Examples of complex systems

[thepsyche]

Hi everyone! I'm at the stage of my young RPG Maker journey where I understand how the engine works, but not necessarily what it is capable of. I'm limited a bit my lack of gameplay-oriented imagination here, and I'm looking to put my newly learned knowledge of the system to more challenging use.

There are a lot of tutorial videos out there explaining the concept of conditional branches, else branches, variables, you name it, but I've never seen anything more than the most basic application of these in the aforementioned videos. To check if certain members are in the party, to make sure the player has 5 potions - that's all important stuff, but I'd like to investigate how far things can be taken.

Would anyone be able to share some more ambitious systems they have worked with in their games, where the difficult spots were and how they were solved? Anyone particularly proud of a certain mechanic they've been able to implement into their game?

These are the sorts of things I feel will get my ideas flowing a bit more, instead of resorting to stock-standard "find the pelican and give it four fish" type of quests.

EDIT: I've just noticed I've posted this in the wrong thread. Sorry in advance mods.

 

[Andar]

[move]Game Mechanics[/move]

As an answer - on one side it is "almost anything", especially if you go beyond eventing into scripting/plugins.
On the other side that is a lot of work (especially with events only), and people who did that often wanted to sell the results of their work, keeping them to themselves.

I suggest you follow the link to the "starting point" in my signature. Some of the links I placed into the starting point have been lost, but there should still be a link to a topic of unencrypted games - that are games you still can open in the editor to see what other people have done there.

 

[XIIIthHarbinger]

Depends upon what you are after,

I can tell you how I set my day & night cycle system within my own project, or how I set up the weather system, or how I set up a skill system where skills advance to more powerful levels based on skills used. I am sure other people can do the same.

The question is what are you looking for?

 

[Zarsla]

With DreamX Options Plugin, and YEP_EnmeyBase Parameters I was able to create my own difficulty level.
With DreamX Options plugin and Himeworks Enemy Reinforcements Plugin, I was able to make a controlled way to change troop size.
With YEP_SelfSwitchAndVariables, I was able to create random looking chest that depending on which on you got gave different types of things.
Those above are a combination of plugins and events(Some things like the Diffculty level can be done solely with events, but plugins allow me to have it where it can be changed through the game)
With no plugins at all I was able to create a button mashing game, plus use it as a game play lock.
I have a boon system (I have YEP_ClassChange to let you change classes) also evented that depending on what class the leader is you can have different good things happen, like how the Adventurer Class can unlock any basic chest without playing the unlocking mini game or how the Fighter Class can choose to go in to battle or not.

If you want a good plugins to start with to expanded your eventing prowess, I recommend
-YEP_SelfSwitchesAndVariables as it extends the amount of self switches you have, and gives Self Variables (Variables that act like self switches, eg each value is tied to each event)
-DreamX Options has the ability to add Variables & Switches to the Options menu, so if you want to make some the player has some control over, like ecounter rate or enemy spawn or whatever, you can let them have control over it.

Also keep an eye on me on youtube, in 4-6 weeks (Middle of May - Beginning of June)
I'm going to start realsing my mechanics videos, how to create them and the like, plugins I know that do them, pros v cons of different ways to go about it.

 

[Frozen_Phoenix]

Anything can be done through scripting, if you want examples on those just search the plugins area.

Now for eventing, it's harder to do more complex stuff, but many things are possible. From simple day/night systems to complete battle systems... You can see good examples of those on old rpg maker 2k/2k3 games as they didn't have the option of scripting.

On the new makers, even though it is possible to do complex things with events like a menu or battle system, it's usually much easier and faster to do it through coding.

 

[thepsyche]

Thank you everyone for your replies, the way this community responds to those that are new & looking to learn is second to none.

@Andar - thanks for the suggestion. I've definitely used your "Starting Point" links before but now I'm in a better position to go over all the information again and have a more advanced perspective on it.

@XIIIthHarbinger - Yes, although systems relating to battles are still one step ahead of where I'm at by this point. I have not begun my foray into the battle world as of yet, but I'm sure those sorts of things will come in handy soon enough.

@Zarsla - This is the type of thing I was looking for. I'm interested if you're willing to share, not necessarily how your button mashing game works (and is implemented into the battle system) but what the rules of it are from the player's perspective.

@Frozen_Phoenix - Scripting scares me. It seems that all advanced developers of RPG Maker are using scripting to do almost everything... but what *is* everything? What is an example of palpable in-game (not aesthetics) that scripting can do that regular eventing couldn't?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Zarsla]

@thepsyche my button mashing game is not implemented in the battle system, it's a game that's at my casino and it's my basic lockpicking game.
From the players perspective, I give them a message telling them they have x amount of time to press the enter/z button y amount of times to unlock the chest (or beat the casino game) and then the game starts. If they succed then the chest is unlocked and they get whatever in it or they get a you failed message. Or if it's at the casino they get the XP(that's my games currency) they bet on if they win, or they lose half of what they bet if they loose.
If the leader of the party is of the adventurer class, then they don't have to play the lock pick game and instead the chest opens up and gives them what's in the chest. This is because the adventure is my thief/rouge like class and thus has the ability to open chest for free.

Now if you're asking me how the Fighter class boon works it's very easy. I have on map enmey events. And in theese events I have a condtional branch using a script call that says:
"$gameParty.leader().currentClass().id === 3"
It checks if the current party leader class is the Fighter, based on the classes id., which is id 3. If it is then it shows a message and a choice. The message says "Engage this Enemy?" if yes the battle will begin however if no, and it makes the enemy disappear with a little flee sound effect as if it ran away before you could engage it.
If the current party leader class is not a Fighter then the battle starts normal.

 

[Andar]

@thepsyche
Scripts - or their improved and easier handling as plugins in the newest maker, MV - should be used to either implement new game mechanics, or to change the existing menu structure. Some scripts are there to make things easier for events as well - for example scripts that give different options for event triggering or event movement.

However, most of the "standard" effects of games - like quests or shops or how to handle obstacles and so on - should be done by events, not by scripts. In my opinion, a lot of developers are crying for scripts or plugins too early, they should always try to check if something can be done with events first. Yes, there are a lot of changes that simply can't be done by events - but someone should know what the events can do before going to look for scripts.
That said, others are too resistent against script use - there are things (like for example eventing an ABS) where they should consider the use of scripts, because without scripts the pure eventing method of handling an ABS will come to its limits.

But as said, you need experience with both before you can really decide what to use for something.