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Sounds very unique. Might work though... Depends on how well you can pull it off.

This is basically getting EXP from completing quests.  Games have been doing this since the beginning of the RPG.  Each chapter of your story is a 'quest'.

Or... in RM terms, award the EXP through an event, once the player reaches the per-requisites of the event (completing all of the story events).

Hope this is the right place! Well i am planing on making a pokemon game DEMO in ACE and where you would usually  see the professor talking in a blank a space along with your avatar sprite I thought of making it more like a cutscene. Like in the sample below which is as you can see a mock up version of what I would like. So you would be in the entrance way of the lab instead of a blank space.



What your thoughts on this new aproach? I know I still need to finish thes shoes and hair of the male character.

All grapics made by Tri-Rips  Productions. Inspired off of real pokemon graphics.

Sorry if this is the wrong place, looking at the rules in various sections this seems to be the closest to what I need..

Ignore this if you don't want the whole back story..

So the game in question follows three characters for a short time and their paths intersect and their stories are interwoven so they encounter each other repeatedly. 

Originally it was planned so you could pick which of the three characters you start with, and as you play through each story you get some more history on the other people you met, you understand the world better, and when you finish you get more of the story as a whole by playing all three characters.

Here's the problem. She wants the player to play all three story lines, but isn't sure how to go about doing that.

There's the whole DQ IV, Shining Force: Resurrection, etc approach where you jump back and forth between characters after each segment, but since the story was written with the intent of you playing each one separately there are many parts where the three characters meet but may be on opposing sides or need to act separately so that doesn't seem like the best idea.

There's going with the original plan of letting you pick which of the three characters' story you start with, but she's worried that people may not play all three or may think that it's like some other RPGs where you just pick a class with different abilities for different game play.

I suggested adding something like achievements for completing each story line just to drive the point home you SHOULD play all three characters, but that doesn't cover all the bases either.. Obviously she plans to have the fact you should play all three written clearly in any materials she includes, and in the thread she plans to make for the game, but there are people who only skim over the summary, look at the screenshots, and then may just jump into it rather than looking at the details..

In short..

She wants to know which would be better

1. Letting players pick which character to start with

2. Having one linear path && rewriting the plot points so it works in a linear fashion (would remove some gameplay)

3. Something else you suggest

I think there was something else she wanted o know but I can't remember right now. Hopefully this is it. =x

Thank you for any responses, especially well-thought out ones. =)

Two Features I've been kicking around for my project that I'm planning.

First, a Dual Level system. I've been planning my game based off a DnD campaign I ran for my friends for the last year or so. I wanted to provide some in depth Character customization like is possible with multiclassing in table top dungeons and dragons. The Idea I came up with was providing 2 different aspects of your character to level up, Class level and Character level. Class level would determine what abilities/powers you could use or gear you could equip. It would also affect stat growth. You could have a max class level of 20.  then you would have character level. Character level would prompt stat growth and unlock abilities for use. for example at character level 1 an archer class would have access to Precise Shot. a character level 2 with archer class could have access to precise shot and piercing arrow. Now if an archer class when he class leveled up took a level in rogue or something they would get access to the abilities that a rogue with character leve 2 would be offered as well.

As to my other idea its a battle system. If something similar has been scripted somewhere that you know of has been scripted somewhere please point me to it. My planned battle system is close to a traditional rpg turn based system but I have never liked the lack of tactics this type of gameplay produced. So my concept involves instead of the traditional line vs line of fighters, two files. 3 in the front rank, two in the rear. if the front rank is full you cant hit the rear with a melee attack. (provides for true tanks.) if there are 2 up in front and 2 in back you can attack the back rank but it would allow a reduced damage auto attack of opportunity from your own allies. There are some more intricacies but those would be class related. I'm just looking for feedback on the concepts at this time. Thanks in advance!

Okay, here goes my feat-- WAITTTTT!!!! THERE IS SOME COMMENTING TO BE DONE!1. I know this is a little y to be said, but if we're just going to share our features, this topic loses any sense. Am I right? Say yes if you don't care, or don't know what to say.

