How to Create a Simple Turn Based Strategy Plugin for RPG Maker MV

Hey everyone! I'm Jordan, your electronic music producer friend but today I'm here to talk about something you guys haven't talked about on the forum in many years apparently! (https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/inde...e-fire-emblem-ff-tactics-shining-force.47629/)

Making turn based strategy games in RPG Maker MV!

I have thought over the logic and this could actually be implemented within RPG maker MV with no external javascript utilizing simple movement commands, animations, switches and variables but I think it would be most efficient if it was made mostly in javascript and only sent variables to RPG MV for the purpose of moving characters, applying animations, etc.

So what do you guys think? Does anyone want to help me with this? If no one can figure it out in Javascript I may end up just ghetto-rigging RPG MV to make it work with no external javascript calls but.... I'm sure you can guess how that will look in comparison haha!

If you guys want to talk to me about this idea and work on implementing it together I can provide some pseudocode! Simply contact me or respond to this thread!

You don't use that word around here.

Anyhow, if it was simple, it would've been made already. But good luck to you. A lot of people would be interested in a good, functional plugin for something like this.

To clarify a bit: Even the simplest form of strategy battles require a lot of work to implement - months or years of work depending on what exactly you want included.
That is the reason why it doesn't exist yet - there was exactly ONE such system for Ace, and even that was abandoned before the enemy AI could be more than simple approach and attack - after about two years of team development to get to that point.
I don't know if someone is currently working on such a system - I know that several tries have been started, but I haven't heard anything about them after the announcements to work on them and I assume that those tries have been abandoned when the people have realised how much work that is.

If you want to get this, you need to find at least one person who has professional knowledge of logic design and programming who also is willing to spent several hours a week for the next two or three years on this.

Good luck - as said a lot of people would like to have such a system available, it's just that no one so far has succeeded due to the workload on it.

Thank you for both of your responses!

I'll have to disagree that it would take two or 3 years for a grid movement system, attack and health in RPG maker. You could design an entire game from scratch in C++ in less time than that.... at that point why bother with an RPGMV implementation?

I said simple because we don't start with fancy graphics and attacks and terrain modifiers, etc we just start with grid movement, HP and attack and go from there, just like the RPG ACE experiment which was years ago.

RPG MAKER MV has a simple pathing system which would keep enemies pursuing the nearest player. That plus "is player event within 3 tiles of this event" should be good enough for A.I. to start with.

I think everyone wants to make the best game on the planet or the best plugin on the planet and so that's why a lot of things simply never get done.

Maybe they were trying to make it too fancy or too user friendly. I dont want a plugin that does all the work, I just want to see how turn based grid combat can work inside RPG MV.

I'm more interested in getting a little square to attack another square on a grid if its within 3 tiles, and if it's harder to accomplish that in RPGMV than it is literally coding from scratch then I'll go ahead and ask that this thread be deleted.

I was under the impression this could be accomplished with clever logic and by keeping it simple and not overcomplicating it.

I'm not a professional coder but I do have a degree in computer science so I'm surprised my first two responses in this thread were people talking about how hard it is when RPG MV is so much easier to use than say...gamemaker studio or unity. Holy crap try to design a basic grid with some squares for a turn based game in unity and that is what REAL difficulty is.

So when I say simple I mean in relation to all the other things we could be trying instead.

If no one volunteers, I will ghetto rig together a solution with no javascript purely in RPG MV's engine to prove something basic can be done and hopefully that will motivate others to come up with their own solutions which will probably be superior to mine!

Unless you're looking for something vastly different then I'm thinking (unlikely considering the post you linked), there are two such plugins in development:

• Lecode's Tactical Battle System
• Embxii's Tactics System

A third 'Fire Emblem Essentials' was in development, but was dropped with the release of the SRPG maker software (not part of the Maker line). Which is another thing now - many that want a strategy/tactics game have a more direct route.

I've had a particular tactics system in mind myself for some time, planning it as I improve my coding, but I may develop it in Godot rather then MV. Better long term.

So anyway, I'd look into the options around. Hopefully you'll find what you're after!

~ Zephyr

Yes, if you keep it that simple then it can be made much faster. What takes two or three years is implementing different skills and an AI that knows how to use them correctly - and that is what people usually mean on this forum when talking about tactical or strategic combat.

What you describe is more along the lines of an ABS-system (Action Battle System, like Diablo and similiar). Those are easier and there are already a few available (even including real-time interaction instead of waiting for player move).
ABS could also be done by eventing, although that is a bit more tricky and requires you to set some limits up front before starting.

Depends on a lot of factors. 2 - 3 years is easily the time frame needed if you are working full time and/or got family obligations to take care of. However, when I was in HS I did cobble together a grid movement system in about 2 years in C (no ++, just old fashioned C, using structures) using my weeknights + summer vacations. But, that was a time when I didn't have to work, so I just did it inbetween HW. And all it did was it picked a random target that it could reach and took a straight line to it. I never got around to adding environment factors and having it go around things, as it wasn't needed for the simple grids I did. But if you add those in it could have taken longer.

Also there are indie games that have taken WELL over 2 - 3 years. Grimore took 23 years to make (1994 - 2017). Though some of that might be because the developer was trying to make a game which rivaled Wizardry 7 in scope and was working alone.

Still, I'd like to see what you can cobble together. Just remember if it were easy, it would have been done already.

@Jordan_Winslow - a big issue with MV development is that you don't just need a robust understanding of JS to work with it. You need that plus a robust understanding of MV's more peculiar takes on JS idioms and its internals to do much of anything -- and very little of it has high-level documentation.

MV's reputation as easy-to-use really only applies if you're not coding with it. If you are, things get much more difficult very quickly. That being said, it's a fun challenge.

Thanks man this is a great start for me! I downloaded the project file for Lecodes Tactical Battle System and it is incredible. Exactly what I'm looking for!



Edit: Lecode's Tactical Battle System has it all!