Wizardry Style Character Creation

[lerugray]

Hello All

forgive me if this has already been asked or done, it's been a while and I just got MV today.

I could use a plugin that allowed characters to be 'rolled' as in the older wizardry games, to elaborate:

- Players first choose Name, Gender, Alignment, & Race, race sets base abilities for characters.

- Bonus points are rolled, lets say anywhere between 6 and 30

- depending on the amount of bonus points rolled, certain classes may be available to the player over others. Bonus points are used to fulfill the ability stat minimums for higher tier classes (for example a Ninja vs a normal thief)

-Once a class is chosen, mandatory bonus points are spent on fuffiling the requirements for the selected class, players may dump excess bonus points into the abilities of their choice.

- Player could re-roll for bonus points endlessly until they get a roll they like

- Player chooses an avatar photo for their character.

And that essentially would be character creation, players could create characters and leave them on 'standby' at an inn, whereas they pick the 6 to go with them into the dungeon.

I don't believe there is a plugin for this kind of generation, but if someone familiar with wizardry style games could help out or tell me how to start to go about designing a plugin to do this, or point me to one that already does much to my shame, I appreciate it a bunch. Feel free to let me know if this is the wrong place for this or if I need to be more specific.

 

[Andar]

There is no plugin like that, because that is usually done with events alone, only the point distribution requires a plugin.
And for that (point distribution) there are already plugins available.

But change class, change sprite/face and so on are all available by event Commando, you only need a sequence of show choices for that.

 

[Traveling Bard]

There is no need for a plugin as Andar has already said. You can probably do all of these things with events. Events are things that you can setup to run in your game based on pre-set criteria and are available in the game maker engine itself. Now, you said you were new... I am going to run through all of your criteria at a high level and quickly give you a few "high level" ways of using the engine to accomplish what you want, but I would recommend reviewing these places first in order to learn what the engine can do:

Echo607's MV tutorials for beginner's are good places to start. She has a three part guide to Event Commands (which I HIGHLY recommend) that might be a good place to start. She also has one for switches and variables that would be good for you to cover.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTcc-t1_NNLUzIUVRDyNWyGkfT-TBRtkG

This community has some pretty good tutorials posted as well under the forum

https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?forums/rpg-maker-mv-tutorials.130/

And finally, these comics by the plugin/code god Yanfly that have helped me as a budding developer to fight the inevitable battle against scope creep & teaching me that there are better ways to make games efficiently

http://yanfly.moe/comics/

Alright, now let's cover your list!
Players first choose Name, Gender, Alignment, & Race, race sets base abilities for characters.
The Name input function has a special command for it already. The other three specifics can be displayed and selected as options under a Choices command (not sure on the name but it's pretty close to the Text command). Then you can do a Conditional Branch to set base stats and abilities for characters based on what race they are. You would do this by setting this kind of information to variables, for example, and checking with a Conditional branch to see if the character1Race variable is set to Orc, or what have you, then set that character's stats to whatever they need to be and/or have them Learn Skills (also a function, that will add skills/spells to characters).

Bonus points are rolled, lets say anywhere between 6 and 30
You can accomplish this by Setting a Variable. Let's call it character1BonusPoints. There is a random option where you can set the range. Have this run in the same event as character creation. Maybe ask the player if they would like to reroll stats (Choice: Yes, then randomly set the variable again; No, move on with variable as is).

Depending on the amount of bonus points rolled, certain classes may be available to the player over others. Bonus points are used to fulfill the ability stat minimums for higher tier classes (for example a Ninja vs a normal thief)
Use a Conditional branch to check that bonus variable for specific values and give your class options based on the results. Ex. If character1BonusPoints < 20 then Choices are Thief, Priest, and Warrior. If character1BonusPoints > 20 then Choices are Thief, Priest, Warrior, Ninja.

Once a class is chosen, mandatory bonus points are spent on fulfilling the requirements for the selected class, players may dump excess bonus points into the abilities of their choice.
You can do some math with the variables using the Manage Variables function to accomplish this.

