Series 3

[Perversion]

If any of you has been reading the threads in this forum, you'll know that RPGM3 is my software of choice. I made a typical random battle-type game, albeit one with guilds to join and an alignment system, with Series 1. I think I've exhausted the possiblities with that type of game on this software. So for Series 2, I'm making it be based on arena battles. However, due to the tedium of programming it, and problems with balancing battles (the way I envision the game, players have direct control over how their characters' stats are raised, insead of the typical, level-up and gain stats routine. The problem is, because of this, I'll never know at any given time what any of the characters' stats might be, so it's going to be a bit hard to balance the battles), I'm putting it aside for the time being. I've mentioned before that RPGM2 just kind of scares me, and it would take some time before I would be able to make something that stands out from the pack, as there are already so many games for it that stretch the boundaries of what is possible to make. Instead, I'm attempting to push the boundaries of RPGM3, and make unique games that will hopefully stand out from the others made with this software.

Enter Series 3, which is a farming/dating sim. I plan on making this for the summer contest, and as such, it might be released BEFORE Series 2. I'm using the skill window of the character screen to display what skills you have. These will obviously not be combat-based skills, but instead include horticulture, animal husbandry, fishing, hunting (all of these will have three levels of expertise), cooking, and furrier (a skill that will enable you to make gloves, coats, etc, out of the animal pelts you collect). I plan on making menu-based minigames for hunting and fishing, although the details on how I'm going to go about this are still a bit hazy right now, and might resurrect some form of the gambling minigame I created for Series 1. The goal of the game is to marry the girl of your choice, and move into a mansion. Obviously, the game revolves around making money, and the balancing of such will be just as difficult as the balancing of random battles (for example, what price should seeds cost, weighed against the amount of money you will get from the vegetables that grow from the seeds you plant?) in some respects. This is the idea so far. Any comments would be appreciated.

EDIT: There are a few things I'm having problems with, so if you can think of solutions to these, follow the links below and post in their respective thread.

Pseudo random number generator:http://www.pavilionboards.com/forum/...ead.php?t=7568

Display on after passage of time: http://www.pavilionboards.com/forum/...ead.php?t=7567

[Pagerron]

Re: Series 3

This one sounds like the quite the challenge for RPG Maker 3, but Perversion, you did a good job with Series 1, so cool!

Some of the things you are trying to do seem feasible with different choice branches and variable usage, but a fishing mini game. Man, I wish we could have underwater scenes.

Maybe you could have "fish" in a dungeon with that blue color that fades in and out - kind of looks like water. Or, fish in a barrel. That one would be possible in RPG Maker 3 Yeah, I can understand how creating that would be a bit hazy. But if you can do it, that would truly be awesome.

I remember the gambling game in Series 1. That worked out okay. I must admit that I didn't play it a whole lot because I'm not much of a risk taker and when it comes to RPG games, I'm a hoarder.

Well, you are truly the ambitious game creator. You'll be done with three complete games by year's end. Good luck.

[hitogoroshi]

Re: Series 3

Haha, I would call anyone else crazy for trying to make a farming/dating sim for RPGM3, but to you I say good luck and I can't wait.

[DYRE]

Re: Series 3

Sounds cool! When I get a Max Drive, this'll be one of the first games I play (assuming it's done by then).

[Perversion]

Re: Series 3

I have a solution to my random number generation question. I fooled around with it for about 2 and a half hours today, and after I kept getting auto-event loops, I finally figured out a way to avoid this. Click on the link if you are interested in seeing how I created this. With the game able to give me a "random" number between 1 and 10, I think my dream of having Series 3 a bit like Animal Crossing (all the different dialogues) is looking pretty good. Now all I need to do is come up with interesting conversations for all those choices. If you do not know what I mean, I'm going to try to make a bunch of characters' dialogue based on what the "random" number happens to be at the time. Then I will change the random number at the end of a conversation so if you talk to the person again, you will get a completely different response. I'm not going to have as much flexibility as Animal Crossing, of course, but I can foresee a good chunk of the NPCs having 10 or more different things to converse with you about. But, as I've said, the problem with this is thinking of enough interesting things for the characters to say to warrant them having 10 different available dialogue options. Anyway, that was my breakthrough today. Thanks to all for the encouragement!

