LORDBLUEROUGE'S PROFILE

author=creature129
minus the wall's and the bench so

Okay, since it's a rectangle, this makes things infinitely easier, but keep in mind this won't apply to every situation and will change depending on the type of range of the area, you want the item to appear in.

What you'll need for this is:

2 Events*
2 Variables

*(I'm assuming you're also using an item that the player will acquire, that will function as an event, with this, so that will be the second event, so I've named that event "random item" for this tutorial)

1)What you first want to do is find the coordinates of where you want the item to be in RPGMAKER

This can be done by switching to the event layer and selecting an area with your mouse.

The coordinates can be found the bottom right corner of RPGMAKER:



Now, because the area you want to spawn the item in, is a rectangle, you'll want to find the maximum coordinates of this area, for x and y:

so for x, you'll want the item to spawn between coordinates 3 - 17
and for y, you'll want the item to spawn between coordinates 5 - 9



So x: 3 - 17
and y: 5 - 9

these are the numbers you're going to use when creating your variable operation

2)So, Create a Parallel Process Event: (This is the event that will randomly spawn the item)

Create an x variable, Call it "random item x coord" - set it to randomly choose numbers between 3 - 17:



Now, create a y variable, Call it "random item y coord" - set it to randomly choose numbers between 5 - 9:



Now here's where the magic happens:

3)Create a "Set Event Location" Command:



for "Event": Choose the item/event that you want to spawn. i.e. "random item"
for "Location" Select "Variable"
for "Map X" Select the variable you made for X: i.e. "random item x coord"
for "Map Y" Select the variable you made for Y: i.e. "random item y coord"

Now, to get the item/event to stop spawning, you will want to add an "Erase Event" Command.

Here's what your "random-spawning-location" event should look like once you're finished with it:



Now, for the most part, this tutorial is complete - how your item functions and how the player acquires it, is another tutorial entirely - but generally you'll want to stick to using switches to turn off item accessibility, as that's what professional jrpg developers have used for years as a way to keep track of treasure chests, etc.

But just to clarify, I've added a video, just to show what this random-item-spawn should look like, once you completed these series of commands, in practice - the last part of the video, is just to show what happens if you remove the Erase Event command.

Please let me know, if you were able to to get this work on your end, creature129 ❤

I'd like to help out this. So just to clarify, please tell me where you want the item to spawn randomly.

author=Milennin
Basically, you can't leave it up to the player to find things out themselves, because most won't. You have to spell it out for them, shove the information into their faces and force them through tutorials until they understand the game mechanics.

Here's the thing about RPG Maker games though, The Average Player isn't going to know, what you know, about your own game, Millennin - think about the type of player, playing these games for a moment, they come from all different walks of life with different experiences, some having played numerous rpgs, others having played none - Unless you say something to the player, they're going to assume all rpgmaker games play the same.

That's why it's essential that you say something to the player, so they can grow accustom to how you game works.

Now, It doesn't have to be a mind numbing tutorial, that lasts for 2 hours. The best games often do this without ever telling you: It could be something as simple as dropping a consecutive hint, or a secret demonstration video like the Crystal Flash technique in Super Metroid or even just simply dying a lot.

Either way, you need to present the challenge in an interesting enough way so you can get the player to think like you do, so they can start engaging in your game in new and interesting ways so they don't give up.

It's not really about "getting gud", it's about presenting these challenges in an interesting, but clear enough way, so that the player will eventually learn how to surmount these challenges.

Cause despite what Lockez may have said, I did eventually beat Saga Frontier 2, even if I may not have been good at it; but not everyone is going to be onboard with that type of challenge, a lot of people will, and have quit games a lot faster, for a lot less, so the key is trying to find a balance between telling the player just enough so that they won't waste so much time on the challenge, but also so that they won't give up.

author=herrshaun
I don't mind a challenge, but there's a clear difference between something being a challenge and something that's just plain imbalanced. Knowing the difference means not having to waste time adjusting to a developer's oversight.

Exactly.

