New RM Event Discussion, There's not a new RM, just discussing ideas. Options

[RzrBladeMontage]

So there's only a few changes from RPG Maker XP to RPG Maker VX, event wise. I've done a little eventing in RMVX, but the majority of my eventing has been done in RPG Maker XP. That being said, I have noticed a few things would be easier to use if they were just implemented into a new RPG Maker.

1) Skill Events.
This includes, but isn't limited to, fishing, mining, cooking, etc. We've seen quite a few tutorials for these skills, but all of them are mostly done in the same way. The way I see this being implemented is some-what like variables. You have have a certain amount of them in your game and when you edit them in the Event Editor, you get an easy to use interface. For example, you could have "Item Needed?" check box, that if checked, will allow you to edit what item(s) you need for that skill; such as fishing. A "Fishing Pole" and "Bait" could each be needed items for fishing. Then you could have a section for "Items Gained" and have their rarities per item, or even have it so a certain item also needs a special item to be caught, we'll keep going with the fishing example. A trout has 50% chance of being caught with normal bait, a 75% chance with super bait, and 100% chance with ultra bait, but a swordfish cannot be caught with normal bait, and only has a 50% chance to be caught with super bait and a 75% chance of being caught with ultra bait and a super rare flying rainbow whale only has a 10% chance of being caught with rainbow bait, and cannot be caught with any other type of bait. The interface could also supply a Level System, giving the player a better chance of catching a fishing with each level up, with the percentage increase based on what the game designer has chosen.

2) Moving Events
We've all use the movement tool in the event editor, but it can become bothersome when you have to count how many steps an event is taking, for example, Bob the NPC moves two to the right, 4 down, 3 right, 6 down, 20 left, 3 up and 2 down. While it's not too hard to really count how many steps the NPC is taking, I would love to see a "Set Route" option. When it's picked, the game map displays and lets you click and highlight the route for the chosen NPC. They could also have special options you can input into the route, to make the NPC jump over something, or speed up at a random time. While you can do this all now, it would be a lot simpler (for us at least!) if this was also put into a new RM.


Anyone else have an ideas? I'm sure there's a ton of stuff you've guys thought of! Discuss!

[lilcooldude69]

id like the ability for choosing different battle systems, like zelda style battle, ff style battle, tales of... style battle, ive tried ig maker, its the worst action game maker engine ever... couldnt figure out how to use that thing at all, they needa make it so u can make games easier like they did in rpgmaker cept it being like a mario game engine or zelda game engine

[RzrBladeMontage]

That's a pretty good idea, multiple battle systems to choose from. It'd also be nice if they added summons and transformations.

[lilcooldude69]

yeah, that would be epic, i think ive even made a few events on here for transformations outside of battle, basically enterbrain needs to go through our scripting list and take note LOL.

[Legacy]

@RzrBladeMontage

I like the idea you've come up with for the movement events. Like having a "Visual" guide, maybe being able to "Draw" onto a grid that sets the route? that's always an idea i've kinda had for movement ideas, using anchor points.

The one thing i've always disliked about RMXP, was that you couldn't use more than one tileset on the same map (without binding them together manually then re-importing it.) and VX may have improved on that, but they limited the tilesets.. So i would really love to see a mixture between VX and XP's use of tilesets, (in other words being able to use multiple tilesets, but without being restricted on how many tilesets you can use.

just my $0.02

[Redd]

Well, Enterbrain can't think of everything, so that's why they gave us scripts for pretty much endless possibilities! However, I'd love to see something even as easy as Train Actor/Caterpillar added into RM. Or the simple modules that people script up, you know? Maybe someone should make a community-based RM with scripts from the community that can be implemented into the system and whatnot!
Well, if it ain't broke don't fix it! WE CAN MAKE VIDEO GAMES PEOPLE! It doesn't matter how we do it, but we all have different ideas.
I like that customizable part of RM, making every single game different!