Player could re-roll for bonus points endlessly until they get a roll they like
Covered above.

Player chooses an avatar photo for their character.
Never made one of these before... but you could probably accomplish this on a map using something like what this tutorial created to swap between pictures:


The above link is more for creating a directional selector on a map for use on selecting an avatar/character but you could also use it to Show Picture in the middle of the map conditionally & select that as an avatar photo.

And that essentially would be character creation, players could create characters and leave them on 'standby' at an inn, whereas they pick the 6 to go with them into the dungeon.
Now this is a little different... you are talking about dynamically creating characters & holding them somewhere for use in party building. This is probably the most complicated portion lol I think it could still be done though using events. I would...

1. Have a set number of characters premade in the database ready to be molded into whatever they need to be in the character creation process.
2. Switches, one for each character, so that if a character has been created it's in the ON state and if it's unused or is later deleted it's in the OFF state.
3. A variable to track which character you will be molding.
4. A Conditional Branch that checks to see if a Switch is OFF in order like character1Created, character2Created, etc. If it's OFF, set the variable to the character's number & move to character creation.
5. When you are rolling all your numbers and setting all your stats/skills, use conditional branches that checks your variable you set & applies the settings to the correct character.
6. Once a character is ready for the inn, then set their specific switch to ON.

Something like that... hope that helps get you started.

 

[lerugray]

Oh wow! Thank you both so much guys, I really appreciate it! This will indeed help me get started, thank you so much!!

I had used VX Ace before and still getting used to how MV works, when I first opened it I spent about 30 minutes looking for the script editor lol.

Thanks again!

 

[lerugray]

Ok so I have finally moved onto attempt to build this game and have started by trying to tackle character creation. Feel free to tell me off if this is basic stuff i should have figured out with a general understanding of events (which I think I have) I am having some difficulty figuring out how to get to an environment where the characters could be created, so from the title screen, one could go to a character generation menu, I feel a little dumb lol. Anyway I've created a new map and completely painted it black, set an event and started messing with it, but I can't figure out how to get to that event from the title screen, any help would be totally appreciated. If I should be posting this somewhere else, kindly let me know, thanks and sorry for any infraction.

 

[bgillisp]

All you have to do is put the event as an autorun, and it will run.

However...maybe you can do what I did when I played with a character creation system. I put a dummy actor into the starting party (I called it selector), and then had you walk around with it to interact with what you wanted to select. I'm sure it can be done better than that, but it was just a side experiment, so that's as far as I ever got it.

 

[lerugray]

Then you can do a Conditional Branch to set base stats and abilities for characters based on what race they are. You would do this by setting this kind of information to variables, for example, and checking with a Conditional branch to see if the character1Race variable is set to Orc, or what have you, then set that character's stats to whatever they need to be and/or have them Learn Skills (also a function, that will add skills/spells to characters).

Quick question here, in this example you set a variable to a string, is that possible with RPG Maker MV? I had the idea that variables only correspond to numbers with this thing.

 

[lerugray]

Just to see if I have the right idea, not sure if there is a more efficent way to do this such as setting variables for the current PC being created but I suppose I can still do that one way or another.

EDIT: Also _>

Use a Conditional branch to check that bonus variable for specific values and give your class options based on the results. Ex. If character1BonusPoints < 20 then Choices are Thief, Priest, and Warrior. If character1BonusPoints > 20 then Choices are Thief, Priest, Warrior, Ninja.

Now I'm not sure if that would work i believe, wouldn't the engine need to be able to see if with the current amount of bonus points, there is a way to spend those on the race-determined stats to get them high enough for class requirements? Ok in a nutshell, after bonus points are rolled, I need a way for the engine to check every possible way of spending those on the current character to see if the amount rolled would allow them for whichever class, which would then make that class choose able. I'm thinking I may have to script an array for this I fear.

