Post by AI Sin in Sticky Post: Clarifications and More!

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Hmmm... I do have a question about the rules. I just realized that the rules said:

Games MUST be created using only RPG Maker MZ (either the one distributed for free during the contest, or one that you've purchased). Plugins are fine, but no other game engine may be used.

If I made a project with RPG Maker MZ, then did all my editing in Notepad++, then went back to RPG Maker MZ for deployment and testing, would that be against the rules?

StudioBlue3 years ago

Heya. The rule states "no other game engine may be used". That doesn't include Notepad++ (I'm sure some people will argue that it's a scripting engine). The rule is to keep people from using RPG Maker MV, or Unity2D or whatnot, instead of RPG Maker MZ. So, yeah, you're fine! :-)

AI Sin3 years ago(+1)

Oh good, I was worried that someone was going to say that my submission was invalid because I made my maps in notepad++ instead of the RPGM MZ software.

StudioBlue3 years ago (1 edit)

Ok, I'll bite. How did you make maps in Notepad++?

AI Sin3 years ago (2 edits) (+1)

I swear I showed this in IGMC2018, but... it is very simple. The maps are just json files, so if you know the syntax, it is pretty easy.

If you have RPGM MZ running at the same time, you can even see it updated whenever you save.

Example of an event in the json:

{"id":24,"name":"Secret Starfish","note":"","pages":[{"conditions":{"actorId":1,"actorValid":false,"itemId":1,"itemValid":false,"selfSwitchCh":"A","selfSwitchValid":false,"switch1Id":1,"switch1Valid":false,"switch2Id":1,"switch2Valid":false,"variableId":1,"variableValid":false,"variableValue":0},"directionFix":true,"image":{"tileId":0,"characterName":"Starfish","direction":2,"pattern":1,"characterIndex":0},"list":[{"code":122,"indent":0,"parameters":[6,6,0,0,0]},{"code":122,"indent":0,"parameters":[9,9,0,0,0]},{"code":111,"indent":0,"parameters":[4,3,3,257]},{"code":0,"indent":1,"parameters":[]},{"code":411,"indent":0,"parameters":[]},{"code":122,"indent":1,"parameters":[6,6,1,0,1]},{"code":0,"indent":1,"parameters":[]},{"code":412,"indent":0,"parameters":[]},{"code":111,"indent":0,"parameters":[4,3,3,259]},{"code":0,"indent":1,"parameters":[]},{"code":411,"indent":0,"parameters":[]},{"code":122,"indent":1,"parameters":[6,6,1,0,1]},{"code":0,"indent":1,"parameters":[]},{"code":412,"indent":0,"parameters":[]},{"code":111,"indent":0,"parameters":[4,1,3,131]},{"code":0,"indent":1,"parameters":[]},{"code":411,"indent":0,"parameters":[]},{"code":111,"indent":1,"parameters":[10,52,true]},{"code":0,"indent":2,"parameters":[]},{"code":411,"indent":1,"parameters":[]},{"code":122,"indent":2,"parameters":[9,9,1,0,1]},{"code":0,"indent":2,"parameters":[]},{"code":412,"indent":1,"parameters":[]},{"code":0,"indent":1,"parameters":[]},{"code":412,"indent":0,"parameters":[]},{"code":101,"indent":0,"parameters":["",0,0,2,""]},{"code":401,"indent":0,"parameters":["You are missing \\V[6] important secrets from this area"]},{"code":401,"indent":0,"parameters":["and \\V[9] important generic secrets."]},{"code":0,"indent":0,"parameters":[]}],"moveFrequency":3,"moveRoute":{"list":[{"code":0,"parameters":[]}],"repeat":true,"skippable":false,"wait":false},"moveSpeed":3,"moveType":0,"priorityType":1,"stepAnime":false,"through":false,"trigger":0,"walkAnime":true}],"x":1,"y":7},

It is really useful because for example, if I accidentally put event To Cave as id 25 instead of id 2, I can just change the "id" field and do some rearrangement.

StudioBlue3 years ago

It's possible that you did and I don't recall because I wasn't that involved in the process.

However, that is extremely amazing, inventive, and impresses the heck out of me.

Way to go!

AI Sin3 years ago(+1)

Well, there are both pros and cons to making everything via the json and js files:

Pros

Assuming you know what you are doing...
- It is very fast to make events and areas and changes
- Depending on what editor you use, you can easily have certain things highlighted to make work easier.
- It becomes easy to edit multiple events with the same commands (say you have 5 different events that use "add item 02" but you change item 02 to item 102. You can easily search and change all the events at about the same time.
- If things are in the wrong place (say you have your events all grouped, so 1-5 should be transfer events and 6-15 are signs, etc. You add a new transfer event to a new area later on. You can easily just insert the new event in 6 and just renumber all the IDs starting at 6 to be increased by 1.
- You can sometimes do things that the RPGM software can't do natively in the software, but can do in the engine.

Cons

If you want a visual, you need RPGM MZ open anyways. (it will ask you if you want to refresh when the files change)
You need to know how to read json and js to edit them and you need to know how the engine's json syntax is or you'll get errors and/or bugs.
It can be very hard for some people to remember all the numbers for things like maps.
It is slow if you don't know what you are doing.
It can be very hard to read depending on your font and screen settings.
It is easy to make a mistake and hard to find mistakes if you don't know what you are looking for.

StudioBlue3 years ago

I see. So kind of like using C++ in UE4 as opposed to Blueprints. Each has their own unique advantages and disadvantages, but in the end it's the flavor of the developer. Very cool!

itch.io

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