Rahl's RPG Maker Tutorial Thread

[Rahl]

Rahl's Tutorials

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Other Tutorials by Rahl

<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=25143.0">Equipped Skill Books Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=25142.0">Day/Night Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=24374.0">Advanced Door Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=24795.0">Hero Damage Animation Tutorial Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=23452">Basic Material Collection Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=23506.0">Defend the Wall Mini Game Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=23500.0">Swords, Bows, and Staffs Mini Game Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=23453.0">Advanced Health Bar Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=23477.0">Advanced Mini Game Black Jack Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=23496.0">Custom Maximum Gold Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=24315.msg278722#msg278722">Timer Tutorial</a>
<a href="http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=25093.msg296130#msg296130">Cutscene Tutorial</a>
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Very Basics of RPG maker Scripting.

   There are many noobs/ new comers who don't know the first thing about RPG makers and ask alot of questions that vetrain RPGM people either don't have time to explain or feel that the job of helping the less knowledgable is beneath them.
   I want to help those who know little to nothing about RPG maker scripting/ eventing. It may seem overwhelming at first but, once you have a basic knowledge of how things work, then almost anything becomes possible in your game.
   First off let begin with the basics of the basics: Events are the background of your game, the things the make it interesting and unique from the games other have made. Without events your game is just walking around on a map and it will never end or be anything near interesting.
   You will notice in the in your game maker, at the top in your tool bar the bottun circled in red below:



Click this button to show multiple 's over top of the map you have created.

These are event squares which can be double Clicked to open up an event page for that event square that looks like this:



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1- Your Event Name: Your event name is how your event is found and reference on the map, giving your events unique names helps you later distinguish between your events.
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2- Event Script Area: This is where you will place your scripts that will accur as the event is activated. We will come back to this a little later on.
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3- Event Pre-Conditions: Most of what words appear here will also be talked about later, but basically the check boxes to the left of each pre-condition makes it a precondition for this event meaning that the criteria checked must be fullfullied for the event to be able to activate. If multiple boxes are checked then all of the criteria from each pre-condition must be met.
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4- Event Graphic: In this part of the event page you can change what graphic you event shows up as on your map. By clicking on the Set button next to the picture this interface will open:

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5- Movement type: There are 7 different movement types you can set for your event
   - Stationary: The event will not move unless otherwise told to in your script.
   - Random: This will make the event move in random directions
   - Vertical: This will make the event move only in verticle directions: Up/Down
   - Horizontal: This will make the event move only in horizontal directions: Left/Right
   - Toward Hero: This will make the event move toward your hero
   - Away From Hero: This will make the event move away from your hero
   - Custom Pattern: This will define the movements of your hero based on a custom path you set for him by pressing the "Define Pattern" button located under the drop down menu.
      
      -Another note about movement of your character is that located under the movement type drop down menu is another drop down menu labled speed which allows you to set the speed at which the event moves accross the map, note also this option will not appear is movement type is Stationary.
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6- Trigger Conditions: This part of the event page is where you decide how you want your evehint to be activated. There are 5 different way that an event can be activated.
   - Action Key: This activates the event when the hero is facing and standing next to/ Over/ Under the event and the player presses the action key (mainly z & Enter)
   - Touch By Hero: Activates the event when the hero touches the event not needing to press anything.
   -Collision With Hero: This activates the event when the hero comes into contact with the event.
   -Auto-Start: This type of event starts automatically and halts other processes in the background.
   -Parallel Process: This type of event starts automatically, but runs parallel to other processes currently going on.
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7- Event Layer: There are 3 kinds of event layers for you event cant take the form of.
   -Below Hero: This sets the event below the hero, which allows the hero to move over top of it.
   -Same Layer as Hero: This sets the event to the same layer the hero is on. This will prevent the hero from moving over or under the event.
   -Above Hero: This sets the event above the hero, which allows the hero to move under the event.
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8- Event Page Tabs: Each event page has tabs wether it is 1 or over 100, Each event tab can make the event page different. What decides which event page will be the active one is which ever one has satisfied pre-conditions. If a page has no preconditions and there are other pages with pre-conditions that are not satisfied the page with no preconditions will be the active event page.
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9- Tab Commands: There are 4 tab commands that allow you to either add a new tab, copy currently viewed tab, paste a copied tab, or delete currently viewed tab.
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Event Script Area:

   Now that you know about event pages I will teach you some of the many things you will find in the Event Scripting Area. By double-clicking in the white area of your scripting area a menu that looks like this will look like this.


