Some general questions, getting started.

[shiney103]

First off, I sincerely hope this is the right place, if not, I'm very sorry.

I've recently gotten into RPG Maker VX Ace, and I'm already hooked. I'm still in some tutorial stages on my first throwaway projects, trying to learn the ins and outs of the game, but this leaves me with a lot of questions about creating a game in general. 

1. I've noticed several various resource packs, and I've messed around with some of them. While the basic idea of adding tilesets and sprites to the game now makes sense, this leaves me with an issue: A lot of the sets I find are incomplete, or only cater to one type of area. (Built up town/castle, wilderness/forest etc.) If I wanted to try and make a game with resources for let's say, a generic fantasy game with a lot of varying locales, are there any massive packages that have a more or less "everything you need" approach? I was originally planning on mixing and matching, but I was worried that there would be jarring differences in style, that might detract from the game.

2. I've seen games created in RPG maker take all kinds of different forms, and it's really interesting. However, I notice that the battle system and UI aren't particularly covered in the "official" tutorials. Are there ways to change these factors, tutorials for doing them? Or even add-ons required to make something like that happen? (Example being changing the UI to resemble other styles, colors, windows, possibly different positions, etc. And changing the battle screen to cover a side-by-side view/team battles, ala the early final fantasy games.)

3. Less important than the other two questions, but still something I wanted to ask about. I've seen all kinds of paid add-ons in the steam store, ranging from sprites to music to even engine add-ons. For the purposes of giving good functionality to a good fantasy RPG with that sword and sorcery feel (Or, even games in general) Are there any add-ons that are considered "essential" Or at least, are very commonly taken for most projects?

 

[Andar]

1) some resource packs are designed to work together with the RTP, others have their own style - but there are "only" half a dozen styles, each used in different resource packs. For example, all the PVGames packs (High Fantasy, Mythos and Wild Steam) can work together, and can be used to make a game when you have even two or three of them.

2) Battlesystem and UI can only be changed by scripting - that's why there are no specific tutorials on that. Either you use an existing script (which use and configuration then depends on the script) or you have to learn RGSS (which is basically programming in Ruby).

3) There are no "essential" add-ons, and also none to be taken for most projects. That is because it depends on the project itself and what you want to do in it.

I generally suggest to make your first game project (for learning purposes) without any of the add-ons and without any scripts, just to learn the basics of the editor.

You can follow the link in my signature to get started, it'll answer a lot of your possible questions.

 

[bgillisp]

This post lists which packs go together and which do not, as of April 2014. I don't think its been updated to account for the new packs though: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/26268-which-graphic-pack-matches-with-which/

 

[herion]

I have a question as well can Sprites you build yourself be imported into RPG Maker VX Ace even if you bought it through Steam? Sorry if its a silly question I am new user of the application.

 

[Celianna]

@herion: please create your own topic, do not hijack someone else's, thank you.


@shiney103: to your first question, the upcoming Ancient Dungeons (early july release) will be a fantasy medieval starters pack - a little bit of everything.

 

[shiney103]

@shiney103: to your first question, the upcoming Ancient Dungeons (early july release) will be a fantasy medieval starters pack - a little bit of everything.

That's good to hear. I want to make a game, but without using the default RTP, finding something with enough resources in the same style seems really hectic. Do most people workshop/commission their assets, then?  I like the sprited look, but was hoping to find something a little more up to date than the very retro look of the default RTP.

Edit: I've looked at a few samples of your work, and I'm stunned. I'll definitely be looking forward to your work. even if you'll be releasiing it in several packs over time, it looks like that could be the solution to my troubles. 

This post lists which packs go together and which do not, as of April 2014. I don't think its been updated to account for the new packs though: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/26268-which-graphic-pack-matches-with-which/

Thanks, I've definitely gone and grabbed several that match the RTP, just in case. Shame about the lack of updates though. I suppose I'll try to keep an eye out.

