Beginning RPG Maker VX Ace

Beginning RPG Maker VX Ace

by Darrin Perez
Released December 2014
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781484207840

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Book description

Beginning RPG Maker VX Ace takes you through the process of using the RPG Maker VX Ace game development engine to create your very own role playing game. The book has been designed with the complete beginner in mind who has little to no experience with the engine. Tutorials and exercises will take you from installing the software to putting the final touches upon your first project.

Game design can be quite a daunting challenge, as it generally involves a large amount of programming know-how on top of having to plan everything out that makes a good game what it is. RPG Maker VX Ace is an intuitive system that allows you to make your own game with a fraction of the effort otherwise required. Beginning RPG Maker VX Ace equips you with the knowledge you need to use Enterbrain’s newest role playing game development engine.

  • Takes you from the start of a project to the completion of a small game.
  • Provides a step-by-step process that will walk you through each stage of the creation process.
  • Gives many helpful tips and tricks you can apply to your future endeavors with the engine.
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    Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Title
    3. Copyright
    4. Dedication
    5. Contents at a Glance
    6. Contents
    7. About the Author
    8. About the Technical Reviewer
    9. Acknowledgments
    10. Introduction
    11. Part I: Creating a Solid Foundation
      1. Chapter 1: Starting Out with RPG Maker VX Ace
        1. Where Can I Get RMVXA?
          1. What Restrictions Does RMVXA Lite Have?
          2. So, I Downloaded a Copy of RMVXA/RMVXA Lite. What Next?
          3. I Got RMVXA Lite!
          4. I Got RMVXA!
          5. So, I’m Done.
        2. Story
        3. Game Play
        4. Summary
      2. Chapter 2: Switches and Variables
        1. Switches? Variables? Pizza?
          1. Switches and Variables Do the Same Thing, Then?
          2. Ready?
          3. Creating the Events
        2. Creating Your Second Map
          1. Why Is the Map Empty?
        3. Cool! Now, About Those Variables . . .
          1. What’s the Point?
        4. Advanced Challenge: Using Variables to Handle an Area Transition!
          1. Let’s Crunch Those Map Boundaries, Shall We?
        5. But You Don’t Have Anything Inside the Branches!
        6. Summary
      3. Chapter 3: Of Friends and Foes
        1. Time for Enemies!
        2. Playing with the Database
          1. I Want My Monster to Do More Than Just Attack with a Weapon!
          2. An Explanation of Ratings
        3. Regions
        4. Damage Formulas
          1. Parameter Abbreviations
          2. Back to Damage Formulas?
          3. So, About That Winter up There . . .
        5. Summary
      4. Chapter 4: Fleshing Out Your World
        1. Adding Content to Our Game World
          1. Populating the World Map
          2. Populating the Port Town
          3. Creating Characters to Populate Seaside
          4. Creating Random Encounters for the World Map
        2. A Discussion on Battlebacks
        3. Adding Transfer Events to the World Map
        4. A Little More on Terrain Tags and Tilesets!
        5. A Discussion of Floor Damage
        6. Additional Exercises
        7. Summary
      5. Chapter 5: Your First Dungeon
        1. Random or Static?
          1. Random
          2. Static
        2. Creating Static Encounters
        3. The Change Encounter Event Command
        4. Our First Boss
        5. Additional Exercises
        6. Summary
    12. Part II: Increasing the Complexity
      1. Chapter 6: Your Second Dungeon
        1. Updating Our NPCs
        2. The First Two Floors of Our Second Dungeon
        3. Interacting with the Dragon Statue
          1. Drawing a Perimeter
          2. Moving Our Interaction Event
          3. Checking Our Player’s Directional Facing
        4. Our Second Boss
        5. Creating a Bookcase Interaction Event
        6. Creating Our Second Boss Event
          1. Creating the Boss Encounter
          2. The Aftermath of the Boss Encounter
          3. Summary of Our Second Boss Event
        7. The Second Dungeon’s Random Encounters
        8. Placing the Second Dungeon on the World Map
        9. The Staircases of the Second Dungeon
        10. Summary
      2. Chapter 7: Arenas and Other Minigames
        1. Why an Arena?
        2. What If I Want Another Minigame?
        3. Arena Overview
        4. Outlining Our Arena
          1. Creating the Arena Exterior
          2. Overview of the Arena Sign-up Event
        5. Creating the Arena Sign-up
        6. Creating the Arena Battle Event
        7. Creating the Arena Result Event
        8. Miscellaneous Arena Considerations
        9. Creating Our Arena Shop
        10. The Treasure Chest Game
        11. Populating the Chests of the Treasure Chest Game
        12. Creating the Treasure Chest Game NPC
        13. Completing the Treasure Chest Game
        14. Related Exercises
        15. Other Minigames
        16. Adding the Minigame Areas to Our World Map
        17. Summary
      3. Chapter 8: Sidequests
        1. End of the Line for Lite
        2. Let’s Create a Permanent Sidequest!
          1. Creating the Sidequest NPC
          2. Creating the Well (Event)
          3. Creating the Area Below the Well
          4. Additional Exercises
        3. Let’s Create a Time-Sensitive Quest!
