How to make saving interesting.

[Meiscool-2]

This is a mostly useless Tut, but for some people, it might make their game that much better.

When you load a game, you'll often see something like this:



Or, when you go to save, you might see something like this:



Now, you might ask me what's wrong with those, they look fine to me.

Well, the thing is, both those games are ABS games that don't have lvls OR actual HP. Instead, they have health meters and upgrades to increase stats, sorta like levels, but not.

Also, in most ABS games, only one main character exsists. And, Generally by looking at the face, we can see which character is in your party anyways, so you really don't need the name their either.

I've devised ways to still make use out of those however.

By doing a few small changes, and making a few minor script changing for when you save your game, I was able to make your saving menus more... informative.



In the above screenshot, you'll notice a few different things (sorry for the dark font in some places). Where the hero name normally would be, I have the location of where you saved at. (note, this only works for games you can't name your characters in) Where it would normally show health, I have what year is it, because my game deals with time travel. Where it would normally show what level you are at, I have what % through the game you are. As for the %, yes, it can never be 100. But, if you don't make it to where you can save your game after the final boss fight, then you can never have 100% on a saved game anyways!

There are other things you can do with this.



In this one, it's a puzzle game, or a game like Pacman, where you go around gathering points and ect. Where the name is, I put what floor you are on. Where your level would be, I put an Icon to show how many of something important you have gathered. (the plot is to gather all 50 swords of power to slay the great dragon). Where your HP would be, I put the number of points that you currently have. Where you facesets would be, I put other important treasures that you have found in the game by solving puzzles.

What I did to change all this, is I went into the fifth page on the string in the database, and edited the HP (Short Form) and Level (Short Form) to say what I wanted. When you save, I put in a command in the saving script (called Change Hero Name. It's on the first page) that changes the name to whatever location you are at. When I traveled to a different year, I changed the character HP. When I completed a task in the game, I added 1 level, so that it shows as adding 1 more % to the game's total completion.

What this can do for the normal RPG with the DBS, I don't know. However, for people that want something slightly different in their games, this is a good choice.

[Tomi]

lol, I've done some of this stuff before, but good tutorial.  It explains things very nicely.

[aboutasoandthis]

Nice for an ABS game.

[thepsynergist]

Would it moke sense to use this on a cbs as well?  Maybe, this should in most abs's or cbs's.

[I Have a Sandwich]

Well, you could have it where you name the char. You'd just have it change it back afterwards.

[MrMister]

Nope. Have the character naming menu actually name a different 'dummy' character. Then in all message boxes, have the /N

• command thing refer to the dummy character's name.

Then have the actual character's name be the location.
Also, topic kick.

[plightofthepureblood]

Originally posted by MrMister

Also, topic kick.

I concurr, sir.