Untitled Game (status "idea")

[TMVore]

Hi.

So, I have been playing a lot of the community games lately, I think it's time I'd give it a shot, No?

The story;
You're <charactername>, Living in <unnamed town> and just got informed that your tab at the local bar is out of hand.
The owner demands you pay it by tonight or you're on the menu. Time to get to work!

The game will be extreemly story driven where the character continues to find itself in likewise situations.

Current goals:

-Learn to use rpg maker.
-build the first town.

For now, I'm all ears for tips 'n tricks, suggestions and other advice.

Expecting to have the first town by fall, Cause summer tend to turn me into a sloth.

[Datstrudel]

You have come up with a unique idea, which I for one think is great.
If you ever have RPG maker questions in general, IM me, because I’d be more than happy to help and give advice. I’m making an RPG maker game as well, and have made one in the past.

Also, what will be the visuals for the game? Are you drawing/commissioning sprites, or are you creating them in a program like Kisekae? I can give advice for Kisekae if that’s what you’re using.

But yeah, IM me and ask me anything. I’ll be more than happy to give tips and even help a bit if need be.

[justanotherdragon]

I suggest you spend some time experimenting with the event system. If this is your first time using rpg maker, then events are probably going to give you a bit of trouble at first, especially if you don't know programming. There's a lot you can do in rpg maker, but it takes a little while to figure it all out. I also suggest, if you're artistic, playing around with the tiles provided, and adding some height to your maps. A lot of towns I see in games are super flat, and kinda boring, which works, but it doesn't take a significant amount more effort to make them pop out as something unique.

[Datstrudel]

I suggest you spend some time experimenting with the event system. If this is your first time using rpg maker, then events are probably going to give you a bit of trouble at first, especially if you don't know programming. There's a lot you can do in rpg maker, but it takes a little while to figure it all out. I also suggest, if you're artistic, playing around with the tiles provided, and adding some height to your maps. A lot of towns I see in games are super flat, and kinda boring, which works, but it doesn't take a significant amount more effort to make them pop out as something unique.

I’d also like to add that you can look at some of the Pre-Made maps in RPG maker and see how they achieved certain things. They’re a great reference for starting out.

[TMVore]

You have come up with a unique idea, which I for one think is great.
If you ever have RPG maker questions in general, IM me, because I’d be more than happy to help and give advice. I’m making an RPG maker game as well, and have made one in the past.

Also, what will be the visuals for the game? Are you drawing/commissioning sprites, or are you creating them in a program like Kisekae? I can give advice for Kisekae if that’s what you’re using.

But yeah, IM me and ask me anything. I’ll be more than happy to give tips and even help a bit if need be.

Cool to have you, As for your questions on visuals, I won't be using any -yet-.
First demo I'll see if I can make it as a writer, If I can, I'll hop a donation option route so I can commision them.

I suggest you spend some time experimenting with the event system. If this is your first time using rpg maker, then events are probably going to give you a bit of trouble at first, especially if you don't know programming. There's a lot you can do in rpg maker, but it takes a little while to figure it all out. I also suggest, if you're artistic, playing around with the tiles provided, and adding some height to your maps. A lot of towns I see in games are super flat, and kinda boring, which works, but it doesn't take a significant amount more effort to make them pop out as something unique.

Don't worry, I'm a decoration slut.

[Seifens]

My advice would be to think small. The smaller the better, especially if you're new to game dev. I cannot overstate how important this is. If you think you've got something of reasonable size in your head, cut half of it.

Something I notice devs here struggle with is burnout over time. Enthusiasm tends to fall off sharply during development, no matter how passionate you are. This is just how game dev works - some parts are genuinely tedious and frustrating. The success of your project will depend on how you personally are able to deal with the monotonous parts of the process, and the goal of cuts made early is to limit those parts as much as you can.

Also, get the game connected end to end before you start adding in too much side content. This leaves you with a finished game much more quickly so you can call it done at any point thereafter if you do get burned out. It also lets you add side content evenly across the entire length of the game instead of frontloading it.