@BardofPhoenix: Well, it seems nice, though I have some questions. Looking at Neverwinter Nights, for example, which is pretty much based on DnD game mechanics, there you have characters with two classes (even three). Each time you level up, you choose what class you want to level up. For the character level the game uses the sum of all class levels (Warrior6+Bard2+Archer1=9 for example). So both total (character) level and class level are leveled up from experience gain.

My question is, what is involved when levelling the class and the character sepparately? RO's approach was Job experience and Character experience. But it was because you were able to "change job" (get promoted). Is it possible in your game to do something like that? Or does amount of classes (if it's possible to be multi-class) have an impact on the "class exp gaining rate"?

As for the battle system, seems nice. Front and back positions. Don't remember seeing anything like you say, but it doesn't seems complicated to do. The most important part is making the position stuff (rows?), defining who/what is front and back row, and if there is any way of changing a character's row. After that is diving into the enemy's random target selection method and defining those situations you mentioned.

Anyway, you need a script. Look first for the row/position things, and I could help you with the second part :p .

@Acetonide (and his friend): There is this game called Wild ARMs. You start the game, and you're prompted with a character selection. A boy, a man and a girl. First time I played it, I thought I was selecting my main, and the others... well maybe I was going to meet them later or something. But then I finished the girl's story, and was prompted again to select one of the others. This meant I was going to play the three stories.

Thing is, you can explain it shortly, or just surprise the player. I didn't found myself annoyed by it, and a lot of people probably don't care neither, most people that know WildARMs love the game.

But here are some things you and your friend can do:

1. Develop each story sepparately. This guy lives in town X, goes to cave Y, and then goes to town G. Girl lives in academy A, where she finds secret place B, and then decides to go to town G. Guy2 goes to ruins V, explores it, and then decides to go to town G. All of them meet finally at G, and everyone happy.

2. Make interactions as scenes or "scripted" segments.

The scene, for example. Guy is walking by this forest, and in a certain unavoidable place, he sees Girl. He salutes her, and that's it. On Girl's gameplay, same thing from Girl's perspective. The player will always see the scene, and will not change stuff from it, so it will not differ from a story to the other.

If you consider making Guy and Girl to join for a moment, then make it a linear segment. Also consider being careful with treasures.

3. The most difficult decision. Make first played story decisions to have impact on the second story you choose and so on. This is the hardest, you need to branch your stories, save all decisions from the other stories, and plan ahead what effects can those previously played segments have on the actual one. In essence it's similar to making a branching storyline.

If what your friend was asking was about how to make these story parts to be mandatory, it's pretty simple. Activate a switch each time you end a story segment, and make the "select a story" screen flexible so it detects what stories have you played, and if there is no story left, the game finally continues!

@Mooshrago: Well, it's nice. It's a more detailed introduction.

And there it goes!!

Orochii Zouveleki

Thanks for the feedback! I liked the Idea of the class  and character leveling separatly due to I wanted to cap my character multiclassing at 20. However In the length of game I am planning, a level 20 cap overall would be either a) too far between level ups and would make grinding levels about as fun as it is going from 80 to 90 in WoW. or B) have them hit peak too early in the game. The way I have it laid out the Player could still grind levels if they wanted with a reasonable amount of progress, while still limiting the amount of abilities they had access too. I was thinking something along the lines of every 3 character levels would result in a class level. that would make you hit your full arsenal of ability options around level 60 (a reasonable sort of number) and still a bit more to earn by leveling. And you are right, Fair is fair. I should offer some feedback of mine own.

@Acetonide: Honestly I feel your friend would be best served in cliff hangers. At points where characters meet PURPOSEFULLY with hold crucial details. Make the players wonder what character x was off doing and how the heck did that character end up where he is now? After all how did he end up battling an army of demons in shiny golden armor when the last time i saw him he was a clown performing for my entertainment at my royal birthday?! I dont know about you but not being told something is the quickest way to make me work to figure out what. And as I only really game to be told a story, i applaud your friend's notion of writing not one but THREE stories for me.