For reference, here are the stat requirements for various classes, and the starting stats of some of the races.

EDIT: Fixed Class Requirements

EDIT: Now that I think about it, would it work to make a variable for the class chosen, and then based on that, figure out on paper what each class would need point wise to achieve a certain class? than I could use a conditional branch to implement that I think, not sure tho. That would at least get rid of the need for an array.

 

[Traveling Bard]

Quick question here, in this example you set a variable to a string, is that possible with RPG Maker MV? I had the idea that variables only correspond to numbers with this thing.

I haven't digested you're other question just yet but what I meant by what you quoted in the above question was setting a variable called PC 1 Race and setting it to numbers that mean a race. Like for the value of 1, it would translate to Human, etc... As a player though you are just going to present them a choice using Show Choice: Human, Orc, etc... If you choose Human then set the variable PC 1 Race to the value if 1, for example.

You can do something similar with Class selection or determination.

I'll take a look at your second question shortly... *Currently at work...this was a coffee break lol*

 

[lerugray]

I haven't digested you're other question just yet but what I meant by what you quoted in the above question was setting a variable called PC 1 Class and setting it to numbers that mean classes. Like for the value of 1, it would translate to warrior, etc... As a player though you are just going to present them a choice using Show Choice: Warrior, Thief, etc... If you choose Warrior then set the variable accordingly.

I'll take a look at your second question shortly... *Currently at work...this was a coffee break lol*

Ah ok I see, take your time, dont get fired!

 

[Traveling Bard]

Haha thanks for the concern. Decided to just take a lunch. So let's walk through the work flow I have in my head...lol I think you're on to something with the point values! Here we go.

Spoiler: Logic Dump

For some of the races you know everything you need to know to see if they have enough bonus points per class. Ex. Humans.

Based on your screenshot, their stats (outside of Fate... not sure what that's for) yield the following total regardless: 66 points.
Thus you can start seeing the difference between each class per the character's stats... For example, Mercenary.

You know that the difference between the Human's base strength & the required Mercenary Str is 11 points, 6 to meet the Dex requirement, and 4 to meet the Con requirement. So you add all that together and you get get a minimum for a human to be a mercenary is a total point amount of 87 point. So you would check:

Are they human?

Do they have at least 21 bonus points to use?

If so, then Mercenary is an option.

There is a bit of functionality that might change if they have rolled stats and I'll cover that shortly. Now, how would we do this kind of check efficiently? I'm thinking the following steps.

1. I say create a Common Event for this, something like Class Option Building (separating functions into logical pieces like Common Events helps reduce the overwhelming feeling when working on complex calcs like this... at least for me, lol).

In this CE, I'd start by having a table near the top with all the minimums per race for each class set as variables. This way if you change your numbers during testing, you can quickly change things around here. It would like something like this:

//Mercenary minimums per Race
HumanMercenaryRequirement = 87
DwarfMercenaryRequirement = 84
CatMercenaryRequirement = 88
*****note that the base could be 68-70 for Cat but I used the lowest Cha in this calculation for reasons that will become apparent soon.*****

//Priest minimums per Race
HumanPriestRequirement = 85
DwarfPriestRequirement = 86
CatPriestRequirement = 92 //again this assumes you got the lowest possible from the range

2. Next I would create a table of variables after Racial Base values:
//Racial Base stats; Excludes random variables to be added in rolls.
HumanBaseStats = 66
DwarfBaseStats = 66
CatBaseStats = 61 //excluding Cha on purpose b/c it will be determined with rolls.

