I need some advice on making a game!

[pk space jam]

Hello All!

I am a brand new user, and new to video game design in general. If you google "Everything Is Dolphins", you should find a pen and paper game I published, but video games are a brand new animal to me.

I really want to make a JRPG with OHRRPGCE, I tried using RPG Maker on my mac, but windows sucks on virtual box. There are some weird mechanics though with my game that im not sure how to implement with OHRRPGCE, such as:

20 possible party characters, if not recruited they die off or fight against you.

Random possible party characters will show up during scenes, meaning each time you play, you have a chance of switching up your party build each time you play, roguelike-ish.

Permadeath, if the main character dies, game deletes your save.

Not sure if this makes any sense, but if someone is more interested in hearing more about the theoretical mechanics of my game, feel free to PM me.

Anyway, I just dont know where to begin, I suck at making graphics and tilesets and struggling to find any BMP's I can just use to prototype, I dont know weather to focus on graphics or how else I should begin working on my game. I have tons of txt files with story, character, and mechanical information but not sure how to go about implementing this. Can anyone offer up some advice?

[Bob the Hamster]

Welcome, pk space jam!

20 heroes is easy to do. You can only have 4 at a time in your active party, but you can also have a reserve party, and you can swap heroes in and out of the reserve using the "Team" menu.

Random heroes showing up during scenes requires plotscripting, but is not too complicated.

Permadeath is also a bit tricky, but can be done. You can have an on-death script, and an "on-load" script, but there is no equivalent on-save script. I'll have to think about the best way to script permadeath...

For graphics, you can always use sprites from http://rpg.hamsterrepublic.com/ohrrpgce/Free_Sprites for now, and take your time to learn to make your own sprites.

[Chronoboy]

For graphics, you can always use sprites from http://rpg.hamsterrepublic.com/ohrrpgce/Free_Sprites for now, and take your time to learn to make your own sprites.

Those are some good resources, and there is a good variety there too.

It is also possible to convert existing tilesets over to OHR format. I usually do it pixel-by-pixel to ensure that it looks right and not just scaled. OHR does use 20x20, whereas most tilesets you may encounter online are 16x16. If you do plan on converting over a tileset, be sure to read the license of the tilsets and sprites. If it's for a fan project of a popular JRPG from the consoles, be sure to see how other projects are using the assets to see if you can use them. Most large companies like Nintendo don't mind you using their graphics for fan projects, a seen by the popular Zelda Classic program, which has been around for a very long time with no legal issues from Nintendo. Just be sure to quote that large company in the credits as the creator of the franchise and the assets.

Also, if you do plan on selling the game, then you absolutely need to follow any copyrights, so either create your own assets or use those in the public domain with a license you can use.

I am not that great at drawing graphics either, I am attempting to learn as I do plan on making a full game with original assets. Since retro style games are making a huge comeback in the recent years with games like Retro City Rampage and other titles, I can see developing such a skill set could possibly bring me profit in the future.

I choose OHRRPGCE due to it's great community support, cross-platform engine, and powerful RPG development features.

For your first game, I would highly recommend starting with a game which uses minimal scripting, and focus on learning the editor and how a game is put together. Choose a simple objective like saving a princess, a game which should take a very short amount of time to build and test. This will give you enough knowledge to understand the concepts in the engine and will help you when you do build a larger game.

Welcome to the community pk space jam!

[Mogri]

Permadeath is also a bit tricky, but can be done. You can have an on-death script, and an "on-load" script, but there is no equivalent on-save script. I'll have to think about the best way to script permadeath...

If you only allow one save slot (requires manually handling save operations), then it's pretty easy.

[Chronoboy]

Permadeath is also a bit tricky, but can be done. You can have an on-death script, and an "on-load" script, but there is no equivalent on-save script. I'll have to think about the best way to script permadeath...

If you only allow one save slot (requires manually handling save operations), then it's pretty easy.

That is so true, a global variable can determine if the save file is perma death or not. Can the main hero have the health of 0 in a save file? That would work too, just check the HP of the main hero, if it's < 1, then it's perma death. You will also need to set an after-battle script to save the game with either the global variable or the zero HP if the player fails to win.

So, by doing it this way, you could technically have more than 1 save file, if the player opens a perma death save file, prompt the player to start a new game or exit back to the game's menu. It would be wise to inform the player why they can't open the file too, 'cause you know little brothers tend to open save files and play when big brother's not around.

