What can you do with RM?

[??????]

Hey all,

So I was just wondering, what is the 'best thing' you have ever done with RPG Maker?  And when I say 'best thing', this could be anything...

Way back before I started scripting I made an 'awesome' crafting system using events. the event would perform insane conditional checks to make sure you had all the items, the right amount, the 'mold' for the item and whatever else before allowing you to 'craft' it.

Pretty safe to say I was real pleased with that.

Since then I have done a crap load with the engine, such as creating a RM game launcher from RM game and various online systems!!

But I wanna know, what do you think the best thing you have done within RM was? Was it some awesome event or cutscene? Maybe it was a cool script? Or perhaps the best thing you have done with the engine is have a crap ton of fun!

Thoughts?

 

[bgillisp]

Right now I'm just pleased that my mapping has moved from absolute garbage to something that isn't as much garbage. I'm hoping to do more scripting once the first game is done though as I hope to tackle the battle system for the second (yes, that's an ambitious one I know, so I'm doing little scripts now to build up the skills).

 

[??????]

I don't envy you! Battle systems are not a fun thing to do at all. I try to completely avoid them as much as possible ^_^

 

[bgillisp]

So I hear. I did code a 20 x 20 grid based battle system in C (it was all in ASCII, as I can't draw to  save my life, so you controlled a little 1 fighting an A on the grid), still remember the 1000+ lines of C code needed to pull that one off. I figure it will be a fun challenge, even if I fall on my face in the end at least I took a shot at it.

But, I don't intend to even touch this until 2016 or 2017, so we might be using a new version of RM by then.

 

[Warpmind]

Before the Scripting days, I made a point-buy character progression system - similar to that of GURPS, Storyteller, etc. - with stat increases and skills, all through Eventing.

Ye Gods, that thing was clunky, and I'm never giving myself that sort of ulcer again.

 

[??????]

@bgillisp - I should hope that there is a new iteration of RM by then

@Warpmind - I dont even want to think about how someone would event such a system. How long did it take you?

 

[BlackLiquidSorrow]

Either a Treetop village map that managed to somehow look natural or a skill that heals all your allies and then powers up the user proportional to the amount healed.

 

[??????]

Thats cool. How did it determine the value of stat increase, and how did you make it temporary?

 

[Warpmind]

@Warpmind - I dont even want to think about how someone would event such a system. How long did it take you?

I don't recall right now. (It was at least 14 years ago, using a Version That Shall Not Be Named, after all.)

I seem to recall, though, that it took a lot less time than one might think - there was a lot of copy and paste, followed by simple replacements of the relevant variables in the duplicate branches. Honestly, it only needed to be set up once, as a Common Event, and with a handful of substitutions for the secondary characters.

I recall being immensely proud of myself for building a character progression system eschewing levels, though. Perhaps I ought to consider trying to rebuild the Whole Damn Thing as a script? Need to read up on RGSS3 first, though; windows and references in particular...

 

[AceOfAces_Mod]

Right now, eventing.

I would like to create a script someday. I wrote a portion of it, though with a limited success.

 

[bgillisp]

@AceofAces_Mod: Don't feel too bad. I've attempted about 8 scripts now, finished one, gave up on 5, hired someone to write one and bought a script from Dekita for the last one as my attempt had a critical bug I had no idea how to fix.

 

[BlackLiquidSorrow]

Thats cool. How did it determine the value of stat increase, and how did you make it temporary?

It was a looooooooooong process...

1. I created 8 variables. Character A HP, Character A HP2, Character B HP, Character B HP2 and so on.

2. I created the activation for the skill, called triumphant roar(League reference), that launches a common event.

3. The event checks the current hp of each character, heals them using a skill that heals them, then subtracts the old hp from the new one.

4. The event adds the result of the operation together in the form of another variable called total healed.

5. Then I went in and changed the damage formula for this character's weapons to this. (I had to use a weapon formula script so that other characters couldn't take advantage of the bonus.)

a.atk * 4 + v[9] - b.def * 26. I added a common event in all the user's skills that gets rid of the bonus after damage calculation to curb OP'ness.

It only took two hours!

Bonus: Through the use of Tsukihime's Feature Condition's script I was able to make a skill that inflicts different states based off of how much was healed! In addition, I was able to make a similar skill that drains an enemy's hp and powers up the character based off of the amount drained!

 

[Sharm]

Best thing I've ever done is figure out how to make tiles look good despite Ace's mapping limitations while still being relatively easy to use.

 

[lemongreen]

Mapping: I absolutely love mapping even though it still feels like there's tons I don't know how to do (but I can always practise and improve) 

Scripting: As much as I don't really write scripts myself (yet) I have made it to the point where I can usually tell what a script is doing when looking at the actual coding part of it and at least make small changes if I have to (though so far that's only been for menu scripts; I don't really like messing with long lines of code even though I'll probably have to, eventually)

Eventing: I really like seeing what I can do with eventing. I've found it's fun (though somewhat tedious) to try to make anything using just eventing rather than looking for the scripts that it would typically take sometimes. (though there are some things that just always need scripts, unfortunately) I think my favorite so far was figuring out how to do a character select screen that I'm probably not even going to use in the game it was made for (but the setup is useful to know for other systems, like title screens or menus, which I wouldn't mind doing that way in the future)

 

[Kvich]

I once made a clock in the game using no scripts.

Granted the clock was counting down, didn't work quite as well as I wanted, but the game had a clock, complete with tinting, shops opening and closing, NPC's doing certain things at a specific time, the system also had days, weeks, months and years.

 

[Matseb2611]

This was probably mine. The whole thing was done with events and required a self-repeating autorun event and lots and lots of conditional branches and use of pictures for health counters.

 

[Indinera]

I made 27 (full) games. That's the best "thing" I made.  

 

[demonhead]

Using it to help me learn Japanese

 

[Jacki]

The best thing I've managed in RPG Maker is probably the 'Extraction' skill I made with events. Basically, killing a weakened enemy and getting a special item, but to do it I needed to combine common events, battle events, states, skills, and semi-random variables. The worst part was when it was 90% working, and I couldn't figure out what the problem was. When you're that close, it's not like you can just give up and move on to something else.

Maybe all this stuff would be easier if I took the time to learn scripting. The most I've managed with that is changing a few terms or removing unnescessary menu options.

Seeing as you mentioned a crafting system, I recall trying to make one myself back in the day. Problem was, it was with RPG Maker 3 on the PS2. Like most things with RM 3, while it might be possible in theory, it was rarely worth the effort.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

The best things...?

This.

Spoiler

I trained vigorously at my mapping skills to rise above what I used to do.

I created a visual HP meter (And mini HUD) that responds to a player being hurt or healed (On the 'field' )
A rythym dancing mini-game featuring nothing but events.
A custom menu (And HUD) with events.

And to top it all off, the best of the best things to happen to me is that I realized my potential to truly make my childhood dreams of designing video games for a living....  a reality. 

Goodness... I... guess I've done quite a bit more than I give myself credit for! o_o;;;