EraYachi

My parallax map sense are tingling: I think that's an amazing final product. Nitpicks: the shadows seem awfully dark, and a tad bit too fuzzy. Light dilution is far greater when the object is far away from the light source (and the light source isn't that bright). That's why our shadows are fuzzier in the morning/evening when the sun is low in the sky. With a lamp that bright, the objects closest to it would have much more solid looking shadows. But that's the definition of nitpicking if I ever heard it. You've created a great environment with your map.

Text popup...or the default message system anyway, has built-in functions to make message windows disappear after waiting a few frames. If you hover over a blank message window, a tooltip will pop up that explains the basic functions of how to control a message window. If you type \^ at the end of your message for example, it will close the message window without any player input. So: \|\|\^ -- this would make the game wait 2 seconds after displaying the text, and then automatically close the window after the wait is done. At that point, it's simply just setting the variable to the appropriate # whenever you want the message to change. As for it constantly looping, (Edit: I need coffee, I can't seem to read...xD) you can make the event stop looping by simply entering a command after the message input that resets the variable to 0. That means the common event's conditional branch is no longer true, and it won't play your messages in a constant loop. In detail: set the common event to parallel process. When you call for it, have the variable set to 2 (or whatever you want), and have a message appear (and vanish after a couple seconds). Immediately after the message command, make a command that will set the same variable to 0 again. That should turn it off. I'm rusty, and I haven't put this into practice.

Nyapurgisnacht@Nyapurgisnacht Ah....er...uh. Oh. Okay. I'mma need a drink of water before I address all this... First off, you are officially the first person to break the game that badly...lol...I don't think I've ever seen the screen turn that colour, ever. I've test played it 400 times, and it's a first... 1) There is no 'save anywhere' feature; the save function should be completely deactivated for the duration of the game. You only get a load icon in the menu (I have to manually add menu functions via a script call), so the player has to save at the yellow/green rifts on the wall. So if you can save anywhere, there is something really, really wrong about the game, and I'm so utterly confused how it could be possible with the custom menu script...did you just go into the menu and find a save icon? How are you managing this!? 2) Yeah. The monster. This is the second 'chase' monster that's gotten stuck via bad timing, and I fixed the first one...I'll have to make it so he disappears or is deactivated if someone gets there in the 'nick of time'. Funny, I tried several times to get that exact thing to happen to me, to see if it was possible for the monster to glitch like that. You've accomplished that, and that's great. xD 3) Seriously. That mad screen with the yellow tint....one of the ground events that alters the tint from dark-->light must be broken. I thank you for discovering this, and apologize that you had to reload your game because of it. >_> 4) Yeah, that vending machine has to stand out more. I might have a picture of the tongs pop up when you receive them, to indicated they're perfect for grabbing things at a distance. Or I'll be lazy and make Vincent point it out. 5) And finally, Vincent... And yes. I did do the voice acting for the girl, with a bit of Audacity's help. Might be able to voice Vincent at some point, too, for a similar sequence It's a work in progress. Thank you infinitely for taking an hour out of your day to test this. Into the credits you go! =)

Whew. Finally! BIG update. Brand new demo, much polish, such wow. It's the same length (1 chapter), but it features quite a bit of new stuff. Here's a list of things that have been fixed/added in the new (final) demo: 1) Brand new opening. Far more engaging than just a cutscene. 2) Improved dialogue. I overhauled dialogue between Vincent and Liam to make it more natural-sounding. 3) A slightly extended ending to the chapter, which includes something very neat. Won't say what, but let's just say it's unique. 4) I fixed bugs, added a bonus room that has an extra 'scene'. It's the first of many that are incorporated into the game to drop hints and slowly reveal the truth behind the game's mystery. It's optional, and it's located in a spot that was previously blocked off/inaccessible. 5) Did I mention bugs? Yes, even the one with the scary stare-monster. It had to be done. 6) Improved the puzzle that's received the most feedback. Put into spoilers for those who don't want to know the solution: 7) Speaking of Vincent, I've added several 'clues' in his menu dialogue. He'll be more helpful from now on. Hopefully. 8) Overhauled another scene/event/puzzle to make it more panic-inducing. I felt the game was lacking panic. That's the gist of it. If you've already played the demo, sorry. Not compelling you to do it again, but at least there's a lot of noticeable substance changes from the previous, slightly rough-edged demo. I'm well into Chapter 2's production, but the next release is full release--no more demos, just all 5 chapters at once. This demo, to a newcomer who doesn't know the puzzles, should take an hourish to complete.

