Experienced RM users vs. Rm makers that just started out.

Started by RoseSkye, March 21, 2009, 01:24:53 pm

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RoseSkye

It's no secret; The more you tinker with the program the better you get.

I'm sure if you look back over time at the previous games you made with RM maker the better your next games have looked. Yet, those who are starting off (usually) lack the experience of tinkering around.  I'm sure once you didn't know what a switch was (I can't remember my first time since my first rm maker was rm 95 back in 2000-ish). I do remember the evented ABS and making efforts to duplicate such a marvel.

Could you remember things that you've progressed with as you gotten more experience?
Could you remember your first game?
Was it bad?
If you could meet yourself in the past, what would you tell him/her to improve on?
------------------------------------


Things that I've gotten better with.
1. Event systems.
2. Mapping.
3. Story Direction.
4. Screen tones.

Things I had a hard time grasping completely without experience.
1. Variables
2. Event systems
3. Screen tones

My first game was believe it or not; Legend of Harpine; Chapters of Time (for rpg maker 95 / rpg maker 2000/ rpg maker 2003).

On rpg maker 2000 it was to be a Wild Arms 2 clone. The story sucked, the systems sucked, the mapping sucked.
I uploaded it to
off site link.. which is out of commission: ShowHide
and the reviews as to be expected not in favor of the game. (I never used rips. . didn't like em'). I wish I could play my old game one more time just to see it in action. Alas.. it's deleted forever.

If I could go back in the past.

I guess I would tell my past self to go outside more.. mmm girls. I mean.. uh.
I would tell him to improve on both eventing and event systems.

G_G

I was terrible at everything when I started out in RPG Maker 2000. I eventually became better at eventing but no matter how hard I tried I can't map.
I moved onto rpg maker 2003 and yet nothing improved except my eventing. My eventing improved greatly because thats when I created a menu system out of events. THen I found rpg maker xp and I liked how the graphics changed but I didnt like that they changed the battle system.

Thats when I got even better at eventing and made a side view battle system out of events. still mapping sucked and it still does to this very day. But then when I was introduced to the language of RGSS when I clicked the script database I was like WTF is this stuff. Then I slowly started tinkering with it and created my first script and posted it here. So overall from the past these things have increased

Eventing
Some Mapping
Variable Knowledge
Switch Knowledge
Scripting

I cant write much of a good story and I cant do squat in graphics :P

Hellfire Dragon

I started out with rpg maker xp about 1year and 11 months ago :^_^':. I remember I sucked at basically everything to do with the program but I got better at eventing mostly, mapping sucked, trying to learn rgss right now. I mess around with vx sometimes but not usually. I remember my first event system was a summon event system, it sucked pretty bad but it worked for the most part. Moving you find my other sstems here at CP, well some of them, I have a good few I'm not finished yet and still adding to soem of my released ones. One of the main things I want to get better at is scripting though. I suck at mapping, never got any better really. I can't do much besides an average franken-sprite and a recolor at the most. Story, kinda mid-way with that.
So eventing would be my strong point with rpg maker.
That's prety much all I have to say right now ;)

Starrodkirby86

My RPG Making mainly flourished at RPG2kNet as well...Did something happen to it? Oh...I see...interesting. *checked out the site*

I found RPG Maker...Oh dear...hm...four years ago? It was after I found Game Maker. The first RPG Maker I came across was XP, which was a poorly translated version. The script window was bigger than the screen resolution and "Cancel" was misspelled (I think it was Cancle or something). I then got into RPG Maker 2000 and friends from Crankeye...

Something like that. More or less. I did play with the maker so much. I barely got outside help. :P

What's osu!? It's a rhythm game. Thought I should have a signature with a working rank. ;P It's now clickable!
Still Aqua's biggest fan (Or am I?).




Zylos

I've had RPG Maker XP for two years now, and am still learning new things that you can do with it. I self-taught myself how to everything except for writing scripts (even now I can only do minor things), but I was still pretty horrid since I didn't know a lot of things. The first game I ever made was called "World of Illusion" and was about four highschool students who climbed the floors of a skyscrapper and entered illusionary worlds in a very cliche' way. Ironically, a month after I started the game I played Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and did a spittake on how similar the games were (and how shitty mine was in comparison).

Since then I've learned a number of tricks, shortcuts that don't hurt the game, and am pretty decent with using the system. I still have yet to improve my mapping ability, but my eventing has improved double-fold.




RoseSkye

Quote from: Hellfire Dragon on March 21, 2009, 02:55:04 pm
I started out with rpg maker xp about 1year and 11 months ago :^_^':. I remember I sucked at basically everything to do with the program but I got better at eventing mostly, mapping sucked, trying to learn rgss right now. I mess around with vx sometimes but not usually. I remember my first event system was a summon event system, it sucked pretty bad but it worked for the most part. Moving you find my other sstems here at CP, well some of them, I have a good few I'm not finished yet and still adding to soem of my released ones. One of the main things I want to get better at is scripting though. I suck at mapping, never got any better really. I can't do much besides an average franken-sprite and a recolor at the most. Story, kinda mid-way with that.
So eventing would be my strong point with rpg maker.
That's prety much all I have to say right now ;)


Woah, you remember the months.. jeez I can only round up the time I can't be that precise.

