EraYachi

PSN: EraYachi (OMG, ITS SUR SURPRERZING!) Just make sure you mention you're from this site, or I'll ignore you like an aristocrat ignores social responsibility.

The key to parallax mapping is to watch the videos and tutorials first before making the first map. In order to have any kind of overlay (objects that appear on top of character sprite instead of behind), you have to layer your map appropriately. If you do have a layer of trees, as you said, then it's simple. Just select the tops of the trees with that layer active, copy and paste to a brand new layer. Each parallax map is two images: the finished 'underlay', which is every single layer visible saved as a .png or a .jpg (I go with .jpg most of the time to save space). And the 'overlay', which is every single layer turned invisible except for the parts that you want to appear over the sprites. In the current example, we're talking about that new layer of tree-tops. I just call that layer 'overlay'. Like HumanNinja said, there are scripts that are crucial to parallax mapping. The two I use are Yanfly's Fixed Parallax and modern algebra's Fixed Picture scripts. Seriously, this tutorial explains everything: http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/12299-getting-started-with-parallax-mapping/ In summary, you set the underlay image as your parallax on a blank map (it's in the map's options when you right click--very easy), and then use an autorun or parallel process event to call the overlay pic. Adjust the passability/impassable areas with more transparent tiles, and you're golden.

Heh. Seems like it's compulsory to dislike RPGs with shallow characters (then again, who's surprise, folks?) Endings seem awfully important, too. Some of you seem so infernally hard to please, your standards are set so high. I don't know what to do to make you all happy! (╯°□°）╯︵ â”»â”â”») But seriously, folks. Hmmm, myself....it honestly boils down to a few things that turn me off from an RPG: 1) Need I say it? Stale, undeveloped characters. It's not that hard to write the occasional crazy character, trust me. 2) Plots about demons/angels/vampires. I...I just....no, guys. Noooo. About 1/1000 of these types of plots actually have substance. 999/1000 it's just a melodramatic story about angsty teenagers and or/adults who take everything way too seriously and bicker about power, brutally mutilated versions of existing religions and violence. This is my cyanide right here. 3) RPGs without comic relief. Most of the best games have at least one well-developed 'comic relief' main character, or a pair that bounces off each other. The best comic relief is woven expertly into the story without making people cringe. Good Examples: Brook/Usopp from One Piece, Nanami from Suikoden II, Raven from Tales of Vesperia.... Bad Example: Jar Jar Binks. Moving on! Y'know, ultimately, I don't care what the gameplay is like. I'm odd that way. Let's put it this way--familiar with the Fire Emblem series? Yes? Take a page from their book when it comes to writing your characters. No, wait....take 100 pages. Go play, or watch a playthrough of Radiant Dawn and Awakening. Gregor is happy you do this, yes? I'm gonna go ahead and top it off by agreeing with Milton Monday. I was there to see the age of ripped graphics/music in the RM2K and 2003 age, and if you think Final Fantasy ripoffs are problem these days...hoobooy, 10 years ago was madness incarnate. If you would like to make a fan game, that's great--but if you cannot create original resources, or resources that someone else made and distributed (not rips!), then I'm not gonna enjoy playing the game. I make a joke about people having high standards, but I'm a stickler for rules and effort--if someone's too lazy to make/gather resources, or learn how, I can't bring myself to believe their game will be any good.

^ Like Naveed says! Easiest solution to the age-old, age-old, 'There's a 1-frame blip at the start of my game before my screen goes dark, how do I fix this?' question. I think most of us make a blank map with a black background and set the player's Start position there, with Transparency turned on (you can change that in the System tab of the database). The game will start with a black screen, and then you simply fade out the screen, teleport the player to official starting map of your game, and fade in again.

https://rubymonk.com/ Just...trust me. Even I was beginning to learn something, and scripting is...really hard for me.

And as a third option, Set move route > Change Graphic (and select None). This is how I did things for ages until Transparency became an option. Like TheAQIB said, to make the villain actually disappear forever off the map, you'll need to use a switch to activate Page 2 on the villain's event, one that doesn't have a graphic set to it. Eventing 101. A Self Switch is only handy when contained within the villain event itself--if you're controlling his movement from another event, you'll have to use a global switch (a regular one) or a variable to switch instead.

English fails to help me describe how much I like these. Those gradients are a great idea to add some kind of style to your colouring, and the characters look very professional and interesting. You've got style, man. You've got it in spades.

The program gives you the option to encrypt the game data when you publish the project and package it up. I have no idea how good the encryption is, how easy/difficult it would be to break, but that generally stops your average joe from just distributing all of the resources.

*applauds* Bravo, bravo! Very smooth, crisp, and well-sized for each map. Looks like you did a great job sticking to the grid system while keeping it artistically intriguing. For the maps of the town and forest, you may want to consider adding some variety in vegetation and decoration. In the forest, for example, it's so uniform, easy to get lost and turned around. Real forests are a variety of colours and shapes/sizes. You could change your brush size and sharpen the image to make larger trees, or take sections of the trees and change their colouring a bit. Add some long grass here and there, a flower patch, some gravel or random dirt here and there....all depends on how much effort you're willing to put in and now many brain cells you'd like to sacrifice to the Crazy For CoCo Puffs deities.

