RMMZ Pet Summon Plugin

[Aerosys]

Pet Summon Plugin



Fox sprite by Hidden One

Inspired by the JRPG "Nights of Azure," I spent a few hours making a Plugin to make it more intuitive to collect and summon pets. Looking forward to some feedback and suggestions!


Features

• Any Actor from the Database can be converted into a Pet by using Note Tags. A Pet can be added to and removed from the Party just like any other Actor. Pets are not ready when the battle starts - they must be summoned first.
• Therefore, all your Pets are visible and manageable on the menus (if you wish)
• The Plugin will automatically add Dummy Skills to summon Pets (as seen in the screenshot) (if you wish)
• You have multiple options to define who can summon which Pets
  • By default, any Actor with access to a dedicated Summon Skill Type can summon every Pet the Party owns.
  • Alternatively, you may use Notetags to manage who can summon whom at which time. As you can put these note tags on Actors, Classes, Equipment, States, Skills, & Items, it makes it fairly easy and flexible to create, e.g., Summoner Classes that can summon only subsets of Pets.
  • Alternatively, you may disable the automatic addition of Summon Skills through the Plugin, define individual Skills or Items in the Database, and use the <Summon: x> Notetag.
• Pets can retreat on command when it is their turn.
• When a Pet is knocked out, it automatically disappears from the battle.
• You can set how many turns a Pet stays active until it expires (optional).
• Once summoned, every Pet is affected with a "summoned" State. Using 3rd Party Plugins that display the remaining State turns, you can display how long a Pet stays active until it expires.
• Animations when
  • a Pet is summoned
  • a Pet disappears
  • a Pet is knocked out
• You can call Common Events when
  • a Pet is summoned
  • a Pet disappears
  • a Pet is knocked out
• With the <Auto Summon> Notetag, you can prepare a Pet for the battle, i.e., the Pet will be ready on battle start. You can use this Notetag on Actors, Classes, Equips, & States. E.g., you can make a special Accessory or Skill that applies such State on a Pet to prepare this Pet before the battle starts.
• Pets may not use Items (optional).
• Pets may not be equipped (optional).
• When all Actors are knocked out, and Pets are the only active battlers, the battle is treated as a defeat (optional).
• Pets cannot be swapped in the "Formation" menu.
• You can limit how many Pets can be active simultaneously (optional).

Quickstart


You need a Skill Type that is exclusively used for the Summon Commands. It can have any name, e.g., "Summon." Adding this Skill Type by, e.g., Traits, Equipment, States, etc., promotes an Actor to become a Summoner with Summon abilities.

You may seal this Skill Type by using, e.g., States to control whether an Actor temporarily cannot summon Servants.

Spoiler: Quickstart

The Default Setting
By default, once an Actor has access to the dedicated Skill Type, the Plugin will automatically add a Skill for each Pet the Party owns, so you don't need to define Skills in the Database.

You may use Notetags such as <Summon: x> and <Add Summons: 1, 2, 3> as described below to enable other features.

Using Notetags
Alternatively, you may configure in the Plugin Manager that an Actor, their Class, any Equipment, or any applied State must have the <Allow Summons> or <Add Summons> Notetag applied so they can summon particular Pets. This makes it more flexible for you to, e.g., define "Summoner Classes."
<Allow Summons: 1, 2, 3> or <Allow Summons: *> enables the summon of the given Pets, but the Pets must be included in the Party.
<Add Summons: 1, 2, 3> or <Add Summons: *> enables the summon of the given Pets regardless of their existence in the Party.

You may use Notetags like <Summon: x> as described below to enable other features.

Using custom Skills or Items in the Database
When you don't like the automatic addition of Summon Skills through the Plugin, you may create your own Skills or Items in the Database and add the <Summon: x> Notetag.
Those Skills can have any Skill Type, e.g., "Magic", "Special", "Necromancy", or "Beast Mastery".
Once the Actor has at least one Skill to summon Pet X, the Plugin will not auto-add a Dummy Skill to summon X to avoid unnecessarily duplicated Summon Commands.

Tip
You can mix any of the options described above.

Notetags
Notetags are explained in the Plugin's help section.


FAQ

Spoiler: FAQ

> How to define an Actor to be a Pet
Add the <Pet> Notetag to the Actor or the Actor's Class.

> How to add a Pet to the Party
Add this Pet the same way you add an Actor to the Party.

