Draygone...character select screen

[Perversion]

In another thread, Draygone said that it was possible to create a custom character select screen in RPGM1. How would one go about doing so?
I want to create a game where it's possible at various times to select different members of your party to fight in battles, while the rest sit the battle out. How can I do this? I just got RPGM1 in the mail today, and messed around with it for a little while. Thanks.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Draygone...character select screen

Well, lessee here... First, I'm gonna need to know exactly how you want it to happen? A separate screen at save points, or maybe an area that the party members gather.

[Hedrum]

Re: Draygone...character select screen

Hey, I can help you. I've made menus like these in my games. With both Patrick's Journey and Monkey Brothers in fact. Now, don't make threads that are directed towards only one person, because people like me are also willing to help.

For my game, Monkey Brothers, I have the character selection screen set just so:

----------Event 1



(Event 2)(Event 3)(Event 4)


When you have the player enter character selection room, make sure that the party cannot be seen (or else it'll look not that great) and use the shift screen command if necessary. For "Event 1", have that be the character's graphic. Events 2 and 4 will be used to change the graphic for "Event 1" and these will also be objects to avoid any strange screen shifts every time the player hits the D-Pad left or right. "Event 3" is for checking whenever the player has selected his or her character.

Now, for the hardest part, using switches. Depending on how many party members there are, the number of switches vary. It can take anywhere from 2-30 switches, but for right now, let's say we only want 3 members to choose from so there's going to be about 3 switches used (if you only want one character to be used at a time). Here, let me elaborate...

Have the graphic for "Event 1" change whenever a certain switch is turned on. Switch 001 will display "Member 1"'s graphic, switch 002 will display "Member 2"'s graphic, and so on. "Event 2" should turn on and off switches (ex: if "Event 1"'s graphic displays "Member 1"'s graphic at the moment, "Event 2" would turn off the switch that displays "Member 1"s graphic and it would turn on the switch that displays "Member 2"'s graphic, get it?). "Event 4" will be identical to "Event 2" but it's the reverse form (have the character selection go in a loop, not a straight path). When the player made his or her decision for the particular character, he or she will check "Event 3" to change the character and it will enable the player to exit the character select menu.

However, this is just what I did with Monkey Brothers. There is a more complicated way of doing this. If you wanted to have 4 party members out at a time in the field, then I'm a bit hazy on how that idea would work (since I have not expiremented with it). Basically the use of switches is the key here. I don't know how exactly you're going to use them, but they're your only chance in making the character select menu work. Hopefully I've given you an idea of how to do it.

In the mean time, experiment with RPG Maker 1. Find loop-holes and be creative when making events. If the character select menu seems a bit complex, do what I did in Patrick's Journey. I made a party room where you can check members to join the party by using only about 3 pages per event (party members being events) and by the use of page conditions.

Now, I have to get off the computer. If you have further questions, I'll do my best to answer them.