And welcome. To my game dev blog of sorts. Since I’m not a terribly skilled programming, RPG Maker XP/RPG Maker VX Ace are at my disposal. Currently, I’m planning on making all my projects in VX Ace since it’s quite robust, and the community for it right now is booming. Feels great to be on this from the ground floor overall.

Here’s the sections for the first post!

• About the Name/Longterm Game Idea [S01]
• About/History of Me [S02]
• My Goals with RPG Maker and Related Media [S03]

About the Name/Longterm Game Idea [S01]

Anyways, a bit about myself- this studio name is derived from the codename for my first, second, er… third longer game idea, an RPG featuring similarities to something kind of akin to Lufia II, and perhaps a bit like Tales of Destiny in that I want to at least get my spriting skills up to make some nice maps, and I also like the idea of each character having something unique to them(Swordians). Also, there’s a little Harvest Moon mixed in by way of a hopeful focused farming system that relies mainly on flowers instead of produce. My game won’t be featuring Swordians, or anything directly pulled from any of those titles- but I just wanted a quick way to describe the core gameplay using some more established games.

Story-wise, I’m keeping things a bit hush hush. Though some parts may be cliche(then again, how do you get past wanting a setting of a city with districts when in real life, most cities are like that by default?:P), but I can guarantee this is a story not quite like the others, that has not graced an RPG Maker platform. Perhaps, this sort of narrative hasn’t even graced commercial games.

We always hear about the spiky-haired, or gorgeously bishounen male protagonist on a quest to save the world. There’s a female companion to be saved, to become the party healer- she may start off as being rowdy and rough… until later in the game she has all of the healing spells, and the guys get moves like “Break His Face-Slash”. There’s nothing less fun about these sort of games for things like this, and some games even break this mould(not the fuzzy green kind) for female characters, and that’s great too. I’ve enjoyed plenty of games where females were the magic casters by default, but hey, that’s how it goes.

What if, conversely, a female were to come in as the lead of an RPG? How many games offer this classic RPG-wise, without the sandbox? I know some do, but not nearly enough. I think it’s time for a change in games. I think it’s time to shelve the spiky-haired-dragon-slaying-hometown-burned-to-a-crisp-half-demon-amnesiac trope. At least, for me it is. I’ve played my fair share of these games(both on RPG Maker platforms like the PSOne and PS2 games, as well as seeing many of these ideas in the RPG Maker PC community), but it’s just not something I want to create. Nothing inherently wrong with this sort of game either, once again.

But just… what if? Playing as a female lead, and not going on a quest to save the world. There’s no huge dragon lurking to be slain, nothing quite so bad to battle really(okay, the occasional boss, but). No meteor, no comet, no super powerful dark wizards to consume fictional realms in a fiery blaze. 

The heroes of this tale, will change the world.

About/History of Me [S02]

I released a bit of info about that back in 2008 or so, when I thought I’d be making the game in RPG Maker XP and ultimately just didn’t have the drive to really pursue learning eventing and the tools I need for the game. I feel that now, I am ready to prepare.

But before I get to my goals, I want to talk about where I have come from. My first experience with RPG Maker was actually reading a magazine about the PSone software in Gamepro, a gaming magazine that’s still around today. Immediately, I had to have it. It was 2000, so my games mainly had come from K-Mart up until this point. I believe I picked up RPG Maker at Funcoland(they took awhile to get our store converted, and the merger to Gamestop happened that year). And when I got home… first thing- the manual was HUGE. I read over it quite a bit, however. Though… and I’m ashamed to admit it- it wasn’t until recently that I’ve begun to understand more about switches, and now I’m even getting around to variables much better. Hopefully, this can lend itself to some better eventing and the like. But, disregarding that- I ended up involved in an RPG Maker fansite(console RPG Maker, that is), and mainly did previews for RPG Maker 1 games. Never really touched the other two, since college picked up around when they came out. Over the years, I have found my RPG Maker 1 copies(both of them, I bought another from a friend I lost contact with as a spare), and I also have RPG Maker 2 for my PS2. RPG Maker 3 went missing during a move(a shame since it was a gift from Agetec, which I am super thankful for), but I am looking into reacquiring the game. I still hold a spot in my heart for the console RPG Makers, and with the advent of a working translation patch WIP of RPG Maker 4(the sequel the States never got) there’s even more reason to not ditch these makers entirely. They were the first official communities for the series here, and I think that’s something special- not to mention that some fairly memorable games were and are STILL being created on the RPGM1-3 software at the moment- some are traditional epics of storytelling, others push the limitations of the software and have made platformers and puzzle games that are quite impressive.

