RPG Maker VX Ace

You can try going throughTryRuby. It's not RPG Maker specific, but should be easy to adapt to it.RubyMonkis also good but looks like it requires a subscription for some areas now. :/

The worst part about the entire line of RPG maker products is the abyssmal default battle system. You can't see the characters, so there's a huge disconnect. There are custom ways to get around it but generally require a lot of sort-of-programming.

Hmm, I thought they had a FF style aesthetic for most of its incarnations. I guess it could just be a custom script whose use is so widespread that I was fooled.

RM2003 has a side-view battle system. Every other one has a front-view battle system. Any of them that allow scripting someone usually makes a side-view and there was even tactical battle systems available for some of them. Since you can only script the actual game and not the editor, maintaining those custom battle systems tends to be cumbersome.

It's quite a bit of extra work for people to make art assets for a side-view battle system, which is why I think they tend to shy away from it by default.

Grand Inquisitor Kegkilla_sl said:

why doesn't someone make an FoH, err, rerolled RPG with one of these things? i'm sure theres more than enough nerd know how here to get it done.

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I'm currently releasing a game on Steam/Desura, but was planning on my next game to be Ultima 4-5 style party 2D party-based RPG but with modern UI and graphics. Seems like there are almost no RPGs like that on the market now. Would be aiming to revitalize the genre kind of how Legend Of Grimrock did for the 1st person dungeon crawler. Planning to use Unity mainly for easy ports to Windows/Mac, and potentially mobile ports if the game sells.

BTW, anyone know of any good current RPGs with gameplay like Ultima 4 or 5? Namely:

- large 2D world map
- control a full party
- tactical top-down grid combat (like the D&D gold box games)

The only thing I don't want from Ultima 4 or 5 is the 1st-person dungeon navigation. Dungeons would be top-down just like the world map and combat would be on a grid.

Biggest downside to this series was always the stupid Dragon Warrior style combat vs. the Final Fantasy style. It's simpler to code/make, but Weaponsfree mentioned, it makes it harder to connect with your character and it just seems more boring. I guess it makes sense since the DW had a huge following in Japan, but still.

Astral Projection_sl said:

BTW, anyone know of any good current RPGs with gameplay like Ultima 4 or 5? Namely:

- large 2D world map
- control a full party
- tactical top-down grid combat (like the D&D gold box games)

The only thing I don't want from Ultima 4 or 5 is the 1st-person dungeon navigation. Dungeons would be top-down just like the world map and combat would be on a grid.

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I must admit I never played Ultima 4 or 5 so I could be wrong, but the latest RPG to come across my path is that seems in the vein you're looking for is the one the Starbound guys are currently pushing,Wanderlust. It's apparently not completely new, but seen a resurgence following the linking with Starbound.

May I ask, how did you get on Steam? Did you go through Greenlight or via another avenue? Care to mention what the title is too?

I started screwing with this about a week ago and have not stopped since. I made a quick 45minute adventure for the kids, and one of them loved it, so I am hooked.

Messing with it brought back so many childhood memories of early console RPG's that I find myself more into it than I expected to get. So its led me to scour the net for scripts and tutorials. Its nice to find that this forum has jumped in for each other. Because I have a few issues that have my proverbial panties in a bunch at the moment.

First, I learned to code in strong static typed languages like Java, and C#, so I have had a hellova time deconstructing example scripts in Ruby. One of the weakest most dynamic typed languages out there. Can anyone point me to a RGSS3 Design Document? I am still having crazy trouble figuring out how and where to grab data from the global variables and methods made available in the default scripts.

Or if anyone is willing to answer a multitude of where's and how's I would much appreciate it!

The manual that comes with it is usually pretty good.This site covers Ruby pretty well tooif syntax and things are troubling. I don't have any RGSS specific things though, as I haven't used RPG Maker in several years.

xrg_sl said:

The manual that comes with it is usually pretty good.This site covers Ruby pretty well tooif syntax and things are troubling. I don't have any RGSS specific things though, as I haven't used RPG Maker in several years.

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Yeah, the help document was the first place I looked. Besides some general stuff, I have still had to poke and prod, and mostly guess, my way through error after error to get things working.

I have about 35+ scripts lifted from various forums, and can accomplish pretty much everything I can think of, somehow or another. There is just one thing I would really like to be able to do, but the script I found to do it, clashes badly with one of Yanfly's menu altering methods, and I am to ignorant to see how to stop it. I am sure as I push through I will finely figure it out.



On that note, there is one specific thing I'd like to ask:

Is there a way to get tiles in a bridge to allow walking under and over them? I saw it done in a YouTube video (I think). Or it could have just been a fake bridge...
I can make one that can be passed under via events, but I am not sure how or if I can then make them walkable on top?

Finely got around to looking for my own solution... (busy week)

Found it. Just in case anyone else is interested.

If you want a side-view battle system,here's a good drop in one.

Steam has this on sale, I'm thinking of picking it up and practicing my game design type stuff.

You can't toss the end product up on Steam for like $3 a pop when your done though can you? Is there anything similar to this that lets you do that?

Steam hasGreenlightwhich allows people to submit games. If it gets voted up enough and with some Black Valve Magic Voodoo (they won't really discuss it), it can be put on Steam.

There is alsoDesurawhich is like the poorman's Steam. I think they have no real restrictions beyond having a relatively working game. However, apparently they were just bought out by Linden Labs (Second Life guys) so who knows what/if will happen with Desura.

There's also theHumble Bundlewhich does indie games (and books now I believe).

You absolutely have to have at least one external QA tester if you have a serious project. By external, I mainly mean someone not involved with development and who has had limited or no access to any design docs you may have written up for the project. As a developer, you are too close to the game to be able to QA it objectively, and you'll also miss lots of things that you'll never think to look for because you never intended for the end user to be trying to do those things. If you have a project large enough for multiple developers, you can have them QAing other people's assets, but it's still best to have one person who does nothing but QA.

Right now I'm going to just use it as a tool to learn a system and write a little story, just probably using the basics to see what I end up with.

I'll see if I end up tossing it out the window in rage or making something appreciable. If the latter maybe I'll move on to a more proper project.

It has been a long time since I worked on anything, so just wanting to get my feet wet so to speak. I was just curious if I got good at it this system if it was potentially marketable or if just could only make shareware or something.

I'm holding out a few more hours to see if it goes on sale for 75% off before the sale ends tomorrow morning