RPG Maker Achievement System

[DerVVulfman]

Something rather interesting...

I want to create a discussion on a possible RPG Maker Achievements system but I don't know how to start it off.

I am aware of one of Punk's pet projects, his 'Launcher' which would act as a menu system for games. Last night, he asked me about a system to just record 'n' save rxdata and rvdata files. This being what he intends to use for a 'high score / achievement' system.

Does anyone have a take on the idea? Would you use such a system? Microsoft's X-Box system uses one, so should we add one to our games? And what would you have in your achievement list?

Let the discussion begin.

[DonCreek]

I'm really curious about this. VVulf can you show an example. i'm totally lost in this topic.

[PK8]

Oh man, thanks so much for starting this thread.
Adding onto the original post: I would also like to ask if any readers have any ideas about how the achievements system would work?

I personally like the achievements idea and I want to see it come alive. I would also make use of it in any games that I create, if I were to actually release a couple.

Should we add such a system to our game? I would leave that up to the developer.

I'm currently working on ALT and an untitled arcade game. ALT's on hiatus at the moment while I have my full attention focused on the arcade game. For my arcade game, I would have achievements such as "Get a high score of x points", "Get a high chain score of x points" and "Get a high chain of x".

I am personally for the achievements system because I believe it would help improve a game's replay value and it challenges the player to go just a tiny bit further in a game (s)he's playing.

[DerVVulfman]

I'm really curious about this. VVulf can you show an example. i'm totally lost in this topic.

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Game         Name        Achievements                               |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------
|The Way     | DonCreek  | Time: 23:32 Mins       Gold: 2399924       |
|            | (1st pl)  | Hidden:   5            Quests Solved: 8    |
|            ----------------------------------------------------------
|            | Punkid89  | Time: 15:24 Mins       Gold: 1535253       |
|            | (2nd pl)  | Hidden:   2            Quests Solved: 4    |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------
|Lolz Gurls  | Ratty     | Time:  2:23 Mins       Gold: 999999999     |
|            | (1st pl)  | Hidden:   0            Quests Solved: 1    |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tetris RMXP | Trickster | Time: 15:32 Mins       Score: 23924833     |
|            |           | Wave:    15            Combos:      24     |
|            ----------------------------------------------------------
|            | Lyric     | Time: 12:12 Mins       Score: 19368534     |
|            |           | Wave:    14            Combos:      17     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Please excuse this poor example. I'm at work so I can't put up an image.

This sample shows an RPG 2000 Game called 'The Way', Ratty's Lolz Girlz, and an arcade game called Tetris XP. IF a score is submitted, it could go into a high score system made for that game.

As an example, most RPGs would count the time to finish the game, the amount of loot they got, how many quests and hidden features they uncovered. If it's an arcade game, they'd probably have how long they stayed on, their highest score, how many waves and the number of combos they could perform.

I figure that the scores being kept track would be up to the game designer, but recorded and sent by the software designed for this 'Achievement system'.

[PK8]

Damn, my older longer message was typed before but now it's gone.

I had a pretty different idea of an achievement's system than DerVVulfman's. I was thinking about it kind of being like Xbox 360's achievement system... well, sorta, without the Gamerscores.

As to how the players would be rewarded these achievements, they'll have to do something that, according to the developer(s) of their games would be considered Achievement-worthy such as beating a level, achieving a high score, finding some kind of secret, beating the game and pretty much anything else they can think of. Whenever they've completed an achievement, something would have to pop up saying "Achievement ID: name, complete!" Then the completed achievement would be added in an array which somehow gets saved into achievements.rxdata/achievements.rvdata/achievements.insert universal rpg maker achievement file extension here

I need to figure out how to do all of this.

P.S.: Thanks for starting the thread, DerVVulfman. :D

[DerVVulfman]

I'm not sure, but since both XP and VX use a variation of RUBY, perhaps the data encryption of the saves are the same, meaning an XP based system could read VX based files. Just a thought.

Since what I gave you is pretty much universal, you could try creating a file in XP and read it in VX as a quick test. :) The .rxdata / .rvdata file extensions could be changed, no problem. :P

insert Universal rpg maker Achievement File extension here. Hmm... why not give it .UAF as an extension?

[EJlol]

When you are going to work with .rxdata etc, wouldn't it be easy to cheat? I do really like the idea of achievements though.

[DerVVulfman]

I could have a little fun and include my ENCODE system to the file process. That way, unless they know the code key, they can't tamper with the results.

[DonCreek]

How do we know that the game were playing has a .UAF?

[DerVVulfman]

You won't. Not until you played a game enough to deserve one (arcade or RPG or whatever). Detecting if a file exists in RMXP is not a biggie. Just let it 'create' a file if one does not exist.