Can it be done?

[hitogoroshi]

Well, my copy of RPGM2 is with a friend, but I am considering taking it back and making a game with it. My question is, is it possible to have a setting that could at least pass as underwater? Also, are there fish looking sprites (haven't played RPGM2 for months), or a way to make them? I don't need them for combat...I am considering making an underwater mob story with Oceanic Inquirer reporter Dorsal Phin and the business tycoon Orca Pone (think about it...go on). So, can it be done, or should I pursue another idea?

[Rodak]

I don't see why not.

There are fishies, mermaids (male and female) and even a whale.

Plus the VFX Editor.

Remember there was no cow for RPGM2, but with the VFX Editor and a resized sheep and some magic, one manifested itself.

Oh... why not? Here it is again:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b41/Rodak/COW.jpg


Just for inspiration. I that can happen, so can your fishy characters. Plus, you can always ask Bigfoot for VFX design help. He offered a service for such things and that's how I got this cow. I tweaked his design a good bit so I can claim co-creation (It's OK, even Bigfoot thinks I improved it slightly).

With float commands and vfx bubbles, ripples and such, the setting should be easy.

Sounds like fun.

Enjoy.

[Draygone]

You'll probably restricted to creating fish folk that walk on the sea floor, though. It would take quite a bit of hard work to be able to have characters swimming around in free space.

[hitogoroshi]

Oh, thats fine if they walk. An occasional ripple is all I need. Well then, I just may get started on this. I'll probably have newbie questions (never even got instructions, bought it used). I have a couple of questions now, actually.
1. What level should I play this on? I obiviously want to use the VFX editior to do what Rodak told me about, but would hard be too overwhelming? Does normal even have the editor?
2. Is the Prima guide worth the money? I do need a max drive, but I want to make this game right.

[Rodak]

1. What level should I play this on? I obiviously want to use the VFX editior to do what Rodak told me about, but would hard be too overwhelming? Does normal even have the editor?

It is best to start on easy, then change to hard and save.

Starting on easy gives you a lot of default stuff you do not get on hard. But easy mode locks all the advanced "tabs" in the editors, so this way you get the best of both versions (you can always delete unused pre-set stuff.

The VFX Editor is accessible in all modes.

2. Is the Prima guide worth the money? I do need a max drive, but I want to make this game right.

The Prima guide is worth it. It has a mini tutorial for a "quest" that covers many basics.

And the photo reference saves lots of time.

This may sound like odd advice (but I'm odd so it's OK), but pick your least favorite game idea and make it first.

I wound up trying to make The Clean Underwear Quest when I first got RPGM2 last Christmas and made a huge mess of a wonderful story.

Debugging is a nightmare. Especially when your game has every script you made since day one with the system.

That's why I started on Videogamedrome, it was to see what I could do with a blank file. I found that I could do so much more without all the bugs from my early scripts that I am considering starting The Quest over from scratch because I can make it better now. I'll just spend a week deleting everything except those VFX I'd never be able to recreate (and the few good scripts and cutscenes).

You do not want to wind up in that position.

Make a small effort first to familiarize yourself with the system and save a lot of headaches.

Peace.

[Tsunami]

The guide certainly helped me get started, but don't expect too much out of it. Like it won't teach you how to make a custom battle system or anything like that.

[hitogoroshi]

Well, I'm not using battles, so I don't care. Will having Qbasic knowledge help with the scripts? I'm hoping variables are as cut-and-dried as Qbasic...or is it needlessly difficult?

[KumoShinagi]

Variables are pre-set, I think.

All you do is go to a Variable in Game Settings, name it, and then go to town with it in scripts.

[thetruecoolness]

Well it's not quite as easy as QBasic, since you can't use variables everywhere (you can in the script, but you can't use them to say set the pitch of a sound effect, set fade time for things etc without some extra work.), and no support for data types/arrays, variables only store integers or strings and booleans via flags (with some math tricks you can do up to around 9 decimal places of precision though, so you are not limited to only integer precision). Of course you can do most of the things you can to real variables, like add, subtract, modulo (remainder) and set, read, and compare them. You can only display variables in text form in the message box at the bottom, and can't use them in the other text things, like the text box, or scroll text. Of course with careful use of the VFX editor you can display almost any number you want, almost anywhere, though it will take up quite a bit of memory depending on how flexible you want it to be.

So basically they are pretty close to full fledged variables in programming languages, but some things require a little more work to do.

As for scripting it's pretty close to programming, with the only real big difference being a more limited vocabulary, and no free text entry for commands, since all are chosen from a menu. But all of the normal constructs are there, if-then (which is script branch), switch-case (sort and apply if), and while (repeat) loops (which are what a for loop is as well). Of course the game also includes a lot of special commands specific to their data types, like commands for characters, enemies, events to set their various attributes and change their state. So either get the guide or look at the Advanced FAQ here (http://www.pavilionboards.com/forum/showthread.php?t=870) to get a better grasp on all of the technical aspects of scripting, and the system variables.

[hitogoroshi]

Thats good to know. I just need integers anyway. :)