[TMVore]

..A little update..

I can't make sense of rpg maker. (I try using VX Ace?)
And there is no limit in how much this frustrate it, Because the demo I envision would take me
a week to make in the neverwinter nights editor. (I shamefull wish there was a little paperclip popping up)

"Murders an entire box of chocolate chip cookies in frustration, Each cookie screams in horror then pain as it crumbles to it's demise"

Might make it an interactive story. wouldn't be as awesome as an rpg game, And would stretch my writting skills thin.

Or maybe the vore gods send down an angel whom I may devour and absorb it's knowledge of RPG Maker.
(Hihi, If that would work I'd be gulping down financial advisors)

Anyway, I'll battle on, Hoping a few tips drop by here.

[wariodude128]

You could always make it a time loop type game. Each major action you do wastes an hour and at say midnight you're food.
But! After a second or two you're back at the start of the day right after being told you need to pay off your tab.
There's a bar fairy that thinks it unfair you were only given a short time limit. So every time you become food, in one way or another, she will reset the clock until you succeed in making enough and paying it off.
This gives you the freedom to experiment as much as you want, and possibly become food earlier than the time when you would "normally" or die some other way. So then the goal would be to memorize what is where, how to get the money in the short amount of time you have and then sit pretty as the clock strikes midnight.
Shouldn't matter where you are if you have the money when the clock strikes twelve. The tender should find you and say pay up, you do, and that's the end of that.
By the way, if you want a name, I recommend Bar Food By Midnight.

[TMVore]

You could always make it a time loop type game. Each major action you do wastes an hour and at say midnight you're food.
But! After a second or two you're back at the start of the day right after being told you need to pay off your tab.
There's a bar fairy that thinks it unfair you were only given a short time limit. So every time you become food, in one way or another, she will reset the clock until you succeed in making enough and paying it off.
This gives you the freedom to experiment as much as you want, and possibly become food earlier than the time when you would "normally" or die some other way. So then the goal would be to memorize what is where, how to get the money in the short amount of time you have and then sit pretty as the clock strikes midnight.
Shouldn't matter where you are if you have the money when the clock strikes twelve. The tender should find you and say pay up, you do, and that's the end of that.
By the way, if you want a name, I recommend Bar Food By Midnight.

I like it, though, I am a choice slut (and proud) My game will be a stage game, and there will be more than one way to get out of being served on the menu.

[wariodude128]

You could always make it a time loop type game. Each major action you do wastes an hour and at say midnight you're food.
But! After a second or two you're back at the start of the day right after being told you need to pay off your tab.
There's a bar fairy that thinks it unfair you were only given a short time limit. So every time you become food, in one way or another, she will reset the clock until you succeed in making enough and paying it off.
This gives you the freedom to experiment as much as you want, and possibly become food earlier than the time when you would "normally" or die some other way. So then the goal would be to memorize what is where, how to get the money in the short amount of time you have and then sit pretty as the clock strikes midnight.
Shouldn't matter where you are if you have the money when the clock strikes twelve. The tender should find you and say pay up, you do, and that's the end of that.
By the way, if you want a name, I recommend Bar Food By Midnight.

I like it, though, I am a choice slut (and proud) My game will be a stage game, and there will be more than one way to get out of being served on the menu.

Well, the idea is always there if nothing else works. Plus, dying due to a weird or stupid turn of events could count as many ways of getting out of being food. Twas what came to mind when I read the premise anyway.

[Unfortunate]

Or maybe the vore gods send down an angel whom I may devour and absorb it's knowledge of RPG Maker.

Do NOT absorb me.

Now that's out of the way, what is it you're trying to do...? I have a fair amount of know-how with RPG Maker VX Ace when it comes to basic functionality and events.
Do note, I'm using MV now, but not a huge amount has changed.

[TMVore]

Or maybe the vore gods send down an angel whom I may devour and absorb it's knowledge of RPG Maker.

Do NOT absorb me.