[H2SO4]

Re: Series 3

I must say Perversion, I love your ideas and if they turn out as good as you make them sound we will be in for a incredible game that will put all the other RPGM3 games to shame. Work hard on it, and you will reap the rewards of you're determination ^^

[Perversion]

Re: Series 3

I'm insane for thinking this way, but I want to make this game using Animal Crossing as a guide. Meaning, there will be a LOT of things for the NPCs to say. Keep in mind, this is still in the idea stage, but as I have "random numbers" from 1-10, and "random numbers" from 0-2, I want to have each character have three topics of conversation for each of the 10 modes (1 for each random number between 1-10). This is 30 conversations for each character during the day. I want another 30 for night, meaning 60 total per character. Multiply this by the 30 or so characters I want to make using this template, and you have 1800 conversations!!! Like I said, this is just an idea I'm throwing out there; I do not really know if it'll come to fruition. Some of these conversations will probably involve small quests (get something from someone else, and bring it back to the first person). Depending on how much memory this actually uses, I might really try for it. If this is the case, I doubt it'll be done in time for the summer contest. So I might release a demo instead. We'll see what happens. Anyway, my code for the "pseudo random number generator" was a bust. It just does not work. Instead, I'm going to have to assign each action you do and each person you talk to to change the second random number to either 0,1, or 2. The 1-10 number will only change every morning when you enter the field map. So if you have an 8, for example, certain actions will be more to your benefit (i.e.-getting more money for your crops, catching better fish, etc) than if you had a 3, for example. The only problem I see with this system is that each person will ALWAYS say the same 3 things for each number between 1-10. This means that if your number is 4, for example, you will hear ALL the characters say the things they were programmed to say for that number. I would like the conversations to not seem so programmed, but I really do not know any other way to do it, other than to have the 1-10 number change with each conversation as well. Oh, well. That's where I am with this project right now. Thanks for all the kind words from those keeping up with my projects. I told myself when I first started with Series 1 that unless I thought the game was really good, I wasn't going to release it. I knew Series 1 was really good, but I'm unsure about this project. Unless I give the player enough things to do during each day, it might be that the player is stuck waiting around until evening with nothing to do because he wants to talk to the NPCs during the evening to see what their conversations are and possibly pick up a quest. That would really drag the game down...waiting around to do something. That's why I am going to try to make the hunting/fishing minigames. However, I might have to invent some more ways for the player to kill time until evening, so he can talk to all the NPCs again and then go to the inn to sleep until the next day. Anyway, enough rambling. That is all for now.

[Nixon]

Re: Series 3

Your idea actually makes me want to pick up a copy of RPGM3, which I don't like at all. YEA!

But if you can really pull this off...

[Perversion]

Re: Series 3

I just finished working on my fishing minigame in Series 3 today. Catching the fish is not the hard part to program. Selling them is, because there is no way to subtract variables from each other in RPGM 3. Instead, I had to make val conditional branches inside val conditional branches inside val conditional branches just to determine the value of the fish. Even though the fishing game is menu-based, I hope it's a worthwhile diversion. It works based on what your random number (1-10) is for that day, and adds either 1, 2, or 3 to it depending on what level your fishing skill is at. For example, if your random number happens to be 4, and you have a fishing skill of 2, your adjusted value to determine what kind of fish you catch is 6. To catch the better fish, your number has to be 8 or greater. So it does help having a better skill level in fishing. The random number (0-2) also comes into play. There are a total of 14 different kinds of fish to catch.

