, then they'll want to replay the game and see what the other choice would lead to. If these deviations in paths are calculated secretly, and the player doesn't realize that it might be different if replayed, then the curiosity won't be there.
One factor that makes me want to replay games later is when I get to the end and think "now that I understand the strategies, if I replay the game again with good strategy, I think might be able to beat it in 20% of the time and have a much stronger end game." Some examples include:
-In Ogre Battle, you need to properly manage the charisma and alignment of your characters to get the second class promotions (i.e. from Fighter to Knight to Paladin). If you don't manage this carefully, you will eventually reach a point where your Knights and other characters can't promote to Paladins or any similar-tiered class because their charisma is 0. They would be 33% weaker in battle than they should / could be at that point, and therefore, you won't even be able to beat new stages anymore and you'll have to start over, especially since the opportunity for EXP grinding is pretty limited in that game.
-In FF6, if you try to make it through the game with as low a level as possible, and don't start leveling-up your characters until everyone (or anyone you care about) has joined your party in the second half of the game, then you can maximize the level-up gains that the espers give you, which results in certain stats getting ultra high and makes for Godly characters. Not that you need it, because in that game, if all of your equipment configuration is optimal, then you have a Godly endgame anyway, with or without Godly stats to go with it, and the final bosses just aren't strong enough to resist you at all.
-In FF1, initial party selection is a very crucial element in how easily you get through the game, and aside from overall strength of the party, you also should factor-in late game strength, early game strength, and the ability to abuse the experience beacon near the second town. Ultimately, there is the temptation to replay the game with different party configurations to theorize what configuration is best and then test your hypothesis.
Another element that gives a game replay value is when you have to make choices that will show you something, but then you don't get to see something else. It could be that you have a choice, and choice A leads to you seeing cutscene A and choice B leads you to seeing cutscene B. Other consequences of choices could involve the death of NPC's, whether you character A or character B joins your party, which town gets burnt down, which faction becomes the prevailing authority (i.e. late game towns could be occupied by mobsters one way, or nazi types the other way), different end game bosses, and so on. If you make it obvious to the player that they're making a choice, then they'll want to replay the game and see what the other choice would lead to. If these deviations in paths are calculated secretly, and the player doesn't realize that it might be different if replayed, then the curiosity won't be there.
Collect The Crystals
I almost posted this same topic at the same time. I think it's just horribly cliche. But at the same time, I think whenever you collect a star piece, a piece of the tri-force, fill one of the four orbs, etc., it gives you a sense of accomplishment, like a non-functional reward. Now I like that. So I think if you can incorporate that, and just try to present it in a less cliche way, then it will be nice. It helps if the union of these things makes total sense, i.e. if there were a shattered tablet, and reuniting them all allows you to read some special message, which may unlock a magical door, add a crucial spell to your spellbook, or whatever. The challenge is to make your reward system take the form of something that the player doesn't realize it's a cliche collect all of the crystals trope. Maybe rescue all of the... exiles. Maybe... collect sufficient clues to solve the mystery of the game (who killed someone, who stole the important thing, or w/e). I dunno, I can't make anything up that's not cliche.
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