Just finished the tutorial. What else should I know before getting started?

[thecatinaction]

Hello everyone! I just finished the MZ tutorial, and I’m super stoked to hop in and start creating some fun stuff. I am going to experiment with some stuff to try and discover some neat ideas, but I’m wondering what else I should know before getting started?

So let me know what you all think that I SHOULD KNOW before getting started! Tips, tricks, glitches, random fun things, etc.

 

[Aerosys]

Tip No 1: Your first Game will suck
And that's okay. You will learn a lot during the actual development.

 

[Andar]

and the post above is the reason why I stated in my starting point tutorial that your first game should be a tutorial project where you learn the engine instead of your dream game - because your first gaame project WILL be scrapped sooner or later, and you shouldn't damage your dream game by scrapping its first version.
you might want to follow the link to the starting point tutorial in my signature to learn a lot of other things as well - that tutorial was originally written at the time of VXAce, but 90% of its points are still valid, and the eventing hasn't changed at all in MV and MZ, so all eventing tutorials from Ace are still valid as well.

 

[Beregon]

Hello everyone! I just finished the MZ tutorial, and I’m super stoked to hop in and start creating some fun stuff. I am going to experiment with some stuff to try and discover some neat ideas, but I’m wondering what else I should know before getting started?

So let me know what you all think that I SHOULD KNOW before getting started! Tips, tricks, glitches, random fun things, etc.

You most definitely should take a look at this:

RPG Maker MZ Script Call Reference

RPG Maker MZ Script Call Reference A collection of data and script calls for certain functions of RPG Maker MZ. Supplementary Material: Most of the script calls found in RPG Maker MV also works. If you want samples and notes to compare side by side. Please visit this topic...

forums.rpgmakerweb.com

and also this (works for MZ too):

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

 

[estriole]

There's lots of tutorial on youtube... there's also beginner series by SRDude
hope this help

 

[slimmmeiske2]

Back-up your project is a pretty important one.

 

[Tiamat-86]

you cant please everyone.
make something you can enjoy playing and like minded people will enjoy it too.

do ALOT of playtesting, and then playtest some more. preferably with 3 different mindsets.
the perfectionist, the speedrunner, the grinder
Murphy's Law just loves to toy with you in the most awkward and unexpected ways.
invisible walls/events, wrong event pages trigger, missed changing a switch, get wrong item.
just way to many ways things can go wrong.
and on that note...

dont try to change a game mechanic, database ordering or the worlds lore half way through, plan ahead.

 

[poorrabbit]

As noted above - your first everything will pretty much suck.
Sometimes that means throwing it away and starting over.
Sometimes that means going back to a thing over and over again and tweaking it until you get it right.

The first "important" map in my current project has probably seen about 50 hours of editing work. Every time I learn a new thing on my other maps, I go back and see if I can make the map better... and...I usually can.

80 percent of creative endeavors are failure. If you're not failing, you're not learning.
So, early on, you should be failing and learning a whole bunch. I like to joke that the state of my current project represents the 10% of all the things I did that didn't suck.

That's the process.

Don't make your first project your magnum opus. Make it a "throw away".
Use it to learn the tools and learn what you can and can't do.

Play other games. I'm always getting new ideas about mapping, mechanics, and eventing when I play other people's games.

One thing can be really important is to not beat your head against the wall on a problem.
Maybe it's a map or story design problem. Or, maybe it's a technical issue like getting an event to behave the way you want. When you run into those roadblocks - don't let yourself get stuck. Move on to something else that you can be productive at. Let it percolate in the back of your brain for a while. Come back to it later. If you're still stuck - come to the forums.

And finally - have fun.

and yeah: back up your projects. You never know when rpgmaker is going to have a fit and corrupt
your stuff (has happened to me), or when you're going to realize that some change you made really really needs to be undone.

 

[thecatinaction]

Tip No 1: Your first Game will suck
And that's okay. You will learn a lot during the actual development.