   Remember that these event pages are read from top to bottom, in a kind of to-do list order. If you make a sound effect of an explosion and then a battle animation of it, it will happen in that order and is likely not to sound/look right. And also remember that events that are parallel and auto-start will continue to run thier script over and over and over unless turn off or moved to a different page where the events activation is not parallel or auto-start.
   This is a list of things you can use to manipulate your events in the scripting area. If you will notice there are 4 tabs at the top and under each tab are a different set of things you can use in your scripting area.

----------Messages----------
   The first thing I will teach you about events in the scripting area is messages. Messages are a way to show text in game, like when a character is speaking or thinking somthing. This is one of the most simple things you can do but is somthing you will use often in your scripting. Open the Event Command Interface and in the first tab Click:

And in the text box that opens type the message you wish to show in your game and then press OK.

You can also add a face graphic which will appear next to your message showing whos talking at the moment by clicking:

Where you can set the image you wish to use and what side of the message it should appear on.
Messages preferences such as background transparency and where the message box will be positioned on the screen.

----------Switches-----------
   Next we will talk about switches. Switches are the bread and butter of any game made in RPG maker. A switch can be ON or OFF. To open the switch interface click on:

In the Event Commands interface, in the first tab and it will open this:

You can double-click and the red circled area to change it to the switch you want to use, opening this interface:

   As you can see I have named the first switch "Switch 1", all of the switches can be named in this interface, and you can select the one you wish to use.
   Circled in green is what lets you decide if you wish to use one switch, or multiple switches that are next to each other in the previous list by using the range of numbers of the switch you wish to mass chage to ON or OFF. We wont bother with the variable referenced switch yet.
   Circled in blue is what lets you decide if you wish to turn the switch/switches ON or OFF. Remember that all switches start the game OFF.
   Press Enter, to complete this part of the script. Now that we have the switch we want to turn on, being turned ON in the event it should appear in the Event Script area.


------------Party Management-----------
   An important part of any game is party management, when you come across new characters that you wish to add to your party. This is an easy proceedure just click the button:

Inside this Change Party interface you add or remove members inside of your party. You can have up to 4 members in your party at any given time so keep that in mind.

---------Shops and Inns----------
   Another part of a good game is the ability to buy and sell Items as well as being able to sleep in an Inn. These are normal parts of any RPG game and are very easy to set up in the scripting menu.

   -Shops: Click the Open Shop Window button to enter the shop interface, where you can select the welcome message of the shopkeeper, and on the right you can add the items from your items database to the shop where they can be bought.
   -Inns: Click on the Show Inn Message button, where you can set the Inn keeper's message and the price of a night's stay at the in.

----------Telepoting----------
   It would be near impossible to make a good game completely with one map and on one chipset. This is where the teleport button comes into effect:

   In this interface you can select the map from the left that you wish to move the hero and the location on that map you wish your hero to appear. To do this once the you have selected the map on the left a miniature map will show on the right and you should click where you wish him to appear.
   We can also change the effects on the screen as your hero teleports from the old and into the new map, by pressing the:


-----------Screen Effects and Music-----------
   Are you creating a game where you move from map to map killing monster, and fighting baddies. You are also the director of you game. And what makes all good games? Small things like sad music and a slowly fading screen to black. Things that effect the aura of your giving it the dramatic affect that will stay with your player and set it apart from all the games they have played in the past.
   We'll start with Visual Effects:

