Spider-K's RMXP Tutorial - Part 1

[kumoKami]

http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/3619 ... tlelw9.png[/img]

..:: Part 1 ::..
Manipulating Event Commands
> Introduction

• Hello to all people of the Creation Asylum community!
  This is my first project topic, but I need to make it clear that this is not my main project.
  Now let's get to buisness.
  
  This project is, you're right, a complete tutorial to our favorite program, RPG Maker XP!
  This is only the first part though, but still the one that in my opinion is one of the two most necessary components of creating a game.
  Sadly, the second component is scripting, and because I am not in full understanding of this subject, unless I get some serious help, will not be a part of my tutorial.
  
  This tutorial will teach anyone who uses it the main basics of everything that is related to events.
  Starting from simple messages, to highly complicated event commands and putting them along with each other in a way that will produce special features and/or effects.

> Story

• The story is something really small and rather uninteresting ( I'm not very creative XD ) that I will plot in the process of making the tutorial.
  Feel free to add any suggestions and comments about it, that would be really helpfull.

> Features

• At the current state of the project, there is only running.
  This is not really a feature, but it's to show certain simple possibilities can be done in the game.
  However, the more I progress in the game and show how to use certain features, the more special features there will be, so don't think this is the end of it.

> Resources

• Well, actually, there aren't any imported resources except for the title and some battlers that were imported to the Pictures folder. This project is meant to show what power the normal RTP and scripts have.

> Scripts

• Like I said in the previous paragraph, this project comes to show the power of normal RTP and scripts, so there are no scripts that are not included in the RTP. Infact, the only thing that is related to scripts in this project is that I altered the Title Screen a little.
  When I do put scripts, they will be in another part of the tutorial series, the part in which will be focused on scripts; But, as I said at the begining, unless I find someone to help with scripts, there propably won't be any part in the tutorial to explain scripts.

> The Tutorial

• The tutorial itself will be in the event commands, as comments, and the gameplay itself will actually be a small and fun ( I hope; XD ) game to play.
  If you will go by the wanted order, I want you to first finish the game to see what you will be learning to do, and only then open the game to learn it.
  
  Each and every event command will be well commented. The first time each command is used in the game will be prefaced with a complete explenation of it's possibilities. Times after that, I will only show what it is there to do in that certain block of event commands.

> Screenshots

Spoiler: Game Screenshots ( 5 Total )

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/5931/Screenie01.png[/img]
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/6386/Screenie02.png[/img]
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/928/Screenie03.png[/img]
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/2601/Screenie04.png[/img]
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/4784/screenie05fg7.png[/img]

Spoiler: Editor Screenshots ( 5 Total )

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/1997/Editor01.png[/img]
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/2950/Editor02.png[/img]
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9696/editor03uv6.png[/img]
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/2835/Editor04.png[/img]
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/7361/editor05dr6.png[/img]

> Team

• Currently I am the only one making this game. However, I would really appreciate if someone is willing to join in the project. I will need:
  • Someone very creative to help develop a story to make the game preceeding the tutorial interesting.
  • Someone with good logic, in case some event doesn't work as well as anticipated because of using the commands in the wrong order / approach.
  Currently these are the positions, I will update them if people join:
  • Project Creator/Manager: Spider-k
  • Mapper: Spider-k
  • Graphics: <Unecessary>
  • Sounds: <Unecessary>
  • Events: Spider-k
  • Logic: (None)
  • Writers: (None)

> Demo

• [Download Link]
  This is a really small demo because I hadn't had much time to work on it, so don't be hard on me!

>> Contact

• If you have anything you have to say about the project or anything related to it, if you want to join into one of the open positions, etc; You can contact me in the following ways:
  • Personal Message
  • Windows Live Messenger 8.0( aka MSN Messenger 8.0 ): hen.spiderk@gmail.com
  • Electronic Mail ( aka eMail ): hen.spiderk@gmail.com

>> Updates

• 1. 25th of August, 2006 / 11:20 GMT - Topic Created

>> Conclusion

• This is it for now.
  
  Check the screenshots section!
  Hope you like the project!

Peace.

 

[~Atlaswing~]

Have you finished version 2? Whats the topic in version 2?

 

[kumoKami]

No, I still didn't finish even Part 1 :P
And I haven't decided the subject of Part 2 yet.
In the meantime, there's only a very small demo for Part 1.

 

[ryanwh]

Well, for the story, I think since this is a basic developing kit it should be a rather runofthemill story, where essentially the fun characters are what keep people playing(kind of like Dragon Quest)
Here are the gold standards:

Spoiler

*peasant teen training with his grandfather and best freind/cousin/brother/sister. Use this to introduce battle mechanics and button commands

*Follow up the training with a trip into town. Give the hero some items and equipment. Take this time to go over the menu commands.

*In between grandpa's cottage and the town is a sort of dangerous passage with small beasts, etc.

*They go to town(most of which is blocked off) and get the item. They see a suspicous fellow(s) but shrug it off, head back to grandpa's

*his house has been burned down/looted/destroyed, some remnance of the bad people are there who you fight(boss battle). Dieing last words from grandpa which reveal that he was the keeper of a crystal or something, sworn through his bloodline to gaurd it or whatever as all of them combined can unleash grant a wish or something, and an evil heart could do something terrible.

*hero swears to find them first, heads back to town to get more info. There he meets someone who agrees to help him(3rd party member, a stalwart knight or a prestly healer) The new member knows where the next crystal is and they head to that town(insert mountain level, forest level, whatever)

*In the next town, introduce some kind of comedic rival team of heroes tracking down the crystals as well that will make reacurring apearances. The crystal here, it turns out, was owned by a hermit deep in a cave so they go there(cave level, insert possible switch-based level or something more complicated than a mouse maze to "protect" the crystal). They get to it and the hermit is long dead, but he was a mage and summoned a monster to protect it(monster boss battle).

