RHYME'S PROFILE

Dropping by to relay:
Archeia isn't able to connect to RMN due to a service outage in her area, so her secret santa may be submitted late.
http://outagereport.ph/pldt

author=Shinan
Like red is incredibly well established so trying to buck that trend is always going to be a bit of a challenge.

author=LockeZ
But seriously WTF is up with that screenshot of a menu on the upper right where the increased stat numbers are red and decreased ones are blue? That's confusing as hell. Don't do that.

This is actually exactly what I meant! I don't SEE red being such an established color for "bad". I come from playing a lot of games where they use red/orange as the "positive" color and blue as the "negative" color, extending all the way to yes, stat changes! It came to mind when I was discussing my buff icons with a friend and he pointed out that they were upside down because he expected the buffs to be blue and debuffs to be red, while I had the natural instinct otherwise. Show me a picture of a game where the negative stats are red and it made me do a double take.

Also all the screenshots on the right side are games that use red as a positive color! (default rm only applies that to the standard buff icons though!)

Red is often used as a color for happiness, courage, success, strength, and fortune and so on, especially in China (see all their red ceremonial stuff? thats why), while blue can also just as easily indicate damage (turning blue, bruise, sadness, torment)
Notably, green is almost never used for a negative effect, though. At most, it would be the color for Poison visual effects or icons. Generally when green is paired with red, red becomes a negative color, but when paired with blue, it's not always the case.

While the opening post is worded rather divisively (its all chaos) I feel there is definitely a solid ground to think that "red is strong and blue is weak" can easily be communicated to a player. (Also because some of the games I've been recently playing do that color coding its been working on me)

On the other hand, I have a hard time seeing blue being used to signify something positive. Blue, as much as I try to interpret it, doesn't really scream "powerful" at all. Its loyal, humble, and calming, but it isn't "strong". I feel like it is wrong to use blue as a "buff" outside of maybe MP regeneration/healing/protective effects.

In particular, the line
draw_text(x, y, 72, line_height, Vocab::level_a)
That number determines the "draw width" of the text! If it squishes again on stuff like Level 100, you can raise it even further to make it fit more.
Do note that it can potentially over-draw to the HP gauges if the width is set too large.

Resolved!
For those who are encountering similar problems, this might be handy:

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/46341-javascript-questions-that-dont-deserve-their-own-thread/&do=findComment&comment=560889

author=lavra
Your last example seems to be missing some parameters, so that can't work, anyway. For the first example make sure, that:
- Your given width (the first 128) and height (the first 192) aren't greater, than the source bitmap's dimensions. Otherwise, blt will silently fail.
- The bitmap has loaded, already. Usually this is done by loading bitmaps during Scene.create and rendering them in Scene.start and later. If you are loading the bitmap dynamically, you'll need to add a load listener, that will wait until it's loaded and draw it, afterwards.

The easier way would be to simply display another sprite on top of the background. Uses up slightly more memory, but you won't get any issues with asynchronous loading.

HI
I don't consider inflated HP or stats asymmetry. (wow!)
Speaking especially as an RPG Maker user, our enemy AI likely won't be good enough for it to play with equal stats and provide an experience that would make the actual enemy satisfying to fight with; which is why bosses tend to have inflated HP, moves that are drastically superior, and sometimes even immunity of said conventional game mechanics.

Personally, I have preference of mechanics of the game affecting enemies equally (or almost equally) as the player - I really hate FFTA2's Law system and conversely really like FFTA's because of this (FFTA2 had Laws that apply only to your party, benefits and penalties alike, enemies are completely unaffected. FFTA had Laws applied globally, though some bosses do have partial immunity to Law penalties).
Reason being is, introducing mechanics, combos, and potential actions via performing them as an enemy provides the player with the thought

author=Player
"Oh wow, they can do that! I wonder if I can do it too?"

and that may provide a nice baseline on how a player can learn how to form their actions.
Like, if you had 2 enemies - an Oil barfing Slime and a Flame Wisp. Letting the player observe and experience the receiving end of being doused in Oil and then subsequently Ignited by the enemy, they should see that combination, and think of their own.
One of the most rewarding bits of playing a game is mastering a game element, and turning it towards the enemy! I think that's important!

author=Merlandese
I think it's one of the reasons why Pokemon has so much possibility, like the guy who beats the elite four with a LV.01 Magikarp.

Pokemon's large amount of possibility is due to how each Pokemon's stats and skills are designed. Unlike Fire I, Fire II or Fire III, (almost)every move in Pokemon has a very specific and meaningful purpose. Very few of the moves in Pokemon are obsoleted by other moves, and while superior variations exist, they are not without notable demerits either. Couple unique and interactive skill effects with Pokemon's elemental interaction and additional effects from the Pokemon personalities, stats, and held item, each small facet of customization provides many possibility. This can be done asymmetrically, but I imagine it'd be harder to balance/create interesting as interacting with mechanics that are specific to either the player/enemy would essentially lock out that possibility with the opposing side.