Newbie questions after buying Humble Bundle

[Kalin]

I just bought the Humble Game Making Bundle, and now I have a bunch of questions as I try to decide which parts to keep and which to gift to other people.

1. I know that having the full version of Ace gives me a license to use the RTP in my games. Do I have permission to use all the RTPs, or just the Ace RTP?

2. What does Game Character Hub give me that isn't already in Ace? In particular, can it convert or create tilesets (especially auto-tiles) for use in Ace?

3. What does Luna Engine do? I see lots of discussion about what is or is not compatiple with it and advice to add its scripts to your project before adding/writing other scripts, but what is it for? Is it just GUI elements, or does it help with customizing the database and game mechanics too? Nearly all my game ideas are about the game mechanics (character creation, tactical battles, skills that improve through use) and I'd like to know if Luna will make things easier or harder for me.

4. Has anyone used Pro Motion to make/modify Ace assets? Of the graphics editors in the bundle, this seems the most useful to me. But can it handle large images like backgrounds and tilesets?

 

[Sharm]

I've moved this thread to Product Discussion and Support. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

1. Owning Ace gives you permission to use the Ace RTP in Ace and in any of the RM or IG makers you own.  So if you only one Ace, you can only use it in Ace.  You can not use Ace's RTP in other engines like GG Maker or Unity.  To use other RTP's you have to own the engine it's associated with.  So to use XP's you have to own XP and so on.  This is true of the edited material too, so if you find XP edits that someone is allowing to be used freely you still must own XP to use them.

2. GCH is a tool for editing existing artwork.  It's a bit like a fancier version of Ace's character generator.  It has some extra things that Ace doesn't have, but it's also not anything you couldn't do with a graphics program.  For some people it's great, for others it's not useful at all.  Depends on what type of user you are.  It does not create anything.  It can convert the formats of a few things, like turning XP sprites into Ace sprites formatting.  It can be set up to work with tiles but it isn't made for it and it would be awkward.  It isn't a good program for drawing things either, so don't expect it to turn a chibi Ace sprite into a tall XP sprite or anything.  All the art the GCH comes with is from the RTPs and those are still subject to the licence rules.  So if you own GCH and none of the makers you can't use any of the artwork that comes with it.

3.  Luna Engine is a series of scripts that make it significantly easier to modify GUI elements.  It doesn't help with customizing database or game mechanics.  It may still help with your games, though, because many original game mechanics work better with interfaces made for them.

4.  I've looked it over briefly, it seems like a powerful and useful pixel art tool.  Yes, it can handle large images.  It's made for pixel art though, so if you're going for an RTP painted look it won't be useful.

 

[Kalin]

Thanks for the answers!

Is there a post somewhere explaining how exactly the forums are organized?

 

[Sharm]

No, but each section has pined topics that explain things.

 

[Kes]

Not directly, but every page has a link to the Forum Rules at the bottom.  Reading them will help.

As for structure, I think the simplest thing to do is to click on the 'Forums' tab, top left of this page and have a look.  There are several main divisions e.g. one for Resources, one for Scripts, one for Commercial Games, etc. etc. etc. and the biggest section (i.e. the one with the most posts) is 'Support'.  that is divided into the various engines.

Ahha! Sharm's just posted.  Yes, those pinned topics are very helpful, but have a look at the overall structure first, to get an initial handle on how things are grouped.