NES-style RPG Options

[Wicherheist]

So, as the title implies, I intend to make an RPG in the style of an NES RPG, like Final Fantasy.

I'm completely new to this. All I have under my belt is incredible spriting abilities (not to gloat or anything).

I need the resolution of the game downsized to 256x224, and all the sprites/tiles need to be 16x16...
I don't know how to do this, or if it is even possible...

Any help would be appreciated.

Preemptive thanks.

[amerk]

There is a script that changes resolution from 544 x 416 to 640 x 480, but there is nothing that will allow you to make it smaller. Tiles in VX are 32 x 32, no way to change that.

The only option you have is to use RM2K/3 or to try your hand at parallax.

[shinyjiggly]

Ok, so the first things that you should keep in mind are the limitations of the NES. Lately I've been reading up on them due to working on a very short game in Game Maker in NES-style as well.
Only one layer of background tiles
only eight sprites on-screen (if there are more than that, they'll do a flickery thing so that only up to eight can be seen on-screen at any particular frame)
Technically, tile sizes are 8x8, but because each group of four tiles must share a common color on them, they're usually grouped to look like one contiguous 16x16 tile instead
Only 3 colors are allowed for each tile
Only 25 total colors may be visible on-screen on any one frame.
The palette of available colors contains 52 unique colors. The rest are #000000 black.

For music and sound effects, I suggest that you download Famitracker if you haven't already done so. You might want to edit the exported wav files to make them a bit more loopable (Famitracker adds some empty space before and after the song when exporting to a wav file). Keep in mind that each sound channel can only play one thing at a time (so you can't hear a sword slash made of noise at the same time as a waterfall made of noise. One of them would not play during that instance.)

But for nitty-gritty details of getting it done in VX, I can't really help you very much. Also, I'm not sure how text or text boxes were handled back then, only that they were somehow accounted for and did exist.


EDIT: wait, you were only trying to get the screen size changed? I am incredibly slow and unhelpful.

[Wicherheist]

There is a script that changes resolution from 544 x 416 to 640 x 480, but there is nothing that will allow you to make it smaller. Tiles in VX are 32 x 32, no way to change that.

The only option you have is to use RM2K/3 or to try your hand at parallax.

Would RM2K/3 allow me to change the resolution of the sprites and tiles?

I know little about scripting, but couldn't you just change the "640x480" in the script to "512x448" or "256x224"? I think I read that someone had done it that way, but I could be wrong. Haha

[amerk]

You can ask around in script areas, but if I'm not mistaken you can make the resolution bigger (not always a good option, though), but not smaller. Not sure how you would go about changing it for RM2K/3, or if it's possible at all.

However, considering the success of NES style games on 2K/3, using that as the maker of choice may be your best bet.

[Rast]

I don't personally know how you'd change the resolution. Cherry has quite a few useful resources for 2K3 that might help, though

However, you can achieve a similar effect by using a frame. They're 320x240, 256 color .png files that are(when enabled and selected) shown on screen at all time. They're usually used for a small border, but can be used to trim the visible screen area down, or even to show a HUD, life/magic bar, etc.

[Wicherheist]

I decided to get RM2K. It's been working perfectly for this, and I've gotten a lot done. Thanks for the advice!

[WeasleX]

You could just use RM2K/3, games like Hellion were made using that system and it turned out great! The old school graphics remind me of Dragon Warrior actually. VX and XP... idk if I'd recommend using them on something like this though.