[RPGM] I know it looks stupid but

[Stompai]

As the title said, I know what I'm showing looks kinda ridiculous.

And it indeed looks like I took something too much for dinner.
But wait ! It's a just a testing project.

So basically, I'm on my slow but steady way to create a game with RPG Maker MV
I've been mostly getting used to the software, doing random *cough* practice *cough*. Trying to make it work like I want.
I've been busy with trying to make the different basic functions along with some plugin to create a hud / menu ect that would fit the Ideas I have for my game and I'm slowly getting the hang of it. But it will still need a lot of fine tuning.

So while I was bored tonight I decided to stop for a bit with this and see what I'd be able to do for the graphics, map, visual effect, etc.
And while losing myself in countless forums and other random tutorial about random subject more or less related to rpg maker engine.
I caught some idea here and there and saw that there was this graphic thing called parallaxes, layers, and such.
Saw that it was actually possible to kinda "get rid" of the pixel art part of rpgm. Going as far as creating isometrics 3d games like the old diablos.

So I tried my hands at it and ..... this is the test result...
Okay I'm not proud of it, I was tired.
I just caught the first image I saw, spliced it in a tileset, and re-put it in place for the ground layer of the game.
And it works.
Now the thing is, I think that using this, along with this parallaxes and layer options, and with a lot of work. I'd kinda be able, for example to create the maps of my game using daz3d for example.
For example again, I create a full village in daz3d, isometric pov. I keep only the ground layer and export it to the software I'm using, I then add the "same layer as the player" like walls, decoration objects, tree trunk, lake. And set them as collision so the player can't walk through them.
Then I set the "top" layer, the one above the player so that when the character go behind a tree for example he will be hidden under the branch and leaves.
Then I can set other layers like fog, rain, light effect maybe, animations, anything I could.

The final result would be similar to this (at least I'd hope so)

This was made with rpg maker mv.
I know it look reeeaaaaly far from my deadpool bullshit, but it's actually possible.
So I'll give it a try to see how it could look.
But it will take a lot of time, because that kinda mean creating everything from scratch instead of using pre-made assets from rpgm...

What do you guys think ?

 

[PirateWorks]

https://f95zone.to/threads/treasure-of-nadia-v19021-nlt-media.38582/

It does something similar to what your idea is.

Also, RPGMV has up,down,left,right movement. You would need some really heavy scripting to make the diagonal walking pattern work for your isometric idea. Goodluck with the project though.

 

[Kinderalpha]

It's important to have fun on your way to making a game and this is a perfect example of that. Sometimes these fun and expiremental things we do lead to interesting and compelling discoveries we later buff into our actual core game. Not stupid at all!

Plus, Deadpool's the shit.

 

[polywog]

If you aren't going to use the main feature of RPGM, why use it at all.

 

[Stompai]

https://f95zone.to/threads/treasure-of-nadia-v19021-nlt-media.38582/

It does something similar to what your idea is.

Also, RPGMV has up,down,left,right movement. You would need some really heavy scripting to make the diagonal walking pattern work for your isometric idea. Goodluck with the project though.

Yeah I've already played ntl's previous game, lust epidemic, quite fun ^^ never found the time to play treasure of nadia but i'll find the time some day.

Yeah I'm also aware about rpgm original movement system, linked with their original character-sheet template.
I've already planned to use GAVL's plugin which allow 8 direction movement :

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for both player and npc.
I also have a character sheet template in a 8*24 format with 3 different animation (idle, walking, sprint) each in 8 frames for all 8 directions.

It's important to have fun on your way to making a game and this is a perfect example of that. Sometimes these fun and expiremental things we do lead to interesting and compelling discoveries we later buff into our actual core game. Not stupid at all!

Plus, Deadpool's the shit.

Haha yeah, I couldn't help laughing out loud when seeing the result, and part of it was joy because I managed to do what I wanted by myself.
Trying to start creating a game like this alone will probably be a lot of work but I know I'll have fun trying to do it ^^

Godspeed dev. This would definitely improve your game.

On a side note, Roundscape Adorevia and The Dark Lord's Trip also have custom maps (Logan

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about this).

Roundscape adoveria, one of the best rpgm made game of the indie market ^^ only downside, if it can be called one, is that some of the CG are commissioned from different artists so not really consistent all along the game. But they are indeed a big inspiration for me on how they use the engine to make a beautiful game, their level is far above mine but I'll do my best

 

[Stompai]

If you aren't going to use the main feature of RPGM, why use it at all.

The main feature of rpgm being ?

