MAX MCGEE'S PROFILE

Okay, so I have a new project in rm2k3 and I can't get anywhere with it because whenever I try to playtest (or just play it) it doesn't let me get anywhere, not even the title screen, just immediately crashes with the message "Event script referenced an item that does not exist!"

I have tried a few things and I can't figure out what is causing this since I have no event script yet, just maps and a (mostly cleared out and empty) database. Does anyone have any ideas?

My rm2k3 has been working fine for five years, by the way and I don't get this problem when I try to play other games, just mine.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a really, really good, comprehensive (i.e. IDIOT PROOF) tutorial on how to do light maps in RPG Maker 2003?

Or if anyone is feeling extremely patient, they could even try walking me through it themselves.

Edit: Before anyone suggests it, yes of course I have tried google. This is something I cannot figure out by myself. I have been making games for seven years and completed three without ever once using the show picture event command. It's about time for me to conquer this mental block I have.

Further edit: I have also not had much luck in "Reverse engineering" games with these kinds of doodads in them.

Final edit, I promise: Also, if this is totally impossible to do without photoshop, that's also something I need to know.

This is for an excercise in atmosphere building/halloween contest entry being made in rm2k3.

Thank you.

-Max

Okay, this is a question that is basically me testing the field for something I'm going to do in one of my game projects, just to get that off the table.

How do you guys feel about meta-features? Are they worth including?

A "meta-feature" (my term) is like a feature in that it adds content or doodads but unlike a real feature it is not integrated into the game's code but instead requires some "extra work" from the player to solve, usually involving something (the internet, an instruction manual) outside of the game. The classic example of a meta-feature comes from old (text) adventure games where the answer to certain puzzles would be printed in the instruction booklet. Sometimes, not always, a decoder strip would be involved. (This particular trick was used sometimes as a meta-feature (to add gameplay value), sometimes as a copy protection method.) Likewise the answer could be hidden in a website you had to check, or somewhere you could e-mail, in short, nothing you could discover by playing the game.

The classic rm2k meta-feature is an early work-around (before menu-hacking or any of that nonsense) for having a New Game+ mode. Since you can't (unless I'm mistaken) use event code in rm2k to just return the hero to a title screen with a New Game+ option replacing the New Game option. How this would work is after finishing the game and watching the credits you'd be given a password that you'd have to write down and once you were done writing it down, you could press a button and the game would quit; there would be a sub-menu at the beginning of the game where that password would be required to access the special mode, whether you had the password or not.

So, I hope I've done a good job of illustrating what a meta-feature is. Something that YOU DON'T REALLY CODE, NOT REALLY, that requires the player to, however briefly, exit the game to enhance the game.

THE ONLY EXAMPLE THAT MATTERS:
The particular meta-feature I have planned is, first off, completely optional and is something that would encourage players to use an outside website to customize their characters' appearance and then import in the file to the charas folder after they rename it to $dudeman or whatever so the main protagonist who they also name and choose the class of looks like what they want as well. Basically, a prompt in the first 60 seconds of character creation that would say "do you like your character's appearance? If not, follow the following steps which include shutting down the gam to change it."

Disclaimers: Now I know this is NOT REALLY A FEATURE. Technically, you could do this kind of thing to ANY rpg maker game just to AMUSE yourself, the only difference is that my game would actively encourage it and patiently explain how within the game. While it may be THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE to code something like this using scripts or whatever, let's just assume that for now it's well, well beyond my capabilities.

So, what do you guys think about that kind of thing? Would it enhance your enjoyment of the game even if it wasn't technically coded into the game or would it annoy you by prompting you to exit the game to fiddle around with something? Likewise, please feel free to DISCUSS META-FEATURES in general. Are they a good or bad idea?

-Max

P.S. Meta-features are not a video game thing only. Anyone here who was sentient in the 90s probably remembers all those board games that came with a video tape and it was like OMG INTERACTIVE MEDIA, right?

Not to rush you guys, I know you're all busy, I'm just wondering if y'all have any idea when that podcast (you know, from Release Something) is gonna be ready?

So, a LOT of websites (RRR, RMVX) have a forum devoted to be a database of RM(V)X(P) scripts created/submitted by users. Since we don't really have an RMVX section up and running on the site (as Holbert pointed out recently) do any of the Powers That Be think that it would be a good idea to have this kind of thing on the forums?

This is more of a suggestion than a complaint, by the way, so yeah, discuss.