I've had RPG Maker VX Ace for awhile but been humming and hawing about what to make, when finally I dug up an old project idea from my youth that I decided to expand. Basically it's a concept borrowed and expanded from Ultima IV: Quest for the Avatar where you have 8 virtues you must strive to become the shining exemplar of to become the avatar. Basically I wanted to take the same concept of different virtues (IE: honor, humility, compassion, etc.) and create a sliding scale with their polar opposites (shame, greed, selfishness, etc.) I haven't ironed out an exact number and I don't want to completely rip off Ultima's virtues but I wanted a game where the end goal was less well defined, where you could become the shining paladin-like avatar of good, or become something else, I don't want pure black and white morality though, so here's my idea:

Basically I want your reputation to be independent based upon social class. Instead of becoming idolized/vilified in a specific town, you can gain/lose favour for each action you do with the royal/noble class, the middle class (bankers, business owners, shopkeepers), the lower class (craftsmen and serfs), and have organizations separate from class such as illegals (bandits and other outlaws), renegades (cults & rebels), religious institutes, and the like.

So for an example, let's say you decide to play a Robin Hood character, you steal only from the wealthy upper class, which makes you vilified in their eyes and lowers your justice virtue down. Then you give your stolen wealth to the poor class which makes you idolized amongst them and raises your compassion virtue up.

So overall I'm looking at making a game that is less based on the idea of a "grand quest" and more on action and reaction. I have a lot of the basics to iron out for sure, but I guess my real question is if people feel this kind of game is a good fit for the RPG Maker Engine (I'm already counting on it being very script heavy) and any kind of suggestions or advice for how best to implement the system?

Questie: I know the old addage of "if you have to ask it's probably wrong", but I've honestly never run into this conundrum before... Is it necro-posting if the topic is old but pinned/stickied? o_O

@aozgolo Rather intriguing, though to be honest it only sounds like a slight deviation from the tried-and-true formula "be loved/meh'd/hated by a town or city". And that automatically brings to my mind the cannon Fallout games to mind (including 3 and NV, which I actually liked despite it's derpiness) where your actions directly affected whether you were praised by the locals or run out of municipal limits on-sight. 

What I would what to know is what are the consequences of being praised/vilified? Would nobility hunt you down in the streets if you really started ticking them off, but the working class can spirit you into hideouts and lay their lives on the line for your sake if you raise their standards of living?

On the flipside, would you get more money for jobs if you suck up to the ruling class and have to pay less for equipment by helping merchants with their "little problems", but be ostracized by the lowly peasants, possibly even to the point where you're one of the first they put up against the wall when the revolution inevitably begins?

I guess what I want to say is that "cause" is all well and good, but it doesn't do much at all without "effect" to back it up :3

If a person is gaining power, those in power would keep a close eye.  Staying in power means destroying any threats to your power.

Yeah, that much would be obvious, at least for intelligent tyrannical rulers.

What I'm more wondering is how the groups would interact, and what the consequences of poking that balance in the eye would be. In general, Nobility/Royalty may rule the country and make all the regulations and laws, but merchants and dealers (the "middle" class) kept the city and its population afloat with cash flow, while the lower class bore the brunt of providing services and labor. Rebellions generally don't start spontaneously; they start when the upper class pushes the lower classes too far and demanding too much from them. See the French Revolution, the Russian October Revolution, and of course the American Revolution for some different but similar examples. 

Conversely, a good ruler (or at least an intelligent one) will treat their people well enough that they won't bite the hand that feeds, and can push them harder before they'll break because "hey, everything else is fine and dandy! Just that one little problem... but we can live with that." Humans are amazing creatures that can, with the proper motivation or threat, convince themselves that anything is acceptable. See Nazi Germany and Soviet-era Russia for good (if cliche) examples.

So let's say that you've just entered a major city, which is known for its huge dissonance between the noble classes and the serf classes, and are immediately shaken-down by guards for cash.

You're options are...

Choice 1: Give in & pay the "fee"

If you bribe the guard to go somewhere else, your actions put them in a slightly-better mood; alternatively, you might offer to do some favor(s) for them to get them off your back even more (no, not like that, gez). In the latter case, you might be able to do as you please, as long as they don't directly catch you in the act - in which case they'll HAVE to rough you up to save face. This also has the passive (and currently unknown) effect of pleasing the nobility, whom watch you from a distance just to see whether or not you might be of further use.