 

[kamti]

Is here somebofy, who managed to read through the post of topic starter?

 

[Stompai]

Is here somebofy, who managed to read through the post of topic starter?

haha yeah sorry about that, it was mostly a post related to technical part and possibilities of rpg maker ^^'
To make it a bit more understandable it was mostly related to this :

Like how it's possible to create a map with several graphical layers (some layers for the ground, some at the same level as the player, some above the player, and then more layers for things like animated fog, light effects, etc)

And if it was possible to create these layers with .jpg pictures, instead of using the tile editor and pixel art resources.
I've been doing tests with the engine, plugins, several softwares, etc, to see if it was possible.

Here's a quick picture to show what I'd want to do.

I used random images to do this, right now there is only 1 layer (the ground the player walk on) but later I'm planning to create my maps myself a bit like this.
Right now I'm mostly working on setting the game's UI

Hope it's more understandable

 

[fidless]

Just to take note. 4000x4000+ pictures will not load on some machines.
So plan your parallax/character sheets accordingly. Yep grid free doodads are pretty good. Using this plugin will slow down menu opening, closing, but doesn't affect the game that way once exported. Also, find a plugin on rpgm forums that fix sprite jitter when walking. Do not go over 1280x720 resolution. UI will look strange, performance suffers and anyway, smaller pictures will reduce game size.
Try to avoid TDDP plugins. Galvs layer plugin and qtouch for mouse etc. are best atm. There are also other more advanced layer plugins that let you make maps on different software, not sure about that.

 

[Stompai]

Just to take note. 4000x4000+ pictures will not load on some machines.
So plan your parallax/character sheets accordingly. Yep grid free doodads are pretty good. Using this plugin will slow down menu opening, closing, but doesn't affect the game that way once exported. Also, find a plugin on rpgm forums that fix sprite jitter when walking. Do not go over 1280x720 resolution. UI will look strange, performance suffers and anyway, smaller pictures will reduce game size.
Try to avoid TDDP plugins. Galvs layer plugin and qtouch for mouse etc. are best atm. There are also other more advanced layer plugins that let you make maps on different software, not sure about that.

I had no idea about some bigger picture not loading on some machines ^^'. I'll try not to exceed huge sizes and worst case, I'll split them in smaller sized pictures and put them next to each others in the editors.

I'm already using Galvs plugin both for layer mapping, character sheets, animation and diagonal movement.
I also already have a character sheet for characters (main actor at least) who works correctly for 8 frames animation in all direction, I'll see how it goes once I use that as a template to make my own characters.

I'm using only 1 TDDP plugin at the moment to allow pictures movement using plugin command instead of orginal engine's command. Mostly for moving speed of pictures, which was limited to 999 frames and was too fast for me. There doesn't seems to be any conflict with other plugins for now.

I'm not yet using grid free doodads but I'll probably do so in the future mostly for small animation like doors opening.

Yeah I also noticed for the UI in 1920x1080 resolution, these black borders on the side. I made sure users could resize the window as they want and added the option to turn the game fullscreen to remove them.
As for performances,game size, etc, I've been pondering over these issues a lot before selecting the resolution.
For now I'll keep it to 1920x1080 and I'll see how it goes, I'm not a fan of stretching images, making them look blurry so I'd rather start with higher resolution pictures and shrink them if needed.

For the more advanced plugin, I suppose it's Tiled which allow to make the map on related "Tiled" software. I've tried the Tiled plugin but I realized that it created unnecessary troubles for me and what I want to do.
It indeed allow to create maps, and even work as a complete new editor, instead of using the original rpg maker one. but the issue is that it require to plan your events and their position also in this external software.
this plugin works better for pure tilesets way of creating maps and it didn't fit with what I want to do ^^'
It was also in complete conflict with any kind of camera commands or plugins.

Thanks a lot for all the advices ^^ They'll definitely be useful

 

[fidless]

Oh, also get used to yep call event plugin. It's a must for well-organized game.

 

[redknight00]

I'm using only 1 TDDP plugin at the moment to allow pictures movement using plugin command instead of orginal engine's command. Mostly for moving speed of pictures, which was limited to 999 frames and was too fast for me. There doesn't seems to be any conflict with other plugins for now.

You can use $gameScreen.movePicture() for that, the scripts are not limited by the editor's digits for the most part (you can't use wait automatically with that though).

 

[Stompai]

You can use $gameScreen.movePicture() for that, the scripts are not limited by the editor's digits for the most part (you can't use wait automatically with that though).

Thanks ^^ I wanted to use that mainly to create an "animated" border to the game