3. Now we make calculations to build our options:

A. Check to see which character we are working with (CurrentCharacterVar == actorId)

B. What Race are they? (PC 1 Race == 1; for Human)

C.
BaseStatsPlusBonus = HumanBaseStats //setting a variable to work with
BaseStatsPlusBonus += PC 1 Bonus Points
If BaseStatsPlusBonus >= HumanMercenaryRequirement
MercenaryOptionAvailable Switch is ON
Else
MercenaryOptionAvailable Switch is OFF
If BaseStatsPlusBonus >= HumanPriestRequirement
PriestOptionAvailable Switch is ON
Else
PriestOptionAvailable Switch is OFF

D. What happens if they are a race with rolled variables like Cats?
BaseStatsPlusBonus = CatBaseStats //setting a variable to work with
BaseStatsPlusBonus += PC 1 Cha //Just add the rolled stats when building this variable
BaseStatPlusBonus += PC 1 Bonus Points
If BaseStatsPlusBonus >= CatMercenaryRequirement
MercenaryOptionAvailable Switch is ON
Else
MercenaryOptionAvailable Switch is OFF
If BaseStatsPlusBonus >= CatPriestRequirement
PriestOptionAvailable Switch is ON
Else
PriestOptionAvailable Switch is OFF

4. I would then create another Common Event for crafting your choices from the switches. Now how you display this is up to you. There are scripts for showing more than the engine's limited amount of choices & you can pass conditions like "only show this option if this switch is ON" as well... between Yanfly (yanfly.moe) and Tsukihime (himeworks.com) you should be able to find one to meet your display needs.

5. Once a decision has been made about the class, we need to deduct the difference from the bonus point pool.
DifferenceVariable = BaseStatsPlusBonus
DifferenceVariable -= CatPriestRequirement
PC 1 Bonus Points -= DifferenceVariable

6. Utilize the Bonus Points left, if any, to allocate points to other stats.

7. Select the picture for the character (like I mentioned in previous comments)

8. Finalize all the work done by setting the stats on the character to the appropriate variable, setting it's class, and any skills/weapons they might have that come with that choice.

9. Set the Switch we talked about before to prove they are done & available to add to a party.

10. Loop back to whatever menu you came from to start character creation all over again or start building a party of characters for a game.

For future questions, unless you just want to keep this thread open for other folk interested in creating such a system, you can feel free to pm me. If you want to keep the thread open, the admin might need to move this to the Game Design thread... just a thought Hope all this helps!

 

[lerugray]

Thank you for everything! Going to try to digest all of this tonight, I appreciate it. I figure maybe this can help other people trying to make similar games

 

[Traveling Bard]

So I got to thinking about it and found that with my logic dump above there would be an issue when testing and tweaking stats...in that if you did change anything then you would have to go back to the paper to calculate requirement variables. I say NAY! We can do better!

I'm thinking that it's easier to set variables like I originally said and run the same calculations regardless. So in testing if you decide that you need to tweak the starting stat numbers or class requirements, you won't have to run through all the calculations all over again.

Spoiler: Here's an idea I had broken into a Map Event, Common Events, and Comments

*****On Map Event*****
//USAGE: This is the entry point into game & shows a menu with various options
Loop
//Menu List/Show Choices: Create New Character; View/Edit Characters; Build Party

//For this "logic dump", Let's explore only the Create New Character option

Call CE Configurations
Call CE Character Slot Check
Call CE Character Builder​

Loop Above

*****CE Configurations*****
//USAGE: Set all of your variables in one place.
//TESTER SWITCH, Show stuff that wouldn't normally be shown or added in production

//set the switch, reference it when you have areas you'd like to test.​

//Racial Base Stats

//Human Base Stat Variables
//Cat Base Stat Variables; excluding Cha which is set at character creation​

//Class Stat Requirements

//Mercenary Requirement Variables; set STR, DEX, and CON requirement vars
//Priest Requirement Variables; set PIE, CON, and CHA requirement vars​

//Have Character Slot switches been initially set conditional branch? If not, set them.