I tried learning RGSS. It's no computer science III but I usually destroy projects whenever I breathe on the Script editor.

G_G

My rgss skills have really improved from my first script. But not a whole lot :P

Memor-X

I started using 2003 in 2005-2006 some time, i first created Chaos Pinion, i didn't know anything about switches or varibles then so everytime there was a story event, i would copy thw world map again and chnage all the events so oly one lead to the story event, pain in the ass, when i learned about swicthes and varibles, i scrapped that project and worked on Blood Lust, a vampie game, turned out kinda good, until i lost intrest when the Ravennight Kingdom came under attack by the Barbaroi who was hired by Nero, The Rain to destroy the Kings on Ravennight and Sarida while at the same time, trying to kill Alex, the son of the Vampire King (the character you play as) before he learned of Master Sin and stopped her plans of destroying all life.

after a while, i found XP, strangly enough, back in 2005, i was making animations with it's RTP in PowerPoint, it was a japaness version of the RTP so as such, i didn't understand what the text in the defult title screen was saying, the hard thing was getting used to the events, that's when i started Black Core, that was like 2007, start of 2008, my mapping, EDS and scripting modding skills was far better that what they was a year ago, so i started Balck Core again with battle tilesets, maps, battles, EDS's and so on, and decided to call it Core Twinlight Worlds: Black Core, now i'm far better than what i was last year and i can create scripts that i work together with programs i create, depending on how the program was coded

Reno-s--Joker

QuoteCould you remember things that you've progressed with as you gotten more experience?

After using RMXP, definitely a better understanding of scripts and programming in general. I learned how to sprite better as well, and after messing around with sounds I improved drastically from nil knowledge about music to some ... thing.  :O.o:

QuoteCould you remember your first game?

My first game is still the one I'm working on today, just revamped each time I switched game-making programs... :^_^':
QuoteWas it bad?

LOL - I started out using Klik and Play (kill me now), then Game Maker 6 or something, then RPG Toolkit 3, then RPG Maker 2000. They all failed.

QuoteIf you could meet yourself in the past, what would you tell him/her to improve on?

... do better at school? :o

tSwitch

I started RMXP about 2 maybe 3 years ago, back in Highschool.

I first had 2k3, and was working on this shitty generic RPG called Legend of Mandoris.

My first RMXP Game was 'Case High RPG', a game I made for an english class project.  It wasn't amazing, but it was funny as all hell.  Then after that I just messed with scripting and such for a while, had a couple failed projects, then came out with 'The Insanity', and just blew people away :D

If I had to rank my current skill levels:
Mapping - Average
Scripting - Above Average
Eventing - Average
Story Writing - Above Average
Spriting - Abysmal

I mostly pride myself on coming up with a really interesting game.  Be it a new style of play, or a tweaked storyline or something, rather than trying to make the next Final Fantasy or something.  My games might not be the most technically astounding pieces of work out there (I'm looking at you Blizz), but you can be rest assured they will be unique and fun.



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Fantasist

QuoteCould you remember things that you've progressed with as you gotten more experience?

Scripting and scripting only.

QuoteCould you remember your first game?

Never made a first game. The first thing I ever made was in RM2k. It was a joke involving some of my close friends. Then I started making a prequel to Harry Potter, about the four founders. I got till making the very first cutscene, which was amazing btw. That's when I found RMXP and RGSS and I my game-making skill went downhill :(

QuoteIf you could meet yourself in the past, what would you tell him/her to improve on?

Let's see, I would say...

"F*** the coding and make some good shit! If you don't, you won't live long enough to regret it cause I'm gonna f***ing kill you, got that? >:("
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RoseSkye

Quote from: Fantasist on April 02, 2009, 09:53:04 am

"F*** the coding and make some good shit! If you don't, you won't live long enough to regret it cause I'm gonna f***ing kill you, got that? >:("


Imagine if he were talking to a woman.

tSwitch

Quote from: RoseSkye on April 02, 2009, 06:58:05 pm
Quote from: Fantasist on April 02, 2009, 09:53:04 am

"F*** the coding and make some good shit! If you don't, you won't live long enough to regret it cause I'm gonna f***ing kill you, got that? >:("


Imagine if he were talking to a woman.


he wouldn't be talking to a woman about RM
he'd be talking to her about the sandwich she shoddily prepared and the warm beer that she provided, both of which were not satisfactory produce, and thus she deserved to be punished for poor service to her master.


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Fantasist

whoa! I'd talk like that only to myself! Anyway, the point is, I would've probably released that Harry Potter game had I not been obsessed with scripting >.<
Do you like ambient/electronic music? Then you should promote a talented artist! Help out here. (I'm serious. Just listen to his work at least!)