Now that's out of the way, what is it you're trying to do...? I have a fair amount of know-how with RPG Maker VX Ace when it comes to basic functionality and events.
Do note, I'm using MV now, but not a huge amount has changed.

Just light nibbles,

First of all, should I use MV? I am on a 30 day trial still, could just switch.

Honestly, I don't know how to even start.
My "Intro" at this point would be starting in the inn, where two characters stand.
A male option and female option.
Once you picked your option, the other is taken away to the kitchen.
(Seems people skipping their bills is a frequent occurrence)

But, well, I need to get my head around the basics.

[Unfortunate]

Here's the default screen when you first load it.
The menu in the bottom left corner is the one that contains all your maps, you can either click on a pre-existing map then hit [space] to edit it, or make a new one...

Name: The name of the map in the map list.
Display Name: The game itself displays this name when you first enter this map.
Tileset: You are locked to only using the selected tiles, which are all seen above the map list. Interior would be best for now, but I recommend you take the time to learn how tilesets work, and more importantly, how to make your own. Giving your project some personal touches is not a bad thing.
Width and Height are how tall and wide the map is, in tiles. 17 by 13 is recommended as the lowest value, as it fits nicely in the game window.
Scroll type: Makes the map loop at the edges. Usually I'd advise you to ignore it, unless you need it...?
For everything else, I advise you just hover your mouse over the options, and read the tooltip that pops up. You probably won't need them, except maybe Auto-Change BGM, which allows you to change the music in the background.

Once you've got the basics of the map set up, you now have to design the map.

Click here to go into map mode, so you can place and change tiles. In the upper left window (above the map list) you'll see the “tile palette” or whatever it's called. There are 3 menus here labelled A, B and C. A is the base tile, B and C and beyond are for overlapping decorations that sit on top. Some tiles can be walked on, some can't. Again, look up how RPGM VX Ace's tilesets work and you'll understand this better.

The top toolbar has a bunch of handy tools: Pencil, Rectangle, Ellipse, Fill and Shadow, which allows you to manually place shadows down. There are also the zoom options, and buttons for the Database (where all the party, monster, item, equip and more information is stored), Resource Manager (handles graphics and sounds, you'll want to get used to this, as it allows you to import new assets), Script Editor (coding knowledge require ahead if you actually try this one), Sound Test (play audio samples for easy listening), Character Generator (a very basic character generation window, allows you to “make” character sprites, but it's super basic), and the Playtest button (hopefully needs no explaining).

Here's what I've thrown together, complete with two “exits”. Hopefully you've got something similar so we can move to the next step.

[Unfortunate]

We're now working with events, which is where the main meat of any project is going to come from: Events include npcs, treasure chests, triggers and more...

Double click on a desired place to get started on your first event, an NPC character representing the male player character.

Don't get overfaced here, just make sure everything's set up: Graphic should be set for the character sprites you want to represent your character.
Once you've got that, hit ok and make an event for the female pc. (PRO TIP, just right click the male event, copy and paste him then double click to edit it. Copying has it's uses with events, especially when a lot of them are very similar...)

Now we're getting onto the tricky stuff: I'm going to create an event that handles the intro for you.

The important parts here are the empty graphic (leave it blank and it can't be seen) and trigger is set to Autorun (which means the moment you enter the map, this event will instantly trigger). Double click where the green line is to open the Event Commands. Event Commands tell the event to execute certain behaviors.
I'm not going to hand hold you with each event command (mouse over a button for a brief summary), so instead I'm going to create shit, and you'll basically just need to follow along with what you see in the contents page.

@> indicates either a blank spot to insert a new event command [double click!], or where a current event command is: [Space] to edit it. You may notice that events can branch: the show choices command allows you to create a window in which the player picks from multiple choices. The indented @> under an option (ie. “When [Yes]”) indicates that it's deeper into the branch, and thus will only happen if you picked [Yes].

I will need to hand hold on the next bit: We're getting super tricky now.
We're first going to add a Variable to both yes choices. This will be how the game will remember the gender you picked: 1 for M, 2 for F. You will refer to the number saved to [0001:] to let the game know what was picked.