   -Tint Screen tints the screen based on the color ballance you set. Like when you want to imitate night time, you would tint the screen to a dark blue. Or when you want to imitate dawn you would tint the screen slightly orange. These effects greatly add to your game.
   -Flash Screen allows you to flash the screen a certain color, possibly imitating damge if you flash it red, or maby a flashbang before an enemy dissipears when you flash it white.
   -Shake Screen allows you to shake the screen possibly imitating an earthquake, or mabey a building falling apart around you.
   -Pan Screen allows you to move the players view away from the hero and to somewhere else on the map, maby to show the hero quicly looking over in suprise as the bad guys runs off with the princess and many other things.
   -Weather Effects add greatly to your game. How boring would a world be if the weather was the same EVERYDAY. It would get boring right? Why not making it to where it randomly rains or has some other type of weather every once and a while, making your games come more alive.
   Next we'll talk about Music Effects:

   -Play BGM (background music): Background music can add to what your game trys to convey, sad music can greatly highten the dramatic effect your game has on its player.
   -Fade BGM will fade out your background music, also in this interface you can make the music get softer over time, which is also essential.
   -Play Sound Effect allows you to play sound effects, I mean what good is an explosion without the sound of one? Whats better a guy just coming through a door, or the same with the soud of a door opening and closing?

   Battle Animations

   -In the battle animation interface you can choose a battle animation and its target, If you will remember I told you naming your events will help you Identify them later on, well this also applies to now. Yes you can choose the target as hero, but you can also choose another event on the map. This is very useful feature and allows you to show a battle animation outside of an actual battle.

------------Pictures------------
   Pictures are a great way to customize the look of your game more. Each picture has a number set to it, and only one picture can be set to each number. If one picture is set as picture: 1 and then later in the script another picture is set as: 1 as well then the second picture will be the one that is shown.

   -Show Picture allows you to choose which picture to show, which number to associate it with, its top and bottom transparency, its color, and other effects. In this interface you will also need to input the coordinates in which the picture need be shown.
   -Move picture as it says move a current picture from one place to another, or changes the effects the picture has on it to possibly another effect.
   -Erase picture will prompt you for the number of the picture which you wish to erase.

----------Move Event-----------
   The Move Event command is a very important command that moves chosen event on the map as well as the hero to new positions of your choosing. This is the key factor in nearly every good cutscene:

   But in this remember that other events will NOT wait for the imput movements to complete before moving on, the remedy for this is usually coupling the Move Event Command with the Wait Command.

   The Wait command forces the event to-do list to wait for however many tenths of seconds you put in. Remember that if coupled with Move Event to put the Move Event before Wait. The best way to find out how much time it will take for the movement to ellapse is to test it out and adjust it accordingly.

-----------------------------------------------------------Variables-----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Variables are difficult for beginners to understand and have a part in this tutorial to themselves. So let us begin with what is a Variable? A variable can basically be thought of as a box of sorts. It can represent the number of something else.
   Lets says I want to make the variable "Money". I would go to to the Event Commands interface and press:

Which will open this variable interface:

   Circled in red is the Variable name to which I want to the number of gold I have. You can double click the area where the name is and set the name of the variable you wish to use.
   Circled in green is the what you want to do with the Variable you are setting, for the purposes of this exercise I will be setting it "Equal".
   Circled in blue what I wish to set my variable "Money" equal to.
   So if you are following what I am saying, this is saying basically. In my box called "Money" I have how much money my character has and a number on the front of the box shows how much money I have in the box. And now the value of my variable is the same as amount of the money your hero has.

-----------------------------------------------------------Branches----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Now that we have learned a very basic variable I think we should know what we can use it for. So in this part of the tutorial we shall make a custom shop.


   Now when we enter this interface this is what we see:


   First you will notice that I have selected the dot next to varialble, and the dot next to number. And from the drop down list I have selected from the drop down menu, Greater Than or Equal To. This is basically saying, If "Money Variable" is greater than or equal to 30 then: execute this script, If not execute "else handler"



   So basically only one of these branches can happen. I you have enough or more than enough the first branch is taken and you can buy it, if not then it tells you you dont have enough money.

   Now lets finish this script and give the item and take away the money it cost.






