RPG Maker VX Ace the correct product for me?

[Passero]

I just bought RPG Maker VX Ace on steam becuase it was on a major discount. I always had an interest in making my own game. 

Previously I have been playing around with Unity 3D and had some great fun with it. 

The problem with Unity is that, basically, my background is pure development. I suck in graphics. RPG maker provides a great engine and libraries with all the graphics I would need. I know I am limited in the type of game but that doesn't matter.

So... I'm a developer so I don't shy away from some hard core coding which I assume, is possible in RPG maker using some variant of Ruby.

The type of game I want to build is a top down game, which seems to fit the style of RPG Maker.

The thing I'm not sure about is the battle system. As far as I can tell, RPG maker focusses on a type of battle system like you see in the Final Fantasy series.
I would rather build a battle system were the enemies are on the map and you fight them there. This would imply no turned based battle system. 

The reason why I want to build a system like this, is that I want to focus a little bit on AI. I have been studying AI for a while and implemented some advanced algorithms in puzzle solving software as well as some robots I built. Now I want to build smart enemies. They won't randomly walk the map, but instead try to box the player, learn from his behavior and so on.  

Can something like this be achieved wit RPG Maker VX Ace? I'm not really looking for scripts that will give me that, I want to build it on my own. It's just as a hobby, to have fun building it.

Any similar games that have been developed like this so I can see how they look in RPG Maker? 

 

[Andar]

almost everything has been done or could be done in RPGM, because the entire engine (minus only a few graphical functions) is available in the script editor for manipulations.


If you're a developer/programmer, then I suggest you take a look at the master script list:


http://rmvxace.wikia.com/wiki/RPG_Maker_VX_Ace_Master_Script_List


There are about a dozen alternative battle system scripts on that list already, including several action battle systems with on-map-battles, or one script for tactical battles in a separated screen and more.


Those scripts are usually free for non-commercial games, and you can use them as guides to develop your own scripts if you want something else. The total number of scripts on that list is about a thousand...

 

[Candacis]

Hey,


Yes, this can be achieved and there are already some scripts out there for it. For instance, Falcao Pearl ABS System. On his site are some videos about it as well, so you could look at them. http://falcaorgss.wordpress.com/category/pearl-abs-liquid/


Other than that, just search for Real Time Battle Systems, ABS or Zelda Battle System. I think there are some more examples out there.

 

[Zoltor]

I just bought RPG Maker VX Ace on steam becuase it was on a major discount. I always had an interest in making my own game. 

Previously I have been playing around with Unity 3D and had some great fun with it. 

The problem with Unity is that, basically, my background is pure development. I suck in graphics. RPG maker provides a great engine and libraries with all the graphics I would need. I know I am limited in the type of game but that doesn't matter.

So... I'm a developer so I don't shy away from some hard core coding which I assume, is possible in RPG maker using some variant of Ruby.

The type of game I want to build is a top down game, which seems to fit the style of RPG Maker.

The thing I'm not sure about is the battle system. As far as I can tell, RPG maker focusses on a type of battle system like you see in the Final Fantasy series.

I would rather build a battle system were the enemies are on the map and you fight them there. This would imply no turned based battle system. 

The reason why I want to build a system like this, is that I want to focus a little bit on AI. I have been studying AI for a while and implemented some advanced algorithms in puzzle solving software as well as some robots I built. Now I want to build smart enemies. They won't randomly walk the map, but instead try to box the player, learn from his behavior and so on.  

Can something like this be achieved wit RPG Maker VX Ace? I'm not really looking for scripts that will give me that, I want to build it on my own. It's just as a hobby, to have fun building it.

Any similar games that have been developed like this so I can see how they look in RPG Maker? 

Yea you can do that with scripts, people have made script that do just that before, so I'm 100% sure It's doable.

The whole enemy(aka events)  going after the player or whatnot, doesn't even require scripting at all to do, infact for something that is rarely used, It's exceeding easy to do.

Note: There's no reason to make the battle system into action based for that, unless you seriously weant to make a action/RPG, you can just have the event initiate a battle/encounter, if it touches the player

PS. Also yea, since you're a coder, like Andar said, you should look through the script master list, as it will give you a good idea of what can be done through scripting.

 

[Passero]

Thanks guys. 

This is really encouraging.

I'll have a think about the exact battle system I want to implement but I'm sure I want to have my enemies wander around the map. I'll probably start with the OOTB battle system so I can focus on scripting the enemies.  

The whole enemy(aka events)  going after the player or whatnot, doesn't even require scripting at all to do, infact for something that is rarely used, It's exceeding easy to do.

That's really useful! I will probably start out with that.