What features would be included in your dream RPG Maker?

[UncannyBoots 59]

While I love VX Ace, there are still many limitations to work around (most of which are also present in MV). Which leads me to dream about what would be included in my ideal RPG Maker.

 

Not in any order, just off the top of my head:

-Events that can span multiple tiles. You'd make an event, then there would be an "event size" option. This would open a window that is very similar to the "Transfer Player" window, when you select a tile on the grid for the player to transfer to. Then you can simply click and drag the square to resize it by tiles (so no pixel resizing -- unless pixel movement were to be the default...). You could also type in the dimensions if you wanted. And to make this extremely ideal, you could also set any tile to be above player, which would work great for collisions with large sprites. This event resizing would also be great for transfer player events.

-XP layering, except you can add as many layers as you want (within reason).

-An event command that allows you to anchor a picture to the map and set the z value (and if it spans multiple tiles, you can change the z value for each tile, and add tall sprite functionality so the head of a tall sprite doesn't go under the picture when walking in front of it, if that's what you want)

-"Find and Replace" dialogue text throughout entire project

-An option to toggle between normal eventing and a new "text editor" eventing which literally allows you to type events. So it'd be like coding except with the same ease as eventing. This would be amazing for added "find and replace" functionality, and tbh I find typing in long periods of time to be more comfortable than clicking all over the place.

-Set the tile size for the entire project when creating a project (or better yet, whenever you want, but that'd be more tricky). Sizes would include 16x16, 32x32, 48x48, and maybe even ones unseen by RPG Maker such as 24x24 or 62x64 (or larger).

-More window customization, like adding a menu (the grey bar at the top with "File" and "Options" and stuff), enable/disable resizing. Clickteam Fusion has so many options here and it'd be cool to have for RPG Maker

-Screen filters (Pixel Game Maker MV has some filters I think) and upscaling options like Nearest Neighbor or Bicubic or whatever you want

-Auto tile collisions, which would allow for walking behind the top part of an auto tile (like a building)

-Editor customization in general would be sweet. If you ever tried the Godot Engine, you'll know that you can move any menu wherever you want to make it as comfortable for you as possible.

-This applies to MV: a built-in script editor... and while we're at it, a window resizing for the script editor.

 

I'll come back to edit if I think of any more. I've thought about this for a long time and I'm definitely forgetting some. I'd love to read your ideas for a dream RPG Maker

Edited April 2, 2020 by UncannyBoots

[Knighterius 502]

You pretty much summed up everything I was going to see when I saw the title. Especially the tile size. I work with 32x32 in MV and it's such a chore not being able to map in the editor because it doesn't align unless you multiply by 1.5. Also eventing over multiple tiles would be very nice especially for two tile wide staircases.

[PhoenixSoul 1,328]

Like, all of what was aforementioned, +1 from me, as well as...
Some database features found in console versions of RM like items that can be used to increase EXP (requires an external script in VX Ace and I don't think MV has that built-in either), as well as attaching skills to equipment (going into battle allows the user to just select the equipped item and execute the skill immediately)...

I'd love to see more compatibility with sound formats like .spc, .vgm, and so on. I'd love to see as well, a syntax tester to see if there would be any errors, and to point out precisely what those errors are as well as a suggested fix. I'd love to also see a smart syntax reader that asks the end user what it is they want, and to generate syntax based on what the end user responds with.

Example:
RGSS: "What do you need?"
User: "I need to be able to attach enhancing items to equipment."
RGSS: "Okay." (provides syntax)

Obviously, that last bit would be difficult to program...lolz

[Kayzee 3,885]

You do realize that any "smart syntax reader" that would be able to properly syntactically understand English and program stuff for you would basically mean a program that was as or more intelligent then a human right? A syntax tester while you type could work but wouldn't necessarily catch all errors, especially with dynamically typed languages like ruby/javascript. Not all errors are a matter of syntax after all, and most of the ones that are end up being pretty obvious and easy to fix.

 

You know what I would honestly really like to see in an RPG Maker? More generic databases with custom types/fields. Also a fully open source engine and editor, but I doubt it would be called "RPG Maker" if it was.

 

 

[PhoenixSoul 1,328]

Sounds more like the newer iterations of SMBX, that last part. Or Game Maker, Unity, Unreal.......okay.

I agree that it would be difficult to actually have a smart syntax reader know what it is the end user wants, which is why under the hood it relies on hard-coded key terms.

[Tsukihime 1,487]

New MZ brings back XP layering

 

But a customizable user interface like unity would be nice.