1) some resource packs are designed to work together with the RTP, others have their own style - but there are "only" half a dozen styles, each used in different resource packs. For example, all the PVGames packs (High Fantasy, Mythos and Wild Steam) can work together, and can be used to make a game when you have even two or three of them.

2) Battlesystem and UI can only be changed by scripting - that's why there are no specific tutorials on that. Either you use an existing script (which use and configuration then depends on the script) or you have to learn RGSS (which is basically programming in Ruby).

3) There are no "essential" add-ons, and also none to be taken for most projects. That is because it depends on the project itself and what you want to do in it.

I generally suggest to make your first game project (for learning purposes) without any of the add-ons and without any scripts, just to learn the basics of the editor.

You can follow the link in my signature to get started, it'll answer a lot of your possible questions.

Cool, thanks so much. I suppose this is a rather specific question, but unfortunately, while I've found a few different engines to make side-view battling (Ala final fantasy) possible, none of them have tutorials on what I actually need, or how to implement them. Am I just missing the obvious? I mean, most of them link me to Japanese websites, and unfortunately, that doesn't tell me a lot. And the few English ones I've found are lacking in instructions.

Further, I'm crunching through tutorials and experimenting on a demo to release to be violently and horribly violated learn from some constructive feedback. But changing the UI style is another area where I can't find any tutorials on. Which is going to be extra important if I change my style to a side view, not to mention how compatible changing the style/look would be with altering functionality (Like some of those fancy improved shop scripts I've seen that give more info.) I really have no idea about compatibility.

Edit #2: Another thing I noticed looking around, was parallax mapping. I've found all kinds of tutorials on how to do this, but the "why" seems to boil down to "It's good." and nothing on the "what." These are basically like tilesets, except rather than being implemented as tiles, you have to use photoshop  or GIMP to custom create your assets, am I right? I'm honestly a bit confused, as I would think that you could achieve a similar effect just by editing your own tilesets? Or, am I missing a point somewhere?

 

[Andar]

none of them have tutorials on what I actually need, or how to implement them. Am I just missing the obvious?

Yes and no. The only sideview system that has gotten a manual worth speaking of is symphony due to the many options, the other sideviews (from the english master script list, all in english) usually only have the instructions inside their comments.
On using scripts in general you can read this: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/40589-how-to-use-a-script/

Another thing I noticed looking around, was parallax mapping. I've found all kinds of tutorials on how to do this, but the "why" seems to boil down to "It's good."

With the regular mapping, you have two limitations that do not exist in parallax mapping:
1) the grid (all objects and tiles need to be placed inside the 32x32 grid boxes, with parallax you can place them anywhere)


2) the limited number of layers (you can have only one A#-tile and one B/E-tile at the map and at max a third B/E tile as an event).


On the other hand, one of the mapping artists here once said that regular mapping compared to parallax mapping is 20% of the work for 80% of the quality.


So it depends on if you really want that to do much more work those final improvements to map quality.

 

[shiney103]

Yes and no. The only sideview system that has gotten a manual worth speaking of is symphony due to the many options, the other sideviews (from the english master script list, all in english) usually only have the instructions inside their comments.


On using scripts in general you can read this: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/40589-how-to-use-a-script/


With the regular mapping, you have two limitations that do not exist in parallax mapping:


1) the grid (all objects and tiles need to be placed inside the 32x32 grid boxes, with parallax you can place them anywhere)


2) the limited number of layers (you can have only one A#-tile and one B/E-tile at the map and at max a third B/E tile as an event).


On the other hand, one of the mapping artists here once said that regular mapping compared to parallax mapping is 20% of the work for 80% of the quality.


So it depends on if you really want that to do much more work those final improvements to map quality.

 
On the battlesystems, thanks so much. I'll probably end up eventually going with something like luna engine and yami's symphony, since it's outright stated that it's compatible, and apparently both have good documentation. That's usually my key to learning anything, is separate documentation, (And horrible experimentation leading to several failures)


As for the parallax, thanks. That actually tells me a lot. I probably won't even touch parallax, now that I know what's going on. Cool options, but a ton more effort.