RPG Maker

[Cody]

So I have been reluctant to post anything about this...
If you are my friend on Steam (and you are ever online...Court) you have probably seen me using a program called RPG Maker VX Ace. A very awesome program that lets you make your own Secret of Mana/Chrono Trigger style RPG games.

I've been working on something for about a week now...and it is slow going but it is actually finally becoming something more than just a map or two you can wander around on. If it ever becomes anything more, and anyone has any sort of interest, I might put up a download for people to try.

[Nick]

Awesome! Defiantly let us have a look when it is ready!

You going with any kind of theme for it? 

[Cody]

Well, it has a plot of sorts and is set in a medieval time period. Not terribly original I know but it is a classic.

The main problem I have with putting up for you to try is that unless you own the program you have to compress all the game data with it which makes it 200+ megs. Not sure how exactly I would share that.

[Nick]

You are free to upload it here. I can give you SFTP access.

[zourtney]

Sounds cool. How customizable is it? I need several other me's, so I could have time to play with stuff like this.

[Cody]

It is about as customizable as humanly possible. If there is anything not built into the program you can use their script feature and just code your own scripts\features. I have had to use a few already.

[Cody]

I seriously spent all of my free time today trying to get a stupid campfire to work properly. It can be rather frustrating at times.

And completely unrelated to the fire, I might as well post this picture for the fun of it. Just a bit of the stuff I have to deal with to get things to work.

[zourtney]

That's some of the most awkward conditional syntax I've seen!

[Cody]

Haha! Perhaps to a programmer. The program actually makes it pretty easy to do that stuff...it just took me a while to figure out how all those conditional branches and variables/switches worked in relation to things you want the game to do. I pretty much understand it now though.

And here is a screenshot of my actual game in case you are interested.

[zourtney]

Very interested. Very cool So, I'm assuming those are just stock graphics? And that you could customize the heck out of it?

[Cody]

Indeed. I have had to make a few custom textures already but I've done my best to maintain the same art style. If you were really ambitious you could make all new textures/animations/sounds/music and create an entirely different look and feel...but I am definitely not that ambitious.

[Cody]

Just thought I would post a picture showing dialogue, choices and whatnot. The program has a built in portrait and sprite generator which makes making unique characters easy.



Edit: WOW. Apparently I have a bit of a typo there I need to fix.

[Cody]

To anyone who may still be paying attention to this, I've done a lot of research about the best way to make maps and stuff. Apparently the program has a feature called parallax mapping. Basically instead of using a grid based placement, you use a program like Photoshop to make your maps and then import them and set where you can walk/not walk and everything. After a ton of work this is what I got.

http://i.imgur.com/g41i2AE.jpg

[Cody]

Bringing an old topic back to life. (maybe) Just a screenshot of what I am currently working on.

[Brad]

So does this picture imply dynamic lighting? Or is it statically setup pre-compile?