//Set a Character Slot Switch to OFF which means it's available
/*Once all of the above slot switches are OFF, set a switch to say it's done. That way if we call this again, we don't make all the character slots available again. */​

*****CE Character Slot Check*****
/*USAGE: Checks switches for open character slot & sets currentCharacter variable to the appropriate actorID*/
//Conditional Branches for each Character Slot Switch; if ON do nothing; If OFF then

//Set CurrentCharacter variable to the appropriate actorId
//Go to End Check label​

//Set an End Check Label at the bottom of the Common Event, effectively skipping to the end

*****CE Character Builder*****
/*USAGE: Consumes the base variables, character slot, rolling stats, and starting the character building loop*/
//Check which character we are working with; currentCharacter variable
Loop
//Have the user choose gender & set it to Character specific Gender variable
//Have the user choose race & set it to Character specific race variable
//Set all base stats to current character variables based on race choice
/*Conditional branch; "have I rolled before" Switch; if OFF ignore the rolling logic & just call the CE Class Options Builder; if ON ask if you would like to re-roll stats. */

//Roll random variables that are left like Bonus points, CHA for Cats, etc...

//Set the switch to state that you have rolled to ON​

//IF TESTER SWITCH ON, then Show each value in a text box
//Add BaseStats + racial randoms (CHA) + Bonus points to BaseStatPlusBonus
//IF TESTER SWITCH ON, then Show each value in a text box​

Call CE Class Options Builder
Call CE Class Options Displayer
Loop above

*****CE Class Options Builder*****
/*USAGE: Consumes Character Builder's BaseStatPlusBonus & compares it against class requirements to build options.*/
//For each Class, subtract all the values of the class requirements from StatChecker

//Mercenary

//StatChecker variable set to BaseStatPlusBonus for check
//StatChecker -= Merc Str Requirement
//StatChecker -= Merc Dex Requirement
//StatChecker -= Merc Con Requirement
//If StatChecker < 0 then MercOption Switch = ON Else it's OFF
//IF TESTER SWITCH ON, then Show StatChecker value in a text box​

//Priest

//StatChecker variable set to BaseStatPlusBonus for check
//StatChecker -= Priest Pie Requirement
//StatChecker -= Priest Con Requirement
//StatChecker -= Priest Cha Requirement
//If StatChecker < 0 then PriestOption Switch = ON Else it's OFF
//IF TESTER SWITCH ON, then Show StatChecker value in a text box​

*****CE Class Options Displayer*****
/*USAGE: This is up to you, but it might be where you leverage a script like Tsukihime's or Yanfly's to display a large amount of options based on a condition like "is the Merc switch ON" then show; otherwise, don't. This is also where we will allow the user to either select an available class option or go back (which will put us back in the loop of Character Builder & where we will ask if we'd like to reroll).*/
//Display class options based on option switches; Leave one option to "go back".

//Mercenary, if available, as an option.

//If selected, ask if they are sure.

//If sure, then set ClassChoice = 1
//BaseStatPlusBonus -= Merc Str Requirement
//BaseStatPlusBonus -= Merc Dex Requirement
//BaseStatPlusBonus -= Merc Con Requirement
//BaseStatPlusBonus -= each other Character Specific Stat Var
Call CE Bonus Point Allocation​

//Priest, if available, as an option.

//If selected, ask if they are sure.

//If sure, then set ClassChoice = 2
//BaseStatPlusBonus -= Priest Pie Requirement
//BaseStatPlusBonus -= Priest Con Requirement
//BaseStatPlusBonus -= Priest Cha Requirement
//BaseStatPlusBonus -= each other Character Specific Stat Var
//Character Specific Bonus Point Var -= BaseStatPlusBonus
Call CE Bonus Point Allocation​

//Go Back option; Does nothing.​

*****CE Bonus Point Allocation*****
/*USAGE: This is where you would take the remaining bonus points & use them to increase stats as the player sees fit. This could be fancy or low tech... your call.*/
//Check which character we are working with; currentCharacter

//*insert however you want to do this*

//Once a choice is made update the Character Specific Stat value += choice
Call CE Finalize Character​

*****CE Finalize Character*****
/*USAGE: All of the options we have set thus far need to be pushed to the character we are working on. This is where we will do that.*/
//Check Character we are working with; CurrentCharacter variable

