Hakuen Studio Character Generator For RPG Maker MZ

A new scene to create your own characters graphics! · By Hakuen Studio

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Do Plugin Commands allow changes outside the generator?

A topic by DairyFreeLemon created Sep 24, 2023 Views: 214 Replies: 10

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DairyFreeLemon1 year ago(+1)

So say I don't want the player to use the generator after you've initialized your character. And say they unlock "Shirt A", am I able to assign shirt A to their character via a command, or is all changing done exclusively via the generator menu?

Other thing is, do you need to use a straight up premade image for actors or is there a way to have their set parts preset in their note tag? I assume this one is a no but wanting to check.

For both of these I looked over the videos, the help file, and the store page, and didn't see it mentioned.

I get paid next(this) week and I'm debating getting this for something I'm working on.

Hakuen StudioDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Hi there!

No, currently all changes made to the characters need to be done inside the generator scene. What can be done, is whenever you open the generator with a character that already uses pieces from that generator, the scene will automatically start with those pieces already drawn.

The thing is, when you use a generator and applies it to a character, the character will only have a KEY that will point out to the configuration(the pieces he used) on the generator. Because, if every character has stored all pieces individually, it will make the same file too big.

BUT, it does seem a nice feature to add, meaning a way to use plugin commands to change the character pieces. So I will put that on my to-do list.

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About the note tag, no. The only way to a character starts with preset pieces, is by creating a generator with default pieces already drawn, and applying it to the character.

On theory, you could do everything above using script calls, but it will not be easy for the user. I will see what I can about those two requests, But I can't say to you now when I will take a look into these.

DairyFreeLemon1 year ago

Makes sense! If it can be done with script calls I might still be stubborn enough to use it

For further context I plan on using items to do it, so you use "shirt A" item and using that items calls a common event which calls that specific plugin command call to assign that specific shirt.

Hakuen StudioDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Understood!

You will need to check the plugin code to understand how the code works so you can use the script calls. When I have a little more time, I will try to explain better to you, because I believe it's complex.

DairyFreeLemon1 year ago(+1)

I'm getting practice through learning to manually do a script call via your self switch plugin :D

Summerhyme1 year ago

Jumping in to say this is a great idea! If I'm not mistaken, this would enable the use of character parts for events / NPCs without the player having to go through the character creator.

I have a question in case you ever decide to add this feature. I have no idea how the plugin works (other than the fact that it is a masterpiece), but my comprehension is that it loads the selected character parts on top of each other. So I was wondering if having multiple generated characters with different body parts at the same time could cause some performance issues, especially on mobile? My reasoning is that a character is usually one PNG file, but with this plugin it becomes multiple PNG files that need to be loaded into memory. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this as I am currently debating on whether to save all my character variations as different image files :)

As always, thank you for your time!

Hakuen StudioDeveloper1 year ago

Hi there!

It is a bit complex to explain how it works, but I will try.

1 - On the Character Generator scene, the plugin will load all files/pieces that the Generator has. And it will show them on the preview windows. In that scene, the PNG files are loaded each one inside a sprite. So they are layered. One sprite for one PNG file.

2 - After you create the character, the plugin stores the references of all the pieces used. And, on the Map Scene, it will only load those pieces. Not the entire generator. But, different from the Generator Scene, the characters do not have a sprite for each different piece. The plugin creates several sprites, just like the Generator Scene, but it puts them all together inside of a single sprite, creating just one PNG file.

When I add the plugin commands to change character pieces, the process will probably involve redrawing everything with the new pieces inserted/changed with the plugin command.

Now about performance issues, it really depends on the mobile that is running the game and also how many pieces/PNG files you have. There is no way to escape the fact that you will need to load all the png files the character will use. But those files are small. I guess it will only cause trouble if you have like a lot.

Summerhyme1 year ago

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to me., the way it works is even more impressive than what I had imagined. This is my favorite plugin among your collection, and I would even say among all MZ plugins I know of. Even more than that, it was a major contributor in giving me the motivation to start my project. Character creators are the one feature I look for in the types of games I play, so I couldn't imagine making my own game without one.

So thank you for making this, it really means a lot to me!

I do have a question about the possibility of adding a certain feature. I don't know if DairyFreeLemon's idea would allow me to do that, but I was wondering if it would be possible to work with different poses (the basic walking / idle / running but also custom poses such as sitting / dancing / etc.). For example, you could have different folders for poses and the generator would "match" the chosen parts with their counterparts that have the same filename in each folder to create multiple spritesheets.

Unfortunately, my game includes multiple poses and I think that could be the case for similar games that would want to include character creators. I know the plugin doesn't support that right now, but is this something that could possibly be done in an eventual update (in a faraway future of course)? I would even be willing to commission you for this feature, because I know the HUGE value of the work and effort you put into your plugins :)

Hakuen StudioDeveloper1 year ago

Poses is one thing that I already think of, but honestly, if I ever do that, will be one of the latest features the plugin will have.

Putting that complexity on the plugin is something that I only see doable when the plugin has a better/stronger code to support that. For example, I still want to add a new way for the user to build all the generators he wants. Because I think doing that with the plugin parameters is really hard work.

When I have done this and a lot of other things I plan to do, and I feel confident that the code is better, and the plugin is more "feature complete", I may start thinking of a way to add poses.

Summerhyme1 year ago(+1)

It's awesome to know that you're even considering adding this one day! As I've said this plugin is amazing and I will be looking forward to every new release. Good luck with your work and thank you again for making all this possible ^^

Hakuen StudioDeveloper1 year ago

Thank you friend! ^^

Have fun!

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Hakuen Studio Character Generator For RPG Maker MZ

Do Plugin Commands allow changes outside the generator?