Messages

Question: I'm currently creating a full RMXP RTP replacement package for people who want some free graphics for their commercial games. I was wandering if it would be OK if i put some of the files in it into the Ace RTP, or would you prefer me to keep my 'ace contributions' and my other projects separate?

I'm asking because i just received a complaint in my e-mail about another project i donated some random Icons to. They weren't happy that the same icons and Midi music files i donated were also in my old (and kind of ugly) RTP i set up a a long time ago.

Non of the things in that complaint effect the Ace RTP as they are completely different graphics (and i haven't added any sounds, as all the sound files i've made so far are Midi and i couldn't remember if ACE was even going to use midi files). but i wanted to know before i add any more files to ACE's RTP.

For the most part, the things i've donated to the ACE RTP have been completely seperate from my own RTP, the exception being 2 grass autotiles, and the roofs i added a short while (i think a month) ago.

I'd really rather not have to remake roof tiles (especially since i like the way these came out) but i understand if it's a problem.

Where did you add them o.o

@_@ Erm, in the drop-box where they're supposed to be added. that's where you add all your files (and where you add yourself to the credits)

To Everyone that is wandering, i finally got around to adding both the forest and town tilesets (the town one is still being added to, and the forest one got another small update. the forest one now has a descent looking mountain, instead of the ugly one that i had before)

It's beautiful :')
Edit: Omg you used filters? I never thought of doing that for textures... wow it's genius! This is definitely one of the better water tiles I've seen.

Yeah, filters all the way. i tried,  i really did, but i just couldn't do it free-handed. so i finally gave up and looked at every single filter and plug i could come across, and this was the result.

Anyway, i'm glad you like it, now i can get back to doing buildings (yeah, i might have taken a break from doing them when i realized the whole legal thing with 'Caustic Generator' images. T_T.

Anyway, back to the buildings. (Which i will be uploading a screenie of soon, not today, but soon. i've finished enough of the building 'parts' to get it ready, which means i'll also finally be adding everything to the dropbox soon (OMFG, it's been so long since i've even opened that thing... i think i might have to re-install it X_X)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

They're the same image, just with 2 different gradiants. i'm not sure which i like. (anyway, try them out in rmxp and tell me what you think, or the editor, for those who are beta-testing it)

PS. i think i should explain why i got rid of the original water tile i did. the one in the picture way up there ^ in a previous post. I got rid of it because i found out that one of the programs i originally used to make it doesn't allow for commercial use of images that are made with it (which would be a problem, seeing as most people are planning to make games they can sell), so i had to toss it. the new water, however, was made completely in gimp and paint. so i don't have that issue this time.

Pss. in case anyone wants to know what program it was that caused the legal issues for the first water: Caustic Generator. It's a good program, but the free version doesn't allow for commercial use of images produced with it, and i don't have the money to buy it, so i had to throw out the picture i made with it. the new water is made with gimp's many plugins (i lost track of how many i used to get that^. but i know 1 was gausian (sp?) blur, difference clouds, several light and shadow filters, a noise filter or two, and a plugin i found on deviant art called 'gimp animated lava: http://fence-post.deviantart.com/art/GIMP-Animated-Lava-Script-153108680 )

Ug, finally managed to make an OK animated water tile. (>.> I still don't like it completely, but it's the best i could manage T_T I suck at doing animated water... and animated anything... >.> But my plants look nice, right?

1. Multiple tilesets yes, but they shouldn't be too small since that would be counterproductive again. The point is to have specific themed tilesets. e.g. One could contain houses, another one forest stuff, another one cave stuff, another one misc floor details for outdoors, another one misc floor details for indoors etc.

