Question about a fast-changing game world

[Ika_chan]

Okay, when it comes to RPGM, even though I've owned one of them for years, and now own a second, I'm still pretty much a newbie. I do not know how to script, I basically bought RPGM precisely because I do not know how to script... so if I don't know the answer, that may be why, but...

Is there a sane and otherwise proper way of having a game world that changes frequently, without having to create a new map every time it does?

Example, you make a house interior. There's a guy in the house who is supposed to say something important/long winded to you ONCE. Then he's supposed to say something different, next time you come into the house. Yes, you can delete the event... but once they go out, and come back in, it's there again. So the only way I could easily locate of changing what the person says, permanently, was to make a new map where he says something different, and use that map from then on.

Obvously (and the people now shaking their heads at me probably wonder how I can not know this already) there must be a better way of doing that. For one thing, if there's multiple characters in the village who do that, there's almost no way to make sure the player sees them all if you change the VILLAGE map, thus resetting some/all of the rest of the transitions back to the original text versions of the interior maps.

But I have not been able to find out how to make these kinds of changes any other way. And it's not just an issue of changing what people say, but also of altering the maps/world themselves under certain circumstances. It's basically the same problem, only with graphical changes versus text.

I've been wondering this for a long time, but like I said, after trying to hash it out on my own, without knowing if it has to be done in code, or there's a way to do it without knowing any, I got nowhere. I'm thinking this kind of complexity can't be impossible...

Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on the subject!

PS, I'd be using ACE, but also own XP, so it might be nice to know how to solve the problem there, too, if anyone happens to know.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Event pages and self-switches my friend... and practice...

 

[Kes]

I think you will find Andar's collection of stuff for those just beginning extremely helpful.  See here: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?showtopic=14727

As Adiktuzmiko said, it's all done on different pages of the event.  You could have your NPC say lots of different things, on different occasions, all on the same map.

I suggest in particular that you follow Andar's link to Granny Deb's collection of tutorials because I know that there are a couple there specifically on events.

 

[kerbonklin]

Erasing events will only last until the map is re-loaded by the way.

 

[Ika_chan]

Excellent... thanks much!

I figured there was a way to accomplish it, but it's not like the download exactly comes with complex tutorials, and it can be hard to find exactly what you need out there in an ocean of tutorials about other aspects, so I really appreciate the link!

Will definitely bookmark it!

 

[Andar]

One more tip:


If an NPC-Event changes behavious several times in a game, the easiest way to handle this is to assign a variable as a "Storypart"-Number (or chapter, but then you'll probably need several dozen chapters) and condition all changing NPCs to that variable as in "If this part of the story is reached, then the NPC should do that conversation".


Because the value condition on a variable checks "OR ABOVE", the page number and sequence for those event pages becomes important. The lowest number-check has to be on the event page with the lowest page number, because higher pages have priority and if several pages have their condition fulfilled, the one with the highest number is always active - and each variable will fulfill all lower-value-conditions as well.


But if you count a variable up in your story progression and plan that correctly, then you can use one variable to control all changing events.

 

[Ika_chan]

Andar... my brain! ^_^;

But yeah, I was thinking there might be something like that... some way to assign a tag of some kind that defines "how far the person is in the story" to signify what conversation should then be played. Hopefully, then, those tutorials will cover variables and such, then, and how to do something like that.

That's kind of what I thought the answer might be like... I just had no idea how the more complex stuff in RPGM works, so I had no idea where to even begin looking for answers. Thanks again!

 

[Andar]

Andar... my brain! ^_^;

Just start experimenting, and when something doesn't work as intended, give us screenshots of those event pages to see and analyse, and we'll tell you how to do solve the problem.
It's too much to give you a short answer without knowing a lot more about your game, but the concept should be easy enough to grasp when you can give some good example-screenshots.