Your Next Adventure Awaits: RPG Maker MZ Trailer #1

[M.I.A.]

Look.. I'm just happy to see at least ONE real Helmet in the Generator.

-MIA

 

[hadecynn]

If the leak is true and MZ does support Effekseer, then the way that animations work would probably be:

1. You create/design/edit the animation in Effekseer itself (it's a free, open-source program), and all you need to do is to save it as an Effekseer file. Likewise, people can share pre-made animations as a single Effekseer file that you can use similar to other types of assets.
2. Go into MZ and import said Effekseer file into your resource folder like you would with any other type of resource.
3. Select the file you imported the same way you'd select an image/audio file for pictures/sounds.
4. Be able to alter certain things like playback speed, x/y/z rotation, etc.

If what I hypothesized above is true, it'd be an interesting trade-off that the devs decided to make.

The upside of natively supporting a particle system is that now the sky is truly the limit for special effects, and visual presentation. The downside is that the onboarding ramp for people who don't specialize in making animations is I think higher compared to the old sprite system. Minor edits like shifting hues or moving certain components of an animation could be much more complicated and require users to jump into Effekseer instead of doing it in RPG Maker, for example.

There's also a trade-off between space and performance. Anyone who have used my animation assets will know that sprite sheet ends up taking a lot of space if you want high frame-rate animations since they're all huge and detailed bitmap images. By rendering the particles generated in real-time, you can save all that space because the Effekseer files themselves are tiny. However, whether or not the real-time animations will run smoothly will now depend on your (and your players') hardware specs. This is probably the main reason why the minimum is 8GB.

As an animation creator, I think one of the best things about this is that I can finally make full-screen animations without worrying about heavy pixelation resulting from upscaling 192x192 sprites.

What I'm curious about is how much native support MZ gives for using particles outside of battle animations. If we can call particle effects similar to how we can call battle animations in all the RPG Makers so far AND have some form of control over the animation playback, THEN people who know how to take advantage of this will really be able to make some visually impressive stuff. @Touchfuzzy I assume we can start asking you about this next Thursday?

 

[Tea's Jams]

The kid generator is really quiet fabulous! Look at all the variation!

 

[Knightmare]

Well I just bought MZ, it's really great! I'm just playing around with the tabs now to see the responsiveness. The character generator is acting a little buggy and it has this weird half second or so lag before it processes the command, I'm running 8GB ram so I think maybe it's just the software itself. I don't think I will be sleeping anytime soon but this is usually the case with new makers. Thanks to KADOKAWA and Degica for releasing this gem!

 

[WaywardMartian]

I need to know more about Devil Daddy here. Is he carrying a bat around in one of those baby-carriers you strap to your front or does it just look like that in a tilted, blurry screenshot?



Not quite wowed! yet, but optimistic. I'm just glad the tiles are still 48x48 after buying all the FSM sets.

 

[Shaz]

Well I just bought MZ

you gotta be trolling, right? Or was it that time machine?

I'm too tired to handle this!

 

[dragoonwys]

Looking forward to the news next week when we get to the main course! The sneak peeks so far are mildy peaking my interest at least. I'll still have to get a new PC first before I can buy this since Im stuck in win7 era, need to be at least win8

 

[TWings]

If the leak is true and MZ does support Effekseer, then the way that animations work would probably be:

1. You create/design/edit the animation in Effekseer itself (it's a free, open-source program), and all you need to do is to save it as an Effekseer file. Likewise, people can share pre-made animations as a single Effekseer file that you can use similar to other types of assets.
2. Go into MZ and import said Effekseer file into your resource folder like you would with any other type of resource.
3. Select the file you imported the same way you'd select an image/audio file for pictures/sounds.
4. Be able to alter certain things like playback speed, x/y/z rotation, etc.

If what I hypothesized above is true, it'd be an interesting trade-off that the devs decided to make.

The upside of natively supporting a particle system is that now the sky is truly the limit for special effects, and visual presentation. The downside is that the onboarding ramp for people who don't specialize in making animations is I think higher compared to the old sprite system. Minor edits like shifting hues or moving certain components of an animation could be much more complicated and require users to jump into Effekseer instead of doing it in RPG Maker, for example.

There's also a trade-off between space and performance. Anyone who have used my animation assets will know that sprite sheet ends up taking a lot of space if you want high frame-rate animations since they're all huge and detailed bitmap images. By rendering the particles generated in real-time, you can save all that space because the Effekseer files themselves are tiny. However, whether or not the real-time animations will run smoothly will now depend on your (and your players') hardware specs. This is probably the main reason why the minimum is 8GB.

As an animation creator, I think one of the best things about this is that I can finally make full-screen animations without worrying about heavy pixelation resulting from upscaling 192x192 sprites.

What I'm curious about is how much native support MZ gives for using particles outside of battle animations. If we can call particle effects similar to how we can call battle animations in all the RPG Makers so far AND have some form of control over the animation playback, THEN people who know how to take advantage of this will really be able to make some visually impressive stuff. @Touchfuzzy I assume we can start asking you about this next Thursday?

