Centaur and Minotaur sprites can be found anywhere. But where is that lovable Narnian creature holding a parcel? Or that half-guy, half-goat creature the cheered on Hercules? Today bring you a full set of Faun/Satyr Resources!
First up is a completely scratched Battler!
Next up is the Portrait/Face
And finally comes the Sprite!
You can check out more of Andinator’s work by clicking on the image below and heading to his blog!
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.
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
Congratulations to everyone who discovered a way to mimic what I did!
There were quite a few creative solutions, and one person even hit on the exact solution I used (curse you Liberty!).
So lets look at how I did it:
All I did, was take the wall autotile, and continue it up into the ceiling autotile. Here is a screenshot showing how it was done:
Notice how the wall autotile for the grey brick extends up higher into the wall top autotile above it. This let my place the wall top on top which would be half wall top, half wall. You can even see that I forgot to darken the edges, which created what looked like a shift click error in my image last week.
Now, when thinking outside the box, there is one other thing you have to keep in mind: What are the repercussions of handling it this way. There are two big ones for my method:
Now that we have identified the repercussions, we have to decide whether its something we can work with. In this case I decide both are acceptable compromises.
With 1. I just have to do some editing if I want to use an autotile that doesn’t tile perfectly every 16 pixels. Its more annoying, but not impossible. It just requires more work.
With 2. I don’t see this as that big of an issue. You have way more room in the wall section of the tilesets than you can use in any one map, and if I REALLY went over the needed space there for the whole game, I can make another tileset.
Stay tuned for the next challenge! Did you learn anything from this one? Share with us in the comments below.
So what do you think the most important skill is to making a game with RPG Maker?
If you read the title of the blog post (how did you get here if you didn’t) you can guess what I think it is: The ability to think outside the box. There are lots of ways to think outside the box: You can think of a way to tell a story that isn’t the norm or a gameplay mechanic in a way that it wasn’t originally intended, but in these challenges, what I want you to focus on is accomplishing things in the maker by using the structure of the program in unconventional ways.
Every so often, I’m going to put up a Challenge. The challenge will be issued in the form of a series of screenshots or a video with a description plus a list of restrictions to keep you from taking the easy way.
You can play by leaving a comment on the blog post with an explanation of how to theoretically accomplish the exact same After a week is up, I’ll make another blog post, congratulating anyone who figured out a way to copy the screenshot, while doing a detailed explanation of how I accomplished the task. There really isn’t a prize for accomplishing it, other than stretching your brain and learning more about the program. And you know, the ability to rub it in other people’s face, which is always fun.
So, now that I’ve explained the game, let’s begin:
Description: Look at the wall heights and thickness. Tile and a half high walls! half tile thickness! What sorcery is this?!
Restrictions: No parallax mapping. Everything is done with tiles alone.
…like Arabian days, more often than not, are hotter than hot, in a lot of good ways. And so is our new Tileset Pack.
Fantasy isn’t all about knights and wizards in their long robes. And we think its time for a new fantasy! Enter our resource pack inspired by On Thousand and One Nights: The Arabian Nights Tileset Pack.
Included are beautiful new tiles for interior settings…
… and majestic exterior tiles.
Are you ready for this magic carpet ride? Act now to also receive an Arabian music addon! Check out more about this awesome pack here!
So its approaching six months since the release of RPG Maker VX Ace! Overall the response to our new version of RPG Maker has been phenomenal. Thanks for all the feedback we’ve received, and all the sales.
Ace has been a whopping success, so why don’t we work on getting the word out even more!
Knowing how awesome our fans are, and you guys are awesome, I know you are asking yourselves: How can I help?
Well our first step on getting the word out there is to get more reviews of our product on the major site CNET. I mean, just look at that one lonely review for our product page for VX Ace.
Now, we don’t want just a bunch of 5 star votes, we want honest detailed reviews. Its not just about a number to us, its about visible feedback for potential customers. We want to make sure the people who would want our software really know what its like, and the best way to do that is have you guys talk about it and tell them why they would want it.
Disclaimer: If your honest opinion is a 5 star review, we are definitely perfectly happy with that part, too.
I’ve always thought our product stands on its own, being a unique entry in game development software. Nothing comes close to the simplicity of RPG Maker, especially not with the amount of power and flexibility we provide. But people won’t know that unless you help us get the word out.
If you have the time, and own some of our older products, we’d also appreciate if you took the time to review those on CNET as well:
RPG Maker XP has a lot of reviews, but a lot of them are old and outdated. If we can get some fresh reviews, that would be awesome!
RPG Maker VX, while not having as lonely of a review as VX Ace, could use some reviews as well.
Thank you for your time, and I hope you will share your honest unfiltered opinion of our excellent software on CNET, and other sites as well. Thanks for being great fans.
Ruins of Rydos by Reynard Frost
Ruins of Rydos is what I would consider an exercise in simplicity. This in no way implies bad though.
Too often I think, we attempt to create something that is more complicated than it needs to be, myself included. Frost on the other hand, seems to have cut out all the unnecessary parts to leave nothing but a fun dungeon crawling adventure.
Not Oregon Trail
The game opens with a word crawl in front of a simplistically depicted background image of your caravan approaching the location the game takes place.
We learn that the characters are from an academy and are here to investigate some ruins. It feels mostly like an excuse plot, but it works in this case. After the crawl, you get to choose your gender and name the main character. The choice doesn’t matter that much, as both characters still end up in your party anyway.