Choice 2: Refuse to pay and start a fight

If you start a fight, however, that gets the attention of the peasants, and possibly some upstart rebellion, and regardless of whether you get away or not you may have the leader of said uprising contacting your character. Conversely, this also puts you in the spotlights for the city's ruler/rulers, as they don't want said uprising to happen, so you become a target.

Choice 3: Refuse to pay, but talk them out of taking drastic measures

You talk your way out of it. While this doesn't make the guards happy, and the peasants aren't riled up, it might get the interest of a nearby merchant, whom might want to hire you to "convince" someone to pay their dues. Regardless of whether they're telling the truth or not, if you complete said job and other jobs, then they lower their prices and/or start bringing out the REAL good stuff for sale.

If you fail, though, then the game should probably default to the "fight" option, maybe also slightly changing the resulting dialogue (via switches and branches) to reflect that you didn't want to pick a fight but were forced into one.

I love games that offer more than just the "good-evil" choices, so naturally this kind of  idea of having competing virtues appeals to me. Also keep this in mind, however: the nobility honestly believe they're doing right by raising taxes and imposing laws that might seem silly, controversial, or otherwise pointless in some manner. Only the insane or the inhuman do anything for "evil's sake". This is probably the most easily-missed point that stems from real life; some rulers become deluded and start doing things, but very, very rarely do they do so simply for the sake of being evil or becoming the bad guy. How everyone else views their actions makes it seem that way.

Right now, I'm working on a multiplayer battle system where two opponents basically play "chicken" with each other to see who blinks first.

The system works like this:

You and your opponent simultaneously select battle actions, which are Melee, Ranged, Block, and Dodge without seeing what the other has selected.

After action selection, you have a random number of seconds between 5 and 15 to either hit a button on your gamepad, "swerving," or do nothing, "staying the course."  If you both stay the course, you crash, and both of you lose something (in the case that you both selected Melee, both of your weapons could break),  If you hit your button and swerve, you gain a bonus to whatever battle action you selected based on how close you were to the maximum time on the random timer when you swerved.  So basically, the more each side pushes their luck, the better for them, but if both sides push too much, they both stand the chance to suffer some catastrophic penalty. 

The game in question here is going to be a Dokapon Kingdom-like with some elements of territory acquisition (similar to the board game Risk), so it's possible that what happens in the chicken game could affect your ability to wage war as well.

Does this sound appealing, or is it too complex?

I want an opinion on this class based system.

The idea is to allow the character's customization while still retaining a character's uniqueness. I'm thinking of this system because my game will be partly sim dating with around 8 girls already being dateable (excludes the hero himself and guest characters), so I don't want to add unnecessary swarm of characters to be underdevelopped during the plot.

In the game, the starting characters will only have one job each. In a section of the game, the characters will be blessed wiith the power of the crystal, which "unlock" the characters' potential classes according to their interests and fighting styles. Every character aside from the protagonist (for plot reason) will then gain two new classes, each with its own level and promotion growth at level 20. The idea is that the player can either find a comfortable class combination to play through the game, or grind everything to the max, so that classes can be exchangable depending on a situation.

Each of the characters' three classes will have its own set of ability commands and stat boosts. For example, A Cleric will get +10 Resistance and the "White Magic" command, but is unable to use a bow and arrows that the class Archer allows, while Archer will be unable to cast spells at all. Throughout the game, the player will be given a rare magical item that adds extra command or passive ability to a class. For example, the player can have a Cleric with an ability to equip a bow and use the Bowtech command; on the other hand, the player can let an archer with "Bowtech" and "Aim" commands to use white magic.

Here's the table of what I have brainstormed:



Any opinion is welcomed. Thank you in advance.

@Yanen: Firstly, is this going to be a chief mechanic of the game, or a minigame of sorts? if its a major part of your game... I dunno. Never been much for games of chance. The random timer aspect especially sounds like it'd be unnecessary and a real mood-killer, since it then comes down to pure luck as to who would ever swerve first, if at all. And I could see some people zerging it and simply "swerve" early to always "win" something.

