Suggestions for the next RPG Maker

[Oriceles]

Spoiler

Okay, I'm back with more mock-up screenshots. Back in my previous post, I suggested a modding ability that lets you add graphical interface mods instead of just adding text in a text box from scripts [e.g. <cooldown: 3>].I then expanded on this idea by creating the next screenshots. Disclaimer: all screenshots below are photoshopped images, with parts taken from Google Images. No buttons are clickable, nor is this work in development by Enterbrain. More info below the images.

The menu has a more modern layout, though controversial: a ribbon. Some may like it, others do not. Just a designer's note you might not know, which is also true in the MS Office packs with ribbons: they resize dynamically like a responsive website, depending on your window width.

New here is the return of different layers, looking back from RPG Maker XP. Standard, layer 1 is behind everything, layer 2 is on top of layer 1 but behind the player, layer 3 is on the same layer as the player, layer 4 and 5 are on top of the player with layer 5 on top of everything.

Now something more interesting:

A Mod menu. Oh, and the blue line at the bottom? Part of the Start menu bar.

I am not good at creating logos, that is not my thing, so sorry for the lack of images at the ribbon buttons.

In this menu, you can access mods giving more features to this RPG Maker. Compare with Scripts, but where scripts are variables executed in a database's Note box — and in the Scripting Editor itself — Mods give you more graphical user interfaces. Think buttons, menus, sliders, checkboxes, etc.

Standard, the database Note box is not there, but it can be put back by a mod. And you see, even Enterbrain delivers some mods. Some delivered from outside the game, some bundled with the game (e.g. the notebox mod).

Auto-arrange lets RPG Maker arrange mods in a way that if you would get an error when executing a playtest because of in what order the mods and scripts are executed, it would be arranged in such a way that you wouldn't get any errors. It might not be the ideal arrangement for you as an advanced user, but new users may get errors in this part of the program while they don't know where the error exactly is or how it could be resolved. Mostly by just random juggling with the Script Editor in Ace. Now RPG Maker juggles for you!

Let's look at some mods here. If you don't like them, just turn them off. This list will be in all your projects, so no need to redownload all mods and scripts for each and every new project you make.

Turn-based Battles

You select your skill, you directly execute without selecting other party members' skills first. If you have downloaded another mod or script like an Active Time Battle mod, chances are that if you toggle on either one of these, the other becomes greyed out to prevent conflicts.

Advanced Music

More music options in your sound menu. E.g. looping a music file without the need to launch an external program; or multiple layered music (aka more music tracks).

High Resolution Patch

Let's say this one is added later by Enterbrain, hence the "patch" part — as a mod to not possibly break your game if enabled. If it breaks, you can always toggle it back off and continue from there without it.

Enterbrain's Android Exporter

Add an export menu in the File ribbon tab to export to Android phones and tablets.

Steampunk Texture Pack

Just to show it's not always adding features. You can edit almost anything in this program towards the user, using APIs and such. This one changes the layout as if it was the CSS of a website: changing the colors and textures of the menus, changing the icons and possibly the position of the menus. It might even arrange the menus in such a way that there is no ribbon anymore and arranges everything on a toolbar, like Ace now does. You see, anything is possible.

Okay, that was my post until here. I hope you can discuss some of the features I brought forward. So standard, you got a bit less than Ace (no note box to add simplicity to the new user), but with mods, you get more, easier and quicker.

Oh, and if the database window becomes too full, it will automatically add a scrollbar so you can add even more content to that window,

With many greetings,

Amy Zee

Hell no, ribbon interfaces sucks .___., It's hard for most people to use them. In my office everyone is still using Office 2003 because of this and they always have the annoying .docx problem and they don't care to deal with that just because they refuse to adapt to the ribbon interface. I'm the only weirdo usins Office 2010 and looking to upgrade to the new 2013 cuz .pdf and .odf support

 

[Tsukihime]

The purpose of the ribbon is so that users can customize their application the way they want it to look, while providing a uniform way to present your menu and toolbar. I don't see how hard it is to use it.

I imagine it's just people not wanting to let go of the ways they've been doing things since long ago.

 

[amerk]

While I wasn't a big fan of the default graphics in RMXP, and I much enjoy the simplicity of mapping in Ace, there are some things that can be handled better.

Shaz mentioned one in another topic that I agree with. Autotiles in RMXP reduced the redundancy of having to shift-click, simply by double clicking the autotile and choosing how the edges would work. I don't see why this couldn't have worked with the autotiles in Ace.

True layering would also help and should be easy enough to implement, while still keeping the user-friendly system and passability of Ace.

Tab A (Layers 1 and 2): There should be 2 layers here. Water, ground, and floor is one, and the world map pieces, cliffs, walls, ceilings, fence posts, and other autotile add-ons should be handled as a second layer. Allow certain autotiles to have the same passability as other tabs (x, o, or star). The star could be for portions of cliffs, walls, and roofs that the character can walk behind.

Tab B-E (Layer 3): Anything added on top of the autotiles would be layer 3. Therefore, any tile that is used here should not effect what is drawn from Tab A. So if I add a set of trees, and then decide to replace those tree with another tile from B-E, it should not change the autotile beneath it. Keep passability the same (x, o, or star).