Academy Expeditions with built in Shops
We start in the base camp, which includes weapon, armor, and item shops, and an inn to heal up our party. Not a lot of pizazz here, but its everything you need out of a town. Another thing you will notice is the graphics.
All the graphics in Ruins of Rydos, with the exception of the battle animations, are custom made for the game. They have a great old school charm, looking like they stepped right out of an NES game. Frost faked a 16×16 tile grid by treating each “pixel” as a 2×2 pixel block.
Black Shadows EVERYWHERE!
From the camp we go to explore the ruins. Exploring the ruins seems to take a lot of inspiration from old school roguelike games. While it does use standard rpg battles, enemies are seen on the map as black shadows that you can sneak around.
The ruins are barebones, but fun. There is a bit of a mazelike structure heading up to the top, and dodging enemies when I don’t feel like fighting is a nice break from the otherwise old school feel of the game.
Coming to an Skating Rink near you: Slimes on Ice
The four characters are archetypical in play, but balance well. Gerald and Miles are physical hitters, Brenda is a healer, and Reynard is a mage. Most of your heavy damage will probably come from Reynard, especially if you can find the enemies’ elemental weaknesses.
The bulk of the gameplay is just going further and further into the ruins. You can return to the entrance from the beginning of every floor, but you can only start the ruins from either the bottom of the ruins…
The last one please.
… or from the convenient warp points every five floors once you activate them.
In the current demo, the game ends at the tenth floor after the second boss, which hints at a further story yet to be seen.
So what did I think of the game?
Its good. Its not epic, its not going to be the next Final Fantasy 7. But it does a lot with very little. The gameplay was simple but well thought out, and the minimalistic graphics really appealed to me aesthetically.
Overall, I’m really interested to see the game through to its end. (Note: As of this writing, Frost has informed me that an updated version of the demo would be coming within the next two weeks).
I also caught up with Reynard Frost to ask him a few questions about his background in RPG Maker, his inspirations, and his design process with Ruins of Rydos.
What is your history with RPG Maker?
I’ve been using RPG Maker for years, since the 95 and 2k days. I don’t even remember how I got into it originally, I think I searched online for a way to create RPGs and stumbled upon it. Since then, I had spent my time creating tech demos here and there. Proof of concepts mostly. I jumped into 2k3, but soon after I walked away from RPG Maker and focused more on recreational gaming and college. I walked away mostly due to the legality behind the early makers, and once XP became available officially to the US, I jumped right back on board and got back to creating different ideas. I did the same for VX, and then eventually to Ace which I’m using for Rydos.
What are your inspirations for game design?
My major inspiration comes from playing the games I like to play. RPGs mostly. By immersing myself in what has been done, I can imagine what can be done. I’ve also had the privilege to work at a couple development studios such as Sony Santa Monica and Naughty Dog, which let me get some first hand experience at seeing how games are developed and designed.
What skills do you think you bring to the table with RPG Maker?
My skills involve Project Management, Level Design, Dialogue, Eventing (It counts!), and some novice Pixel art. I enjoy using as much of the core features that RPG Maker offers and seeing how far I can push them without resorting to scripting (although I do use scripts).
What made you decide to use simple design with Ruins of Rydos?
Well originally the idea was to create Rydos in a month for National Game Development Month. I wanted to create a simple, bare bones, RPG that was fun to play, but also reasonable enough to make on my own in thirty days. I see a lot of new guys and gals creating their “dream game” that is loaded up with a bunch of features for what seems like the sake of having features. A “More Features is Mo’ Betta” school of thought. I wanted to create a game that could set an example and let others know that you can still make a fun game with a core set of features without including every single feature you’ve ever seen in other games. When creating something, be it a story or a game, I try to remember what Antoine de Saint-Exuper said, “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
However, despite how simple my game idea was, my job and the amount of art required (I’m going for a full 8-bit look, no RTP) prevented me from finishing the full game for NaGaDeMo. However, I did manage to complete the Alpha Demo and get it submitted to the contest website.
Did you have any help with the resources in your game?
I did get a bit of help. I’m using the Super Dante music from the Ace Pre-order bonus, as well as several scripts from Yanfly, Jet, peachround and NeonBlack. As for the art, I drew all of it myself (using a lot of references).
What one thing do you think is important for all RPG Maker developers to keep in mind?
The one piece of advice I’d share with everyone is to “Work with what you have”. A lot of folks kind of sit on their laurels waiting for everything to be perfect or to have this ideal amount of people helping them or ideal amount of resources. You’ll never finish your game with a mindset like that. You need to use what you have, and make the best you can with it. If you get some extra help, fine. But work on what you can and make the best of it. It’s better to have a finished product that’s rough than an unfinished mess that’s only partially perfect.
In Search for Dragons is a game currently in development using RPG Maker VX Ace by Indrah, a member of the RPGMakerWeb forums.
Even before gracing this blog (obviously a huge honor), In Search for Dragons had already been the runner up in RMN’s Nugget Crash Course contest, as well as having won RPGMakerWeb’s own Set the Setting Contest.
But enough about the accolades let’s get to my actual impressions from playing the demo! Continue reading
In this tutorial we will finish up creating our encounters, and create the sample games final boss: Morris the Fanatic cultist!
If you would like to read the full version, right click save as the pdf version HERE. But now, let’s get on to the preview! Continue reading