Keep in mind, it's been years since I've played, Feld,

But the most recent unrelated SaGa example I can think of is the the Astos boss in Final Fantasy 1:

@0:59

He has a death spell he will randomly cast on either the first turn, or the second, completely wiping out one of your party members: - there is absolutely no way to avoid this attack at this point in the game, other than resetting your game and hope he doesn't cast it in the battle - because he casts it randomly, without warning.

Similarly, for SaGa , there are numerous monsters and boss monsters that have these instant-death-skills that directly attack your LP points, especially the Final Bosses,

I recall numerous moments while playing a SaGa game, where I would be grinding stats in the Bio Research Lab in Frontier 1, some random area in SaGa Frontier 2, or traveling over some area in Unlimited Saga or Romancing Saga, where a minor enemy or even a boss, would have some skill that would directly attack your LP points, causing instant death - (which is why you have to Quick Save often)

This became absolutely brutal with final boss battles, especially in Frontier 1, where you're facing something like the Hell Lord, Diva or Spriggan who are allowed to have two turns, per turn.

Often, they'll have a spell that deals massive damage, wiping out more than half of your party and if you're really unlucky, as I have been, they'll either follow it up with an instant-death-skill, in the same, or following turn, on anyone whose still alive, without warning, while you're scrambling to revive your party.

Many of my friends and colleagues, do not like the SaGa series for this very reason.
and to this day, this is the number 1 reason why I've only been able to beat SaGa Frontier 2, once. (…Not because I don't like Saga Frontier 2 - I love Saga Frontier 2, I think, it has a very interesting story about overcoming genetic discrimination in the face of adversity - but because I've truly, only ever been able to actually beat that game once.)

Like, I can totally understand why these games are appealing (I'm probably one SaGa's biggest fan); Growing up, I could only buy one or two games with what little allowance that I had, so something like SaGa Frontier 1 and 2 took me two years each, to beat, even with a strategy guide, it was fun.

But for the rest of us, SaGa games kind of suck - when it came to playing through Unlimited Saga and Romancing Saga Minstrel's Song; I just couldn't get into them. You have to have some sort of guide, knowledge beforehand, or play through it terribly the first time, in order to understand how these games fundamentally work at their core.

…Which is perfectly viable for the kid growing up or the customer who doesn't have a whole lot of options to choose from and has a whole lot of time on their hands. But for everyone else, they've just passed over these games or returned them, for something that's much more accommodating, because the time required to invest in this series, is just way too time consuming. It's too much of time investment.

Like, the difference between other RPGs and SaGa is that, Other RPGs, will often have some sort of skill or opportunity to completely negate this occurrence in battle to make it more fair, (like FF6's Life 3 or casting Reflect or how Level 5 Death, only KOs enemies whose levels are multiples of 5) SaGa doesn't - it just happens; if someone dies, you have to scramble to get your party back to life or the game doesn't even give you the opportunity, you just die - that's it.

I would not use SaGa as an example for a game that requires skill because, even when you do everything right, your success in the game it solely comes down to having a whole lot of luck through a series of turns.

And there are much better and more interesting ways to make your RPG genuinely challenging, than having the computer throw you an unavoidable, instant-death-blow at your party, that's determined by luck.

(Now, I'm not saying these games are unfair, because they throw instant-death-kills at you - I like challenging games just as much as everyone else - I grew up on Battletoads, I love Demon Souls, I play SaGa Frontier - But what I am saying is that, you severely risk alienating your potential audience by choosing to making your game this difficult, for all the wrong reasons and that this is something that you should heavily consider while making your game.

Cause if you wanna make your game like SaGa, and SaGa's never been genuinely successful here in the west, a game which people have actually returned, how successful is your game honestly going to be?)

SaGa is known and embraced for it's obtuse game design choices, but there are much better ways at creating genuinely challenging difficult games than SaGa's as I stated in my previous post.

EDIT: Lockez, kind of disappointed in you. I thought you'd know me better by now.

Or maybe some sort of plugin (I've heard of one by Cherry but I can't find it so if anyone has the link that would be great)? I don't know. There's just only so much you can do with 24 x 32 pixels of room. Thanks.

Here's the patch you mentioned - I haven't tried it yet, but it should be worth checking out.

http://cherrytree.at/cms/lang/en/download/?did=18