Interested In Purchasing, Want to know Limits

[ImmortalRage]

Hello. I've been looking for the appropriate game engine to meet my needs and I've recently downloaded the trial version of RPG Maker VX Ace in order to test whether it satisfies my necessities. However, there's only so much I can discover on my own in the one month allotted, so I felt it best to start asking the more experienced members of the community. As a preface, though I am currently inexperienced with scripting, I am more than willing to learn it in order make my game possible. My questions mostly relate to whether or not something is possible in RPG Maker.

The Idea for the game I wish to create is a combination of a 2D RPG and a choose your own adventure with a wide variety branching paths. It will use the 2D RPG combat whenever combat is necessary, however it will have a lot of out of combat attributes. Leveling up will not be based on combat experience, but rather through experiences during questing and exploration. My questions revolve around the applicability of my idea to the RPG Maker system.

1) is it possible to make a script where whenever you "die," you are given the choice to either retreat/accept the failure or enter a "do or die" state where you regain half of your health, but risk permadeath?

2) I noticed that you could only have up to 4 choices in a dialogue tree. Would it be possible to up this value through the use of a script?

3) Is it possible to create and keep track of non-combat related skills or attributes? For example; say I wanted to add a stealth skill which allowed players to have the choice of sneaking around a set of enemies.

4) Is it possible to script it so that the above non-combat skills are added to the player character's own skills as a sort of buff? For example: Under the circumstances that a party member and the player character both have a tracking skill, the applied tracking skill is the sum of the two.

5) Is it possible to do away with the exp and class system all together and make the player character gain skills via choices, experiences, and quests rather than by grinding?

6) How difficult is it to add random variables which slightly randomize the world in a few key ways so that most quests are slightly different each time you play, both significantly and non significantly.

7) How difficult would it be to script rolls based on the aforementioned out of combat skills so that rather than being a do or don't sort of option, that there was some risk of failure involved.

8) How difficult would it be to set up character creation at the beginning of the game?

I thank anyone who answers some of my questions. Additionally, if you feel that RPG Maker isn't the engine which suits my needs best and know of another which may meet my requirements, please point me in the direction so that I may take a look at it.

 

[Shaz]

Moving to Product Discussion and Support


1. yes


2. yes


3. yes


4. yes


5. yes


6. fairly easy - you just need to define the rules and results, and make the events do what you want based on them


7. again, you define the rules, you can make it do pretty much anything


8. easy - many people have done it without using scripts, and you can search for threads showing how

 

[Andar]

a choose your own adventure with a wide variety branching paths.

To add the answer to a question you didn't ask:
Yes, it is not only possible but easy - just a lot of work.


Branching storylines are easy to do, you can just add different maps and different events based on switches and variables.


But each part of any path requires the same amount of developing work, even if the player doesn's choose it.


The CYOA-type book adventures cover that by reusing parts and guiding the player back to sequences in different ways - that requires more planning but reduces the unique mapping work.


It's your choice if you want it to remain different parts (adds to replayability) or if you want to reuse parts (lesser replayability but also lesser work).

 

[Esrever]

Firstly, I want to applaud you for the way in which you phrased each question you had. It's refreshing to see someone inquiring about the product so concisely. Far too often do I see a forum member asking a vague question with little details, if any. It really can be unnerving at times wishing to assist someone but not having the proper information at hand to properly do so.
 
I wholeheartedly agree with everything that's been said by Shaz and Andar. The game editor with the default scripts alone should be able to meet your desires for a game as you've described, albeit not as elegantly as it could with custom scripting. To really give a project a professional polish, you'll surely want to either invest some time into becoming familiar with RGSS (RPG Maker's implementation of Ruby) if you aren't already, or hire on someone who is.
 
In response to branched storylines based on how the player proceeded with previous events, here's some pseudo-code (though this would be evented most likely) to explain how it could work. Whether you end up using an event solution or a scripted one is entirely up to you and is irrelevant for this example.
 
This is what you'd use during an action taking place that will later decide how the story proceeds.

If a = true    event_choice_001 = 1Else    event_choice_001 = 0EndThen, when the player has reached a point in the game which going forward will branch to two separate paths depending on how the previous action was handled, you'd do something like the following.

If event_choice_001 = 1 print( "1 - Would you do this?";    "2 - Would you do that?";    "3 - Would you do nothing?;    "4 - Would you do this and that?" ) input == i    If event_choice_001 = 1 and i <= 2        print("I cannot believe you would say that!")    ElseIf event_choice_001 = 1 and i == 3        print("That is what I would do too!"}    Else        print("Get away from me...")    EndElse    Print("We should wait it out this time.")EndYou'd essentially be doing this each time you had a critical moment which would then decide which events occur moving forward - it would be a good idea to keep notes somewhere when doing this so you may reference everything later as needed. Evernote is great for this to tag notes to a grouping, where you could then lay out what is happening and where each decision leads. With these notes, then list the map & event in which it takes place and/or where it is located if scripted.

 

[ImmortalRage]

Firstly, I want to applaud you for the way in which you phrased each question you had. It's refreshing to see someone inquiring about the product so concisely. Far too often do I see a forum member asking a vague question with little details, if any. It really can be unnerving at times wishing to assist someone but not having the proper information at hand to properly do so.

It helps that I already know the type of game I want to make. I've been planning it in my spare time for nearly a year.

