Noobie with some easy ?s

[irate giraffe]

Hey guys,
I just got RPGM3 (& keyboard) two weeks ago. After fiddling around with it a bunch (usually when drunk with friends--we've made all these hilarious events/characters/battles usually ending in getting laid by a chick (the one in the green plaid skirt), I'm ready to start on a serious adventure. I would've given myself more time to get wet with the software, but you guys got that damn contest in two months (which is great motivation by the way). So, anyways, I already have a few basic questions, and I will more than likely have more.

1) Main character starts out in a room. Is there anyway to make it so he cannot exit the room until he has had a conversation with an NPC standing in the room? I tried putting an event by the door that gets disabled after talking to the NPC but it seems tacky. Either there is a '?' floating on the screen, or a tree and then the event says "Let me talk to you first" and kicks you back five steps. It all feels extremely obtruse. Can anyone help me with this? Anything that would make it seem more fluid would be appreciated.

2) I want a way around the random battles. My problem is that even at the low% setting they seem much to frequent. I was thinking about (in a dungeon) placing a few battle events throughout (at what I think is a good encounter rate). Can anyone think of a way this would work well? Or have any other suggestions?

I apologize if these questions were answered elsewhere. I have read through most of the RPGM3 forum topics on the site, and these are the main two I have left. This post is also my "I'm new look at me post" (though I'm sure it then should've been posted in another place). Thanks for having such a chill site set up for this software. It has been very encouraging already, just reading through the forums. I hope to post more about my story as I learn more about it (the story and the software).

[Perversion]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

1) The way you describe it is the only way I can think to do it. Put an invisible event in front of the door, and have it say something like..."Hmm...I should probably talk to character A before I leave" and then kick you back five steps. I'm guessing you know how to use the variables to accomplish this, as you did not ask for help with this.


2) I put my random battles on the lowest setting as well, and in the review at the mag of my completed game, Series 1: Destiny Beckons, I got docked some points for the random battles being too frequent. The only other way to do it is to have scripted character battles, or place an invisible event in a narrow passage of a dungeon (only one square wide in the dungeon editor) that contains a monster battle. If you plan on doing it this way, you can also alleviate the problem that also showed up in this forum very recently about a character selling items. If you have scripted character or monster battles, you can create a variable to keep track of how much money the characters are receiving. Do this by giving out, say 30 gold for the encounter, and use Increase Variable and add the same amount to the variable of your choosing. Then you can make characters that sell things, other than the standard shops, because you will have a variable to keep track of if you have enough money to purchase a certain item. That's really all the help I can give you now...

[Pagerron]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

Hey Atreides,
Welcome to the Pavilion. You'll like it here.

[irate giraffe]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

Thanks Perversion,
You kinda verified that I was doin' those things as best I could. Regarding using invisible events for battles in dungeon hallways--is there anyway I can do this without that damn floating question mark? Or do you think that looks ok to a person playing it--like they know they are about to run into a battle?


And thanks for the welcome, Pagerron. I have been lounging in these forums for two weeks and it does seem like a great place. Actually, I was browsing in the forums even before I got the game. I ordered it off half.com and it took a week to ship. By the time it came, I already had a lot of things, especially variables, figured out. And I had already read about which common mistakes not to make. Needless to say, it was very easy to jump into the software quickly, thanks to you guys.

[Perversion]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

The floating question mark only shows up during test play. During the actual game, the player will not see it. Just make sure you set the event to "touch" not "auto" or "button"....but you probably already knew this...

[irate giraffe]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

Thanks a bunch man. I had no idea since I had only been playing in testplay. LMAO. The whole time I was going, "Invisible, my ass."
Yeah, I figured out what auto did the first time I testplayed it and got stuck in a loop.
But, man, those question marks not being there is the biggest relief. Thanks again.

[Perversion]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

While making my first game, I was having the same problem with auto events looping, so it was not until late in the creative process (after I got some help here at the boards) that I began using them. They actually come in quite handy...you just have to remember to either 1) Change modes after the auto event occurs to either a touch or a button activated mode...or 2) Place a "display off" command at the end of the auto event to get rid of the loop. Auto events are good for things like when you want your game to start out with certain variables being already assigned a value (the default is zero) and for turning off the display on things you want to turn the display on for later in the game. Just place an auto event in the (room, town, field) where you start, set all the initial values, and then have a display off turn off the variable. In my game-in-progress Series 3, I actually have an auto event triggered to turn its display on every morning to change certain variables, then turn off until the next morning. You can actually get pretty creative with auto events, and I encourage you to learn how to use them...

[Libby]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

Wow..this is like..the third literate member we got in the last few weeks. Welcome to the Pavilion.. You already gain many points for your wonderful posts. You could always do something silly like put an event like boxes or something in front of the door and say "OMG!Too Heavy! That NPC will help me!" and then keep the event on replay until you talk to the NPC. Set up the NPC's events to where he helps you move it or something like that. Or just have the room locked and once to you talk to the person, transport your character outside the door..

Maybe. I'm not experianced enough to make a good suggestion.

But, welcome!

[MagusMartovich]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

Look, I'm a n00b too and these events and variables are a tough thing. How do you keep track of the variable when nothing is labeled? I mean I see the page and there's like 16 (or something) different variables I can change but I have no idea what I'm changing or how to play off the change later in the game. I need a walkthrough or something...

Actually, I might not even need a walkthrough but I think that some kind of tutorial would be an excellent thing for those of us who are new to these editor/maker programs...

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

Grab a pencil and paper, and write down what they do.

[irate giraffe]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

Thanks Libra,
Do you guys get that many illiterate members here?
Funny you mentioned that box trick, cause that was exactly what I tried when I thought that invisible events meant an obtrusive floating question mark in the game. Just knowing that invisible events are invisible was the help I needed.

Perversion,
I will definitely look into those auto-events. Man, I am loving the options this game has. When I was first reading through these forums, it seemed that most people were frustrated with its limitations. Albeit there are some bad ones (100 char limit), but, man o man, it has more options than I could ask for, especially with such an easy, intuitive interface.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

We get the occasional member who types like he's in a chatroom and could care less about proper spelling and grammar. You know, like

hey guys i just want 2 no y do u hate it when i type like this

Actually, there have been a few that are so bad you have to question whether English is their first language. And yet we also see plenty of those who type very well for not having English as their first language.

[The Dark Jester]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

Granted this is unrelated but your info says your from O'Side, CA?

WHATS DAT?!

[irate giraffe]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

My apologies if the abbreviation is confusing. It is Oceanside, California (southern).

[rpgfanatic]

Re: Noobie with some easy ?s

For the nonrandom battles, DO NOT set the random encounter enemies, instead, set up events that lead to a battle (you can make them invisible or with a character graphic). For the NPC conversation, you can set up a falg condition on the event set to exit that turns on or off when you talk to the NPC. It is very simple, really. Let me know if you need more help..