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More news from Japan:

This is a Kit-Kat I tried a couple of weeks ago. It was great, and it really did taste like a fruit parfait.

Some photos I took today of the sakura (cherry blossoms) that have bloomed in my town ^_^ For those that don't know, sakura bloom for about a week or so once a year and sweep the country. Everyone goes nuts during this time, and I intend to do the same. Have a "getting drunk under the sakura" party/picnic this Saturday, then it's off to Kyoto for more sakura fun amongst traditional Japanese... stuff. Hopefully, more getting drunk too.

The "rules" are simple. Post a video from a site like video.google.com or youtube.com that you think other people should see! (Probably try to avoid things that are well-known or from those "Most Watched Clip" lists).

I'm always finding great stuff in these places but I wanna see what the rest of you have to offer ^_^

This is my contribution. I think I've posted it on these forums before but if it passed you over, you should check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_VMB8d19Y

The song is "Bohbo No. 5" by a long time, popular Japanese band called Southern All-Stars. I adore this song, and the filmclip rocks.

It's not like I'm the boss of the internet, but lets make this thread about links to places like the previously mentioned sites with instantly playing clips, not things you have to download or things that require bizarre plugins ^_^

Realtime: Like Secret of Mana and any action game. Ask Kinoko hehe.

All I can say on the subject is that it's -hard- to get things tweaked the way you want.

- Also i had to write extreme amounts of lines of code for having a keyboard GUI system (which makes me think i did it wrong) but something like this is useful since most RPG (snes anyway) don't have mouse at all.

I've done similar things and yes, I was shocked at how much code it took to get it right. I was also wondering if there was a way to shorten it, and admittedly, I keep going over my old code and I do find ways to, usually, significantly cut down on it. I did it recently for my inventory GUI code. I find inventory is a hard one to reduce the code with, because there are so many specific properties necessary for each item that I can't use maths or increments for. Just gotta write 'em all out.

I agree with Akumayo in that I'm never sure it's a good idea. RPGs are just very different creatures to adventure games. Most adventure games do fall into a few catagories, but RPGs -really- differ in the kind of engine's they use. I ultimately think it's better people sit down and decide the way they want their game to work, and code it themselves.

However, having mods to do very distinct tasks would certainly be useful to a lot of people. For example, the TypeLine function is something I could see being used in many RPGs, as it being used in mine. Perhaps even the crappy mod I made for having non-blocking text appear on screen with an animating border or something, but that's very specific. I have no idea if anyone will ever need that.

I'm considering creating a template for my style of RPG after I've got all the bugs worked out of my own engine.

(Sorry, this'll be a long post, but I'm just gonna copy this all from my LJ entry - my "for-my-parents-so-it's-all-PC-and-happy-rainbows"LJ)

Today was my school's graduation ceremony for the 3rd year students. It really was an excellent and sad day. Everyone was dressed up, and feeling both sad and happy about the ceremony. One of the English teachers, Ishizuka-sensei, dressed in traditional clothes and looked really amazing. She told me she had to have the home ec. teacher dress her for half an hour, but the results were great!



The ceremony was held in the gym in the morning, and was very formal. It basically comprised of various combinations of 'sit down' and 'stand up' and 'bow' commands thrown at various combinations of all the groups of people involved (the teachers, the parents, the 2nd and 1st year students and the 3rd year graduating students). I got up and sat down so many times I lost count. Sometimes only sitting for 30 seconds before having to get up again. Speeches weren't too long, and students weren't given a certificate one by one like in Australia. They had one representative per homeroom receive a certificate, though everyone's names were called out.

These are a photos of after the ceremony:





At the back of the gym was the school band, conducted by the music teacher who is about the coolest thing in the world. I know he's gay. I -know- it. He's way too good looking to be straight. Anyway, he looked so cool conducting the crappy band, I tried to get a decent photo of him but it didn't work. Ah well.

Eventually it was over and the kids filed out one by one, looking so mature and happy to be done. I felt quite proud of them, and I'm really going to miss them. They were a good lot.

After the ceremony, I made my way back to the English teachers' room and tried to kill some time, waiting for the group of students that Chizuko and I teach after school. I had made crappy little cards for them all with my email address and a little Australian animal badge on them. Not much but it was something, and I'd like to at least give them the chance to keep in contact. My best student without a doubt is Ayano, and I'm confident she'll write to me.



This is such a good photo of them! I really can't believe how well it portrays everyone in it. On the left are Iwahori-sensei and Chizuko-sensei - definitely the two teachers I'm closest to. Sagara-kun is the first student on the left and was definitely my best boy. The other boys, as shameful as it is, I can't remember their names. 2 of the 3 didn't come to the after-school class all that often. The girl is Ayano-san and she was both my best student and the student I'm the closest with. She actually gave me a cake she'd baked for me today (well, she called it 'cake' but it was like a slice of a brownie).





It was insanely delicious, despite it's sneakily plain appearance.

There was much hugging, and thanking, and everyone was happy and excited. Ayano cried and we all signed her year book (which was REALLY good, a zillion times better than anything any of my schools ever produced. I'm gonna try and get a copy, no matter how much I have to pay).

So, that's that then. I now have an easy month of preparing for my final semester at Yokosuka Koko.

I can't remember if I've ever posted here, but I have some new photos!

This is me being a total tourist at some shrine or other:



This is my and my fiance in an awkward stance in front of Mt. Fuji (it was -freezing-):



...and because I'm SO excited that I figured out how to get photos off my mobile, here's my cat, Sophie:



Me with the greatest manga ever:



A photo of the Ghibli Museum (in case anyone cares):

Happy Birthday from me! er, you rock!