I'm happy to know you found the funny parts funny. The game's got quite an overhaul in dialogue since this demo's release, though. The bottle puzzle is probably the toughest of them all, and the vending machine, well I feel like I gotta make it stick out more. But then, the object of the game is to investigate anything and everything that 'might' give you an item, so then perhaps not. If an adventure game doesn't stump you now and then, it gets a bit too easy. You're right about the connection between the lighter and bottle puzzle, though. I've revamped the story told in the library books, that tells you 'how' to use the bottle. Could be as simple as making Vincent saying something about it when you access him from the menu (he really needs to pull his fluff...I mean, weight...) @Everyone else who's recently posted here: I am continuing this game. I lost the pen to my tablet and got a new one for X-mas, so now I can continue where I was stumped, which is a whole slough of new sprites and artwork. I'll be updating the demo with the new intro (MUCH better intro to the game), new dialogue, fixed bugs and different 'ending', which...involves a new feature added to the game that took WAY...too long to record. There's a couple of extra areas to explore that are superfluous to the mechanics, but they are important to the story and give you some foreshadowing/clues to what's actually going on...because we all know horror games...well, aptly written ones don't come without plot twists. Anyway. Enjoy!

For animated water, you might want to stick to using the built-in tilesets (the Tileset A ones) You can simply put them overtop your parallax background in the editor; just make sure you make room for the animated water whilst creating the map. The only other alternative is to have an animated parallax background, such as I have in my game (seen in my Inwards topic) and that's much, much more complicated and takes a long time to animate (and requires a script). Making solid, '3 dimensional' buildings that don't look like flat boxes (I do understand) requires a bit of manipulation of parallax resources. Me, I rotate and use the Perspective Tool in GIMP 2.0 to create walls that appear on a diagonal. You need some intermediate skills with GIMP or Photoshop to be able to make houses and buildings that aren't square, or simply find parallax housing resources that have all the necessary components (I don't have any, I just create my houses from scratch). And man, this post has a lot of parenthesis (but is that a bad thing?)

1) The Dodge/Burn tool is amazing for adding shadows and highlights to different layers. Practice until you get accustomed to using the tool, since dodging/burning the highlights, midtones and shadows have different effects. 2) It's been said before, but layers. LAYERS. The more you have (properly labeled of course, for easy navigation), the easier it is to edit things if you want to add more/erase more later. 3) Don't overpopulate the map with objects, unless there's a good reason (like someone's messy room). Sometimes parallax mapping just means breaking the grid system to cluster objects together--it doesn't have to be complicated. 4) If you use GIMP (I do, and I think Photoshop has a similar function), then you can use whatever is in you clipboard as a paintbrush. For example, if you copy a single tree, you can just click all over the place to put down more trees, and ever change the size of the brush to make them bigger/smaller. And as for your map, it looks quite excellent so far, but the cluster of trees in the top/center are oddly layered. The front-most trees aren't spaced far enough out, they look like they're occupying a 2 dimensional space. I'd redo that section and space the trees a bit more. One of those trees is lower on the map than the one 'in front' of it.

Sounds like you need a Fog of War script. There's not many for VX Ace that I've found, but there is a modified one modern_algebra made, that is supposed to be compatible with Ace here: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/16284-paid-visibilityfogofwar-script-ace/?p=160143 Instructions are included in the script, of course.

