Tag Archives: despain

Creating a Bank

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Howdy! Your friend Despain here, with another RPG Maker VX Ace tutorial. Today, we’re going to be using variables and conditional branches to create a simple bank event. The player will be able to check his current balance, or deposit or withdraw money. A banking system like this can add depth to your game, especially if you want to encourage your player to manage his finances.

This is what the event will look like when we are done with it:

(click the image for a full view)

This event is going to use three variables. You can create them with the Control Variables event command, under the Game Progression category on the first page of event commands. Continue reading →

Password Input using Actor Names

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Yo, Despain here with my latest RPG Maker VX Ace tutorial. Today I’m going to show you how to create a password—and I’m not talking about the Input Number type of password. We’re going to be creating an event where the player can enter an actual text password, and we can do that by using the Name Input Processing event command.

The Name Input Processing command will call up a screen where the player can create a name for an actor. It’s mostly used to give the player the chance to make up new names for the heroes. But like most all event commands in RPG Maker VX Ace, it can be used for more than that.

The first thing you want to do is create a dummy actor in the database. This actor shouldn’t be used anywhere else in the game—he can’t join the party. Don’t worry about his graphics, class, features—the only thing we care about is his name.

Now that your dummy actor has been made, you can create your event. You’ll find the Name Input Processing command on page 3 of the event commands, under the Scene Control category.

Choose the dummy actor. For the sake of this example, I’ve named him PASSWORD. Note that the name of the actor will be displayed by default when the Name Input Processing screen appears in-game, so you might want to give this actor a blank name.

The max characters field should be easy to understand. When I use this command to create a password functionality, I always make sure that the amount of characters is equal to the length of the password. That way, it avoids potentially confusing the player.

The Name Input Processing command will change the selected actor’s name to whatever the player enters. Now, if we use a conditional branch, we can check that actor’s name. In this way, we are able to simulate a password function.

You’ll find the Conditional Branch event command on page 1 of the event commands, under the Flow Control category.

On page 2 of the Conditional Branch box, you’ll be able to check an actor, and you can check to see is he has a specific name. All you need to do is type the password into this box. The conditional branch will essentially read “if the player entered whatever as the password”.

Here’s something worth noting: the name field of the conditional branch is case-sensitive. That means that it cares if the player enters the proper capital letters. You can avoid this by using additional conditional branches in the “else” space, and check other instances of the password (for example, Hello, hello and HELLO). For the sake of the example, we’re going to keep it simple. The player will have to enter Hello in order to continue.

This is what my event looks like.

If the player enters the password correctly, the guard will tell the player that he can pass. Otherwise, he’ll tell the player to turn back.

This example doesn’t really do anything after the player enters the correct password. The guard might move out of the way, or it might transfer the player immediately. You might even want to add a cutscene. This event also doesn’t use a switch or a self switch—yet. You would normally use a switch of some kind to prevent the player from entering the password multiple times. If you want to learn about how to use switches, check out my tutorial here.

This is what the Name Input Processing screen looks like in-game.

The face is the face of the selected actor—the actor whose name we are changing. You might want to leave the face blank. In this case, the face is a guard, because the guard is asking the player to enter the password. You might create a graphic of a locked door. Use your imagination.

Hopefully this tutorial has shown you a cool new trick. Have fun with it. Thanks for reading, and happy game making. :)

Loops and Labels

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by Jason “Despain” Perry

Howdy! Despain here with a new tutorial for RPG Maker VX Ace. Today we’re going to be talking about a couple of event commands that will make your complicated events run a lot more smoothly, and probably save you a lot of time. I’m talking about Loops and Labels.

You can find these commands— Loop, Break Loop, Label, and Jump to Label— on page one of the event commands, under the Flow Control category.

Let’s create an easy sample event to demonstrate how to use these event commands. Imagine an NPC who doesn’t want to stop talking. We can create a conversation that the player has to break, and one of the ways to do this is with the Loop and Break Loop commands.

When you use the Loop command, you’ll nest your other commands inside the loop. Anything inside the loop will—well—loop. The cycle will continue until the loop is broken, and when you use the Break Loop command, the event will skip out of the loop before it continues processing.

In the above example, the NPC will continue asking the player the same question until the player answers “No”, in which case the loop will break and the event will finish.

You can do a similar thing with labels, but they have more uses. If you use the Label event command, you’ll notice that you can give your label any name you want. That’s the cool thing about labels—you have a lot of control over them, and you can use a lot of labels in a single event.

When you name a label, give it something useful that you will remember. In this example, we’re just going to name it “A”, but if you’re using labels in complicated events, I suggest that you give them a name that will help organize your event code.

After you’ve put a label into your event, it won’t do anything by itself. It’s pretty much invisible—but when you use a Jump to Label event command, that label matters. Whenever the event reaches a Jump to Label command, it will do just that—the event will jump ahead or backwards and pick up where the label is.

In this example, we’re using a label to create a loop that is functionally identical to the previous example.Labels don’t have to be used to create loops (that’s what the Loop command is usually for), but it’s a good way of demonstrating how they work. A lot of the time, labels can be used to jump ahead and skip parts of an event. They’re especially useful when organizing complex systems using common events.

Experiment with loops and labels and have fun with it. Push yourself to create something new. And have fun! If you run into any problems, ask for some help on the Official Forums.

Jason “despain” Perry has been using RPG Maker for over a decade, and in that time his articles, tutorials, and graphical resources have helped countless RPG Maker users on community forums. He currently runs the website finalbossblues.com, where he co-hosts an RPG Maker podcast and regularly posts new articles and tutorials.