2. Everything you can think of. :X Feel free to reference other tilesets for useful/important stuff to add.

Thank you, that's  exactly what i watned to know.

in that case, i'll make a botony tileset (That's the trees and plants, and stuff like what i've already shown)  and the building tileset will be on it's own (herm.. maybe with the windows being it's own tileset, considering how many different ones i've made (when ever i use rmxp, i always have layer 1 for the buildings and grass, and layer 2 for the windows/wooden-beams. you'll see what i mean when i get done with enough of it to show off)

the grass looks loads better then the first one did.

anyway, i just wanted to say, yeah, the rtp is mostly fantasy based, but as a lot of people always complain about the RPG maker series not having many (if any) modern things, i'd say that if you want to try to make some modern stuff (or future) as well, most likely that would be fine. (i did a street lamp and some metal fencing as extra for mine, as well as a few other things, like brick walls. as i know a lot of people will most like wine about them if they aren't in there somewhere)

Ok, got the trees to the point where they aren't that bad anymore, now i'm going to start adding buildings and structures, but i have a few questions first:

1): I vaguely remember someone saying something about people being able to use multiple tilesets on the same map at one point, is that still the plan or was that just an idea someone threw out there? (I need to know so that i know if i should split the buildings into separate tilesets, or keep them together with the forest.)

2): any ideas about what we need? I mean, i know we need pillars, streets (already done, actually), and brick buildings (as well as log), and fences (1 is  done, along with a few street lamps to go with), but apart from that, i can't really think of anything else... so tell me anything else you can think of.

There is always a pattern, you can't really avoid that. But apart from that, this tileset looks amazing.

True, patterns are unavoidable, but they shouldn't be THAT obvious, i still think i should fix it.

Anyway, thanks for the compliment, however, i'm cringing at the hair i made for the character, which i think was the first one i made. T_T >_< it's friggin ugly. ack. that's another thing i need to fix (was going to put up a screeny of the trees, but they don't look right with the tileset, i need to fix them first)

I like it! I do see an obvious pattern, though. :\
Other than that, I really like the tiles a lot!

hm... i see what you mean. I'll try and fix that before i start trying to animate it (I hate trying to make animated water, it freakin sucks.)

Once again, i AM still alive. i ended up scrapping the tutorials because i found that it was just luck that it worked the first time in the first place. T_T.

Anyway, here's a screenshot (using rmxp) of the new water tiles i've made (i'll post one with the new trees in a minute or two) (Ps, water tiles not yet animated)


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

There will be 2 versions of ARC:

1. Legacy Edition
2. Normal Version

The Legacy Edition is basically made to run on an engine very, very similar to RMXP. There are a few extra things such as better performance, native support for more than 3 mapping layers, etc. The strong point here is the editor as it will allow you to easier organize your database and make mapping and scripting easier. The Legacy Edition is basically a heavily improved RMXP editor with some extras in the underlying engine. The default scripts of RMXP are not edited in any way, though.
This version will be free of charge regardless of what kind of game you are making.

The Normal Version (or we call it sometimes Full Version or Full Edition) is a completely new engine with completely new scripts. As a matter of fact, some of your ideas actually may end up in the Full Version (namely vehicles, inventory prompt window, etc.), but we are currently focused to finish the Legacy Edition. But keep in mind that none of the already existing RMXP scripts will probably work in ARC just like that so we're starting at a user base of 0. That's why we first want to finish the Legacy Edition. When people see what we are capable of, their trust will help us kick-start the full ARC Engine.
The Full Edition will also be completely free of charge. The only point where you are required to pay a fee is when you want to release a commercial game. You can make your whole game in ARC without having to pay anything and if you decide in the last moment that you want to make it a non-commercial game, you don't have to pay anything. In other words, you can make games without having to pay anything, but if you want to earn some money, that's the point where we require you to pay for a license.

Yeah, i was definitely misunderstanding something, i was under the impression that it was all 1 editor, which is why i was wandering 'it's going to be the same?'. sorry about that.