Thank you. I have been reading this a lot, and it has stuck with me.

and the post above is the reason why I stated in my starting point tutorial that your first game should be a tutorial project where you learn the engine instead of your dream game - because your first gaame project WILL be scrapped sooner or later, and you shouldn't damage your dream game by scrapping its first version.
you might want to follow the link to the starting point tutorial in my signature to learn a lot of other things as well - that tutorial was originally written at the time of VXAce, but 90% of its points are still valid, and the eventing hasn't changed at all in MV and MZ, so all eventing tutorials from Ace are still valid as well.

Thank you! I will check out the tutorial for sure. Everything helps.

You most definitely should take a look at this:

RPG Maker MZ Script Call Reference

RPG Maker MZ Script Call Reference A collection of data and script calls for certain functions of RPG Maker MZ. Supplementary Material: Most of the script calls found in RPG Maker MV also works. If you want samples and notes to compare side by side. Please visit this topic...

forums.rpgmakerweb.com

and also this (works for MZ too):

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

Thank you for the links! I’ll check them out!

There's lots of tutorial on youtube... there's also beginner series by SRDude
hope this help

Thank you for the link, I’m definitely going to check out that series.

Back-up your project is a pretty important one.

Probably the best advice haha. I would be devastated if I lost all my work.

you cant please everyone.
make something you can enjoy playing and like minded people will enjoy it too.

do ALOT of playtesting, and then playtest some more. preferably with 3 different mindsets.
the perfectionist, the speedrunner, the grinder
Murphy's Law just loves to toy with you in the most awkward and unexpected ways.
invisible walls/events, wrong event pages trigger, missed changing a switch, get wrong item.
just way to many ways things can go wrong.
and on that note...

dont try to change a game mechanic, database ordering or the worlds lore half way through, plan ahead.

Great advice, thank you so much. This will definitely resonate with me through the process.

As noted above - your first everything will pretty much suck.
Sometimes that means throwing it away and starting over.
Sometimes that means going back to a thing over and over again and tweaking it until you get it right.

The first "important" map in my current project has probably seen about 50 hours of editing work. Every time I learn a new thing on my other maps, I go back and see if I can make the map better... and...I usually can.

80 percent of creative endeavors are failure. If you're not failing, you're not learning.
So, early on, you should be failing and learning a whole bunch. I like to joke that the state of my current project represents the 10% of all the things I did that didn't suck.

That's the process.

Don't make your first project your magnum opus. Make it a "throw away".
Use it to learn the tools and learn what you can and can't do.

Play other games. I'm always getting new ideas about mapping, mechanics, and eventing when I play other people's games.

One thing can be really important is to not beat your head against the wall on a problem.
Maybe it's a map or story design problem. Or, maybe it's a technical issue like getting an event to behave the way you want. When you run into those roadblocks - don't let yourself get stuck. Move on to something else that you can be productive at. Let it percolate in the back of your brain for a while. Come back to it later. If you're still stuck - come to the forums.

And finally - have fun.

and yeah: back up your projects. You never know when rpgmaker is going to have a fit and corrupt
your stuff (has happened to me), or when you're going to realize that some change you made really really needs to be undone.

Thank you so much for this reply. This will help a ton. A lot to keep in mind while I’m working through the kinks. It’s encouraging to know that everyone has had difficulty starting, so I’ll bear in mind all of that while I’m struggling haha.

thanks again to everyone who commented, I actually didn’t expect to get such a response. Very helpful, and I appreciate that.

 

[taarna23]

Maybe I'm weird, but I just sort of dove in and starting messing with stuff. I have abandoned bits and pieces projects all over the place as I learned how to do stuff.

It's been said, but back up your project! At least if it's important to you.

 

[thecatinaction]

Maybe I'm weird, but I just sort of dove in and starting messing with stuff. I have abandoned bits and pieces projects all over the place as I learned how to do stuff.

It's been said, but back up your project! At least if it's important to you.

I’ll definitely be doing a little of both (learning and dabbling), that’s just how I do things. I’m very hands on, so it helps for me to just experiment with things and work them out, but these tutorials are also very helpful.
Thank you for your reply!