Faction affiliation window.

[Skurge]

Hi everyone, was thinking hard in my sleep of a plugin I had in mind for my project to help the player understand his/her stance with other factions.


Basically in my project there is a number of factions I intend to have some you grow to hate during the story and some that's outlook to you changes depending on what you do.


For example Gang Red and Blue hate each other- if you kill Reds members, Blue members will respect you more and not be hostile, also depending on the gang's themselves they may have friends that like them and will also share the same appreciation or vice versa. Enemies in my project are event on map dependent and if you destroy them you will be added a variable amount that will increase your stance with groups. I like to think the best example would be the respect meter from the old GTA 2 game http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Respect


I have an image that shows my visual outlook on this, I am assuming this can be done with the game's already built in content. I have looked through the master plugin list but cannot find a relevant plugin and hope that this might prove useful to me and others who may have something familiar in mind.

 

[Shaz]

what is the relationship between the faction window and the faction tab?  Are they on the same screen?  If so, it seems more logical to swap around the layout a bit so the list of factions is on the left, and the detail window is on the right, with that panel changing as the user moves from one faction to another.  

 

[Skurge]

Hm but isn't the text/options in the menu window by default on the left side of the screen? In the menu your character stats and graphics I.e mugshots are displayed on the right side of the screen. It might seem a little inconsistent to have the normal positioning for this particular window to be flipped?


Then again you did mention if it was on the same screen or not- looking back it could have the option to check faction information on the top of the screen like the equip menu while the faction bars are below?


Or maybe rather than having a option to check information on a faction, selecting a faction's bar could open a window for the information regarding that faction instead.

 

[Shaz]

There may be some elements to this in your mind that you haven't conveyed in your first post.


Is "faction tab" a menu item in the main window?  If that opens a page of large text on the faction's general info, at what point do you choose the faction, and how do you get to the window that shows the list of factions with their (I assume) gauges? 

 

[Skurge]

Sorry, this might just sound easier in my own mind but I'll try to convey it as clear as I can.


Inside the menu in game- yes. Not the main menu where you choose to start the game load etc ( just to be clear )


Choosing the menu option from there should open the window showing the faction bars, and with a sub option (maybe)


to go into another menu list with the faction names that will lead to faction details, or the faction information accessed via selecting the factions bar.


I hope I'm being clear :S

 

[Shaz]

What if taking the Factions option from the menu opened both the faction bar window and the faction detail window (and the menu disappeared, so those two windows would take up half the screen each), and moving up/down through the faction list on the left refreshed the info on the right?  Is half a screen enough to display all the information you would want shown?  Are faction names to be displayed along with the icon and bar/gauge, or only in the detail window, or not at all?

 

[Skurge]

Hm that sounds feasable to work, the bars could even be ordered differently like for example a 3X3 list of the bars. Faction names could be labeled on top of the bars as an option?

 

[Shaz]

If the bars are only gauges with no % showing, the names could be shown there.  But if you want the % as a number it might get a bit crowded.  Maybe just the name, then in the detail window the gauge can be shown again with a %?


1. If we were to split the scene into two windows, would you prefer them to be side by side or one above the other?  


2. Should all factions always be shown, or only those that are > 0%?  Or some other criteria?


3. Your mockup shows a different color for each gauge - is that what you want, or should they all be the same color?


4. Does the background/unfilled part of the gauge have its own color or will it just be empty/blank?

 

[Skurge]

If the bars are only gauges with no % showing, the names could be shown there.  But if you want the % as a number it might get a bit crowded.  Maybe just the name, then in the detail window the gauge can be shown again with a %?

Given the percentage measures the variable value of the gangs, the percentage could be reached to a cap to avoid being crowded, like a maximum value of 100 could result as the highest hatred towards you. It might be easier to avoid percentage all together but I'm not sure if gauges can be measured by variables with this program.

1. If we were to split the scene into two windows, would you prefer them to be side by side or one above the other?  

Judging from default text size, maybe text information window would be on the side and if needed the option to scroll down to read more? The gauge I'm assuming can be resized along with the default icon size to fit half the screen if the information is being presented along side the highlighted gang?