[Mogri]

Permadeath is also a bit tricky, but can be done. You can have an on-death script, and an "on-load" script, but there is no equivalent on-save script. I'll have to think about the best way to script permadeath...

If you only allow one save slot (requires manually handling save operations), then it's pretty easy.

That is so true, a global variable can determine if the save file is perma death or not. Can the main hero have the health of 0 in a save file? That would work too, just check the HP of the main hero, if it's < 1, then it's perma death. You will also need to set an after-battle script to save the game with either the global variable or the zero HP if the player fails to win.

So, by doing it this way, you could technically have more than 1 save file, if the player opens a perma death save file, prompt the player to start a new game or exit back to the game's menu. It would be wise to inform the player why they can't open the file too, 'cause you know little brothers tend to open save files and play when big brother's not around.

That's a lot more trouble than just starting a new game and saving over the old file.

[Chronoboy]

If you only allow one save slot (requires manually handling save operations), then it's pretty easy.

That is so true, a global variable can determine if the save file is perma death or not. Can the main hero have the health of 0 in a save file? That would work too, just check the HP of the main hero, if it's < 1, then it's perma death. You will also need to set an after-battle script to save the game with either the global variable or the zero HP if the player fails to win.

So, by doing it this way, you could technically have more than 1 save file, if the player opens a perma death save file, prompt the player to start a new game or exit back to the game's menu. It would be wise to inform the player why they can't open the file too, 'cause you know little brothers tend to open save files and play when big brother's not around.

That's a lot more trouble than just starting a new game and saving over the old file.

How do you prevent the player from opening the so-called perma death file? You need some sort of flag or some indicator so the save file won't load, but a new game will be triggered instead. Or are you referring to the multiple save file scenario mentioned.

I am curious how a coder of your stature Mogri, would implement perma death? You have created some really spiffy plotscripts over the years, you are like the plotscript poster boy.

[Meowskivich]

That is so true, a global variable can determine if the save file is perma death or not. Can the main hero have the health of 0 in a save file? That would work too, just check the HP of the main hero, if it's < 1, then it's perma death. You will also need to set an after-battle script to save the game with either the global variable or the zero HP if the player fails to win.

So, by doing it this way, you could technically have more than 1 save file, if the player opens a perma death save file, prompt the player to start a new game or exit back to the game's menu. It would be wise to inform the player why they can't open the file too, 'cause you know little brothers tend to open save files and play when big brother's not around.

That's a lot more trouble than just starting a new game and saving over the old file.

How do you prevent the player from opening the so-called perma death file? You need some sort of flag or some indicator so the save file won't load, but a new game will be triggered instead. Or are you referring to the multiple save file scenario mentioned.

I am curious how a coder of your stature Mogri, would implement perma death? You have created some really spiffy plotscripts over the years, you are like the plotscript poster boy.

Couldn't you just make the game over script just save at the game over screen and say "This hero's adventure has met a bad end..." or something?

[Matokage]

Couldn't you just make the game over script just save at the game over screen and say "This hero's adventure has met a bad end..." or something?

"This hero's adventure has met a bad end..."

"This hero's adventure has met a terrible fate."

[Meowskivich]

[Chronoboy]

Just a small suggestion... Someone should make a game starring the Happy Mask Guy, he has such an interesting personality, and he's so mysterious. A game where you basically collect masks, and maybe put in Majora's Mask and the final mask you collect. So yea, I guess a prequel to OoT in a sense, explaining where the masks were from. Since it doesn't star either Link or Zelda, it can be a full on RPG game using no Zelda mechanics whatsoever.

[Meowskivich]

A fan game of the best zelda game to ever grace our existence? I think such a game would be outside the realm of the OHRRPGCE, as I really don't figure a turn-based RPG or active-time RPG would suit the HMS very well. I dunno, though.

[Mogri]

How do you prevent the player from opening the so-called perma death file? You need some sort of flag or some indicator so the save file won't load, but a new game will be triggered instead. Or are you referring to the multiple save file scenario mentioned.

I am curious how a coder of your stature Mogri, would implement perma death? You have created some really spiffy plotscripts over the years, you are like the plotscript poster boy.

You skip the load screen and handle the save/load manually. Memento Mori does this (for completely different reasons), and I think I've done it elsewhere.