For your menu, check our the master script list here: http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/11708-master-script-list-on-site/ Under Menus There's a ton of finished scripts to easily implement a simple menu. Just read the instructions at the top of the script (that's where they normally are), and use the one that's best suited to you.

Those are usually called visual novels, and they're done in RPG Maker (typically) with custom made artwork, backgrounds, character busts (portraits with multiple expressions), etc. A game with no actual gameplay, but gives you choices through the dialogue and multiple branches to the story/ending. It's not as animated as a movie, but there have been some great visual novel games out there. None that I've played personally (well, a few non-RPG Maker ones made by indie devs, perhaps), but they exist. Of course, to do this, you need to pour your heart and soul into creating unique, interesting characters and a storyline, and dialogue to hold the player's attention. If they only way to have 'fun' whilst playing is through the character interactions and gripping story elements, they gosh darn better be awesome.

Deviating from a turn-based battle system certainly does help spruce up the monotony of crawling through the dungeon. But sometimes, you have to look beyond the tropes of battle systems, puzzles and even mini-games to make exploration and monster-slaying enjoyable for everyone. Like Blindga said, you need a certain vision to bring new concepts to the table. And it's not something someone can just give to you--chances are, if they think of something incredibly original, they'll keep it and use it for themselves. Determining your own game's gameplay content is one of the top 5 things on the 'How to be an indie game dev' list. Discussing it never hurts, of course. For a dungeon crawler, an interesting battle system and clever puzzles are sometimes all that you need. People who enjoy classics will settle for it. But if you want ingenuity, pretend there is no box to even think outside. Go crazy. Instead of battling regular monsters, create a system where you have to defeat a certain number of X enemies, Y enemies and Z enemies in order to unlock different doors. Instead of puzzles and traps, give your dungeons a mechanic that encompasses the game's theme---for example in a game that involves time travel, design your dungeons to have cause/effect events pop up here and there. Break a wall in the past? There's a river there in the future. To catch fish in, to feed to a starving kid who ends up becoming a war hero who turns the tide of a war. Etc. Etc. That's just mind-blargh of mine. Even a simple game can have innovative mechanics; even better if you're pairing that with good storytelling. You need a reason to crawl through a dungeon beyond 'I want to get to floor 100 and reach max level.'

We're going to need more information than that, I'm afraid. Does it crash with an error message? Is it just the game that's crashing, and not RPG Maker itself? If you imported any resources recently, have they been removed/moved/changed in any way since you've implemented them? And does RGSS3 crash 20-30 seconds after you launch it, or 20-30 seconds after you begin playing (or even a certain part of it)? I.E. is it crashing still, if you're just on the title screen?

Honestly, I think it depends on the type of game. Even a JRPG type game heavy on story needs a 'hook', and with RPG maker games, spewing background information and/or making people watch a bunch of characters talk about something in which you have zero emotional investment is a bad, bad way to go. And it's often any first-timer game dev's biggest mistake. In my adventure/horror, I recently scrapped an intro that originally took me hours to complete. It was hard, but I needed to replace it with something shorter, and with a bigger 'wtf, I want to know what's happening next' intro that relinquish's control to the player within a minute (2, tops). Don't spend the first 15-30 minutes of your game trying to force the players to like your characters. Even though you've fully developed them, and you really like them, that's not license to cram them down people's throat when they're just trying to get a feel for the narrative. To really build up character development and invite people to invest their emotions, you need to gradually and subtly drop hints and reasons via creative dialogue, player choices and scripted events that humanize the protagonist (and co.) to a level where players can relate to them. And TBH, if I ever play another demo where I have to read 5 minutes of scrolling text regaling the back-story of a winged half-demon lord with half silver, half black hair, who lost his throne or has become 'stuck' in the human world and is partaking in an EPIC squee-fest against archangels (one of which is totally not a hot-blooded attractive woman who HATES him, but secretly loves him and joins the dark side eventually)...then I might have to start taking meds just to balance out the mental distress they cause. No. Scrolling. Text. That's lazy. I'm not often this opinionated about such things, but for the love of Fur Boots, don't take the easy road if you expect to create a game that's worth the time people spend to play it.

