I need some help

[TomTheBulwark]

In advance: sorry for my english.

First of all, hello everyone. I'm fairly new at RPG Maker MV, and I have an ambitious project, full of lore and stuff, inspired by a TTRPG i created and runned for over 5 years.

However, I've never coded before. I'm a huge video game player, but I never got interested in programming, which I now regret deeply. I'm learning RPG Maker MV, slowly but surely, but I feel like everytime I want to make something out of the ordinary I hit a dead end. I also have the Yanfly Core & Options plug-ins pack.

Here is how I want my game to work:
- Every character got 3 stats: Health, Mana and Stamina. Nothing special up to that point, I figured that out (so far)
- Every chatacter got 6 characteristics (or parameter as MV calls it): Strength, Defense, Intelligence, Speed, Dexterity and Social. However, those arent modifiers like DnD or whatnot, those are percentage. So If a character as 70 in Strength, it means it has a 70% chance of succeeding a skill based on strenght, like a simple swing of a sword. I can't seem to be able to make this system work out. The only success rate I found is for items or specific skills, but I can't attach a skill to a paramater for success rate. This is by far by biggest issue, and it's a fairly simple concept on paper so why is it so much harder to make than a video game that use much more complex math to calcutate dmg and stuff.
- I want the damage to be calculated in random numbers (to emulate dice rolls), again, it should be very simple, but I just can't find a simple way to do that (extremely complex formulas juste to generate a random number between 1 and 6 as damage)
- I want the combat to be a tactical RPG. I know it can be done, there are many plug-ins that do just that but jeez, I don't know which one to choose, I don't even know what criteria I should take in account.
- I want the player to be able to create a playable character, build his stats, choose a race, etc. I know it's possible, but it looks like you need some coding skills, which I don't have.

Things I figured out:
- Maps, fine, easy.
- Animations: gonna require a lot of drawing in pixel art, fine by me, I did that for the last 5 years.
- Events: very simple, can't believe it took me like 2 days to figure most stuff out. Props to the dev team for that.
- I know to to install plug-ins, add tile sets, etc.. The basic stuff.

So here are my questions:
- What kind of plug-ins could help me?
- What tutorials should I follow? Most videos about RPG Maker always state that "don't worry, you'll find tutorials for everything", but where? I searched many times stuff on Youtube, in vain.
- Is my system even doable without have to learn programming?
- Most important one: Is my project too ambitious for RPG Maker? I work full time, I can't learn a programming language, so if RPG Maker can't help me, I think I'll just give up.


Thank you in advance for anyone willing to help me.
Also, sorry if I didn't post in the right topic. Please don't delete my post, I need help.

 

[mlogan]

@TomTheBulwark Welcome to the forums! I've moved your post to Game Ideas & Prototypes since you seem to be wanting feedback on the overall concept.

Please familiarize yourself with the forums so that when you get some general info, you can ask more detailed questions in the appropriate forums.

 

[TomTheBulwark]

@TomTheBulwark Welcome to the forums! I've moved your post to Game Ideas & Prototypes since you seem to be wanting feedback on the overall concept.

Please familiarize yourself with the forums so that when you get some general info, you can ask more detailed questions in the appropriate forums.

Thanks, and sorry I didn't know where to post exactly. I'm a mega noob.

Further note for anyone reading this thread: if anyone is willing to collaborate with me on this project, for exemple if you want to make a game but you don't know what story to tell, etc (I know most people here are probably brilliant storytellers, but hey asking is free), don't hesitate to contact me I'm open to suggestions and collaborations. I'm also an artist, so If you need drawings for your game, you can ask, again, it's free.

 

[ATT_Turan]

Welcome!

- Every chatacter got 6 characteristics (or parameter as MV calls it):

This is a bit of English. Parameter is the word for a number with a variable value that you use in an equation. Since the numbers don't inherently mean anything as they're entered in the database, but are used by the engine to produce other numbers and effects, that's correct. On the user's side, playing the game, it would be accurate to call them characteristics or statistics as you like.