Tab F-G (Layer 4): Give us two more tabs to create a fourth layer, if necessary. Passability would still be the same as B-E with x, o, or star, so really the only purpose would be just an extra canvas to draw on without effecting what was drawn on B-E. Plus, it gives mappers two extra tabs to work with for each map.

Events (Layer 5): Nothing to really say here, since this wouldn't change.

Naturally, this would require people to pay a bit of attention to what they are doing. If you have somebody map a bookcase from tab F over a tree from tab B, both of which are marked with the passability of x, it's going to appear quite awkward. At the same time, being able to place certain tiles over others from another set could create a nice effect and even allow a form of clumping that would have otherwise needed to have been done with photoshop.

 

[Amy Zee]

If I use 40 layers in my Photoshop files — which is quite normal for my projects I might add — even without naming them (keeping the default layer 1, layer 2, layer 3 names), I know where to search for my layers. "That tree I created, that was somewhere in the middle of my layers. That cloud was the one of the oldest things I created, I should look at the bottom of my layers panel."

Do not underestimate the human memory if one created objects her own. I mean, it doesn't matter which tab you used to create a tile source, because it is your project and you know it best.

That said, Photoshop has a Command-click option (Control-click in Windows); if you hold Command and click on an object in your workspace, it brings you automatically to the right layer. Maybe such a thing would be great in RPG Maker: hold a certain modifier key (Control, Alt, Shift, Windows (Windows), Tab, Super (Linux) or Command (Mac)) and click on a tile in your main workspace (your map) and RPG Maker opens up the right tab with the clicked-on tile selected.

 

[gRaViJa]

Amy Zee's mock-ups are pretty much the way RPG Maker needs to evolve in. Except for the chibi style again, I want either an rmxp-like rtp or EB can release different rtp's which we can choose/buy from. And of course, the main things needed (like I said before) are exporting to Android, Windows Phone, OSX, Linux, maybe iOS and swipe/touchscreen/mouse etc. support

 

[Abi]

As long as we're going to talk about supporting export to more OS's, lets talk about supporting dev in more OS's!  IMO, it'd be great if we could dev using our choice of desktop OS: Windows, GNU/Linux, or OSX.

 

[Kim Jong Feel]

More tile pages, battlebacks by region, better character generator that doesn't randomize a handicapped rapist every time.

 

[Shaz]

I would like to be able to edit the project while doing a test play. Not for any changes to be picked up immediately. But I hate playing through a cutscene, see something misspelled or where a line is too long, and having to either close so I can edit straight away, write it down so I don't forget it, or hope I remember.


Having the game open in one window with the editor in another where I can just do a heap of testing and immediate fixing without having to leave the game would be incredibly useful.

 

[Lunarea]

Well, technically you can have 2 copies of the project. Edit in one, play in the other, then replace the "play" copy with the edited copy after the play-through. It's not a very elegant solution, but it's something.

 

[Shaz]

Yeah, I could just run the exe as well and continue in the editor, rather than using Test Play, but I'd have to add a workaround to allow me to do debugging stuff.

 

[Tsukihime]

Maybe you could just enable the debug flags when you run the game outside of test play so it is basically testplay except...you don't block the editor.

 

[CommodoreBlitz]

But I would love a simple copy paste function for the map editor...sorta the way everything works in any Windows application....and perhaps a complete list of tile sets listed for use instead of having to import them. (meaning when I am editing/making a map, I can pick from every tile set I have instead of having to importing them in before use)

 

[gRaViJa]

I would like to be able to edit the project while doing a test play. Not for any changes to be picked up immediately. But I hate playing through a cutscene, see something misspelled or where a line is too long, and having to either close so I can edit straight away, write it down so I don't forget it, or hope I remember.

Having the game open in one window with the editor in another where I can just do a heap of testing and immediate fixing without having to leave the game would be incredibly useful.

I have a script in rmxp that does that, luckily.

 

[Shaz]

Really? Lets you test play the game AND go back to the editor to change things? Don't happen to have a link, do you?

 

[gRaViJa]

I'll send a pastebin through pm, don't want to hijack the thread.

 

[Shaz]

thank you

 

[Gomi Boy]

More tile pages, battlebacks by region, better character generator that doesn't randomize a handicapped rapist every time.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Spoiler

 

[Tsukihime]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Spoiler

They look perfectly fine to me.

thank you

It works?? Without external programs?

 

[Shaz]

Yes Not as elegantly as I'm sure it's meant to, but it's written for VX and XP and I had to hack a bit to get it to run in Ace.

 

[Travatar]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Spoiler

It's the immutable law of the RM Universe- all men have rape-face, and all women are capable of only bemused smirks, cheery grins, or manic-depressive smiling. Just like in real life! *hides*

One thing that would be helpful is being able to set a conditional BGM and/or parallax for the map. Say, once you enter the map, and if a certain switch is on, or a variable is at a certain number, the BGM or parallax would be different. Yes, you can do this through eventing, but this would make it way easier...