This just blew my socks off. I mean I can't 'even'. I was so into it, my heart was fluttering. xD I love old 8-bit tunes, and this was just flat out, raw epic. What program is it that you use? Jonnie, for the last time, stop making beautiful tracks and filling us all with a sense of musical inadequacy. *whacks with newspaper roll* Stop it! Seriously, though, this is a very dreamy and easy-listening kind of track. I know I loved it. Perfectly titled, too, it would definitely fit a fantasy woodland setting in any game. The only critique I have is the balance of the instruments' volume. The flute/piccolo that plays the melody is so overpowering compared to the accompaniment, with headphones on especially. Before 0.54, it's pretty alright, but it seems to get louder, and starts to drown everything else out, giving it an 'interrupting' sorta feel. Is there some kind of human playback setting on that causes this? I remember vaguely from my music phase, with Finale's Garritan instruments and playback, the longer a note played with human playback enabled, the louder it got.

Great use of the resources. A few tips, however. Try flipping around that one rock cutout and alternating it here and there, rather than just pasting the same rock over and over/overlapping it. Plus, I'm certain there are a few more rocks to use on the page of resources, so try alternating some of them, too. Using the burn tool to make discolorations and shadows around the rocks would help, too. The shading under the mushrooms is awkwardly round and out-of-place compared to the lack of shadows everywhere else. You did great with the ground blending, and the layout of the dungeon is a good kind of simplistic.

@KayakoChan....you just made me spit up a little diet Pepsi, thanks, lol. Your screenshot is hilarious. I never even thought about what might happen if you turned the music box on whilst the monster came at you.....he's just standing there awkwardly like "Uhhh, sooo...yeah,thanks for turning that on again. Enjoy the rest of the...game..." Did you just do that for giggles or by accident? Best part of my night, right there. Thanks for playing it! The new demo is going up tonight actually, the polished version. I'm gonna fix the uh...issue, with the killer doll before I do. >_>

Updated! Finally! The demo is currently oudated. Feedback from the original demo has been incredibly useful, and now Chapter 1 is almost completely polished. The new demo will still only cover the first chapter, however it sports a different ending (with an unexpected twist), re-written dialogue, and more fluid puzzles. Note that while I will be updated the demo every now and then, it will still only cover Chapter 1. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 will not be playable by everyone until the full release. Have questions? Feel free to ask! This Update: Added more screenshots, many from Chapter 2, new character artwork, credits and story development.

Yep, I do so all the time, with Tsukihime's script here: http://himeworks.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/follower-move-routes/ Praise the Tsukihime! For without t his script, my game would be even more complicated than it already is. Anyway, the script lets you control the followers on screen using the script call function and a normal Move Route command. Tis all in the descrip.

I don't like the way you just said 'blue'. You have a problem with blue people!? Blue Man Group would frown on your shenanigans. ...but honestly I had no problem with all the blue until now, and now that it's been pointed out, I'm so very, very uncomfortable. There's a reason there is hardly any blue food. It's unappetizing. I say we need more pink. Who's with me!?

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Easy peasy. Free program! Just open the file using Audacity and then File > Export and save it as an .ogg file. Best thing yet about Audacity is that you can edit (delete parts, add effects) the song too, to make it loop a lot more smoothly. Like others said before me, OGG files are the least buggy with RPG Maker VX Ace. They're also designed for looping sounds. I've found that MP3 files in the past, even when properly edited, don't loop all that well.