[UncannyBoots 59]

Got a few more I'd like to add.

-Multiple BGS tracks at once.

-Dynamic audio by distance. In other words, imagine a radio playing music. The more tiles away from the radio you are, the quieter it becomes. The more tiles closer to the radio you are, the louder it is.

-Smaller tiles that you can piece together to make a whole tile. Like how the NES worked; the tiles were 8x8, but in general the way it was used was to combine four 8x8 tiles together into one larger 16x16 tile. This allowed for not only a smaller file size, but allowed for more mixing and matching of what tiles could look like. Also, there are times when a tile I make only takes up half of the tile (or even a quarter). So that's an entire half tile that is unused, which is a waste of tileset space. If the tiles were naturally a quarter size of what they are now, then it would allow for so much more possibilities in tile mapping and would allow for more tiles in general. Also, this would allow for quasi-pixel movement right out of the box.

-To add to the previous one, the ability to mirror a 'quarter' tile would be fantastic. NES developers did this a lot as well (as did many other retro developers for any console, I'm sure). It again saves tile space and would allow for better mapping possibilities.

Edited August 17, 2020 by UncannyBoots

[PhoenixSoul 1,328]

1 hour ago, UncannyBoots said:

-Multiple BGS tracks at once/Custom Sound Types
-Sound Source Events
-Dynamic Tiling Sizes

 

This. Definitely.

[UncannyBoots 59]

3 minutes ago, PhoenixSoul said:

 

This. Definitely.

 

Lol what are the odds that I just added another one as soon as you posted

 

Sadly, all of these wishes are nothing more than pipe dreams. I highly doubt Kadokawa cares to add truly game-changing functions like these to future RPG Makers.

Edited August 17, 2020 by UncannyBoots

[PhoenixSoul 1,328]

And that the 3D engine for the PS2/PSN known as RPG Tsukuru 3/5 was never going to see any further development for whatever reason.

[Aslanemperor 8]

This is a big one for me:

 

An in-program tileset editor, complete with the ability to make backgrounds invisible.  A simple, drag and drop function would be best.  It's always such a hassle to craft the tilesets.  The last time I did, it took me almost an hour to finish all the steps to simply add four lines of resources from one tileset to another.  Also, and this may be easier said than done: a size standardizer.  What I mean is, when you get resources from older or newer versions, and they're just a few pixels to big or small and it throws the entire tileset off, have a button where that says "standardize" and it detects the borders of images and resizes the tileset appropriately.  If that results in the occasional weird stretch, I'm okay with that.

[That One NPC 249]

Not to be a wet blanket, but it sounds many of you are ready in a roundabout sense to upgrade from RM. The RM people have never, and will never, set out to create a top shelf, pro editor for pro devs to execute their visions in full. It's a junior edition editor for beginners of a younger demographic to wet their toes in game development.

 

Now I'm not at all saying RM can't or shouldn't be use by skilled hands to create solid games. We all know this to be true. I'm just saying, when you reach the point where you are wishing for better features, it's probably time to check out another editor, and free yourself from the low-hanging RM ceiling where limitations are concerned.

 

 

 

Personally, I'd like  RM to change it's base model a bit to keep up with the competition, and assert itself as a mid-shelf engine for anyone to take a stab at development. Not full-on Unity levels of complexity, but not the same old model they've been tacking bells and whistles to since '97.

 

 

 

On 8/17/2020 at 5:56 AM, Aslanemperor said:

This is a big one for me:

 

An in-program tileset editor, complete with the ability to make backgrounds invisible.  A simple, drag and drop function would be best.  It's always such a hassle to craft the tilesets.  The last time I did, it took me almost an hour to finish all the steps to simply add four lines of resources from one tileset to another.  Also, and this may be easier said than done: a size standardizer.  What I mean is, when you get resources from older or newer versions, and they're just a few pixels to big or small and it throws the entire tileset off, have a button where that says "standardize" and it detects the borders of images and resizes the tileset appropriately.  If that results in the occasional weird stretch, I'm okay with that.

 

 

You need a decent free image editor. I use Paint.net and it makes everything so easy and simple.

 

Tiles used to give me crippling anxiety as well, until Paint.net. Now I just use this:  

 

 

Each block accounts for one whole tile. Using a top layer image, you simply add the objects you desire, using the background grid to line everything up to perfection.

 

 

Tiles are not such a hassle for me anymore, and I sympathize with anyone going through that. It's no longer a necessity of working with RM.

 

 

Edited February 15 by That One NPC