//Push Character Specific Stat Variable values to the actual character in the database
//Check ClassChoice & set the actual character to the class in the database

//Add skills
//Add weapons/armor/items/starting gold​

//Ask them to pick a portrait *perhaps make another CE for that*
//Ask them to Name the Character
//Show off the character data and do a confirmation check.
//Textbox that says the character is created! (do nothing & loop back to main menu)​

​

 

[lerugray]

this looks way better than what I was doing, so I should design all of chargen through common events? I've never used those before but it looks like this is useful. heres what I was doin, it was gonna end up being one long nasty event

 

[lerugray]

Oh and one more thing, your list didnt cover gender, would I just make another configuration for that? thank you so much though, this is saving me from doing one long event and having good looking code instead.

 

[Traveling Bard]

Modified my last comment's logic dump to accommodate selecting Race & Gender. Basically, just add things like that under the Character Builder common event. I recall that one of your classes looks for the gender variable, so you would make a check under the Class Option Builder common event using that variable you are setting in Character Builder.

Also, common events are awesome. If you ever feel like you need to use a piece of logic several times or have a central place to put things... common events are the place to put them. This way you don't have one large nasty event & if you were going to use the same logic in multiple places... you can just call the common event that does that instead. In my own project, I use common events to build parties... tell the story... reward the player with random loot... all of my encounters (monsters, bosses, skill checks, etc)... all of my shops. And it's easier to make changes/tweaks during testing phases because I have it all in one place. Hope all this has been helpful for you it can feel a bit complicated at first but in the end it'll make logical sense & lead to faster dev. At least that's the hope, haha! I look forward to playing your game, sir!

 

[lerugray]

Modified my last comment's logic dump to accommodate selecting Race & Gender. Basically, just add things like that under the Character Builder common event. I recall that one of your classes looks for the gender variable, so you would make a check under the Class Option Builder common event using that variable you are setting in Character Builder.

Also, common events are awesome. If you ever feel like you need to use a piece of logic several times or have a central place to put things... common events are the place to put them. This way you don't have one large nasty event & if you were going to use the same logic in multiple places... you can just call the common event that does that instead. In my own project, I use common events to build parties... tell the story... reward the player with random loot... all of my encounters (monsters, bosses, skill checks, etc)... all of my shops. And it's easier to make changes/tweaks during testing phases because I have it all in one place. Hope all this has been helpful for you it can feel a bit complicated at first but in the end it'll make logical sense & lead to faster dev. At least that's the hope, haha! I look forward to playing your game, sir!

Thank you so much for all of your help man, I truly appreciate it, this gives me a good list of stuff to do for a few days and I can build out the rest of the menu from there, common events are sort of like functions if you use them as such and that rules. Thank you again dude

 

[lerugray]

one thing I forgot to mention before I forget, where would I put something like

Gender:
Male +1 STR, -1 DEX
Female +1 Dex, -1 STR

preferably somewhere before it counts up points for classes i assume

Thank you again, hopefully im not too demanding with asking for help lol

 

[lerugray]

//Have Character Slot switches been initially set conditional branch? If not, set them.
//Set a Character Slot Switch to OFF which means it's available
/*Once all of the above slot switches are OFF, set a switch to say it's done. That way if we call this again, we don't make all the character slots available again. */

Would have edited previous message but couldnt figure out how to quote, I'm not exactly sure what you mean/how to do this part. How do I check for something that hasn't been created yet? Do I have to do checks for each one?

Thanks for the help again, next time ill throw these questions in a pm

 

[Traveling Bard]

How do I check for something that hasn't been created yet? Do I have to do checks for each one?

So what I meant there was to have a switch you would set to check if you've initially setup your Character Slot Switches. And wrap those character slot switch setups in a conditional branch. This way you can call that CE without worrying about opening your slots up unexpectedly. Make sense? Feel free to pm me