Cheat system!

[DBtheProdigy]

I have sortave made a cheat system. This is how it is done.

Make an Optional branch:4
really dosn't matter what you call the boxes
then for your sheat say you made the boxes say up down left right or sumthing like that. now for every other optional branch you make (make as many as you want) Make another optional branch for all of left, right, up, and down so say your cheat is up, up, up = 99,999 money(or you can do unlockable chars, secret dungeons i even have an uber item cheat). If you dont understand i can tell you more clearly!

[Pagerron]

Re: Cheat system!

Well, I can see what your saying GrimsGotGuns.

(To be honest, I'm treading very carefully though after that thread with the "Become A Boss(or Monster)" claim.)

The only thing is that you can't really create however many 4 branch decisions you want to because of the 50 line per mode limitation. If you were to have different branch choices take you to other modes of the same event (which had other choice branches in them), then yeah that could work. It probably would be best to just have it as a one-time event though, right? Otherwise, the player could try out all of the possible combinations, unlocking everything eventually without even needing to know the code.

[MagusMartovich]

Re: Cheat system!

That's true, but on the one hand, as far as RPGs go, a lot of the fun is in unlocking all the items! Sure, I know my least fav thing is fighting monsters (for gold or exp) so I would definatly use the max gold or the max stat cheat, but I don't think I would bother sitting there for more than 5-10 minutes trying to "figure out" different combos just so I didn't have to play the game, you know?

You could even make like a "secret" dungeon from the first town, so people have to find the warp first and then they can cheat. Like give a hint about how to get there from the final boss when you beat the game and that way its like an almost guarenteed replay!

[Libby]

Re: Cheat system!

I think this would be cooler as a puzzle, rather then as a cheat. Cheats are nice and all, but who would really want to go through all that trouble, when they can just play it in test mode if they REALLY want to cheat.

[JPS]

Re: Cheat system!

I dont really understand how its a cheat if you have to hit the events on a certain side, I agree with Libra as that it is better as a puzzle then a cheat, I've never had to hit an item in a certain order on the side or top to activate a cheat, though it would be an interesting puzzle

Each 4-way val cond branch uses 10 lines of coding, but you can branch it through modes(dont know if anyone remember that trick I posted a while back)

[Drazus]

Re: Cheat system!

Sounds like an interesting bunch of scripting, if I'm understanding it correctly.

[Wavelength]

Re: Cheat system!

My personal favorite is the New Game +, and yeah, someone who really wanted to cheat could just mess with the settings in Edit Mode, but I still think it's a not-half-bad idea to include in-game cheat codes (as opposed to Easter eggs).

[JPS]

Re: Cheat system!

I'll make a separate topic for the unlimited event coding since others wanted to know before(off-topic I know)

[MagusMartovich]

Re: Cheat system!

Game plus IS an excellent idea (dispite it only appearing a few times: Chrono, Lufia...) and it IS possible with RM3 (someone posted about how a while back) BUT for the ammount of effort it takes to get through a game once, getting to play through it again (starting at level 50) usually makes games seem less fun...

At least with this you can sort of make a limit. Like, you can get only max stats, or max gold, or one of the secret characters... Or even put in an "Ultimate Character" and have that be a completly different code! Play through with one character! WOo~ scarry!

I'm still in favor of the cheat system. Sure, puzzles are nice, but if your not into Zelda-type games then puzzles angry up your blood. Granted, its optional, but still, the whole "puzzle theme" really turns me off from playing games...

[vollis]

Re: Cheat system!

Explain how to do a new game plus.

[Perversion]

Re: Cheat system!

If and when I get around to making Episode 3 of my current series of games, it's going to be a game plus to a degree....as of right now, there are not going to be any battles. But when you play through the first time, you will HAVE to start again to complete the game. Thing is, when you start again, the same people will say different things, and you will go on different quests, as you know at the end of the first playthrough the end result of playing through the way you did the first time (let's just say, it's not good). So you will start again and try to end up somewhere different than you did the first time by following a different path through the game. The way I think I'm going to have to do this (if anyone has a better way, let me know) is to reset all the modes to the mode that gives you different quests, etc, for all the NPCs, and reset all the variables back to zero. This should not be that hard to do, but I will need to keep extremely close track of the modes and variables I am using, because one that's not changed could cause a major bug. So that's how I intend to use "game plus" in my upcoming game. Oh, and did I mention that there are going to be two guilds, and all their quests are inter-related (ie-a quest that you do for the thieves' guild will trigger a quest for the assassins' guild, which in turn triggers another thieves' guild quest, etc)? So in effect, I'm going to have to make four different sets of quests (two for thieves' guild, two for assassins' guild). That is all.

[Wavelength]

Re: Cheat system!

Explain how to do a new game plus.

Just from a 50,000-foot perspective...

Reset most of the stuff that was changed through the players' actions. Set the variables and modes back to the defaults, put display (on/off) back to the defaults, set money and experience back to zero, bring the player back to the starting location, etc. Of course, some of these WON'T be done as a New Game Plus bonus, such as you can allow the player to keep their money. You can also specifically set some events ON (or change them) as a reward for beating the game once.

[JPS]

Re: Cheat system!

If I can remember correctly the first Metal Gear was like that, when you complete the game they started you back at the beginning with everything you had when you beat the game.

[MagusMartovich]

Re: Cheat system!

Explain how to do a new game plus.

Along the lines of what Wave said, but I remember that the trick was to make actual events (not treasure events!) and start them on their second mode. While starting all the chests on the second mode, have them revert to the first when opened (making them invisible). In the first mode you need to put in a variable so that they can be reactivated en mass.

AFTER the boss event, and you defeat him/her/it you need to increase/decrease a variable by (let's say) 10, this will trigger all the chests in the game revert to their second mode, allowing you to collect all the items again!

You could do the same sort of thing with a "Bonus Dungeon" as well. Something like in the Pokemon games that is only open after you beat the actual game, allowing you to obtain a better weapon/armor/accessory than is normally possible, or even make the cheat option (should you choose to have it) available here, then restart the game. If you get one reward each time you play through, and get to keep everything you already have then players would have to play through as many times as you give diferent reward options.

As a closing thought, I didn't make up this system. I forget who the actual author is. Someone else might see it and it could jog their memory, but I'm stumped. It would also prolly help to eliminate all the "Treasure" items you collected as well, or else players could (possibly) skip past dungeons, but I don't know.

[JPS]

Re: Cheat system!

Or you can have a long intro storyteller and afterwards ask the player if they have a password(yes/no), if they click yes ask 4 3-way questions(81 possible answers) each requiring a number, if they select the right numbers they get every item before the start of a game.

Its more of a cheat then a game plus, although its a lot more simple and you can make it so you obtain the password at the end of the game, and the player wont want to restart everytime because they'd have to sit through a lengthy storyteller 81 times to get the right code.