RPG Maker 24th Birthday!

[Clord]

I don't like to drink alcohol but happy brithday RPG Maker!

 

[Ultimacj]

Hey, for anything related to Boss contest, it's better to ask in the blog since Touch doesn't really check this topic.

You can upload it and link, or email it directly. Since everything should be mostly RTP size probably won't be a huge issue. If you can't email it you can also try uploading it somewhere and linking it to me in a PM on the forums.

Awesome sauce I will do that thanks .  When you say "size issue" I'm pressuming I'm sending the project itself, when I complied it was over 190MB big.

 

[Deleted]

You can upload it and link, or email it directly. Since everything should be mostly RTP size probably won't be a huge issue. If you can't email it you can also try uploading it somewhere and linking it to me in a PM on the forums.

Where should I upload it to please, completed games or somewhere else? As it wont let me email my game.

 

[SinのAria]

Well, that was fun.  Ended up submitting the wrong file so hopefully a 'second' submission doesn't count against me.

Being unable to use scripts really made me realize all the errors in the program.  So many things have the wrong translation (I'm assuming it was a translation) or have something that isn't quite right.  As an example: Fadout BGM has the tooltip description: Fade out the currently playing BGS.  While the Fadeout BGS says BGM in the tooltip.

This also made me realize how little I actually knew about Ruby (I'm assuming that is the script language used here).  It reminded me a little of objective C (Which I hate due to xcode).  Granted, my specialty as a programmer has always been debugging and alteration, not creation.

I also learned a bit about how much I can do without scripts.  Though nowhere near as simple as using a script, I was amazed at how much I could do without them. (Honestly, I mainly bought RPG Maker due to the resources that I could get for it).

(Also makes me realize just how much work the game I've been working on (my entry being essentially a side story) is going to be considering it is around 300 skills and I'm not even close to done (Who would've thought that trying to make one of my books into an rpg would be so difficult?  Remind me to just make a visual novel next time >.>)

Granted, being able to use scripts would probably make things much easier since I wouldn't have to make like 10 events, 3 states, and 4 variables just for one skill.

 

[Hailren]

Happy Birthday Rpg maker    BD  

 

[AngelGrace]

Granted, being able to use scripts would probably make things much easier since I wouldn't have to make like 10 events, 3 states, and 4 variables just for one skill.

Just what the hell kind of skill did you make?

 

[SinのAria]

Just what the hell kind of skill did you make?

You don't want to know >.> .   Let us just say that it involved a skill that was so OP that I had to remove it from the game because it could wipe the party and was too hard to cancel (and the bosses really didn't need any more help doing that) along with being unpredictable.  Even some of the simpler skills involved multiple events and skills though.

I mean, a skill that could do just about anything at random with a variance based on what turn it was, how many bosses were left, boss healths, player healths, players alive, how many times certain skills had been used, how many times you had died...   How many bosses had been revived...  Yes, I had events and variables (a few variables were originally for other purposes or multiple skills so I didn't count those into the 4). 3 states were for certain effects of the skill.  10 events (specifically events built to support the skill-though a few got re-purposed later when the skill got removed) were to control how the skill worked since it took into account multiple scenarios...

Essentially, the worse off the bosses were, the more likely a stronger effect would occur. The worse off the players were, the more likely a weaker effect would occur.  This could be anything from completely changing your party around (either switched the positions of your party members through a series of variables and event calls or it randomized your equipment, your names, your classes, your skills, swapped around stats (both for one character and for the party), swapped around bosses and thus boss skills got mixed up (Had to create entire enemies just for the skill, but that wasn't hard since all I really did was copy and paste and do some image and name swaps), reversing your health, reversing your mp (the more health/mp you had, the less you ended up with), disabling skills, enabling skills, etc.  In rare instances, it could even do an effect and use the skill again (essentially potentially possible to use the skill infinitely, but that would be near impossible since it was so unlikely plus it would be more likely that the battle would end before it happened.

It used a bunch of events, variables, and states that were already in as well as forcing me to add some more.  To be fair, I could've used fewer events, but I like to make things at least somewhat modular so that I don't have to change the same lines a few thousand times just to change one thing.  (Even though a lot of my events aren't modular due to my not being able to figure out how to get non-numeric variables with events)

In the end, it was so dangerous (while having the party being in worse condition made the skill less likely to be dangerous, it still could potentially wipe out the party if the party didn't know exactly how to counter it) that I ended up removing most of that.

Funny thing was that the skill was originally for one of the characters of the game that my contest entry was based on (she wasn't a character in my entry due to the limitations) and her version has even more effects (though it requires her to do a lengthy quest each time she wants to cast it).