Pictures and Common Events: The World Map Item

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By: Jason “Despain” Perry

In my last article, we went over the basics of common events and how they can be used. Today, we’re going to put that information to good use, and create an item that displays a world map.

This is something that I see lots of people asking about—and it’s something that can be added to just about any game. Once this item is created, the player will be able to select it from his items menu in order to display a picture of the world map on the screen.

We start off by creating the item. Make sure that the scope is set to “none” and the occasion is “only from the menu”. With these settings, the item will only be useable from the map screen. Consume should be set to “no”, so that the item doesn’t go away when the player uses it. Continue reading →

Understanding Common Events

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by Jason “despain” Perry

Understanding Common Events

Today we’re going to look at a part of RPG Maker VX Ace that a lot of new users find confusing or intimidating. In reality, common events are pretty straightforward—though their position in the database might leave the opposite impression. A lot of people—maybe even yourself—overlook common events. The purpose of this article is to explain the functions of common events and encourage new RPG Maker users to explore the multitude of options that common events allow.

What is a Common Event?

Simply put, a common event is an event that can run on any map in your game. A better name for them might have been “global events”.

Common events do not have graphics or physical locations—you don’t make a character with a common event. Instead, a common event is all about behind-the-scenes processing. Common events are perfect for global “systems” that add functions to the game. Common events can run in the background of your game, they can be triggered by switches, or they can be called from other events.

Before we dive into some examples, let’s look at the common event tab in the database:

The tab is dominated by a “contents” pane—this is something that should be familiar. It works just like any other event you create on a map. Every event command is accessible here—use event commands to tell a common event what to do. In that respect, common events are easy to use. If you have an understanding of the event commands, there’s very little to common events that will seem new to you.

Along the left side of the tab is a listing of all the common events in your game—an RPG Maker VX Ace project can have up to 999 common events. That’s quite a lot! Be sure to give each common event a useful and identifying name.

How do I use Common Events?

At the top of the tab, there’s a section labeled “General Settings”.

There are only three fields here, and one of them—the name—needs to explanation.There are three main ways to activate a common event.

  • Autorun

If you understand regular event triggers, you know that Autorun events prevent player input while running. In regular events, these are mostly used for cutscenes. A common event with an Autorun trigger will run in a continuous loop as long as its “Condition Switch” is turned on.

Let’s say that you have an event on one of your maps that turn on a switch—if that switch is assigned to a common event with an Autorun trigger, the common event will see that the switch has been turned on and will “kick in” right away.

To turn the common event off again, you’d need to turn the switch back off. Because the Autorun trigger prevents the player from moving or other events from processing, you’ll usually turn the switch off within the common event itself.

  • Parallel Process

Parallel process is a lot like Autorun, except that it runs in the background of the game, allowing the player to move and interact with other events. In other words, it runs parallel to the rest of your game.

Just like Autorun common events, a Parallel Process common event will repeatedly loop as long as its condition switch is on. This can be useful when used in conjunction with Conditional Branches, as it can allow you to create events that trigger automatically when certain conditions are met, regardless of where the player is in the game.

Word of warning: Be careful with too many Parallel Processes going on at once, as it can potentially cause lag on slower computers. You can eliminate some of this by using wait commands, or by using labels to shorten and clean up loops. RPG Maker VX Ace is powerful enough to run multiple Parallel Process events and common events at once, but it is worth keeping in mind.

  • Call Common Event

You’ll notice the event command “Call Common Event” in the Flow Control category. You can use this command to call a common event that doesn’t use a switch trigger. Common events with a trigger of “none” can still be accessed with the “Call Common Event” command.

When you call a common event from another event, imagine that the contents of the common event will be plugged into that event. The “Call Common Event” command within a regular event will be read in-game as the contents of the common event.

For example: When working with common events, you’ll notice that “this event” (in the “Set Move Route” command, for example) is a selectable choice. This won’t work in a common event that is triggered by a switch—because there is no physical event assigned to the common event. However, when you use this command within another event via “Call Common Event”, that information transfers to the event that is calling it, and the common event can move “this event” without problem.

What can they be used for?

Common events can be used for pretty much anything! When you understand common events, a lot of potential opens up for you as a developer. You have greater control over your game in an efficient way.

Let’s take a look at an example of two common events.

This is a trick that can save you a lot of time and headache. Imagine that you have an event that will appear a lot of times in your game—maybe a door or a treasure chest. You’ve made the event, but maybe you are using a placeholder sound effect or animation. Put your working version in a common event, and use the “Call Common Event” command in each one of these events on the map. That way, when it’s time to finalize the event later on, you only need to edit the common event—boom, all of the events in the map have been instantly updated.

Here’s another example of something a little more complicated:

Say that you want a day/night cycle in your game. You can create a Parallel Process common event that controls this. With some conditional branches, variables, and wait commands, your common event can constantly keep track of the game world’s time in the background. You can tint your screen for nighttime from the common event, and tint it back when the sun rises. By turning on switches within this common event, other events on your map can act differently depending on the time of day.

Conclusion

Common events are a very powerful feature of RPG Maker VX Ace. We’ve covered the basics in this article, and you should be ready to experiment on your own! If you run into any problems, ask for some help on the Official Forums.

Use your imagination. And have fun. :)

Jason “despain” Perry has been using RPG Maker for over a decade, and in that time his articles, tutorials, and graphical resources have helped countless RPG Maker users on community forums. He currently runs the website finalbossblues.com, where he co-hosts an RPG Maker podcast and regularly posts new articles and tutorials.