[Sparrowsmith]

personally, I have NO problems with moving events. It's just not worth the effort for them to implement a whole new way of doing it. You know what I would like though? Set points.
You say "Event moves to [location]" and it will find the quickest route there on its own. This way if you stand in front of a jogger or something, they'll just walk around you. If your on a battle field, they will run around you. If your map has any kind of random points blocking the way, your events (and player) will still get there perfectly.
Hell, you can create random dungeons (though I find this a fairly lazy feature) and then it takes forever to get someone to move through that dungeon. If you implement set points (or whatever you wanna call it) then you could actually chase someone through the quickest route of the maze, a maze which was randomly generated (or could be randomly generated each time).
Better yet (though this could be asking too much) allow events to be set points as well. That way you can have a group of events that follow wherever one event goes (like a caterpillar script but for events) but that will still move around you, wait for the lead event, etc.
It would really make a LOT of scenes more convincing. I just hate 'busy' scenes, where everyone's running around, and then you stand in the middle and EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD stops. No one walks around you or anything. It's such a scene breaker.

Battle systems is a bit much to ask, mostly because it means they'll make RTP that isn't used. Maybe different variations of the same battle system, and the functionality to use a different kind of battle system if you input your own resources (though really, there are plenty of scripts that do this).

Parallax mapping has become a big deal, so a system that better copes for this would be good (the option to set an entire map as a parallax, and then build on top of it with tiles, which would make objects above the player much easier to map.) or using smaller tiles for passibility.

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

[TheBen]

Right on, Sparrowsmith. Actually, it isn't too hard to do this with scripts, especially if you eschew the A* pathfinding method in favor of simple line estimation. I tried doing this with events, myself, and it worked pretty well.

I think a great thing to add would be custom events (and I've said it before, but anyway...). For example, if you wanted to make an "Add Fog" command for your script, you just add on a new command and people don't have to use any overcomplicated script calls.

A more... well, a better mapping system would be advised. XP was a bit too ingratiating in some ways; VX was blocky and sort of ugly. A good middle road of sorts, like that of Game Maker (alllows you to add new layers and incorporate multiple tilesets at once), could be an alternative.

This post has been edited by TheBen: Aug 30 2011, 10:26 AM

[Pharonix]

How about a new skill system

One where you choose the range
you would have a input box for number of 'hits' and a check box for random, or choice
this way you can make an attack that hits one enemy 3 times or one that hits all enemies twice.

what i would also like to see is the ability to 'CHAIN' animations. - I know this could probably be scripted but i'll say it anyway
It would have an area similar to a class' skills at a certain level, however this would allow you to put as many animations as you want
and have them be executed when the skill is.
This would make it easier for users to make a skill that may need more animation than the two graphics you are normally allowed.
this would be cool for a skill that has an animation for Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth for an Elemental call technique

Also I would like to see the abiltiy of Multiple tilesets
and a more flexible mapping system, - perhaps one that you can activate Normal mode, which would be the normal blocky mapping mode
and a more flexible FreeStyle mode, in which you can freely draw those winding paths you want so much.

This post has been edited by Pharonix: Aug 30 2011, 10:31 AM

[lilcooldude69]

id like also like the ability to just jump into the game without haveing to start your game over from scratch and what not, i know u can just set ur player in the map and turn on some switches but wouldnt u like it if u could just, put a start point of the game, and break point of the game during debugging to just see how something plays out?

[Alt_Jack]

id like also like the ability to just jump into the game without haveing to start your game over from scratch and what not, i know u can just set ur player in the map and turn on some switches but wouldnt u like it if u could just, put a start point of the game, and break point of the game during debugging to just see how something plays out?

lol you can. Just make a teleport item like the one I have in my demo. You just need to know the numbers.
Besides, sometimes it's good to start at the beginning, rather than just jump directly into that point. You might hit something you overlooked on the way there.

But move route. Yeah.
If they had it so that you could select a start point and an end point and the game just connected the dots...VX is a pretty flexible system, though. More/better visual effects would be nice.
....But there's scripts for all that stuff. Except move route.

EDIT: nevermind. I took my own advice of "Stop whining and fix it yourself" and came up with a simple solution. Create a movement reference CE.

if variable steps = 3 (I did 3, 5, and 10)
-set move route player (or This Event)
- step forward, step forward, step forward (you get the picture)

then in the event you're moving, set the variable, then call the event. Saves some time, I guess.

This post has been edited by Alt_Jack: Aug 31 2011, 04:59 PM