Check Single, open the drop down, make sure 0001: is selected from the list, then give it a name.
Under operation, leave it at set: You wish to set the var to a specific number, not do any math with it.
Under Operand, pick constant, and set it to 1 in the male branch and 2 in the female branch. If you picked the boy, the game will tell Var1 to hold 1, thus meaning male. If you picked the girl, the game will hold 2 in Var1. (Remember, copy/paste will save you time, then you only need to alter the Operand...!)

Now... event commands; page 2 happens to have a section for “Movement”, and we're aiming for Set Move Route...
My goal in the MALE branch is to get “FEMALE” through the exit at the top of the screen. She wasn't the one picked, so she storms off... Events cannot leave a map, but that's alright, as there are tricks you can use to simulate a transfer between locations.
First, make sure the subject of the move route is set to the required event and not “player”. (Yes, you can use events to force the player to move around the map. It's useful, but not right now.)
Choose from the move options to get the character to their destination, then add Transparent ON to hide the character, as if they left the scene.
Do the same for the FEMALE branch, but for the “MALE” character instead. Don't forget: play test and make sure everything's behaving right... Pick male and watch her leave the scene, quit then reload, pick her and have him do the same.
Hopefully the one you didn't pick will exit the scene as intended.

That's the first load of tutorial crap. I'll provide the final steps a little later, I'd rather not burn out.

[TMVore]

So much good stuff

Thanks to you, I have what looks like a bar. <3
That's really everything so far... Unless you want a "standing in a bar" sim...

I'm continueing my path!

[Unfortunate]

Okay, let's finish this intro segment.

Remember; we're working with the intro event, but only for a little bit longer... then the two npcs will need some work.
The next commands to be added to the contents, after the Move Routes, will be your first Switches, via the Control Switches command. Simple on/off stuff. Nothing hard.

For the male route:
[Yes]
>Control Variables: 0001 = 1
>Set Move Route (for female)
> Control Switches: 0001 (FemaleLeave) = ON
[No]
>Jump to Label: start (You should make sure you have a >Label:Start at the very top of the Contents Page, the game will jump to that point if you say no, effectively restarting the conversation.)

For the female route:
>Control Variables: 0001 = 1
>Set Move Route (for male)
> Control Switches: 0002 (MaleLeave) = ON
[No]
>Jump to Label: start

Okay, then after all of that you want to go down to the very bottom of the contents event page, double click the @> and add >Control Self Switch... A = ON would be nice, but you can pick another one if you're feeling daring.
Self switches... These are an event's personal switches that only that specific event uses. you get 4, and they are real handy for the little things. Said something before...? Use a Self Switch. Opened a chest, and want it to stay open? Self Switch. If you're canny with your switches, you can actually stretch those 4 out to a whopping 15 (and one empty state for 16 in total).
0000, 1000, 0100, 0010, 0001, 1100, 1010, 1001... etc.
We're going to be using this self switch to let the game know this event isn't needed anymore, it will be erased.

First I clicked on New Event Page. Now we have an event page 2. The higher the page number, the more priority it has. Once the conditions are met, Page 2 will overwrite everything page 1 was doing. Our condition is Self Switch A being on, but you can use switches and variables too.
It's trigger is again set to Autorun, so the moment the condition is met, it will immediately experience >EraseEvent and die. RIP.
But this now means the intro will never play again during our playthrough...!
Now... remember the switches we added after the move routes...? Time to use them, we're going to be rid of the other two characters too.
For “male”, the first npc event, you want to first create a New Event Page, then for conditions check Switch and set it to 0002:MaleLeave, and set the trigger to Autorun.
Now the game will know to remove “male” when the character leaves. Do the same for the “female” event, but with the switch being 0001:FemaleLeave.