> I cannot see Skills to summon Pets
Please ensure that

• Your Actor has access to the dedicated Summon Skill Type
• Your Pets have the <Pet> Notetag
• Your Pet is included in the Party

> The Summon Skill for Pet X is disabled
Summons are disabled when the Party is maxed out, or the Pet is already summoned.

> I don't want Pets to appear on the Menus
If you prefer that the player be unable to manage their Pets, it's recommended to use the Notetags <Add Summon> or <Summon> as those tags bypass the rule that the Pet must exist in the Party.

Wishlist

• Right now, you cannot summon Pets when your Party is full (usually 4 members). At this time, I cannot promise whether I will implement any exceptional rules for Pets (e.g., 4 Actors + x Pets on the battlefield).
• To summon "Great Creatures" that substitute the entire Party until it expires or is knocked out.

 

[Holder]

Oh I love the features and ideas used in this! You've thought of a lot of different options for the user, I admire that.

Feature idea, Servant replaces Summer in the battle? Once dead or retreats, it converts back to Summoner.
Reason I think this might be a good addition it gives the user the option to use it as a Transform feature. Summoner could channel the Servant. Sort of like Vincent from Final Fantasy 7

 

[StrawberryFlower]

Would it be possible to have a summon be called via item? This would so perfect otherwise!!

 

[Aerosys]

Oh I love the features and ideas used in this! You've thought of a lot of different options for the user, I admire that.

Feature idea, Servant replaces Summer in the battle? Once dead or retreats, it converts back to Summoner.
Reason I think this might be a good addition it gives the user the option to use it as a Transform feature. Summoner could channel the Servant. Sort of like Vincent from Final Fantasy 7

Thanks for your feedback!

I think that sounds like a "transform" feature. So yeah, I can do that but instead, in a separate plugin.

Would it be possible to have a summon be called via item? This would so perfect otherwise!!

Actually, you can do that right now. All you need to do is to make an item that calls a Common Event, and in the Common Event, you call a Plugin Command to summon a Servant. MV users may call a JS line $gameParty.summonPet(actorId). But I can think about something more intuitive, though.

EDIT: I replaced "summonServant" with "summonPet"

 

[Holder]

That makes sense.

Thanks for your feedback!

I think that sounds like a "transform" feature. So yeah, I can do that but instead, in a separate plugin.

 

[Puppet Knight]

My Summoning MZ prayers have finally been answered!!! Thank you for this!!!


For clarity, is the "dedicated skill type" only allowed to have summons, no other battle skills at all? (NVM JUST READ THE HELP)

 

[Puppet Knight]

A feature request similar to @Holder 's. I'd still want the summoner to stay present in the party, but would there be a way to have the Servant take over the summoners turn until it:

1. Is defeated
   
   
2. Is Desummoned
   
   
3. 's turns run out?

Im thinking similar to Yuna's FFX summons except the rest of the party stays in unless you add a notetag for <Large Servant> that only the summoner and servant stay in

Additionally, the ability to choose the animation that plays when a servant is called to battle would also be pretty dope.



Note: As expected there are some conflict(s) with VisuStella for this plugin. Hardly your fault, just the hardship of using a plugin suite.

Its a really weird one though.
Apparently, You can use Item Equip Core OR SkillStates Core... but not both at the same time... lol. When both are enabled you get this error when you highlight the Skill Type in the VS Skill menu:



The workaround to use the plugin with both of these on is to add the Summoning Skill Type to the hidden skill types parameter:



While this works I know it isn't ideal for those that want to see their summons in the menus.



Would it be possible to also update the plugin to provide a default "0 damage" calculation to skills that are created via your plugin? I think this would be the solve. If not i can live without SkillStates Core I think *shrug* lol

 

[Aerosys]

My Summoning MZ prayers have finally been answered!!! Thank you for this!!!

Haha, nice to hear I made someone happy!

For clarity, is the "dedicated skill type" only allowed to have summons, no other battle skills at all? (NVM JUST READ THE HELP)

Yes, this is how I designed this Plugin. Maybe you can add ordinary skills; however, they may or may not appear on the list. I didn't give it any further thought.

Im thinking similar to Yuna's FFX summons except the rest of the party stays in unless you add a notetag for <Large Servant> that only the summoner and servant stay in

Yes, I played FFX, and I know about this feature. I think I can do that

Additionally, the ability to choose the animation that plays when a servant is called to battle would also be pretty dope.

