RTP Battlebacks

[mmiller9280]

Just out of curiosity...

What I’m gathering is that the visual representation is more key than ever to getting attention for your game. Do you think generic RTP battle backdrops are a deterrent to people enjoying your game? How much do you pay attention to the backdrop in a fight?

I’m having a hard time finding free to use commercial resources in this department (using MZ), and the resources for purchase are usually fairly pricey, and I’m trying to prioritize my budget (a majority of it so far has gone to tilesets, battlers, and music)

 

[Soulrender]

The main problem of battlebacks included with each RPG Maker that they are very generic and recognizeable, the good news is they split into two parts, so you can combine them within editor since MV (maybe earlier versions too but I'm not 100% sure), that opens for user new possibilities... I've overcome that recognizability by creating from them "compositions" wich they keep style, but they're not so generic, here is example from my project: - https://prnt.sc/vul8zr

Composition of battlebacks from MV and MZ with some adjustment in Photoshop, so my opinion is you to take that course of action.

 

[Andar]

OpenGameArt.org

opengameart.org

it is possible to find free art, but that possibility is paid by the many hours you have to sort through the internet. It's often cheaper to purchase store packs, especially if you're willing to wait for a sale.

IsThereAnyDeal.com

 

[poorrabbit]

I've always felt that the battlebacks didn't really...fit.

So, what I've been doing is creating maps as a battlebacks. One for each environment, that way the player feels like they're actually fighting where they are fighting. Then I save the map as an image.

You'd need to find a plugin to force the battle back to scale correctly. MZ some weird stuff with battlebacks scaling. One of the visustella plugins does it, but if you're not using them, you can probably find one that just does the scaling.

 

[TheGameBrewery]

Honestly, yes. I've found the entire aesthetic a deterrent for commercial games anyway. I've also struggled at finding good battlebacks for my free projects. This eventually got me to attempt to do some art on my own.

 

[mmiller9280]

The main problem of battlebacks included with each RPG Maker that they are very generic and recognizeable, the good news is they split into two parts, so you can combine them within editor since MV (maybe earlier versions too but I'm not 100% sure), that opens for user new possibilities... I've overcome that recognizability by creating from them "compositions" wich they keep style, but they're not so generic, here is example from my project: - https://prnt.sc/vul8zr

Composition of battlebacks from MV and MZ with some adjustment in Photoshop, so my opinion is you to take that course of action.

That one looks great

 

[thecatinaction]

I've always felt that the battlebacks didn't really...fit.

So, what I've been doing is creating maps as a battlebacks. One for each environment, that way the player feels like they're actually fighting where they are fighting. Then I save the map as an image.

You'd need to find a plugin to force the battle back to scale correctly. MZ some weird stuff with battlebacks scaling. One of the visustella plugins does it, but if you're not using them, you can probably find one that just does the scaling.

That's a great idea. Can you divulge a little more on how you did this? I think I may go this route as well.

 

[poorrabbit]

sure, it's actually pretty easy, at least from a technical standpoint.
So, first I create a new map using the same tileset as the map I'm building a battleback for.
A map of 22x12 seems to work pretty well for me - I'm using 1280x720 as my default resolution so I'm going for a bit of a widescreen aspect ratio.

Then I create a little battle field, like so:


You'll want to keep in mind where your interface, players and enemies will be. And when you put your troops together, try to avoid sticking them in the walls. In my setup the bottom three tiles are pretty much covered by the interface.

Once you're happy with it, right click on the map and "save as image". It will create a file called Map[mapnumber].png in the directory you specify - such as the battlebacks1 directory. Then I set that as the battleback for my map:



In this particular case - it looks a bit different from the original map only because I have some lighting effects and it's nighttime.

And as you can probably guess - I'm using plugins aplenty - the main one that's important here is the Visutella BattleCore plugin, which has a battleback scaling option: scale to fit, which forces the battle back to actually behave. MZ does some weird scaling by default since it's built to show two of them overlayed. I'm pretty sure there's other BB scaling plugins out there, but since I'm already using VS..might as well take advantage