MITSUHIDE_THE_VAGRANT'S PROFILE

This is a design question about a game's aesthetic. I'm having trouble deciding if custom message/text boxes are something I want to do in my game (a game that will eventually be sold commercially) to make it more unique.

Here is an example of RM2K3's default text box and my current custom one:





On the one hand, the default text box is easy to implement and quick to fix if needed, but I feel that it can be a bit boring having seen it for years and years.

On the other hand, a custom text box takes a little more effort to implement and must be done for every cutscene and NPC. It doesn't take up as large a portion of the screen as the default box does, plus it enters and exits the screen in a more unique way. Sure, it's as simple as the default text box, but I feel it may spice up the player experience just enough. My only concern with using the custom text box seen above is the box itself might feel a little too cramped, but I know some games pull that off just fine. Plus, there's no auto-positioning option where it doesn't obscure the player.

There are times in my game where, especially in the opening parts, there's a lot of text to get through for exposition reasons. I feel the text itself is written to be interesting enough, so I am ok with that aspect. Plus, the combination of music, sound effects, and sprite movements/animation spice up the cutscenes so their not tedious to read through most of the time, but I feel maybe a custom text box would help the game even more. It could also be that I've read the text numerous times and also am 100% familiar with the story, so the conversations between characters aren't as exciting. That's a thing, right?

In general, how do you folks feel about custom text boxes? Do you feel they add to the game's experience? Or do you think they're not necessary and really add nothing?

I'll get straight to the point: in my game, characters can equip items called "Glyphs" that activate during battle. When you run into a battle, a common event is called to turn on switches corresponding to what Glyph the character has equipped.

One of the glyphs is called a "Life Glyph" that automatically plays an animation and then revives the character with 10% max HP if their HP hits "0":



That works fine, but this still activates if it's the last (or only) character in the party. I'm still getting a game over (which is what I want to happen in this scenario) but, the battle event above is still activating because the character hit "0" HP regardless. I've tried to circumvent this by turning off the switches needed to activate beforehand if the party is wiped out:



...but it still wasn't working.
Yes, I tried to set Party HP to 0, as well, so thoeretically if the party's HP is at "0" (i.e. everyone's dead) it turns off the glyph switches immediately and stops the reviving event from happening.

To summarize, I don't want the Life Glyph activating if the dead character is the only character in the party or the last one to die.

I'm so close to accomplishing that.

Did I not understand how the "Party HP" battle event condition works? Or is there an easier fix?

I hate having to ask about this, because I feel like I should already know it, but either the help file is lying or it's just not as clear as it's saying it is.

In my game, enemies use a skill as their regular attack. I want statuses (like blind) to affect those skills' accuracy. RM2K3's help file clearly states this is possible...



...But it's not on the skill page.



Is the help file lying or something? I assume no, of course. That would be terrible. Where in the database can I make this happen? States tab? Enemy tab? I'm confused and really hope I'm not delusional or something. I've used RM2K3 for over a decade and didn't know you could do this with skills. :(

I've read that you cannot legally sell RM2K3 games if you've hacked the RPG.exe file. To what extent does that cover? For example, I'm working on 2 major games with RM2K3 currently, and one of them I'd like to eventually make it available commercially (it will be quite a hefty game). However, I've changed the glyphs in the game to what you see below...



I would probably change all of the glyphs eventually, just so I can make the game that much more original. This is the only "hack" I've implemented and will most likely be the only one, considering.

But, with these changes in the glyphs, does that make the game ineligible for commercial sale? I hope not, as these glyphs have become integral to the games messages and menu management. Also, are there any other hack-like changes that bar RM2K3 game's from a commercial sale? I understand much of the hacks that Cherry has made are included. Just curious if I should go ahead and revert these glyphs back to normal if I plan on selling my game.

Also, is the official English version of RM2k3 still being updated and patched? If so, I would love to suggest edits and upgrades somewhere if I can (like the ability to change glyphs without hacking lol).

author=LordBlueRouge
I think this is frontiers extreme, This is what stood out to me as well but I'll have to double check. If anyone knows what this game is for sure, let us know.

I wanna say that sounds right. I remember the game having a "generic, cool RPG title".