Assistance/Advice Needed, Please

First thing is first...this is my first post so please excuse any mistakes I may make and pardon me for sounding like a complete ninny.

Okay, here's the thing, I'm a writer with absolutely no game development experience. The most I ever did in game making was create a big version of Tic-Tac-Toe in the fifth grade. Anyways, after a couple years of writing, I started to get the feeling of wanting my stories to be told in some sort of visual medium since all have been doing was writing books...long story short, I bought the RPG Maker help me accomplish that goal.

Now thanks to my proud personality, I decided to see how far I can go in the program by myself  before hitting the wall....so I've hit the wall and honestly I didn't do all that much. I made a few maps (with help from the sample maps),a few sprites using http://www.geocities.jp/kurororo4/looseleaf/, and did some stuff with characters and classes. That being said, I have reached the point where I have to ask for help.

Before I can say exactly what I need, I should say what I got to make this easier, sorry if this get wordy. Like I said earlier, I'm a writer so I already have the story of the game down. I Originally wrote the story out with plans of doing animated shorts, but that fell through so I converted the story to fit more of a game setting; adding more fights, quest, ect. Of Course with the story I have the characters, setting, and plot all figured out...but that's pretty much where my set of skills stop being useful. I mean I know what I want, but the struggle comes in making those tings happen. I've looked up a couple of tutorials and know some of the basics, I even manged to make a few events.

So here's what I really need help with, first I don't understand how switches work; I read about them but i'm just not getting it. Next I need help with the whole leveling thing. I made my own classes (Warrior, Knight, Rogue, Assassin, Brawler, Berserker, Archer, Hunter, Mage, Sage, Healer, White Mage) 12 total and again the problem comes from knowing what I want to do, but not how to do it. I have the specifications of what each class is like and what they can do, but I don't know how to put that in the game.

Anyways to stop this from being a hundred page essay, I'll phrase my request as simply as I can....Anybody willing to hold my hand and walk by my side to help me complete this project? Any assistance will be helpful big or small, and you're feeling extra generous maybe you can form a team with me and we can do this together...in short....HEEEEELLLLP!

If you need any farther information, just ask and I'll gladly provide as much detail as you need.   

Welcome! It's always nice to see new faces here.

It sounds to me like it would be really beneficial to look through many of the tutorials available. There are many different formats - video, written, even a few playable tutorials. I personally like this one for an overview of switches. http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/14799-ace-switches-demotutorial/%C2 Andar's beginner stuff is supposed to be really helpful as well. http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/14727-a-starting-point-for-new-users-v08/

To answer one question - switches are pretty much what they sound like. Think of a light switch. It can be either on or off. If it is on, something happens (the light comes on). Same in the game - if it is on, something (whatever you set in an event) happens. It's a simple concept, but implementing it properly is a different story as your event gets more complex. It takes practice.

Leveling - I am no help on.

Ha ha! This made me laugh. I'm a new game-maker as well, and I just got the hang of switches.

Basically, switches are literally like a light switch. There is no programming involved, no special things needed to make it do what you want.

What I have been using switches for recently is for events that I don't want to happen again, like opening a treasure chest or having a conversation with someone.

My favorite switch to use is a control switch. Here is a simple scenario in which a control switch is used. Opening a treasure chest.

1. Get the event set up that you want

2. Program the treasure chest to open and get the loot

3. double click and then click control switch(name it whatever you want, it doesn't matter)

4. then create a new event page using the button at the top of the event edit screen

5. go to the upper left area of the new page and turn on your new switch

6. Then put something like "the treasure chest is empty."

From now on, whenever you click the treasure chest after the first time, it will display 'the chest is empty' instead of opening and getting loot over and over. Make sense?

My characters don't level up, so I haven't figured everything out, but I hope this helps with switches! Self switches are not so different from control switches. What really helped me were youtube tutorials and video tutorials on here about it. Best of luck!!!

Thanks for the link mlogan, i'll be cheeking that out.

Jasminedragon, How is it that you made it so you're characters don't level up? If I can't figure out the whole leveling thing, I may have to go down that route.  

The "Switches" are in two separate classes;

1. "Self switches" are contained entirely within the event itself. These are the type that you would want for chests.
2. "Switches" are global instead and can be linked to as many events as you want. These are the type you would want if you want multiple events(such as NPCs) to change their behavior when you accomplish something. Like when you beat a boss and the townsfolk start calling you a hero or some such.

Variables will also be used a LOT in making a game. They can be a pain in the neck to grasp the basics of, but once you do they are very easy to use.

This tutorial will help a HUGE amount in figuring them out. When you download it, open the "game.exe" file and play through it. At the same time open the "game.rvproj2" file in the editor. That way as the tutorial game points something out you can look it up in the editor and see exactly how it was laid out and executed. (If you "playtest" it through the editor instead of opening the "game.exe" directly then you can't use the editor to look stuff up without quitting.)

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/10099-variables-guide/

In all honesty, I just didn't apply it! I'm working on deleting it altogether, but I don't have much experience with it yet :/ it won't do anything if you don't set up criteria to make your player level up, as far as I know! When I get it figured out, I'll be sure to let you know unless someone gets to your question before me. :)

By the way, if you are also looking to make custom sprites, I love to use paint.net. It makes it really easy, and it's free! From one newb to another ;D

Cadh20000 Thanks so much for the clarification on switches. Now I actually know the difference!

Glad I could help!

@kolert43 if you didn't want your characters to level up the easiest an simple way would be to make it so that your monsters do not give out experience when they are defeated, If your character never gains experience they will not level up...

However I don't think that is a good rout to go as it will take a lot out of  game and make it very difficult to show any progression in a character.

In general levelling up will take a long time to understand and balance well, I myself am fairly new , I have been working on my project now for 5 months and honestly It is one of the most grinding aspects of making a game but very necessary.

The basics are : Your character defeats a monster - Gains experience - Levels up - Gains stats/learns skills.

To get all that to balance becomes complex as there are many issues in play such as

1. Monster stats

2. Experience gained from monsters

3. Skills the monsters have against ones you learn

4. The type of class your character is

I could go on.

I think time and patience is something you will need on the levelling issue.

I would be more than happy to help you in any way with your project. Just message me anytime and i will see where I can help or if you need a map or idea or anything, Making games is great so i love helping people in any way i can.

Thank you all for the help, I'm applying it as I can.