However, for me- I never completed a single game in RPG Maker. Not console, not PC. Have I played around? Absolutely. I actually had an old demo lost to the tides of time that was for RPG Maker 1, featuring a genocidal higher up who desired nothing more than to see every single non-human race driven to extinction. It got scrapped shortly after being created in 2002. It was a cliche idea to me, and while cliches are fine when done well… it was my first RPG Maker game idea. And I think most people who have used the software have realized that the first idea isn’t always the best idea for a game. And that’s totally understandable, and why I’ve retired it.

As a sneak-in piece of info in this bio, I’d like to mention that a goal not under the main goals section for me will be to actually create an RPGM1 game instead of having my entire track history having been playing them. There’s quite an unlikely hero planned, who will have to save the day with quite a unique outlook on the world, with a couple puzzles, and some typical RPG fare. I like RPGM1 since it’s 2D… and pretty darn simple to use. RPGM3 is supposed to be as well, but is a bit more limited. Secondly, I’d love to create something short on RPGM3 as well. RPGM2 games are possible… but not exactly short endeavors most times.

Back to the about thing- I really enjoy the idea of PC RPG Makers. After the RM2000/03 controversy, I never thought I’d see the day where the RPG Maker series would be officially released here on the PC. XP was the first game to hit here as most people know, but I didn’t get around to going past the trial until this year with a sale on the game. And then, most recently- I pre-ordered RPG Maker VX Ace. It’s out! It’s looking nice… unfortunately, I have to learn some newer methods of tiling since XP isn’t the same as VX and VX Ace. I’m looking forward to it, however, and I think I’ll be making a great deal of use out of parallaxing(a work-around for more complex maps) since I know more about Photoshop than in-game tiling really.

A PC Maker is ideal to me, because I want to make the game my own. I want to have for my first big idea the whole shebang. Some custom sprites, tilesets, and music since I want to release something unique into the world. However, between now and then- I’m going to try and focus on making smaller, 1-2 hour games using various scripts, tests, methods, etc.

My Goals with RPG Maker and Related Media [S03]

This brings me to my next section, coincidentally enough! Goals! What is an intro post without that? This will be my area to try and keep some promises to myself. And a lot of them will reveal why a PC RPG Maker is my choice for my larger game idea.

Graphical

• Improve my pixel art
• Learn to create cohesive tilesets
• Learn to parallax and make use of animated parallax as well(streams, water)
• Learn how to create and use an auto-tile effectively
• Learn how to apply tilesets to RPG Maker VX maps by employing the differently lettered tilesets
• Create custom character sprites/battlers
• Create all of my own item icon graphics
• Create custom dialogue box skin
• Create graphics for a custom menu system
• Create custom resources for use by the community, using only RTP items as start-off points if need be

Scripting

• Learn Ruby Scripting as applicable to RPG Maker VX Ace
• Find a new available CBS Side-battle script and learn to edit and animate for it
• Research scripts as needed for a crafting, farming-esque, and whatever else arises
• Research either creating or finding a good CMS with larger character portraits for the biography section

Eventing

• Master all of RPG Maker VX Ace’s event-types
• Research traits and how to use them effectively
• Practice, practice, and practice some more with both variables and switches
• Master making mini-games by simply using in-game eventing

Music

• Learn to create music in FL Studio
• Purchase FL Studio eventually
• Learn to play piano

Goals will be kept track of here mainly, and also can be added to as specific needs arise.

If you got through this whole post, thank you and have a congrats!