How easy is it to add new assets provided that I have already produced said assets. I plan on using the default RPG MAker assets as building blocks and replacing them with custom assets at a later date.

Additionally, what about animations? Would I need to purchase another program to make animations?

How difficult would it be to add a time counting system so the game keeps track of in game time based on decisions and travel?

Finally, how friendly is the commercial end user license? From what I read, RPG Maker doesn't seem to take a cut. Am I mistaken?

 

[Shaz]

No, you are not mistaken. Enterbrain does not require any royalty payment when you release a commercial game. You just need to have purchased the full version (you can't do a commercial game in Lite, or in the trial version - though that lasts for only 30 days and it'd be very unlikely that someone new to RPG Maker could possibly make a game in that time anyway).


You can make a commercial game using the resources that come with the engine when you purchase it, or any that you buy or pay to have made, or any that have been created by others with the stipulation that they can be used freely in commercial games.


It's very easy to replace the assets with custom ones. Just export (in the Resource Manager) to the appropriate folder in your own project, then make sure you stick with the same layout.


I'm not aware of too many programs that will make animations, but if you're arty, you can do it with just whatever art program you use. You can also make new animations (combinations) using the existing sprites.


Time counting system could be done with variables, updating them as the decisions and travel happens.

 

[Andar]

Additionally, what about animations? Would I need to purchase another program to make animations?

It depends on what kind of animations you're talking about.

Battle/Skill animation are done inside the database from pictures in a specific format. I don't know of another program that can make those settings from outside the editor.

You might use more complex programs to make those pictures, but there are a lot already included to be used as building blocks.

Something different are movie animations. RM can play movies in a few formats, and in those cases yes you'll need another program to make the video sequences and stor/convert them to correct format. But that are movies, they can't be added to the map or battlescreen, they replace what you're watching when used.

 

[Esrever]

Some great software for the creation of battle animations is Prominence and Prominence3D. Unfortunately you may or may not find them a useful option since they both are only available in Japanese. Do keep in mind that Prominence3D is paid software which is ¥2,600 JPY (roughly $21 USD). The original is free, and there is a free trial for 3D.

Other similar software, also Japanese, is Particlin (パーティクリン) and Athena. Personally, I don't think they compare to the above - though they are free.

As far as English options go, many of your usual suspects can do the job well enough. If you already have something capable, there's no need to go off and spend money on something else. As long as you are able to get you animations into PNG format with transparency, you shouldn't run into any issues. If you're looking for some options - here is a recent post I had made on a similar subject which includes both free and paid options. Some of the free options are capable in creating entirely new animations, and most are more than capable if you only plan on editing existing animations included in the RTP (run time package - included materials with RPG Maker VX Ace).

You can also find free+paid and/or commissioned art here on the forums!

EDIT: Corrected spelling and included links to forum sections.

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EDIT 2:

I had some more ideas that came to me after submission of my post. If you've access to some quality video effects software, don't discount their use! They too can be quite apt for this with a little work. Some good ones are GenArts' particleillusion, HitFilm 3 Pro, and The Foundry's Nuke.

Moreover, through some exploration, you're more than likely to find freely distributed resources on various blogs hosted by material creators. Just be sure to read through their terms of use, as some do not allow their materials for commercial use. Here is an excellent resource for animations in particular created by ぴぽ (Pipo). Here are the terms of use. Their terms are fairly liberal. Domestically, in Japan, they only require that if their materials are to re-distributed on their own (not in your game), they must be given out freely. If any edits that are distributed on their own, the source should be attributed. Besides that, they are for use royalty-free and do not require crediting, though it is appreciated if done.

For use outside of Japan, they release their materials under Creative Commons license. Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) specifically. This license follows the same terms as those above except that credit must be given accordingly, however it is used. Additionally, if distributed and/or edited - they must be distributed under this license as well.

 

[ImmortalRage]

Final question. How do you get around the issue that the billing address is in Singapore? Is there an alternative billing address I can buy from since my bank won't allow me to send money outside of the united states? I'm trying to buy it in time to use the coupon for buying within the first 48 hours of getting the trial version, however at this rate I may not be able to buy it at all.

 

[Andar]

Why not use paypal? Have your bank transfer the money to paypal first (they should have a local branch) and then purchase it with that money.

 

[Esrever]

I've some spare copies of RPG Maker VX Ace on Steam to give away and I'm feeling generous . It sounds like you are interested in purchasing it, and it'd be a shame to have to go through much hassle. If you're able to use Steam and are planning on using RPG Maker VX Ace, throw me a PM through the forums and I'll provide you with a key.

 

[ImmortalRage]

Why not use paypal? Have your bank transfer the money to paypal first (they should have a local branch) and then purchase it with that money.

Paypal didn't work for me.

 

[ImmortalRage]

I've some spare copies of RPG Maker VX Ace on Steam to give away and I'm feeling generous . It sounds like you are interested in purchasing it, and it'd be a shame to have to go through much hassle. If you're able to use Steam and are planning on using RPG Maker VX Ace, throw me a PM through the forums and I'll provide you with a key.

Thank you so much.

 

[Esrever]

No problem! Confirmed sent and received.

 

[ImmortalRage]

Go ahead and close/delete this thread if necessary.

 

[Sharm]

This thread is being closed, due to being solved. If for some reason you would like this thread re-opened, please report this post and leave a message why. Thank you.

Next time you want something closed, please report the thread instead of making a post.  It's more likely to get noticed by the right people and get done quickly.