any advice?

[ntalbert]

hey, im brand new to the forums. I bought rpg maker 2 about three maybe closer to four years ago, but it sat on the shelf unopened the entire time. I finally got bored with my other games and decided to give it a whirl.

The first thing i did was get the guide from primagames site and it has helped out a lot. i decided to read the book and then to set it aside and see how much i could figure out on my own and did suprisingly well. i managed to make a town. put objects in the town, put 2 characters in the town and start in the correct spot as well as placing an event for somebody that wanted me to help them. the only thing that i had to read about again was the event for warping but the second time around i nailed it.

so, all-in-all, i think im catching on pretty quick.

Just wanted to see what everybody says about one thing though. are there any major mistakes that beginners make that i should be aware of before i get too far into the game?

[Catharsis]

Re: any advice?

There are many mistakes to be made as a beginner. One major mistake you can make is in object / event placement. When you place too many buildings the system gets very lagged down. There is a chance it will freeze up and you'll need to reset your ps2, losing all progress that wasn't saved. So always save before messing around with object placement if you planing to place a lot of buildings. That being said I recommend building walls and such in the building editor rather then the dungeon editor when possible as this will save a lot more memory.

For one thing the presets are horrible in that they do not teach you how to do things properly. For example you don't need new events for every visual effect you make, you can use one script and sort the ability number. The presets are very inefficient when it comes to memory usage.

But that won't be a concern unless you make a big project. Starting with a small one is a good idea for now.

Mainly what takes so long is making all your system files and game features. That gives me an idea though. Once you have all that done you can make sequels in a matter of months.

That gives me an idea for a project: better presets and system files for beginners like yourself. I have so many features in Runewind that I can't imagine ever starting from scratch again, so I have decided to make them available to everyone and design my own presets. They are advanced, but most will require little or no modification only a basic knowledge of how to put them to use.

Anyways I'll be around if you need help with something.

The only advice I can offer now is that you learn both from reading and trial and error.

That and I have plenty of advice for making the most of your memory.

[ntalbert]

Re: any advice?

cool, thanks. ill probably spend a few days messin around with stuff before i try to start doin my own thing. once i get started im sure ill have plenty of questions.

[Catharsis]

Re: any advice?

Have you done much yet? I recently finished the project I was telling you about. Of course its not for everyone. If your planing to make something odd like Tetris or a strategy game, or something without any battles I don't think my presets will be of any use to you.

Now if its an RPG you'll have your game finished with new game + in a matter of months. If you use my starting files you will have over 300 abilities, 350 items, and 2 years work of boring and fantastic script work. Many people get this editor and are intimidated by the complexity of it and all of the trivial things they have to do, which I why I made it in the first place. That and you get 500,000 memory to work with.

If you use the new game + file all you will have to do is design your maps, and script your scenes, rename and redefine items, classes, party members. Branch your warps, chests, townspeople talk, and enemies, all in the appropriate scripts that sort world number. Not to mention all of the extra features included like multi team setup, arena, vehicle combat, combining magic, enemy level up, encamping, all of which are already setup and require little or no work to use.

This is very little compared to what you have to do from scratch or with the games presets. Did you know if you want spells that raise resistance to an element you need to make both a party and enemy property for every element? Lets say you raise fire resist by 50%. When you attack an enemy the enemy gets this 50% also. Or how bout all the hours going crazy making indirect effects and stuff that heal them?

Up to you. Note that you will need a max drive to download it, which if you plan to upload any games here you're going to need to buy anyway. Their about $40 and you get 2 memory cards worth of save space.