Now that's taken care of, we can go into the “intro” event again and add our finishing touches.
This include our first Conditional Branch.
This is another branch, but instead of asking you a question, it asks itself the question instead: Is this true? If it's true, the branch goes one way (if), if false... it goes a different way (else)... as long as you leave the box at the bottom checked. (There are some times you don't need the “else”, knowing if it's true is good enough.)
We're going to use the Male/Female Var from earlier. 1 is male, 2 is female...
If it equals 1, it will be the male pc, if it isn't 1, then it must be 2. Or 1 and 0... Honestly this could have been done with a switch instead... but fuck it, it's fine...!
Now, in each branch, I'm going to do something tricky. First, I'm going to have the character “male” move into the spot the player starts in. (It's the blue tinted box with the S symbol in the corner, with the generic RPG maker guy inside: You know, Eric the Silver Reaper or whatever...?) We'll need another move route, but this time I'm going to use Through ON at the start of the list: This will give the character permission to phase through walls, other events and you... See look, we've almost got vore already!
I made the character turn down, so they line up with the player, who always starts pointing south.
After that I'm going to want to throw in the ControlSwitch change for MaleLeave, since we want him to vanish too... because he's you now. You'll then finally want to set the player's graphic: That's on page 3 of the Event Commands, >Change Actor Graphic.
You want to pick Actor1, he's probably still called “Eric”, and change his portrait and character graphic to match the male one of the two displayed characters earlier.
You'll want to then do the same for the female version of the pc.

Here's what I've got after all that mucking about. Now just hit Testplay and... hopefully you'll see your PC change before your very eyes... and you'll be in free control of your character now, as there's no events left that are trying to process. This is why erasing autorun events is good practice, they'll repeat endlessly if you let them.
Do note: I actually watched the characters crash into a wall because I flubbed the move route, and the girl vanished when the boy left the room too because I swapped switches around; this is why testing is important...! Make sure everything works as intended. I know I'm teaching you, but I'm also an idiot, so make sure you do a better job than I did. It works now at least, and I didn't have to add any more steps to the tutorial.
Next thing on the list will be getting you out of that room, mucking about a little in the database and talking to npcs. Then I think I'm done.

[Unfortunate]

Okay, now for getting you out of this room...
First off, you'll need a new map: As you once did before, right click in the map list and make a new map. No need for training wheels this time, just do what you want. I've made the room 21 by 18, so it's much wider and taller than before. I designed it to be L shaped, occupying the top left and right sides, and the bottom right. As a tip, you can right click on a tile on the map to place identical tiles, like an eyedropper tool of sorts.
I'm going to refer to the two rooms from now on as Intro_Room and Main_Room. Let's click on Intro_Room now, as we'll need a new event. Now... when you right click on the map while in event mode, it has a category called Quick Event Creation, and there's a handy Transfer option that creates a event that instantly warps you out of there when touched. We're not going to be using that at first, I feel it's better you know how and why it works over just doing it.

Double click or right click and pick New Event in the open space that is to be your doorway.
I've named this event “exit-to-mainroom”, made sure the priority is set to Below and I've set the trigger to Player Touch. Player Touch triggers when you step on an event that's above or below characters, and when you bump into an event that's on the same level as you. In contents you want to do the following:
>PlaySE
>TransferPlayer
Both of these are on page 2 of the event commands.
PlaySE tells the game to play a sound effect when it activates, and on that note you finally get to try this stuff out... You have options to adjust the volume and pitch, have a play and stop button, and a list of sounds... the one titled Move will work perfectly fine here, it's the one they use for the quick events. That's pretty much all you'll ever need to know about PlaySE, it's simple.
Now for TransferPlayer, use Direct Designation and open the menu below. Select your desired map on the side, then click on the map itself to highlight the spot you want to be taken to.
You also have the option to choose what direct the player character is facing when they spawn in this new location.
And just like that, you can now leave the room under your own power. You can use Quick Event Creation now on Main_Room, and allow the player to transfer back to Intro_Room. Hell, why not go all the way and make even more rooms...? Even an entire town to explore...? You have the power to do that now, but don't be afraid to look up how to do things online: I didn't teach you how to make doors, they are included under Quick Event Creation, so I would advise you place one, open it up and see how they got it to work. If you have any ideas for that now, it's down to you, I'm moving back to Main_Room now, as we have an NPC to make...