I'm sorry that I have to shoot down all of your ideas, but those are all scripts requests, not feature requests for the editor to do stuff that already exists or make stuff easier to do in the editor itself.
It's true that the full version will have different defaults scripts from RMXP, but the features you request all still define very specific functionality rather than being generic systems. There are some features that may work in theory, but they will cause lots of problems with custom scripts.

e.g. When copying events, all variables have to be copied. While this is generally possible (and actually easy to make with a script), depending on what kind of additional data some custom scripts define, the copying process can act unpredictably. One of the problems is the so-called problem between shallow-copy and deep-copy. You can look it up if you want. Or the other feature to bring up a dialog to pick items? An item selection dialog already exists, but it's used in a completely different context so it would still require a script to control it.

I noticed that a lot of your requests are for stuff that is supposed to be acting like a Pokemon game. You should probably use a script designed for that instead of trying to make a complicated system as such (or request it to be made by people who aren't making scripts). You could try the Pokestarter Kit.

Um, no. I've never heard of vehicles in pokemon, or locks, or dinamic storage... 0.o as for the other things, that's just a coincident, though i think the reason why you assumed 'make a pokemon game' is because i used it as an example.

Anyway, maybe i'm misunderstanding what you mean by 'features' and 'scripts'. because as far as i know, all the features you've mentioned in your posts ARE scripts. as are all the features in RMXP. 'condition branch' = 'if statement'. 'control variable' = 'variable' these are things in the editor, but they are script pieces as well. Every feature that i see in rmxp, the dialogue box, the switches, the characters, the animations, everything is scripts. when i hear 'new features', i assumed it was 'well, there is an inventory, now let's add an easy way to access it' kind of thing. It's why i asked.

However, on a note that is probably going to sound vary rude, and i apologize for it if it does, but your comment about it having the exact same scripts as rmxp is starting to make me wander. if it's going to be the exact same as rmxp, then what's the point of spending money on it if i already have rmxp? I mean, i understand if it can't have any of the things that i mentioned above, but to say 'it's going to be the exact same' kind of makes me raise my eyebrows a bit. please tell me i misunderstood you?

As for all the 'scripts out there', yeah, i think about 1 in every 100 lets you use them for commercial games, and they are usually the things you can just event anyway. Even your scripts don't allow for commercial games (i checked). and all 'mouse event' scripts are based off of your script, so they all have the same license. T_T

[In game:]

Ok, after trying to make a few mini games in my game on RMXP, i noticed a few features that it doesn't have, but that i wish it DID. i can't make a balloon popping minigame because you can't use the mouse, i can't create a 'base' or 'house' that you can make furniture in (i managed to make something like this, with a LOT of events on the board), and i can't do several other things that are starting to become common in a lot of RPGs.

In fact, a lot of the more common rpg things can't be done in RMXP unless your a coder. The problem with that is: most of us aren't coders, which is why we use RMXP or others in the RPG maker series in the first place.

So, it got me wandering, will ARC have these abilities? Here's a list of all the features I wish RMXP had. tell me if any of them will be in ARC:

In game:
1) ability to activate events with the mouse (balloon popping, button pushing, etc.)
2) the ability to click and drag events (puzzles, locks, etc)
3) ability to dynamically create events with other events (furniture placement, etc)
4) the ability to dynamically create storage (this is more of an extenuation of #4. it's for things like chests, closets, dressers, etc)
5) the ability to dynamically create 'copies of an entity' or 'copies of a mob/monster' (for catching games. I used to think that pokemon was the only RPG like this, but then my friends got me Spectrobes, digimon, Demikids and more. anyway, the point is, i wanted to know if it was possible to 'create copies of a monster' for the player to train/work with.)
6) Character storage: This is technically possible in RMXP, but there's no visual, you have to use a bunch of variables, and creating it with events is a pain.
7) vehicles (seriously? Why did they get rid of it in RMXP, but yet have them in all the other ones? so not fair)


