Character Creation System with Portraits (easy)

[RTPnightmare]

Hey guys,


I made an easy way to make a character creation system.


I always had trouble using pictures in the Rpg Maker since it was a little complicated getting the pictures where I wanted them to be, so I created something that is easy to use.


It's very simple, fast to make and it uses graphics instead of text, so you can see what you're actually choosing.


This could also be used for other things like creating an event based menu or other things. Get creative!


You can download the Demo here : http://www.mediafire.com/download/cfqfpopy8wzq7qz/CharSelect+Demo.zip


Here are examples of how it could look like:

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It is pretty simple to make.


First off you have to make charsets out of the pictures you want to use, one normal and one in sepia colors or black and white.


I attached 2 templates which you can use, one in faceset size and one in portrait size. ( you can use even bigger ones, but be careful that they are not too big for the screen)


If you want the same effect as in example 3 just make the colored charset 10% bigger.


Example:

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Then you create an empty hero with no graphics and delete your party in the system tab until only the empty hero is left. I created some base heroes to choose from as well. 

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Next you create an empty map and make events with the sepia colored portraits/facesets.

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On each portrait event make a second event page which activates when a certain switch is activated.


For example the blond guy has the BlondGuy switch, the girl has the WhiteHair switch and so on.


Make sure that priority is below character.


When the player pushes the action button they will be asked if they want to select this character, if they hit yes, they are taken to the next option screen (in my case they are taken to the hairstyle options).

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Then you create events around the characters you can choose.


They simply teleport your invisible character when touched to the next portrait/faceset.


Through the switches the portraits change from their sepia tone to the colored version. (You can also add a SE to add some sound)


You put the control switch of the current portrait/faceset off and the one from the next one on and then teleport when you touch the event.


Make sure that it activates on player touch and that you can move on the tileset.(the default invisible tileset in the rtp is not passable so be sure to make your character able to pass through)

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Next you have to make sure that your character starts on one of the choosable portraits so create an autorun event.


Also make sure that the right switch is on and to erase the event after it finishes.

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And the last thing is to add your character to the party.


To change the look of the character we simply make use of the Change Actor Images button and choose the new images we want to use.


Don't forget to remove the Empty Hero.

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That's it.


I hope this'll help you and I wish all of you a lot of fun!


View attachment Templates.zip

 

[Korbinus]

Thanks for this tutorial. It's very helpful. I don't understand how so epic thing can be done without plugins/scripts. You rock, dude !

 

[RTPnightmare]

Thanks =D


I'm happy that you like it.


I actually started to write a script for this, but I realized that doing this with events is so much easier.


And the problem with plugins is that they sometimes don't work with each other the way they're supposed to =\

 

[ALTERED STATE ?]

Why didn't you just use show picture?

 

[RTPnightmare]

That is a possibility too, with a little tinkering you can probably make it work.


I for my part don't like it. XD


Since RM2k I just couldn't use the show picture command and my pictures were somehow always in the wrong place or something else happened.


And I just feel like the overview is a lot easier this way since you can directly see the portrait/faceset in the event.


But in a way you're right. There are much more possibilities with the show picture command so I'll probably add a second part to the tutorial using it.

 

[Korbinus]

I have one question: How did you make it work on buttons, not only using mouse,  and how transfer events work ? Why even I need them  (the ones on the left and right of event with charselect image) ?

 

[RTPnightmare]

It should work with the

and spacebar. You can add WASD movement with a plugin.


The transfer events are needed to transport your character to the event which he can activate, I made an example with a non-invisable character.


The chicken moves from event to event so that if you push the action button, it activates the event.


(I noticed that I made a mistake in the demo and fixed it, the events on the top and bottom of the portraits are there, so that the character can't move into the wrong direction.

The teleport events are needed because otherwise your character would not be on the event and there would be an empty space between the next event, you could also use the Set Movement Route command for this.


There are probably hundreds of other ways to do this, but for me this way it is super easy to event it, so if you have other ideas on how to do this please tell me =D