Strength, Defense, Intelligence, Speed, Dexterity and Social. However, those arent modifiers like DnD or whatnot, those are percentage. So If a character as 70 in Strength, it means it has a 70% chance of succeeding a skill based on strenght, like a simple swing of a sword. I can't seem to be able to make this system work out. The only success rate I found is for items or specific skills, but I can't attach a skill to a paramater for success rate.

It would be helpful if you explained what you found/tried, and what you thought wouldn't work. For example, my first recommendation would be Yanfly's Hit Accuracy plugin.

You would install that, go to the User Physical Hit parameter, and change it to user.atk/100 - presuming ATK is what you changed to Strength, that will give a character with an ATK of 70 a .7 (70%) chance to hit.

- I want the damage to be calculated in random numbers (to emulate dice rolls), again, it should be very simple, but I just can't find a simple way to do that (extremely complex formulas juste to generate a random number between 1 and 6 as damage)

Again, it would be helpful if you gave some information on what you had already tried. There are many simple ways to do this.

For example, go to your skill in the database, and in the Damage Formula type 3. Then, just below it for Variance type 66%. That should give you results ranging from 1 (3 - 66%) to 5 (which is not exactly what you said, but it's an example of how simple this is).

You can also make your Damage Formula say Math.randomInt(6)+1 - the randomInt() formula generates a number from 0 to X-1, so adding one after it turns it from 0-5 to 1-6.

You can find lots of simple functions like this if you look up some of the explanatory threads about damage formulae. I like this one:

Damage Formulas 101

Please note: A discussion has already been started about different things you can do with these formulas so please direct those comments and question to the appropriate thread. https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/rmmv-damage-formula-ideas-and-help.47099/ A link to the list of...

forums.rpgmakerweb.com

- I want the combat to be a tactical RPG. I know it can be done, there are many plug-ins that do just that but jeez, I don't know which one to choose, I don't even know what criteria I should take in account.

This is the hardest part to do. All of the plugins that I know of are to various degrees not complete. Turning the overworld movement in RPG Maker into a tactical RPG is a very extensive modification, and I'm not familiar with any individual who actually completed such a large project.

If you're sworn to this style of game, and sworn to using RPG Maker for it, then I guess your criteria should be...whatever you want...? Which of the plugins has completed features that you really like, or which one seems the most complete, etc. As far as I know, you're going to either have to learn or end up trying to commission someone to make that system feature complete for you.

- I want the player to be able to create a playable character, build his stats, choose a race, etc. I know it's possible, but it looks like you need some coding skills, which I don't have.

Depending on how fancy an interface you want, there are plugins and tutorials for that. Here's a beginner one right on this blog:

Letting The Player Choose Their Character | The Official RPG Maker Blog

We’ve all made games where our main character has a premade look and personality, but sometimes it’s fun to give our players some options to the main character they’ll be controlling. So let’s take a look at a few ways we can give our players some control over their main character at the start...

www.rpgmakerweb.com

Choosing stats could be done as simply as using choices in an event to store variables and then set the actor to those numbers. If you want a more visual interface, that will involve coding.

So here are my questions:
- What kind of plug-ins could help me?

This is, in my opinion, a bad question to ask. You should add a plugin because you have need of it, not because someone else says "Oh I use this and this" for my game which might not have any gameplay in common with yours.

I did recommend one Yanfly plugin above, and it sounds like you're making a D&D-based game so you might want to check out Frogboy's plugins, as they're rather designed for that.

Frogboy MV

frogboymv.github.io

- What tutorials should I follow? Most videos about RPG Maker always state that "don't worry, you'll find tutorials for everything", but where? I searched many times stuff on Youtube, in vain.

I don't mean to sound snide, but...what exactly did you search for that you found nothing? I type "RPG Maker MV tutorial" and get pages and pages of results. I type "RPG Maker MV events tutorial" and get about 7 relevant videos before it gets into more specific stuff.

Generally speaking, I suggest people go through the tutorial videos by Echo607, SRDude and Driftwood Gaming because I think they have decent series, but I'm bewildered that you're not finding tons of options.

- Is my system even doable without have to learn programming?

If you want all of the work to be done by yourself, you'll have to learn programming. If you're okay with you doing all of the editor work and having plugins from other people to augment it, then you can do that. Some of what you're describing sounds to me like it might require custom work that you'd have to pay for.