   And we should be finished like this


--------------------------------------------------Key Input Variables-------------------------------------------------------------
   Continuing on the subject of variables as it is a VERY broad range of things in an RPG maker and the single most usful thing as far as I am conscerned, we shall now discuss Key Input Variables. What is s Key Input Variable? Well a Key input Variable is a piece of scripting that looks to see what key we are pushing.


   As you will notice in the bos above I have selected the variable "KIP Variable" to store my information in. Also you will notice that I have checked the box next to Shift (7). Now what exactly does this mean? Well it means that this function will be looking for me to press the Shift key, and when I do press the shift key it will store in my variable the number "7". So after I press the Shift key my variable: "KIP Variable" will equal 7. Now you might as how this is usful, well it is very usefull because we can put a Branch in front of this and when I make my branch I would do somthing like this:


   In the main branch I would put what I want to happen when I press Shift, and in the else branch you would put nothing and for all the times it runs through the script for each time you don't press the Shift key it will take the else branch and do nothing. This kind of script works best when activated as a parallel event where it will always be watching for you to press the Shift key. And not that out variable equals 7 after pressing Shift, it will keep equalling 7 as long as we dont change it, this means it will run through the main branch over and over again, we dont want this so we have to set: "KIP Variable" back to 0 so that it will once again take the else branch. The script should now look like this:


   Now let me also give you an example of how this can be useful and applied. Say you didn't the Cancle key to be the key to open your main menu, that you wanted Shift to do it. First we would have to make sure that the Cancel key doesn't open the main menu anymore. So we would Click:

   And set it to disallow Main Menu. And add this to out Script at the beginning. The we would want to make sure the Shift key activated the main menu so we would click this in our main branch:

   And now we should have somthing that looks like this in our script.

   And now when you press the Shift key your Main Menu should open, and when you press the Cancle key nothing should happen until you assign it to somthing else in a similar maner as we have done for the Shift key.

[RockJohnAxe]

Sweet man, this is well put together and awesome... Too bad im a bit more advance than this but 10/10 man!

[uilo]

O_O that does help me a lot ^^ Thank You man

[Emerates]

Could you possibly explain key event processing?  Still haven't figured that out.

Oh, noob:
PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ

[Prpl_Mage]

You said yourself that this was a tutorial... And yet you post it in rpgmaker programing.

[Rahl]

Could you possibly explain key event processing?  Still haven't figured that out.

Oh, noob:
PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ

Yes I'll add that today.

You said yourself that this was a tutorial... And yet you post it in rpgmaker programing.

Where else would I post is prpl? The tutorials Board in Off Topic are for requests.

I will link all of my old tutorial and new tutorials to this page as well.

[Prpl_Mage]

Where else would I post is prpl? The tutorials Board in Off Topic are for requests.

"Tutorials
Need a tutorial? Ask here! Also a place for people to show off their cool tutorials
Moderator: DragonBlaze"

Well it kinda says that people can show off their tutorials there.
But it's your choice of course.

[Rahl]

Could you possibly explain key event processing?  Still haven't figured that out.

Oh, noob:
PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ

There I have added a key input tutorial to the end of my Basic Tutorial List.

Im taking any other requests as well as putting up more tutorials of my own.

[Emerates]

Well, that makes much sense.  Thankya.

[Ben]

good work. Honestly though, id change the name of this topic from "scripting" to "event scripting"
I was all excited and thought you had decided to give ruby a shot.

[Rahl]

Well thanks in part to your suggestion to learn C++, over the last 2 days I have learned much about C++. Mostly teaching myself and watching very in depth youtube tutorials, and suprisingly enough its coming quite easily to me the more I learn.

But this is a thread and a collection of all of the tutorial I have made in my time here helping others or just posting my interesting ideas. I hope to make many more tutorials to attach to this thread in the near future. But I believe what I put above is a very good coverage of the main basics of it.

[zuhane]

You've written that out better than anyone ever could. Really easy to understand. Thanks a lot, man

[Ben]

I applaud your efforts

[Rahl]

You've written that out better than anyone ever could. Really easy to understand. Thanks a lot, man

Im very glad you think so.

I applaud your efforts

I jsut really like to help out new comers, and I explained everything in the best way I could.

[Rahl]

Added my last 2 tutorials to the list.