I'd say ditch the timer and have it rely more upon reflexes, with some random effects thrown in to shake players up as they progress, like having the screen suddenly shake for no reason (make it harder to see at a crucial moment), have your character's speed slow down/speed up randomly at higher levels, things like that. I can't see how putting in a random timer would really add anything to the gameplay but frustration, though.

Otherwise, I might at least give it a whirl. 

@arekpowalan: I'm mostly confused as to why the Medic girl gets an Archer class mixed in... as well as whatever a "Caller" is (animal trainer?). Also, only one person with "Analyze"? I hope that won't be a major function of the game (such as in SMT games where it becomes crucial to find the enemy's weaknesses to take them down before they flatten you). Just saying :p

That aside, the system mostly reminds me a bit of the Final Fantasy Tactics games, though with just three classes per (non-)main character instead of a half-dozen or more. I like the idea of having variety within limits, so you could mix and match without being over-powered (and, hopefully, not under-powered either). It seems like it'd be a good match, as long as you could balance the sub-classes enough to make each one appealing.

Hmm... this is more of a discussion about class balance and such but what are your thoughts in a specifically anti-mage job class? This is on a project where the job system is similar to FFV where you characters can change jobs anytime they like. So I've created two job classes, the Arcanist and the Manabreaker, there were specifically designed to do well against magical enemies. The Arcanist is supposed to be a mage that does well against other mages, while the Manabreaker is supposed to be an assassin-like job class that is best against mages. Essentially, their spells and stats are all going to be focused around high magic defense, magic evasion, magic reflection, silence, and spells that do well against mana-hungry/high mana foes. 

Aside from that, anyone knows a good name for the anti-magic assassin? IMO Manabreaker sounds too Blizzard-y. I tried using Void Walker as a shout-out to another game, but it still doesn't ring as well.

@ArchaicSpoon: Hmm...

Magi-Cutter? Stream-slip? Manassin?

Wiz Slayer? Runic Crusher?

Muffin Thief ?!

I dunno. I'm lazy.  :distrust:

I was actually going for Templar, though it sounds more of a paladin-ish job class than what an anti-mage would be. So I'll stick with Manabreaker for a while =P

But has anyone here attempted to create a character that is specifically an anti-mage in their RPG? I'm kind of curious.

I was curious as to what people think of the current battle System for my game.

When you enter a battle you go to the battle scene like usual, but instead of actors staying in one spot the whole battle they can move around the scene.  You can only attack enemies in range and if a battler is out of range they have to move closer first.  Some attackers have larger attack ranges (like for bows) and spells have very large ranges.  This system will have area of effect attacks too.  This system will incorporate free turn battle from yanfly, battle symphony from Yami and will use graphics from PVGames.

Please leave feedback.  :)

Is there a reason beyond "range" that the battlers need to move around? Is movement akin to dodging enemy attacks/finding strategic weak points? Otherwise I'd just leave the battlers where they start, and let the battle system sort out the rest. Or perhaps have characters move at the start of battle, so the player has to strategize where they drop their peeps (something akin to Valkyria Chronicles? (gameplay video link EDIT: derp, forgot the link XD)

That aside, this sounds like a system that gives a lot of advantages to pure-magic characters, and even a bit to bow/gun ones as well - thus would make it hugely unbalanced in the late-game, where (I would assume) magic would be at its strongest. In terms of examples for how not to handle melee/magic balance, think in terms of the Fable series (seriously, late-game you pretty much get infinite magic... the games are a snore-fest by then ~.~). What disadvantages are there for your magic users/ranged attackers?

Even if you love and adore magic or likewise spontaneous elemental/psychic/whatever distance attacks (as I know some people do), remember that not everyone will see it that way. Some may want to close ranks and beat an enemy to death, or plink away from a distance with a longbow or rifle. While you should make a game that is suited to your tastes, don't forget to give other players something different (and feasible) to keep things interesting :p

how and when will they move? will it be 1 move per turn (so practically turning it into like a tactical battle system of some sorts), or is it free movement?


either way, make sure to balance long ranged commands to ensure that short range commands still has a use, since they can easily turn any player into "MASH LONG RANGE COMMANDS!!!"