But seriously, the bosses in my entry didn't need any extra help killing the party.  One mistake could easily wipe the party.  Heck, the fight is so hard that I made an item that restarts the battle.  Almost every boss has a counter and it is fairly simple to win once you figure out how (there are several skills and items specifically designed to counter specific bosses).  I actually also hid a strategy guide (multiple, actually) in the game, but thus far, none of the non-contest people I've sent copies to have needed it.

Easiest way to tell when someone has played my games before is whether the first thing they do is figure out how to die.  Actually, I was going to make the battle more interesting but when I asked, the rules didn't allow for it. (The goal of my idea would've been to die while the bosses tried to stop you).  Thus, "beating" the bosses would've led to a game over while "losing" to the bosses would've continued the story.  But since it wasn't allowed...  I had to take it out.  A pity, really.

 

[Deleted]

I must say, even though I didn't have much time available to put into my "Encounters of a Boss Kind" game due to a very tight already busy schedule and having a late start, i'm quite impressed with myself that I actually managed to finish my game on time BD  . Although if I had more time to donate to it I feel it could of been a much better game, i'm still very happy with the story line I came up with on short notice. So, Hooray! I successfully completed creating my very first playable game. 

 

[ThatMaestroGuy]

Right with you, KingDanner. I was surprised with what I was able to come up with and submit for this contest...not really too much in the writing aspect of things, but in terms of the boss, a strategy for defeating it, and being able to make the cutscenes work properly. I will say, it was quite stressful, especially due to the fact that I had to work through the vast majority of the week and only had Wednesday really to myself...and even then, not really since something else came up. But still, I'm quite content with what I was able to shoot out.

Best wishes to everyone, and best of luck on the contest!

Oh, and Happy Birthday, RPG Maker!! =D

 

[AngelGrace]

I was feeling pretty good about my entry until all this.

 

[ThatMaestroGuy]

Don't be that way. Take pride and confidence in your work! I'm sure it's quite good. =D

 

[SinのAria]

I was feeling pretty good about my entry until all this.

Your entry is probably amazing, lol.

===

I really hate how VX has some features that Ace doesn't have (based on the screenshots on the description page -> http://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/bc2prod/rpgmaker-20130522223546811/files/screenshot-rpg-maker-vx-04.jpg) and how XP has features that Ace doesn't have based on the text description.   Considering how Ace is the most expensive one.

I looked around and some of the things I want to do appear to require scripts due to the fact that I'd need functions from all three programs.

 

[Tuomo L]

I was able to create a solid story (with multiple possible endings) and characters and very enjoyable and fluid battle, I'm very satisfied with my entry no matter what happens. 

 

[Deleted]

I'm a bit curious! Will everyone's version of "Encounter of a Boss Kind" become available for everyone to play following the conclusion of the contest or will we all have to (if we choose) upload our games to completed games? Or will just the winning 3 games become available to play?

 

[ThatMaestroGuy]

Good question, KingDanner. I'll be honest and say I want people to be frustrated by playing through mine. XD

 

[Deleted]

Good question, KingDanner. I'll be honest and say I want people to be frustrated by playing through mine. XD

I think if we were to release our games ourselves following the contest, before I released mine to the public, I think I would make a few little changes and add a few extra things I would of liked to of added originally but couldn't due to limited time   but if it was automatically released following the contest, again I wouldn't be the worst thing, because as I mentioned earlier I was pretty satisfied with my work.

 

[Ultimacj]

Dang and I thought my bonus boss was crazy.  She's 4x harder than actual normal boss and the game timer said 1H:42M after I killed her.  It was a long tedious fight (and fun) and unpredictable simply because she has every available skill in the game  and can use the players "ultimate" spell against you.

I have to agree with King, I understand why we can't use scripts but does hurt the flavor of the game/product itself  The primary difference here for me is I use the Yanfly engine one which is mostly cosmetic if anything vs the plain "base" look.

 

[BeardBro]

@Ultimacj: That's why I made my game in XP as opposed to VX or VX Ace. The appearance of the battle system is slightly more advanced in XP (which is personal preference more than anything), so it seemed like the better choice for this particular event. I tried to keep my project short and sweet; I think the entire experience lasts for thirty minutes at the most. I'm curious if they judge the boss battles based on longevity, or rather, how long the boss battle lasts while still remaining fun and enjoyable. Your nearly 2-hour boss fight sounds pretty intense, though!

 

[Mettool]

I also kept mine short and sweet: The whole game, including the opening and closing cutscenes, was about 10-15 minutes in length. I figured they were going to have a lot of entries, so I didn't want to take up too much of the judges' time.

I think my boss came out okay: it has a constant barrier shift mechanic while introducing other mechanics throught each phase of the fight. I also poured quite a bit of work into those cutscenes as well and I think I managed to make a coherent story. Granted, I only had three days to work on it because of schoolwork.

 

[Deckiller]

Happy birthday, RPG Maker!

We have a few more things in the pipeline for later today, including a special forum topic with a giveaway