"Shape-shifting" main character concept help?

[pleasehelpme69 2]

Hey guys,

 

I'm completely new here. In fact, I don't even have RPG Maker Vx Ace yet. So, please, treat me like that! 

 

After some research, I found that an in-game character creation system doesn't really exist yet (at least not a decent one). Unfortunately, I love personalizing the experience for RPG's - and a character creation system is a must for me. I hate that your main character would not differ from someone else's main character at all... at least not in terms of the sprites/animations etc.

 

However, I thought of a concept for a game which would not involve a generic sprite for the character;

your character is basically a shape-shifter. The game would involve killing NPC's (whether they be people or monsters and what-not) and stealing their appearance. (So, basically just stealing their sprite and animations.)

 

Depending on what sprite you were using, dictated how others' reacted towards you - attaining a certain appearance may be vital for progression in the storyline. As well as stealing the NPC's appearance, you steal their stats/combat abilities. However, there is no collecting experience within this game (this will mean players won't have to grind and level-up as they progress through the game). The solution to winning a boss-battle may involve finding the right NPC and stealing their stats/combat abilities suited for killing the boss.

 

Though, the storyline itself is fairly undecided, I have a few ideas.

 

I just wanted to know whether this game would be possible on RPG Maker VX Ace - and how much/what scripting would be required.

Any thoughts/opinions on the ideas would be appreciated too! Be as negative as you like. 

 

Thanks!

[+ Chaosian 617]

Sounds possible, without even any scripting, just a lot of events. You really have to be careful of scope and plan the game out beforehand though - things can get tricky, fast.

[LunarProxy 3]

RPG Maker has the best character creation there is.  You make a sprite of a character and import it yourself, complete creative freedom with some practice.  

 

Anyhow, the idea behind shapeshifting sounds good, I think the most difficult part would be to balance all of the character stats fairly where one NPC can't accomplish six tasks, and another NPC can't accomplish one.

[SuperQuail 2]

That's a really cool concept for a game.

 

I think you could do most of this just by eventing the lead actor to swap to another whenever they shape shift.

 

For example: Hero finds an NPC, talks to them and then you would 'Change Party Member' > Actor 001  -then change Actor 001 to Actor 002 (same as the NPC).

 

 

 

For a battle skill that lets you morph into the enemy during combat, you may need to use a script.

This one lets you steal a single enemy skill during battle, but not morph into the enemy: 

Edited February 25, 2015 by SuperQuail

[pleasehelpme69 2]

RPG Maker has the best character creation there is.  You make a sprite of a character and import it yourself, complete creative freedom with some practice.  

 

Anyhow, the idea behind shapeshifting sounds good, I think the most difficult part would be to balance all of the character stats fairly where one NPC can't accomplish six tasks, and another NPC can't accomplish one.

I've had a look at the character creation and it looks great, but I don't think there is any way of actually having the player create their own character in-game. i.e. like on elderscrolls/fallout. The only one I have found involved selecting options in a text menu and it was pretty awful.

In terms of importing my own sprites, what image-editing software do you think I should use?

 

Yeah, that's true.. maybe I should give the NPC balancing a little more thought. Thanks for the reply.

That's a really cool concept for a game.

 

I think you could do most of this just by eventing the lead actor to swap to another whenever they shape shift.

 

For example: Hero finds an NPC, talks to them and then you would 'Change Party Member' > Actor 001  -then change Actor 001 to Actor 002 (same as the NPC).

 

 

 

For a battle skill that lets you morph into the enemy during combat, you may need to use a script.

This one lets you steal a single enemy skill during battle, but not morph into the enemy: 

Okay great, thanks. I'll remember to come back and look at this when I really know what I'm doing!

Sounds possible, without even any scripting, just a lot of events. You really have to be careful of scope and plan the game out beforehand though - things can get tricky, fast.

Awesome, thanks for the help. That works for me. I'm hoping to get by as well as I can without scripts. I'm sure I'll need to learn how to do it if I want to make this game decent though. 

[Tsarmina 2,612]

This character creation system is pretty cool. It's also kinda tough! But I have faith in you Just not sure if it's your thing.

[pleasehelpme69 2]

This character creation system is pretty cool. It's also kinda tough! But I have faith in you Just not sure if it's your thing.

I saw this ages ago as I was skimming through character creation ideas on google.. and I wanted to find it again, but I couldn't. Until you linked it to me. Thanks!! Very helpful