Ideally, I would have liked any items you get to be placed into the inventory, meaning you can only have 10 items at a time. But this does not work out in reality. For example, say your inventory is full. You pick up a new item, and switch it out for another item. Problem is, according to the variables, you still have the old item in your possession, even though you technically no longer have it. So instead, I've needed to make all items in the game treasure items, meaning you can have an unlimited amount at any given time. That is where I am in making this. Oh, and the first character to utilize my 30 conversations for day/30 conversations for night has all of his day conversations programmed. I'm thinking of making only 10 characters this way, which would still be a lot of work, as it would involve 600 conversations. But I'm 1/20th of the way there. It's a bit hard coming up with enough things for this guy to talk about. I'm resorting to quoting lines from movies and song lyrics to see if anyone playing picks up on the references. Oh, and by the way, this game is going to be a bit anachronistic. For example, the main character talks to an old man about video games. I want to make the conversations humorous, so the game is not so dry. Also, some of the conversations I have typed in so far border on the surreal, which, in my humble opinion, is a good thing! Tis all for now.

[Fruple]

Re: Series 3

Unless I give the player enough things to do during each day, it might be that the player is stuck waiting around until evening with nothing to do because he wants to talk to the NPCs during the evening to see what their conversations are and possibly pick up a quest. That would really drag the game down...waiting around to do something. That's why I am going to try to make the hunting/fishing minigames. However, I might have to invent some more ways for the player to kill time until evening, so he can talk to all the NPCs again and then go to the inn to sleep until the next day. Anyway, enough rambling. That is all for now.

OOO! Shadows of Torayu fixed this. I saw when I was playing it. (Hito also mentioned it in Flametounge Studios.)

Day/Night: Day and Night play a huge role, and you can "wait" in a tree for morning, noon, evening, and night. (If you want to use this, it's 6:00, 12:00, 18:00, and 23:50.)

I haven't played long, but I'm pretty sure there is a control/change time function. And then you would just need to refresh the display.

[Perversion]

Re: Series 3

Okay...I'm running into a slight problem with this game. It has nothing to do with the programming. It's just that my creative juices are not flowing all that well lately. So I'm asking anyone that's interested to post any ideas they have for a conversation. Mind you, I do not want an entire conversation typed out. I just need a few words to hopefully spark something. Like you might type "have a conversation about how tasty lasagna is"...and I might use it. If I use any of your ideas, I'll put you in the credits to the game. I've narrowed it down to having 10 characters with these conversations, and I need 60 conversations for each character. I'm 1/2 done with one character, and 1/4 done with another. Do not worry about your ideas making sense or being cohesive. I'm trying for a surreal feeling with these characters anyway, so something completely off the wall can be used. Thanks in advance.

[Pagerron]

Re: Series 3

You could have conversations about:
- the value of getting more than six hours of sleep a night
- whether someone remembers a recent nightmare
- whether everyone in that particular town should be required to speak the same language
- the NPC's favorite sport
- why people in the town leave their houses unlocked and let complete strangers roam around inside them
- whether it is safe or not to travel through the warps in the town or field
- chewing one's fingernails vs. using nail clippers
- back hair, sexy or not?
- the hygiene of frogs in Spring
- how to make ice water
- whether animals have souls
- the passage of time in RPG Maker 3. (A day takes about 30 mins.)
- the existence of a Creator

[hitogoroshi]

Re: Series 3

ohh, sorry I missed this before.

-Whether the NPC is fat or just "big boned."
-Whether jumping off towers in, in fact, a sport.
-Mice. Followed by several colorful and orginal curse words.
-If that pond looks like Harold's face, or if Harold's face looks like a pond.
-Funny hats.
-Whether spinning around really fast can make you advance through time. (A change time event could make this hilarious.)

Also,

why people in the town leave there houses unlocked and let complete strangers roam around inside them

Torayu fixed this! I feel so proud inside...although I'm sure other people won't be when they see the message "The door is locked!" again and again and again.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Series 3

If you're worried about the player having to wait around for time to change you could put a nap event in their house so that if they take a nap in the daytime they'll wake up in the evening or vice versa, then you can do as much as you want and then go to the next time period when you feel like it.

[Perversion]

Re: Series 3

Yeah...I already thought of this, but it would have to be something like Hito's "sleeping under a tree" because you start out staying at the inn and have to save enough money to buy a house. Thanks for the encouragement, though.