Doesn't matter which you choose--there are audiences for both kinds of stories. But in my 17 years of RPG playing and/or creating experience (27-10...=17...yes, yes 17. I MATH GUD), it boils down to this: the best RPGs have a perfect balance between what you call 'fluff' and 'suspense'. If you're putting in nothing but plot twists and action scenes, 9/10 times your audience will feel lost and feel as though the story is moving too quickly. If you weight the game down with too much dialogue and WAAAY too much exposition (that's the stuff that happens where you force people to read walls of text that 'explain' your world and the people in it), people will either get bored and quit, or get bored, skip through it all, THEN get lost and inevitably quit later on because you bored them out of listening to any of the key plot points. Don't think 'fluff', think 'banter'. Your characters have to have good chemistry--you can make them interact all you like, but if they're all A-type personalities fighting for the same goals, then people start to get glassy-eyed. Have many cutscenes, but short ones. Rogue Galaxy was a great RPG with an amazing story, but it suffered from the long cutscene, long dungeon, long cutscene curse. Make the action and suspense come in waves, and safely pad those waves with milder scenes that let the players digest the chaos they just encountered. And honestly, as long as the game isn't just back-to-back scenes of melodrama portraying characters literally thrown into the player's face from Scene 1 with 'CARE ABOUT ME' signs hanging from their cat ears, you're golden.

Welcome back!

^ I had this problem once. It was Steam's cloud storage. To test it, run Steam in offline mode and then start up RPG Maker, and see if that solves the issue--if yes, then it's definitely Steam cloud.

One way to do it is make multiple pages of the same event, and use a variable to decide which is active. On page 1, have it so 3 questions are available in a Show Choices action. At the end of each show choice branch, call the variable and set it to the # of a different page. For example, after they ask 'What are you doing?', have the variable change the event to page 2, where 'What are you doing?' is not an option to choose. It doesn't matter which question they choose, just make sure the variable activates the correct page where the previously asked question is omitted. You might end up with 7-9 pages of the same, simple event, but this is literally the only way I can imagine doing this without access to the program (which I don't have right now) for reference. If it's an NPC you speak to during a cutscene, it makes ii simpler--but if you want the player to be able to access the NPC at any time, multiple pages will be required.

Like GameCreations said, the quality and experience in the artwork takes a major backseat to the actual fact someone took the time to work on it, and include it. You can apply for critique on sprites and other work you do in the forums on this site, if you're looking to improve, but overall any kind of artwork done by hand (spriting, busts, even parallax maps are a form of it). Original styled sprites tend to be eaten up (in a positive way) by the community.

Ego. Loneliness. Ego inflated by a sense of self-worth instigated by loneliness. But mainly, my antagonists are driven to the 'dark side' because they're lonely. Either because they've been abused/misunderstood, or they suffered some kind of trauma and secluded themselves...either way, my antagonists always start as good people. Honestly, most 'bad people', whether it's a character or not, are just misunderstood or have never learned how to deal with their emotions. Not dealing with one's emotions can lead to dark thoughts and dark ambitions. The lust for revenge and envy for others who are 'better off' are some of the most powerful driving forces behind villainy. For some, it's too late to just give them a hug and show a little love--those are the most tragic antagonists. They usually end up dying--either doing something to redeem him/herself, or holding onto their bitterness until the end. Other villains can be redeemed and still live, if they're given what they're really seeking. Either kind of antagonist makes a good story.

>_> I never understand why people draw anime chicks wearing pants so low that the slightest trip over a rock-or-something suddenly turns their outfit into an R-rated ordeal... Not judging the artwork, though. Love it, actually. But seriously, pull up your pants, madam. It looks so incredibly uncomfortable. ....okay *rips eyes away from picture*, about the rest of it--hey, this is a decent game. No, I haven't tried the demo yet (PULL UP YOUR PANTS), but I plan to (By the power of WOMB, I shall smite you!), because I appreciate a game with thought put into it--which I see you have. If that's your original artwork, by the way (is-she-even-wearing-underwear?), I encourage the addition of more original artwork into the game. A little goes a long way with original material. From what I can see in the Let's Play, you have very functional and interesting dialogue, and your characters have dimensions to them, even the NPCs. Speaking of NCPs, I love that there's so many of them (they must all be waiting for her pants to fall or something), and they're actually interesting to talk to. Some minor grammar problems, but eh, no one is perfect. So, you've crafted an excellent story and setting, and it reminds me of Suikoden, oddly. Which is great, since those are my favourite games of all time. One thing I really want to advise, however, is adding more comic relief. People tend to not understand just how important that is, especially since this looks like it'll be a darker-themed type of JRPG-style game. To simplify: Good work! Pull up her pants. I'm impressed. I'll just sit in my corner now.

I don't think a self-switch is the best idea to make NPC events (your monsters) 'vanish' after a battle. In my history, I use a global switch to make both disappear (activate blank page 2), and I activate that switch inside the battle event itself, not on the map itself. If you go to the Battle Event section under the Troops tab, you can turn on/off any switch you like at any point during the encounter. To simplify: Have the two monster NPCS initiate the fight. In the Battle Event section for the monster encounter, activate a switch to ON. Set the conditions for the blank page 2 on each monster NPC event to that same switch (=ON). The switch will cause the two events to already be invisible before you even end the battle. That's how it's worked for me in the past--haven't done something like this in over a year (silly horror adventure game mechanics are so distracting)

This is....wow. I can't even start. There's just so much to like about it. The concept is original, insomuch that it's bewildering. I love the cast of characters and the sheer diversity of it all--a ghost, a robot, a mushroom man? Now if it has a beautifully crafted story (to be seen in the future, for sure), I'd consider supporting this in Kickstarter, even. Thanks for sharing this.