- Most important one: Is my project too ambitious for RPG Maker? I work full time, I can't learn a programming language, so if RPG Maker can't help me, I think I'll just give up.

I don't really know what that means or how to answer it. The code for RPG Maker's engine is there in the js folder and can be modified by plugins, so technically speaking you can make it do anything you want - people have made 3D games out of it.

The more different you want to make it from how it starts, the more time/effort/potentially money it will cost. For you, I think the biggest stumbling block is the SRPG gameplay. That's such a significant departure from what MV is designed to do.

Whatever you decide to do, I strongly suggest you take some time and make some sample games based off of following tutorials. You have a lot of ambitious ideas and I've seen many times that someone trying to implement grand ideas while learning how to use the software leads to frustration and burn out.

 

[woootbm]

Sorry to step on your toes a bit here, brother. It's just I've run into some of these issues myself so I felt like sharing.

This is a bit of English. Parameter is the word for a number with a variable value that you use in an equation. Since the numbers don't inherently mean anything as they're entered in the database

Remember that AGI controls turn order, and LUK affects crits and status chance success. So those two are more than just variables, in terms of the default settings of RPGM.

I'm not sure what to do about AGI, but you need to determine how turn order works in your game. The simplest answer is just to keep using AGI to do it.

LUK (if you keep using Yanfly plugins) needs Critical Control to change the crit formula and BaseParamControl if you want to change how LUK affects status chance.

You would install that, go to the User Physical Hit parameter, and change it to user.atk/100 - presuming ATK is what you changed to Strength, that will give a character with an ATK of 70 a .7 (70%) chance to hit.

The problem is that it sounds like he wants each parameter to be used depending on the skill. This plugin only lets you set one formula. So you COULD use different hit formulas for melee, magic, and certain hit. But that's still only three (and making certain hit not certain is uh... a different game design path).

I think what you could do is use that same formula but do a variable instead of ATK. Then use the ActionSequence plugin to make each skill change that variable right before actually firing the skill off. I haven't messed around with ActionSequence enough to know if that works, though.

This is the hardest part to do. All of the plugins that I know of are to various degrees not complete. Turning the overworld movement in RPG Maker into a tactical RPG is a very extensive modification, and I'm not familiar with any individual who actually completed such a large project.

Man, this makes me sad. I've always had my eye on those plugins but I avoided them for the exact reasons you put here.

But I wanted to ask if we're making an assumption here. Tactical means a grid with movement, right? Because if he just means standard turn based instead of... whatever the default is called... there's plenty of plugins for that.

 

[TomTheBulwark]

First of all, thank you both for this very detailed answer.

It would be helpful if you explained what you found/tried, and what you thought wouldn't work. For example, my first recommendation would be Yanfly's Hit Accuracy plugin.

You would install that, go to the User Physical Hit parameter, and change it to user.atk/100 - presuming ATK is what you changed to Strength, that will give a character with an ATK of 70 a .7 (70%) chance to hit.

Thanks a lot it seems likes it work the way I intend to. With some extra parameters and parameter control plug ins I can maybe make my system work based on that. Thank you!

Again, it would be helpful if you gave some information on what you had already tried. There are many simple ways to do this.

For example, go to your skill in the database, and in the Damage Formula type 3. Then, just below it for Variance type 66%. That should give you results ranging from 1 (3 - 66%) to 5 (which is not exactly what you said, but it's an example of how simple this is).

You can also make your Damage Formula say Math.randomInt(6)+1 - the randomInt() formula generates a number from 0 to X-1, so adding one after it turns it from 0-5 to 1-6.

The way I did it so far was Math.floor(Math.random()*6)+1 for a 1D6, for exemple. Problem was is that it somehow gave me results like 5.35 or 1.32. Probably messed up at some point. Works like a charm with your formula tho, so thanks again.

I don't mean to sound snide, but...what exactly did you search for that you found nothing? I type "RPG Maker MV tutorial" and get pages and pages of results. I type "RPG Maker MV events tutorial" and get about 7 relevant videos before it gets into more specific stuff.