*Go back to the town, its been burned down by the people looking for the crystal. Have first confrontation with the main bad guy here(possibly a can't win fight) and have him take the crystals.

*Talk to the survivors and find out they're heading south to a deserty type place for the next crystal.(insert desert level).

*At the next city, have another encounter with the funny rivals, then go talk around town for info on the crystal. You'll meet some kind of tough strong silent mystery type(either a warrior or a dark mage, probably). Perhaps have some kind of challenge or event that makes this person who's initially not wanting to help you want to join the cause(but the team doesnt trust him/her yet).

*After that, find out where the crystal is and go try and get it(possibly a hidden oasis level or another cave of a different type). Maybe have them get the crystal with no problem, then encounter one of the bad people on the way out(not the main one, a lower ranking bad guy that they can beat).

*Now they hear another crystal is way up north, past a large expanse of ocean, but before they can head out they're encountered by a Page of the King(of the first town where the hero came from)

*They head back to the town(which now has more stuff accessable) and find that the king/queen/princess was given some kind of poison and that the antidote will be traded for the crystals. At the meeting place, instead of giving the crystals the king's army attacks the bad army and the enemy general(with the antidote) attempts to escape. So there's a battle feild level where you're chasing down the bad guy, occasionally fighting enemy soldiers, until you trp him in a corner and fight him. You get the antidote. If you make the princess the sick one, you might want to make her the love interest or something.

*Now they head to a port town (after going through a small forest/riverbased level or something)to get a ship and have another encounter with their goofy rivals. After getting a ship they set sail but a seamonster encounters them and shipwrecks them on a mystery island unknown to anyone.

*Here they go through a mystical type level and come to a secret village with a mysterious mystical race of ferries/ apparitions/ elves/ plantpeople/ whatever. Here you learn more in depth about the power fo the crystals, how they were created, why, etc etc. AFTER going through a trial or something to prove you're "the chosen ones". You might also want to add a new character here but if I were you I'd make someone here an optional character only accessable later in the game.

*Your ship is repaired, and you set sail again and encounter the monster again. This time you fight it and win. Then you head to a dock and through a snow forest level to the next town.

*Here, you should add whatever character you DIDNT in the first city(priest or knight). Maybe there's something wrong with the townpeople here. I'd make the king here corrupt as an excuse to make his mansion a level. You get to the king and find he was possessed by some kind of evil thing, which you then fight. Once you fight it, the curse is broken and the town people are normal again.

*Now in this part of the game, if you want any kind of sidequests or optional character quests or minigames or really want to add any reason to revisit the towns(like optional final fights with the goofy rivals), this would be the time to do so. You have a boat and want to return to your king to find out what to do next, so you need not go directly there.

*You go to the king and learn the final crystal's location. You have a romantic moment with the princess. or something. You go to get the final crystal or a savage native-populated land where the center is a volcano where the crystal is.(volcano cave level) Now you have all the crystals except the ones that the main bad guy has.

*You return to the king and find the town burned down, (and fight a level getting to the king's chamber)and the king/queen/princess(all of the above) you find were kidnapped.

*You go to the enemy's keep for the final showdown(some spacey, surreal, level. Probably the longest level, possibley broken into multiple parts with reststops in between) Then you fight the boss, the boss transforms, you fight that. You win, but the king and queen are dead and the princess is dieing. You kiss her and devote love to one another, but she insists you must wish that the crystals never existed so that none of these terrible things that happened, happen. (or something like that)

*You do so and go back to training with grandpa. In town you share a look with the princess, have a dejavu moment, but in this timeline you two dont know each other. Fin.

There's a standard story to go with.

 

[kumoKami]

Wow, I hafta say it's pretty good for a basic concept. Mind if I use it?

 

[~Atlaswing~]

COol! O.O

 

[SephirothSpawn]

Like I said in the previous paragraph, this project comes to show the power of normal RTP and scripts, so there are no scripts that are not included in the RTP. Infact, the only thing that is related to scripts in this project is that I altered the Title Screen a little.
When I do put scripts, they will be in another part of the tutorial series, the part in which will be focused on scripts; But, as I said at the begining, unless I find someone to help with scripts, there propably won't be any part in the tutorial to explain scripts.]

I have secretly got a fair share of my Script Tutorial completed (still far from finished though ), but anyways, I would be willing to help you bring some scripting aspects to this as well. More or less, share some of the ideas in the tutorial I am making, but show it as you are doing, with screens and such.

Because there is so much to do in scripting however, it would probably be better just to cover some of the basics to moderate scripting. I believe that once people get down the basics and seeing it actually happening, then perhaps just reading the rest of the tutorial and seeing example in it will be enough to get people going.

So, if you need any help with that, you can always count on Sephi for some help.

 

[kumoKami]

Wow, I really appraciate this, Seph!
Anyways, as soon as I'm done with Part 1 of the tutorials, I'll see whether Part 2 will be about scripting. I'm thinking of splitting the scripting part into Parts 2 and 3, which will be basic handling and advanced algorithms, maybe. The problem is, I pretty much suck so far at scripting, and if you do all the scripting part for me, it won't really be Spidey's tutorials, eh?

 

[ryanwh]

Go ahead and use it, that's what I wrote it for. Nothing I mentioned should be a problem with the standard RTP I dont think

 

[Lene]

Moved to RMXP Tutorials. :D