Well, you're trying to learn Ruby and the RPG Maker engine all at the same time. I think that'd be your problem right there. One: Don't try to learn to script and use all of the built-in tools of RPG maker at the same time. Learning how to make events effectively and weave together everything in your database, to variables and switches, to Common Events, etc. etc.--that's a whole enchilada right there. My advice? Drop Ruby for now, and focus on just the engine. Once you've gained confidence in your skills there, then take Ruby head-on. Two: In answer to your question, who will and won't play your game isn't a matter of the resources as much as it is your ability to sell it. If you can do something unique, original or otherwise inspiring that sets itself apart from other games, people will try it. If it's your first game, it's not going to be the next one-hit wonder in the indie gaming world. Well, almost definitely not. And if you're worrying about strangers playing your game now, before you've even grown in your flight feathers, then you're probably gonna fall right off the cliff. A great many people who use RPG Maker create video games for a duality of reasons: 1) To show off what they can do and/or share a great story, 2) For the same reason sculptors sculpt, and painters paint. And also why that one guy did a 1:1 scale of the U.S.S. Enterprise in Minecraft. Basically, if you can't create something that you are proud of, and love playing yourself, then just don't. This takes a lot of time and patience. Three: No on likes 'back in my day' anecdotes...but seriously, back in my day, I learned RPG Maker 2k when the Internet was still teething. The learning resources weren't plentiful, and there weren't lots of experts around to develop tutorials for newcomers. How did I overcome the learning curve? I went to sleep thinking about switches, and puzzling out map transitions whilst eating dinner. For my very, very first game, I knew nothing about switches, and I kept making duplicates of every single map every time I needed an event to end. Morale of the story? The will to endure plus heaps of frustration and dedication; those are your ingredients. Good quality games that people want to play take many months, often years before they're completed. And that's even after you've learned how the engine works. Basically: 1) Don't bite off more than you can chew. 2) Like Tsarmina said. You have to make people want to play it. No one owes you a chance. It can't be stressed enough: be original, and they will gravitate. 3) Knight is also correct. Contribute, participate, socialize and show off in these forums. Also, other forums. There are tons of communities out there. 4) Discover your strongest talent and work on it first. 5) Thick skin. Above all else, you need to be able to take constructive criticism, and be able to pick yourself back up after failing 6, 7, 8 times in a row. As you can probably tell, it takes a great deal of self-motivation. We the community are always here to help, but you need to decide what it is you're aiming for, and why you're ultimately doing it, before you begin to wonder why it's worth doing.

Aaaaand in the left corner, we have 'What do you LOVE MOST about RPGs'? Yes, this has been discussed lots of times. However, when you consider the recent, massive influxes of new people and the high turnover of people coming in and out of this site, starting up the age-old, 'what makes you tick' discussion never hurts anyone. I feel there's just so much unhappiness floating around the 'what do you hate most' thread. We need to talk about the best things in RPGs that make us happy! Remember, the things you love aren't just the opposites of what you hate. Let's be optimistic. I'll get the ball rolling: Comic relief. Yes, yes, I know that's the same as what I put in the other topic...but this just encompasses all that I love in RPGs. It's the meat of the sandwich when it comes to any RPG, a well balanced dose of humour mixed in with the drama. NPCs! I can't be the only one that talks to every single NPC they run across in their first playthrough. Hell, I'm on my 15th playthrough of Suikoden II and I still talk to 1/2 of the NPCs. If they're written well, they're usually gems and give you a sense of immersion into the established world. Item customization: I didn't play Dark Cloud for the plot, let's just say that. There's so much weapon evolution and item creation going on there, it's criminally fun. It also gives you a reason to revisit some places, and purpose to sidequests beyond the Kill x Monsters kind. Feels: Honestly, it takes experience to be able to make someone truly feel about a video game. Y'know, the way we felt about Vivi in FF9. You have to build up a character and seduce people into loving them, and then stab them in the heart later on with moments that cause feels. Did I mention Raven from Tales of Vesperia before? RPGs are usually the only type of game to pull this off, with the odd exception (like the Uncharted series) for other styles. Immersion: RPGs have the kind of story that immerses you. 40 hours of not wanting the story to end: it's a unique characteristic of RPGs (especially JRPGs) that makes me feel it's worth playing. So what is it about RPGs that makes you love them so?