You can already define an animation, but only on the Summoner, not the Servants. The core code makes it more tricky to do that, but I think eventually I will find a suitable solution because I also think that's a great addition.

Apparently, You can use Item Equip Core OR SkillStates Core... but not both at the same time... lol. When both are enabled you get this error when you highlight the Skill Type in the VS Skill menu:

Thanks for the feedback. Such reports always help me because it costs me a lot of time to check against all the other plugins in the wild. Actually, I checked it with StatesCore because I wanted to verify the State Turns are displayed; however, I haven't checked it with the other Visustella Plugins.

Would it be possible to also update the plugin to provide a default "0 damage" calculation to skills that are created via your plugin? I think this would be the solve. If not i can live without SkillStates Core I think *shrug* lol

I can check that, sure.

Thank you for your long feedback; it really helps me!

 

[Puppet Knight]

Thank you for your long feedback; it really helps me!

It definitely was long . Sorry was playing around with it last night and went into bug catching mode haha

 

[Puppet Knight]

You can already define an animation, but only on the Summoner, not the Servants. The core code makes it more tricky to do that, but I think eventually I will find a suitable solution because I also think that's a great addition.

I feel like I'm overlooking how to do this in the Plugin Help, could you point me in the right direction?


Also, will this work with reserve party members set as summons?



Extra ask that came to mind for usability with other systems/customization:

Adding a notetag that associates a Servant with a specific Item/Weapon/Armor ID; so once equipped, that servant is added to the party .

 

[Aerosys]

I feel like I'm overlooking how to do this in the Plugin Help, could you point me in the right direction?

It's not in the help, but in the parameters -> Summon Command, you find an animation tab.

Also, will this work with reserve party members set as summons?

Yes

Adding a notetag that associates a Servant with a specific Item/Weapon/Armor ID; so once equipped, that servant is added to the party .

I think, I can do that

 

[Puppet Knight]

It's not in the help, but in the parameters -> Summon Command, you find an animation tab.

Got it. Would it be possible to choose animations via notetag? (the animations would still be on the Summoner, just would want different animations around the summoner depending on the servant called)

 

[Aerosys]

Got it. Would it be possible to choose animations via notetag? (the animations would still be on the Summoner, just would want different animations around the summoner depending on the servant called)

Yes, the Note tag is <Summon Animation Id: x>. I just forgot to add this to the Help section, but it is already enabled.

I will add more animations that run on the Servant when
- it appears
- it disappears
- it is knocked out


EDIT: I removed the chanting animation because it didn't work well. Maybe I re-add it in the future

 

[RenKyoKrishna]

Would it be possible to have more than one summon skill type? What if I wanted to make classes of summoners with access to different summons?

 

[Aerosys]

Would it be possible to have more than one summon skill type? What if I wanted to make classes of summoners with access to different summons?

I don't think I will support more than one Skill Type because it will not be intuitive with RPG Maker.
However, I plan to support different classes that can only summon a subset and not every Servant from the party.

 

[Convict24601]

This is incredible! I've been trying to make a summoner type character, but I've run into a lot of compatibility issues with a more different plugin. I can't wait to see what you do with this one!

One question: Is it possible to summon a servant when you already have 4 party members in a fight?

 

[Aerosys]

One question: Is it possible to summon a servant when you already have 4 party members in a fight?

Yes and no. Right now, you cannot summon when your party is full, however, you can easily increase your party size with a small plugin:

Game_Party.prototype.maxBattleMembers = function() {
    return 5;
};

 

[ShadowDragon]

if you want to control it better, return 5 to $gameVariables.value(x);

x being your variable ID you want to use, usefull for difficulty settings,
as easy = 5, and hard = 3, but those are optional, depending how you
use it.

 

[Aerosys]

I made an update!

This update mainly adds rules about who can summon which pets at which time using note tags. You can put note tags on Actors, Classes, Equipment, & States. These note tags can bypass the rule that the Party must own these Pets to summon them (but it's not a must). That makes it possible to, e.g., bind particular Summons on weapons or accessories.

Additionally, more animations are shown. Furthermore, I tried to improve the compatibility with Visustella Plugins. Finally, I replaced the term "servants" with the more familiar one: "pets."

Happy testing!

 

[Puppet Knight]

That makes it possible to, e.g., bind particular Summons on weapons or accessories

*Happy cries in "my skill system is weapon based" *