(EDITted because I got my avatars mixed up ^_^;;; Terribly sorry. Yours is still cool though!!)

As I've said before, the problem is that there's no one kind of RPG. It would be a heck of a task to write a tute on RPGs in general. Realistically, you have to write about a specific kind of RPG, or even just the mechanics of one aspect of an RPG. Much like how different a 90's Lucasarts adventure game is from an old text adventure.

I just want to say that Law's advice was spot on. Think of what you want in your RPG, try to work out how you could script it, try it, and if it doesn't work, try to fix your mistakes etc. In the end, ask for help/advice.

It's one waym but it would mean you would have to be sure nothing in either room could change. It wouldn't work in say a Zelda game with bushes you could chop down, or any scene with enemies that move or could be killed.

Well, what have you got figured out so far? Also, could you give some detail on how you want it to work?

A lot of them just have big rooms and you go from room to room.. er, if you know what I mean. As opposed to a "grid" system. Just a normal transition.

I wouldn't use it in mine because of aesthetics, I guess. I'm basing my game on games like Secret of Mana and Terranigma... they just have rooms, you leave them, go to another room.

I wouldn't say it's typical, as such, of RPG games, but some do have it, certainly. The first one that springs to mind is Zelda. I wouldn't use it in my RPG personally, I'm just having normal rooms, not seperating my dungeons into a grid. As Gil said, it's been asked before and I think there are some complicated work-arounds but... more than I'd want to bother with. Some people would probably find it useful.

I'm curious myself as to how commercial games with this feature work it.

You could just create some GUIs for the different options (buy, sell, armour, weapons, whatever you want), with some List Boxes containing the items/options, and have said GUI(s) appear when you talk to the shop keeper.

That's pretty simple ^_^

To be honest, I would never consider using dialogue to create a shop system. GUIs are the way to go. I personally wouldn't use list boxes myself, but I like to be complicated.

I think you're going to need to flesh out your question a little more.

I thought I'd post this here in case anyone else was interested in a way to get that classic SNES RPG HP display. You know, the one where the damage appears atop the character's head and animates in some way? I've got it appearing above the damaged character's head and dropping down (with a little bounce) before disappearing. Of course, tweak this code to suit your own needs.

First of all, create a function like this:

Code: ags

function DamageChar (int hurtchar) {
  sit=0;
  int it=0; //running index, to check if there's a free slot for text
  while (it<10){
     if (damchar[it]==0){ //if a slot is available
        damchar[it]=hurtchar; //set it to "occupied"
        damoverid[it] = DisplaySpeechBackground (hurtchar, dmgreport); 
     if (sit == 0) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-30);
        it=20; //break out of loop
      } else it++;
    }  //end while
  }

Then, in repeatedly_execute (/_always):

--Put here whatever code you use for calculating the injury to a character at the time it is attacked--

Code: ags

	  StrFormat (dmgreport, "%d", mondmg);
 	  DamageChar (XXX);

** Replace XXX with the character's name, and "mondmg" is the integer my calculated damage went into. If you'd like a word, for example "YOU MISSED", just use " StrFormat (dmgreport, "YOU MISSED"); "

Then elsewhere in repeatedly_execute (/_always):

Code: ags

int it=0; //checks all slots for whether the speechs had expired
while (it<10){
  if (damchar[it]){ //if there was a message for this character
    if (IsOverlayValid(damoverid[it])) { //Is it still displayed?
         sit++;
         if (sit == 3) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-27); 
         else if (sit == 6) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-25); 
         else if (sit == 9) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-22); 
         else if (sit == 12) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-18); 
         else if (sit == 15) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-14);  
         else if (sit == 18) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-9);
         else if (sit == 21) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-4); 
         else if (sit == 24) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y); 
         else if (sit == 27) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-7); 
         else if (sit == 30) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-10); 
         else if (sit == 33) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-8); 
         else if (sit == 36) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y-5); 
         else if (sit == 39) MoveOverlay(damoverid[it],character[damchar[it]].x,character[damchar[it]].y);       
    } else damchar[it]=0; //Expired, mark it as "free"
  }
  it++;
}

As I said before, that's just my own action of the text falling. You can do anything you want here. In fact, the more creative, the better! I'd love to come up with a way to make the text perform a movement, then actually fade out, or "fold in on itself" as happens in some RPGs. There are all sorts of things you can do.

Big thanks to Gilbot, Strazer and others for helping a LOT with this.

You don't want to use the standard "Game over" after death? The hospital idea reminds me of 'It Came From The Desert' (great game!) and that worked quite well, allowing you to continue on in the game, albiet putting you in an annoying position, after you've screwed up or failed at something. Restarting the game with another character reminds me of Maniac Mansion or (and this is a far cry...) the Ninja Turtles game. In that, if you "died", you were actually captured by the enemy and the player got the pick a different character to play with. At one or two points fduring the game, you got the opportunity to 'rescue' your lost players which I always thought was a nice touch.

Still, I'm rambling. I'm not entirely sure what you mean, could you explain in more detail? In a typical RPG, if your character dies, it's just game over and you load one of your saved games.

An RPG is a difficult thing to write a tutorial because there's no one centralized kind of RPG. I'd be happy to write a tutorial on the style of RPG I'm doing -after- I make my game. There's no way I'm writing one on all the different ways it could be done though.

What kind of battle system are you using? A little more3 detail needed before I can offer any help...