Editor:
1) does the battle scene mobs work the same as rmxp, or does it use the 'player database' characters. if it used the player base characters instead of a seperate database, that would make it possible for the user to set what level possibilities the monster would have, and just let the game calculate the strength/defence/speed and so on the same way it would the players. it's much easier, and it would mean we wouldn't have to create 6 of the same mobs for 6 different levels.
2) ability to say 'the player can move through water if variable a is on, but can't move on grass, and vise versa' (you can do this in RMXP, bu it tends to cause errors unless you do it with a wall of events)
3)*-*-*-* the ability to have the game bring up a list of the items in the inventory for the player to choose between. (this is the number 1 feature that RMXP lacks. there are so many issues with rmxp not having this. Since RMXP doesn't have it, it means that you HAVE to code to do it, which sucks. if we can do this in ARC, then it would make it easier to create more interesting puzzle events, create 'give gift events' with NPCs like in a sims game, EASILY create crafting systems without having to code, and allow other types of minigames to use items to decide things as well (like fish bait for fishing mini games. what kind of fish bait you use effects what kind of fish you catch. that kind of thing.)
4) menu creation. (i have no idea how this would work, but i just decided to pull it out of my head at random)
5) more questions to come.

Are any of these going to be in the editor/game engine? (sorry about it being a long list)

PS. i'm about to start my pixel art tutorials, i got side tracked (making a game in unity, 3d modeling is a pain) when i finish uploading the first one, i'll let you know.

2 questions:

1) About the Appendix 1 variables thing: I'm only just starting to look into programing, so i'm sorry if i don't understand much about variables, but while c++ int variables, is it possible that you could just put an if statment to see if the number is more then the max of int, then switch it over to a __int64 variable type if it is? (this would save time, and still have a much larger number, though i really don't see why you would need a larger number, unless it's a 'continues game score' kind of thing, at which point i'd still be shocked at the score being that high, but it's still a good idea)

2) o_0 i knew that mp3 wouldn't be supported, with the whole cost issue and all (i read that post), but i didn't know that midi wouldn't be supported, but i'm a bit confused on that. midi and wav are both microsoft codex (i think), so why is 1 supported and the other not? Or are nether supported?

Two more questions, do you guys think i should do a tutorial video on the new style, for anyone who wants to help out but doesn't know how to do trees in an easy way? (this method is ridiculously easy, it took me less then 10 minutes to do the whole thing @_@ if only i had known how to do this before)

and 2: Should i make a folder in the rtp of the 'character parts' that i've finished, so that people can use them to make their own sprites (i've finished a lot, i actually have to update the list, i just keep forgetting to)

I AM still alive, and i AM still spriting for this. i just have been busy (sorry).

On the up side, i've also been spending some time learning more techniques. Tell me what you think about the difference:

Before: After:


So, what do you think? Is it an improvement, or should i go back to the old method?

Holy triple post Batman!  Use the Modify button at the top of your post if you have something to add on to the original post.

Keep up the good work guys.

sorry about that, i just used the 'quote' button, sorry. (>.<)

Actually, F0 was working on a .NET version of the editor to be used as the editor for the first release of ARC. however I've been working on the editor for the full version in python from the inception of ARC, and it's quite far along. I'm working on it slowly but the scope of a full editor from scratch in python which has no native bindings for making windowed programs mean it's a large undertaking. that, and no one else on the team seem to like working in python so it's really only me.

Life's been kicking my ass lately but there have been developments that mean you could see a beta of the editor soon™. as in possibly by may.

Yeah, i think life has decided to kick most of us in the ass lately. Anyway, you can take your time, i was just worried that everything was going to have to start over from the very beginning (@_@) that would have meant that it would be a good year or two before we even saw an initial release. (That thought makes me want to cry)

Anyway, it's good to know that i was just missunderstanding what was going on, and that the editor is actually still there ().

EDIT1:

Gameus has joined the team again in order to help Ryex out with the Python editor.

cool,

EDIT2:

And you can bet your ass I'm not gonna quit this time. I've been doing some research with Python recently. And as soon as I can get with Ryex, I'm gonna get started with my part of the work.

Well, on behalf of everyone, thanks for joining the team, every little bit of help goes a long way, and good luck with the editor.