That's pretty much what I was hinting earlier.
If it's really the case, built in 3D effects is a pretty nice addition, but that also means people used to to do a bit of sprite editing on animation sprite sheets might be completely out of their confort zone when it come to designing/modifying 3D effects (having to learn how to use Effekseer and all).
Still it's a possibility and it would fit with what Touchfuzzy was saying...
I guess we'll know for sure next week.

 

[Bastrophian]

@Knightmare - =_= ... nuh uh, no you didint, what you talkin' about.

 

[Knightmare]

you gotta be trolling, right? Or was it that time machine?

I'm too tired to handle this!

Yeah I'm just being silly pretending I went forward in time. I'm sure that will be my real message when it is released. This anticipation is killing me, I had to relieve a little pressure.

@Knightmare - =_= ... nuh uh, no you didint, what you talkin' about.

A guy can roleplay can't he....

 

[Tea's Jams]

I LOVE the amount of purple you can use for hair, just... beautiful.


IT'S DRIFTY!!!

Lol, jkjk

This, is just amazing. I am really digging the new art.

 

[ImaginaryVillain]

you gotta be trolling, right? Or was it that time machine?

I'm too tired to handle this!

Don't you know? Armed with the power of time travel we all collectively decided to use it to get early copies of MZ. Now I know what you're thinking, we could have made the world a better place or something... Blah, blah, blah! I don't see how that could compare to the glory of an early copy of MZ.

 

[Winshifter]

Seems I was kind of right when I said this week's announcement was going to be like that scenes in the movie Big Fish.

I don't know much about particle animations, the character generator seems a great improvement over the current one.

What I don't like is that the battle log is theeeee saaaaaame as VX, VX Ace and MV....I know its still too early to complain about it, but I hope at least we get an option to control the battle log...I know, is wishful thinking but one can only hope.

 

[Dalph]

Gotta admit the generator facesets look sooooo much better than MV, which looked soooo much better than ACE.
Also I dunno how they did it but the balloonheads on the regular sprites are not so obvious anymore, I think it has to do with the details and the new eyes style.
Not really bothered about the battle sprites because I'm starting to prefer frontal bs (I blame all the Dragon Quest games I'm currently playing).

 

[RastaMan]

Oh... "Nice..." Because we are going to get info about one new feature every week from now on.
Of course, very end of August still counts as summer, huh?
And only after month or month and the half we will get actual info about release date and pre-release button in Steam.
Also screenshots of MV on the Steam page contains more useful info, than screenshots of MZ.
From this point i am in deep despair and eternal darkness...

 

[RPG_Maker_Wiz]

Looking at the like/dislike ratio, it has a mixed reaction to the community. I like the new features such as being able to move parts in character creation. However, I don't know is it just me, but I have not yet been amazed by these offerings. Perhaps we find out more in the next trailer.

 

[Dalph]

@RPG_Maker_Wiz
YouTube is just like Facebook and Steam, basically full of extremely harsh and toxic people who complain about anything.
Barely anything is shown in that trailer and many already whine that it's just an update of MV.
How do they know if they can't see anything, uh? Everyone with the crystal ball in that comment section.
I'm talking about the official trailer btw, not your video.

 

[RastaMan]

Gosh, maybe entire world is harsh and toxic? This sounds kinda maximalists, to be honest. Please, don't take my words as offense or personal attack.
I mean, my life was hard, because 18 years of it I lived in Norilsk and i was surrounded by evil and toxic people, who almost beat me up for sure.
But in my life also was good, honest and faithful people, who always be by my side, no matter of what happened.
There is no "white and black" or "ying and yang" or "good and evil". There is always some shades of gray, for sure. Some lighter, some darker.
In any community there was "harsh and toxic" people, but if you don't saw them, there is not true, that they are not exist.
I can show example in a face of USSR, where was strong propaganda and big repressions with censorship.

 

[Dalph]

@RastaMan
Without going off topic here.
My life wasn't easy either but I don't hate on stuff just because, if there's no info or details given about this engine yet, I don't see the point of some hate comments?
Some people just love to hate and jump to conclusions.
Besides, some communities are better than others, this website is a clear example of what I'm saying here.
What are they babbling about regarding MZ being only MV ACE if they absolutely don't know anything about the new features?
All we have is a 1 minute trailer and small hints here and there about some improvements.
Harsh criticism is ok but unnecessary toxicity? Nope.
Sorry but human stupidity makes me sick (it's not directed to you ofc).

 

[The Stranger]

In any community there was "harsh and toxic" people, but if you don't saw them, there is not true, that they are not exist.

Not seeing something doesn't mean it's non-existent.

YouTube is just like Facebook and Steam, basically full of extremely harsh and toxic people who complain about anything.
Barely anything is shown in that trailer and many already whine that it's just an update of MV.
How do they know if they can't see anything, uh? Everyone with the crystal ball in that comment section.
I'm talking about the official trailer btw, not your video.

I can't think of a single social space online that isn't filled with toxicity, people overreacting to everything, and general nonsense. It'd probably be this way in reality too, but the risk of getting punched keeps people in line. xD

Even if MZ is similar to Ace in terms of improvement, is that a bad thing? Not in my opinion. Ace improved VX in many ways. So, I'd be more than happy if MZ built upon MV to a similar degree.