How to make episodic game with RPG Maker MV

[SinSilver]

I'm trying to make an episodic JRPG and wanted to know how I would be able to go about it. I want players to be able to load data from their previous save file and carry over character levels, currency, and items.

Is it feasible?

What are some of the pitfalls I should look out for?

What would I need to get this accomplish?

 

[Fornoreason1000]

When you say episodic, you mean 1 project per episode type thing? e.g Sonic the Hedgehog 4, episode II? Star Wars episode IV? Divinity II?

Perfectly Feasible, sure as long as the Save File Format is consistent across all episodes the only issue is importing a save file from another installation. Now I can break this down for you.

1. Save File Format needs to be consistent or at least readable from your other games (episodes). all Vanilla RPGmaker MV games use the same Save format
2. Locating the files and checking if Episode 1 is installed, Ratchet and Clank II & III does this similarly on PS2 because it knows that games save files can be only located in one area(in this case 1 of the two memory cards). depending on your target platform this can vary.
3. what happens on Episode 2 when no Episode 1 file is found.

To get this done you need to be savy with your target platform and have some programming knowledge about IO(input output). RPGmaker MV comes with StorageManager that is used to save load files from their compressed format. All you need to give it is a Directory or File path.

 

[ItzTerry]

The simplest way would be to just upload every episode as a game itself, under the label of which episode it is.

 

[Andar]

there are two ways to go about this, depending on what you really want.

It comes down to how you want the database - because the requirement to be able to use the savefiles would be an absolutely identical database.
If your episodes are only different maps, then you can do that (within limits). If you want to have the episodes different databases (different equipment, different enemies and so on), then you can't use savefiles but need to use transferfiles.

1) identical database, using savefiles
you'll need a savefile plugin that redirects the savefiles to a known position (most people won't be able to find the default save location)
all episodes need to have not only the database identical, but need to be saved on a map that is the same through all episodes
you need to complete the database and any plugins configuration before starting with anything else

(any change in the plugin will require you to start a new game to initialise the plugins, so any change in the plugin manager between episodes will invalidate the savefile)

2) different databases, using transfer files
Basically you'll need a plugin to write your own textfile with the data you want to transfer. And the next episode would have to have a different plugin for loading that textfile and changing the data based on its content.
Those plugins would have to be custom-made for exactly your database, which means you'll have to completed first episode and working on the second one before these plugins can be written.

The transfer files can be used to port data over changing databases, because the storing plugin would put down what data needs to be transferred and the loading plugin would then convert that data into the options of a different database. But this way is much more complex to do, which is why most people either don't transfer between episodes, make them have identical database and plugins or use passwords to transfer only minor data.

 

[Wavelength]

Usually, in my opinion, the best way to do this is to have a JSON or text file which stores all of the information you want to bring from one episode to the next - either have it write any time the player Saves their game, or have it write only once the player completes a playthrough. This can be done either with a single JSON/txt file (for tracking whether the player has ever accomplished a given feat), or with a JSON/txt file for each Save file (for tracking more minor things on a single-playthrough basis).

However, since you seem to want to copy everything over from one game to the next, like items, equips, and switches, you should probably go with Andar's "#1" method. This is essentially releasing a single, epic game over the course of several releases.

With that being said, it's a dangerous thing in game design to set your vision too big before you've proven that you can get there. The first thing you should do is to make the entire first episode - 100% complete and with presentation and gameplay that you're happy with showing to the world. After that, you can worry about future episodes and transferring the data between them - it will only take a little extra work and you won't need to redo any of your effort.

 

[SinSilver]

@Fornoreason1000 By target platform do you mean Windows, IOS, or Andriod. Also I don't have much programming knowledge when it comes to IO, would it be something you recommend I learn myself or would I be able to hire a programmer to handle it if I run into any troubles.

@ItzTerry I thought about doing this but it would require me to either get rid of the leveling system altogether for each chapter ( something I have considered but ultimately decided against) or have each episode start with the player at level 1.

@Andar When you say that database would have to be identical does that mean #1 in Episode 1 has match item #1 in Episode 2? I was thinking that I could add items in each episode as needed as long as I kept the previous game items in their original position. I would also like to hear more about using passwords to transfer minor data. That might be something I could use as well.

@Wavelength Well I would like to carry over character levels, my current plan is to implement something like Suikoden's weapon level system which would have each character have only 1 weapon that can be upgraded. This way I could cut back on the number of weapon slots. I won't be carrying over switches however since I feel that could get messy really quick. I'm happy to hear that it would only take a little extra work to implement.

Thanks so far to everyone for the help.

 

[Andar]

adding to the database is possible, but not removing entries, and modifying entries is extremely risky as well.

As for passwords - simply assign them a special function, then have one event ask for a password input and when a specific password is corect, make some changes by event commands (like adding items or changing party position or whatever).
Go to the official blog for a tutorial on how to set up a password by event commands, and just instead of one conditional branch have there be dozens checking for different passwords (as many as you want different effects)

 

[Fornoreason1000]

@Fornoreason1000 By target platform do you mean Windows, IOS, or Andriod. Also I don't have much programming knowledge when it comes to IO, would it be something you recommend I learn myself or would I be able to hire a programmer to handle it if I run into any troubles.

Well IO (stands for Input Output, basically saving and opening files) is a pretty broad area compared to what you want to do. all you want to be able to do is consistently find the path of your save file then use MV's default Storage Manager to open that file. On Windows this should be relatively simple, not sure about Android and IOS though. On Windows you can just specify where the game is to be installed.

One Hurdle that i can see with this way is that the Steam Library and some Android Apps can be installed almost anywhere. which can make it difficult to know if previous episode is installed. The biggest barrier is any RPGmaker MV game is a browser level application, this means alot of the methods you could of used in say C# .NET aren't available due to security issues.

The easiest easiest around those hurdles is to basically have your episode like below.

 D:/SteamLibrary/MV Episode1
 D:/SteamLibrary/MV Episode2
 D:/SteamLibrary/MV Episode3
 D:/SteamLibrary/MV Episode4
etc

As long as your separate episodes are in the same folder (such as SteamLibrary). then this should be pretty simple. From there is literally just loading a save, copying it, then setting up a new game on that save.

One good point that Andar pointed out, is that the Database entries MUST match . or you will find you save to be all jumbled and a game full of glitches. This includes Actors, Classes, Item, Skills,Weapons, Armours , Animations and Types. This should be all is needed to keep the save compatible.

If you're already coding yourself I definitely recommend learning about saving files and stuff.