Generally speaking, I suggest people go through the tutorial videos by Echo607, SRDude and Driftwood Gaming because I think they have decent series, but I'm bewildered that you're not finding tons of options.

I meant tutorials about how I wanted my game to work specifically, should have been more clear. Like if I look up "How to make random damage formula RPG Maker MV", i get only one video on the subject and it didn't have any answers to my questions.

I know I sound dumb to think I just have to google a question a everything will be fine, but I was so sure that many people tried to make a system similar to mine before that I was persuaded (or disillusioned) that I could find easy and fast answers to any of my problems. Yeah, I know, I'm as dumb as a log.

If you want all of the work to be done by yourself, you'll have to learn programming. If you're okay with you doing all of the editor work and having plugins from other people to augment it, then you can do that. Some of what you're describing sounds to me like it might require custom work that you'd have to pay for.

I'm fine with paying. Finding the right people and stuff to work with is the difficult part tho. My biggest issue is time tho. I work full time, run a TTRPG campaign, make art to supplement my incomes, so it's hard learning a brand new and complex domains from absolute zero. Did I mention that I was dumb?
I'm not giving up tho! It will take time but I think I can sort it out.

I'm not sure what to do about AGI, but you need to determine how turn order works in your game. The simplest answer is just to keep using AGI to do it.

LUK (if you keep using Yanfly plugins) needs Critical Control to change the crit formula and BaseParamControl if you want to change how LUK affects status chance.

The Speed stats in my system also determines turn order, on top on being a characteristic. So I guess that'll work.

The problem is that it sounds like he wants each parameter to be used depending on the skill. This plugin only lets you set one formula. So you COULD use different hit formulas for melee, magic, and certain hit. But that's still only three (and making certain hit not certain is uh... a different game design path).

I think what you could do is use that same formula but do a variable instead of ATK. Then use the ActionSequence plugin to make each skill change that variable right before actually firing the skill off. I haven't messed around with ActionSequence enough to know if that works, though.

If extra paramaters and paramter control plug ins don't work, then I'll try that, that's a brilliant idea.

The more different you want to make it from how it starts, the more time/effort/potentially money it will cost. For you, I think the biggest stumbling block is the SRPG gameplay. That's such a significant departure from what MV is designed to do.

Maybe I should try to make something more in the vein of what MV is made primarly for then. The percentage roll system and random damage is the core of what my TTRPG was, so if this works, I will be pleased.


As for the Tactical aspect (yes I meant with a grid btw), I think I'll try a first version with classic turn by turn combat first. Baby steps Tom, baby steps.

 

[ATT_Turan]

Remember that AGI controls turn order, and LUK affects crits and status chance success. So those two are more than just variables, in terms of the default settings of RPGM.

I understand what you're saying, and you're not wrong in the roles they play, but they're still just variables in those equations. I wasn't trying to get into any in-depth explanation of what has or doesn't have any reference in the default code, just explaining to a non-English native why they used the word parameter.

The problem is that it sounds like he wants each parameter to be used depending on the skill...I think what you could do is use that same formula but do a variable instead of ATK.

You could try to finagle it like that, but I would instead recommend the Victor Engine Hit Formula plugin, you just put a notetag into any skill you want to not use the default formula.

But I wanted to ask if we're making an assumption here. Tactical means a grid with movement, right? Because if he just means standard turn based instead of... whatever the default is called... there's plenty of plugins for that.

Yeah, the standard meaning of "tactical RPG" is SRPG on a grid (as confirmed above).

The way I did it so far was Math.floor(Math.random()*6)+1 for a 1D6, for exemple. Problem was is that it somehow gave me results like 5.35 or 1.32.

The Math.floor() function should have prevented that, but just using randomInt() will work for you.

I meant tutorials about how I wanted my game to work specifically, should have been more clear. Like if I look up "How to make random damage formula RPG Maker MV", i get only one video on the subject and it didn't have any answers to my questions.

Yeah, something like that I wouldn't expect to come up because the damage formula is already random by using the variance value beneath it.

I think I'll try a first version with classic turn by turn combat first. Baby steps Tom, baby steps.

I think that's a solid plan.