          1. Creating the Sidequest NPC
          2. Of Rats and Their Tails
          3. Additional Exercises
        4. Other Sidequest Ideas
        5. Summary
      4. Chapter 9: All About Common Events
        1. The Exit Item/Skill
          1. Updating Our Transfer Events
          2. Creating the Exit Scroll
          3. Creating the Exit Event Logic with Common Events
        2. Creating an Enemy with a Shifting Anti-element Barrier
        3. Sneaky Like Ninjas: Creating the Smoke Bomb
        4. Making Specific Random Battles Inescapable
          1. Additional Exercises
        5. Summary
      5. Chapter 10: Treasure Hunting and Other Hidden Things
        1. The Compass
        2. How to Change Whether a Map Displays Its Name
        3. Creating Hidden Treasure Chests That Require the Compass to Be Found
        4. The Treasure Hunter
          1. The Treasure Hunter’s Treasure Note Shop
          2. Giving the Player the Compass
          3. Creating the Treasure Notes
        5. A Hidden Location
          1. A Page of Evented Plot
          2. Making Sure That the Player Has Progressed in the Arena
          3. Creating Our Hidden Location
        6. Hidden Passages
          1. Additional Exercises
        7. Summary
    13. Part III: The Finishing Touches
      1. Chapter 11: Puzzles
        1. Slippery Floors!
          1. Creating Our Staging Area
          2. Eventing Our Sliding Puzzle
          3. A Note About Redundant Code
          4. Eventing Our Sliding Puzzle (continued)
          5. Creating the Icy Area
          6. A Treasured Intermission
        2. Riddles!
          1. Overview
          2. Our Riddle of Choice
          3. Creating Our Riddle Event
          4. Finding How RMVXA Handles Actor Names Within Its Code
          5. How to Use the Script Option to Store and Modify Text in a Variable
          6. Finishing Up Our Riddle Event
        3. Remote Statue Manipulation!
          1. Overview
          2. Creating the Puzzle Trigger (Interaction) Event
          3. Creating the Puzzle Logic Event
          4. Dissecting the Statue Manipulation Puzzle Logic
        4. Creating the Second Town
        5. Additional Exercises
        6. Summary
      2. Chapter 12: Final Preparations
        1. Populating Rocksdale
          1. The Town Greeter
          2. Creating the Village Elder and His Home
          3. The Temple of Rocksdale
        2. Leaving Rocksdale
        3. Enemies of the World
        4. A Discussion on Superbosses
        5. Completing the Dragon Statue Event
        6. Setting Up the Use of the Exit Skill/Item Inside a Dungeon with Two Exits
        7. Summary
      3. Chapter 13: The Final Dungeon
        1. The Beginning of the End—The First Floor
          1. The Teleportation Puzzle
          2. Creating the Puzzle Logic
          3. Creating the Crystal That Controls the Puzzle
          4. Encounters of the First Floor
        2. The Basement
        3. The Second Floor
        4. The Third Floor
          1. A Boss Rush Overview
          2. Locales of the Third Floor
          3. Creating the Blocking Event
          4. The Boss Rush
          5. Considerations Concerning the Boss Rush Room
          6. Populating the Treasure Room
          7. When Chests Attack
          8. Miscellaneous Odds and Ends
        5. The Final Boss
          1. Creating the Pre-Battle Autorun Event
          2. The Dark Master and the Final Battle
        6. Transform!
        7. The End (of the Game)
        8. More Tips and Tricks for Final Dungeons
        9. Summary
      4. Chapter 14: Basic Scripting Exercises in RMVXA
        1. What Is Ruby?
        2. What Is Object-Oriented Programming?
        3. Critically Coded
        4. Coded Messages (in a Bottle)
          1. Dissecting the hp_damage_text Method
          2. Tweaking the hp_damage_text Method
          3. Dissecting the mp_damage_text Method
          4. Tweaking the mp_damage_text Method
          5. The tp_damage_text Method
        5. Of TP and Their Preservation
          1. Searching for TP
          2. Tweaking the TP Preserve Methods
          3. Other TP Considerations
        6. Damage Floors Revisited
        7. Game Over by Incapacitation
        8. Adding a Menu to the Game Over Screen
          1. Tweaking the Game Over Menu
        9. Summary
      5. Chapter 15: More Tips and Tricks for RMVXA
        1. Forcing Certain Party Members to Participate in a Battle
          1. Overview
          2. Finding Out How RMVXA Handles Party Members
          3. Creating the Forced Party Member Event
        2. Play-Testing Features
        3. Of Deserts and Ghostly Locations
          1. The Desert Event
          2. Forest Event Overview
          3. Creating the Forest Event
        4. Vehicles
        5. Two of a Kind
        6. A Full House
        7. Ye Olde RPG—A Treatise on Quest Experience
        8. The Other Actor Event Commands
        9. The Bridge
        10. The Town Map
          1. Preparing Our Map Pictures
          2. Using the Show Picture Event Command
          3. Creating Our Town Map Common Events
        11. Variants on the Map Exercise
        12. Summary
      6. Appendix A: Useful Resources for RPG Maker VX Ace
        1. Tutorials and General Help for RMVXA
        2. Art and Spriting
        3. Tutorials and References for Ruby
        4. Sounds and Music
        5. Video Game Writing Tutorials
        6. Scripts
        7. RMVXA Games
        8. Closing Notes
    14. Index

    Product information

    • Title: Beginning RPG Maker VX Ace
    • Author(s): Darrin Perez
    • Release date: December 2014
    • Publisher(s): Apress
    • ISBN: 9781484207840