The best of freeware reviews: Gizmo's Freeware Reviews




RoseSkye

Progress Beginning in RMXP to Current Day
Spoiler: ShowHide











Practice is a helluva drug

by Blizz: *throws up* ... too much... unspoilered...

Mightylink

ahhh the dreaded single tree in the middle of an empty field... hsssssssss!

Nice dialog background though, has a cool glass feel to it.

tSwitch

Quote from: RoseSkye on April 23, 2009, 04:22:43 pm
Progress Beginning in RMXP to Current Day
Spoiler: ShowHide











Practice is a helluva drug

by Blizz: *throws up* ... too much... unspoilered...


if you don't mind criticism, your maps are very square.
Even the last/latest one is very square.

Nature is random, so cliffs and such should be more jagged and such.

edit:
and the wall in this one (highlighted) isn't tall enough, it's odd.
Spoiler: ShowHide




it's 3 tiles high, but connects to a wall that is on top of a platform that is also 3 tiles high, meaning that wall should be 6 tiles high.
also there are stairs in the water near the bridge, and that also looks odd.


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RoseSkye

My maps are square.. in rpg maker? Nahhhh..

By the way after I finish one map I do improve a little so even that latest one compared to my skill now is laughable.
There is a reason I did the contest against myself. I forced myself to improve my storytelling, mapping, speed, and flexibility within a time limit of one week.

By forcing myself to just use RTP tilesets I improved my mapping because I -had- to improve in order to have dynamic maps that are not synonymous with each other.

Observe.

My mapping ability last month (Mid Autumn Garden)

Spoiler: ShowHide


My mapping ability this month (Blizz ABS example game- Blessed be the Lady)

Spoiler: ShowHide





Both are done with the Castle Town Tileset. However Blessed be the Lady cant use custom things like Autotiles, Backdrops and Fogs. 

Now if you think you can best me by using RTP tilesets. I'll gladly have a mapping contest between you and I.. (it'll be a good chance to improve). You pick the tileset and size and set the time limit. I love multitasking so it shouldn't be a big deal working on 9 things at once.

By the way, there is a reason I make abnormal forms to my maps. I learned from experience that you can't always apply realism to RMXP. Even in Real life a House isn't that angled.

It'll end up being bland.
Spoiler: ShowHide


Even if you try to be creative
Spoiler: ShowHide


It's impossible to make houses that are not synonymous
Spoiler: ShowHide


By the way you're judging my "nature" map from a year ago.
(... and it was a battle map)

Lets see how I improved albeit still no match for my current level of mapping.

Last year.
Spoiler: ShowHide


Last month
Spoiler: ShowHide



Since BlizzABS allows me -now- to use event tileset chips. I can do more mapping tricks so since I'm not hindered in the least. That map would be laughable to anything I make now.. and a year from now anything I make would be laughable to anything I make then (if I'm still toying around with rmxp).

tSwitch

Quote from: RoseSkye on April 24, 2009, 01:02:39 pm
My maps are square.. in rpg maker? Nahhhh..

By the way after I finish one map I do improve a little so even that latest one compared to my skill now is laughable.
There is a reason I did the contest against myself. I forced myself to improve my storytelling, mapping, speed, and flexibility within a time limit of one week.

By forcing myself to just use RTP tilesets I improved my mapping because I -had- to improve in order to have dynamic maps that are not synonymous with each other.


ok that's nice, my criticism stands.

Quote from: RoseSkye on April 24, 2009, 01:02:39 pm
[mapping screenshots and blah]


the maps are still kinda empty if you ask me, sorry, but your mapping just doesn't wow me.

Quote from: RoseSkye on April 24, 2009, 01:02:39 pm
Now if you think you can best me by using RTP tilesets. I'll gladly have a mapping contest between you and I.. (it'll be a good chance to improve). You pick the tileset and size and set the time limit. I love multitasking so it shouldn't be a big deal working on 9 things at once.


I was giving you criticism to help you get better, not attacking you and claiming I was any better.

Quote from: RoseSkye on April 24, 2009, 01:02:39 pm
By the way you're judging my "nature" map from a year ago.
(... and it was a battle map)


No, I was judging the last/latest one, as in the last one you posted in that list, being the graveyard/church scene.

But I'll stop offering criticism to you, seeing as anything I say will be attributed either to a personal attack, challenge, or simply disregarded because "well I'm better now so it doesn't matter"


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RoseSkye

"Well I'm better now so it doesn't matter anyway"

Spoiler: ShowHide

Spoiler: ShowHide

Spoiler: ShowHide

Spoiler: ShowHide


...and yes you have a history of personal attacks so I especially will take everything you say as a personal attack. That's kinda what happens when you blindsight someone randomly instead of pming them saying "Well, I'm offended. Would you mind stop doing X and X?" which noone has done to this day. *cough* If someone had pmed me I would have stopped. *cough* *cough* The only reason I stopped (now completely) is because Blizzard told me I am getting readable and he skips my posts *cough*

Paraphrasing an ancient proverb.

"A cloud tried to blow a mans coat off. He fasted it tighter. The sun shined, the man casually took off his coat to embrace the warmth."