3. Your mockup shows a different color for each gauge - is that what you want, or should they all be the same color?

I think it would be most appropriate to associate the faction's gauges with there gang colours, my reason for this is because I want the player to recognize the gang's visuals and colour association on map.

4. Does the background/unfilled part of the gauge have its own color or will it just be empty/blank?

I think it would be best to be transparent/blank, I'm assuming it would be easier that way. Then again just thinking about it- a heavily darker shade of the gauge colour could compensate the unfilled areas.


I decided to update the mock up image that could show us a possibility on what we are looking at?





Assuming that you select the faction name- the bar window is replaced with text describing the faction.

 

[Shaz]

I am trying to understand why you would want the list of factions on the left and the list of bars on the right.  Normally when you have a split window, what shows on the right represents ONE of the items on the left.  Unless those bars would change as you select different gangs (the blue bar might be at 50% when you select Green Gang, but at 80% when you select Yellow Gang for instance) - but in that case you're going to need a lot more than one variable for each gang.


I don't think I'm really understanding what you're after, so I will step out of this.  Hopefully there will be someone who has played a game with a similar system and will understand it more easily, and hopefully some of the answers you've given me will help them.

 

[Skurge]

I am trying to understand why you would want the list of factions on the left and the list of bars on the right.  Normally when you have a split window, what shows on the right represents ONE of the items on the left.  Unless those bars would change as you select different gangs (the blue bar might be at 50% when you select Green Gang, but at 80% when you select Yellow Gang for instance) - but in that case you're going to need a lot more than one variable for each gang.

Believe me i'm trying to explain it best I can. While having the list on the left- selecting a faction name brings up information about them like for instance there history/ location etc on a window that overlaps the bars. While the bars are representing there status with you, destroying enemies on maps will add more to this variable while also handling variable amounts to other factions. So for example:


Destroyed Blue member, +1 to Variable Blue faction, +1 to green faction variable (friends with Blue) Killing Reds can lower the variables to the blue factions and green factions implying they like you removing there enemy. I'm not sure why I would need more variables than 1 per faction. An example I can think of other than GTA2's respect system for the younger generation might be fallout new vegas's faction system where you work for folks who generally like you for eliminating there enemies.

I don't think I'm really understanding what you're after, so I will step out of this.  Hopefully there will be someone who has played a game with a similar system and will understand it more easily, and hopefully some of the answers you've given me will help them.

Sorry you feel this way, but i'm not sure how else to explain it.

 

[Skurge]

Anyone feel up to the task?

 

[Kes]

Skurge, please do not bump your topic unless it has been 72 hours later since your last post. You can review our forum rules here. Thank you.


Not remotely like 72 hours.  

 

[DreamX]

This is a good idea, but also potentially a lot of work. I would consider having this commissioned.

 

[Skurge]

Are new menu options and displays for variable values extremely difficult to program? I'm guessing this could be done by alot of event planning but that would be beside the point of the function all together.

 

[Shaz]

If you think "this new window that I want will behave much like this other window that already exists" you could probably put a lot of it together by copying the source of the existing window and modifying it as necessary.  You'll have to make a completely new scene to use your new windows, which might give you a bit of trouble, but you can post if you get stuck and see if someone can help you out.

 

[Skurge]

Problem is I don't know where to begin if I take this on myself with 0 experience working inside java.

 

[DreamX]

Easy mistake to make, but it's javascript, not java. They are different languages. If you want to start programming for RPG Maker MV try codeacademy for javascript.

 

[Skurge]

Hm not sure if I have time to learn this effectively with the IRL stuff happening now :s that's why I was hoping someone could make something like this while with spare time I can focus on the project itself. I'll look into it- but I can't garentee I'll be making good progress.

 

[Skurge]

Hi again, I wanted to boot this back up because I found Yanfly's Main Menu Manager Plugin as a good first step to open up a faction window.


Right now when I enter the in game menu the 'Gang Alignment' Option is available- but I am struggling to find a window execution that can display a faction variable gauge- and archived information of the faction as well to follow like I have requested in this topic.