What is a "Row"? In many RPGs, you can assign whether you want your Actors to be in the Front or Back Rows of the lineup. Typically, those in the Front row deal more damage, but also take more damage, whereas those in the back row are the opposite. The front row is usually reserved for melee attackers like Knights and Thieves, and the back row is usually reserved for Mages.
Given that RPG Maker MV now has a side-view battle system, I think it only makes sense to have a customizable row system. In this request, I will outline how I think this should be done, to allow for the greatest range of functionality for RPG Maker MV developers.
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Here is an example of what the final visual result of the plugin will look (Please excuse my terrible Photoshop skills):
Allies in the back row would be spaced about one character length behind those in the front row. Likewise, enemies could be designated as having rows too.
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In the Plugin's options, there would be a number of settings to customize how you want your Row system to function exactly. Some games have different ways of handling it, after all. Here's some examples of the kind of settings that could be available:
Enable Enemy Rows: On/Off - Choose whether you want the Row system to apply to enemies as well. If turned on, each Troop would require a Plugin Command on the event page that would indicate which enemy is in which Row. For example "Front 1 2 3 Back 4 5 6" where each number matches the ID number of the enemy in the troop.
Melee Can Target Back Row: On/Off - Choose whether weapons and skills which are NOT designated as Long Range (more on that below) can target enemies in the back Row at all. If turned on, you will be unable to target them with melee weapons/skills until all Front Row foes are defeated.
Back Row Defensive Modifier - Set values for how much you want damage, accuracy and critical rate to be reduced when attacking foes in the back Row without Long Range weapons/skills. This also applies to Actors as well.
Back Row Offensive Modifier - The same as above, but for offense.
Long Range Skill Types - Designate by Skill Types ID which Skills are automatically classified as Long Range. For example, you may want the Magic Skill Type to always ignore an enemy's Row. Placing the <Short Range> Note Tag in a specific Skill's notebox will override this setting.
Long Range Weapon Types - Same as above, but for weapons. You want all your bows to always hit at normal damage regardless of the enemy's Row? This is how you do that.
Short Range Skill Types - Similarly, if you want all of your Special Skill Type skills to be affected by Rows, then you would add them here. As before, putting in the <Long Range> tag into a specific skill's notebox will override this setting.
Short Range Weapon Types - You know the drill by now. If you have a Knife weapon type, you'll want most of them to be short range. But there's always the <Long Range> notetag override of course. What if you wanted to make a Throwing Knives weapon that counts as long range? That's what the override is for!
Skill Types Unaffected By Weapon Range - Designate by Skill Types ID which skill types have no bearing on your weapon's range in order to be used. For example, if your Rod is short range but your magic is always long range, then you would add your magic to this list. Placing the <Range Affected> tag in a Skill's notebox will override this setting.
Range Conflict: Short/Long/Skill/Weapon/Null - If your Weapon and skill have conflicting range and none of the above settings can resolve a solution to what range should be used, then it will turn to this setting. Short makes conflicting skills count as short range. Long makes them count as long range. Skill makes the skill's range take priority, while Weapon does the opposite. Null will cause you to be unable to use a skill on a target if the range would conflict.
Items Affected by Row: On/Off - Chooses whether or not items will be affected by row. For example, you probably want a Potion to be usable no matter what, but for an offensive item like a Bomb, you might want to use the <Range Affected> note tag.
Change Row in Battle: On/Off - If turned on, allows your party members to swap between Rows during battle by adding a Row command to the battle menu.
Change Row Takes Turn: On/Off - If turned on, that character's turn will end if you make a swap between Rows. If turned off, they will be able to take another action.
Row in Main Menu: On/Off - If turned on, adds an option to the main menu to manage your party's Rows.
Indent Back Row in Menu: On/Off - If turned on, indents the face graphic of allies in the back row in the main menu.
Row Name - Specifies the in-game name of Rows.
And now for some more note tags:
<Add: Long Range> - Used on States. Makes all of your character's actions count as Long Range while the state is active.
<Add: Short Range> - See above, but for Short Range.
<Disable: Long Range> - Used on States. Prevents the use of any Long Range actions.
<Disable: Short Range> - See above, but in reverse.
<Distant Range> - Used on Enemies and States. Makes the affected unable to be attacked by Short Range moves no matter what. For example, you might use it for an enemy that is flying outside of where your characters are standing.
<Normal Attack: Long Range> - Used on Enemies. Makes their normal attack count as long range. Normal attacks are considered short range by default.
And that should just about wrap it up. I think that something like this is essential for a side-view system, and I'm sure a lot of people's projects would be greatly improved by having it.