I created a bar styled area, so I placed a character behind the bar, certain tiles in the tileset are designed to be able to be interacted over; there are tables on page A of the tiles menu that do exactly that, so we can speak over the counter. They've got a Graphic, they have Priority set to Same and Trigger is Action Button; if you walk up and hit enter in game, you'll interact with them.
It's up to you with what you want the NPC to say. Do note you have the option to set a face in the Text menu, but make sure to hit PREVIEW... to check if the text and portrait all fit. If not then hit enter and split the text into several smaller lines. If you follow one Text command with another, they'll seamlessly connect together, so don't be afraid to split your dialogue between multiple Text calls.

Again, less hand holding this time, just do what you want. Here's what I've got: I used conditional branches to have the bartender mention if you're a boy or a girl, and put all of that in another cond_branch to get the game to only say that line once, then she'll say something different from then on. Don't be afraid to create a new event page, add some new dialogue and add a Condition to give this new page of events priority, experimentation is key. Just... remember to save before you do anything TOO daring, okay...?

Final thing to show you is the database/resource manager. They're on the tool bar with the Map/Event/Region buttons. Database first...
When you go into Database, you'll be greeted with a ton of RPG related stuff. Actors are the player characters, Classes are exactly what they say on the tin, Skills are for attacks and magic in battle and the menu, Items are used in the menu like potions and shit, Weapons and Armour... Enemies are the baddies that try to clout you in battles, Troops... now that is interesting, that determines what encounters you have and decides what you'll face. You don't fight individual Enemies, you fight Troops, which consist of the enemies you fight... Yeah, there's a lot.
The main things I'll point you towards is Actors and System, unless you actually want to make a serious RPG out of this?

Actors has a big list of characters, and you're going to get rid of all but one. Change Maximum... 1. Now it's just Eric the Silver Reaper or whatever. Change him. Turn his name into “Player”... or “You”...? I don't know. Delete his nickname, rewrite his description.
Set starting equipment to none, that ain't important. Finally, set the Graphics to none, as this will render the player invisible. Remember, the PC has their look changed in the intro...!

Under System... change the game title... the Title Screen... Music...? Do what you want.

Okay, once you're done, then hit okay and... go into the Resource Manager...
Pictures, Faces, Characters, Audio... that includes sounds, music and more... You'll get lists of what's available, and the import function allows you to add more...

Go into Graphics/Pictures, hit import, find an image... you'll then have it in the game to use. VX-Ace standard resolution is 544 by 416 pixels, so try to keep within that range, or not.
Let's add this image to the bartender event...
The Picture stuff is all on Page 2 of the Event Commands. >Show Picture and >Erase Picture will be the important ones here. I'm going to add >Show Picture to the very top of the event contents of the page, and >Erase at the bottom.
For Show Picture, Number is especially important, since the >Erase command needs to match that Number to erase it, and it will erase every picture with that number. RPG Maker VX-Ace doesn't show you a screen for previews, so you'll have to guess when it comes to positioning. I just chose Center for the Origin and the Constant to X: 272 Y: 208.
That places it dead in the centre. Then you can fine tune it during play testing. With X, higher numbers equals more to the right. With Y, higher numbers equals further down. Zoom allows you to change the size, smaller numbers = smaller image.
I ended up using a Y of 180 instead.
Like mentioned before, I added >Erase Picture at the bottom of the contents of the event page. Number matches the number set in Show Picture.
That's that. Done.

Uhhh... Forgive the choice of picture I used, it was the best thing at hand in the moment...

Right, that's a ton of basic info sorted, some less basic stuff too... and I actually think I've armed you with enough info to start figuring things out on your own. Don't be afraid to look up stuff, there are probably better tutorials online. That's it for me, I'm all partied out.

[Legspert9]

I would like to note that if you have little development experience and no artist, it might be smarter to make a text-based game in Twine. You get the story and gameplay but skip most of the difficult parts.