What's up, RMers?

[DerVVulfman]

I'm still working on the Layered Spritesheet tool.  And as a reminder, this is a 100% RPGMaker XP designed tool, though the resources can be used for whatever game you wish.  I'm only using the Half Kaisers from the Half Kaiser Battler Project as an example.  It could be used for Facesets or Charactersets for all intents and purposes.

But made with RPGMaker?  Yes.  And there are a lot of scripts involved!

Libraries and scripts presented in green are from sources other than RPGMaker and myself... aka other scripters.  These include vgvgf for his wonderful Aleworks Input and text systems, and KK20 for the Prevent Deactivation script which allows the tool to remain functional even when you (the user) is opening another window.  I mean, why should the system FREEZE and stop processing images when you open notepad?

Meanwhile, I do realize that editing original works can cause problems if I need to backtrack. So modded copies that overwrite the originals are shown in red.  These include some methods within the Aleworks system and the bitmap processes.  However, the edits to the bitmap processes were done to generate simple 'Image Processing' percent bars and a feature to prevent system freeze and crashes when an image requires an excessive amount of work. 

  If the Zlib PNG process and the color balance scripts were native to RPGMaker, neither of these would be an issue.

Basically, everything else is RPGMaker or mine... mostly mine.  What's labeled as the REQUIRED BASE LIBRARY are the classes and methods needed from the original Scripts Library needed to function.  And I could probably strip it down even more.  I'm pretty sure the battle turns values in Game_Temp could go Poof.

Kishi's Kashed Audio allows you to have beeps and clicks play when using the tool, the actual audio effects actually encrypted and part of the rgsaad file as any graphics would be in a completed/encrypted tool.  And the INI and Parsing scripts allows me to both read from the INI files, and use defined separators where necessary.

  Think about it.  I wrote an audio cache system that EnterBrainless couldn't figure out.  Protect your audio works just like you do your graphics, guys!!!

A section entitled WINDOW CODE was my attempt to change the structure of the menu scrolling systems, allowing for mouse functionality, font use, and change the line heights in the windows.  If I didn't, I would have been stuck with a 32-pixel height per line... and that's a lot.  I admit, it is not the best. This I admit after finding some other demo that too has a very interesting and functional scrolling window replacement.  But I have too much changed to re-adapt at this juncture.

After that, I have various Game, Window and Scene code sections.  Yes, there are a lot of individual windows in use within the tool, and not all visible at the same time.  And there are indeed sixteen pages of code just to handle the engine (Scene_Editor) itself.  And it is this one massive 16-page script that runs at all time.

I don't know if what I've written is an OCD or ADHD nightmare...     I've tried to clean up what I can to reduce any redundant code while keeping functionality.  And so far, I have nearly all of it worked out.  Along with Color Balancing, the Hues can be adjusted for all three sub-layers for any resource, and progress bars will show if any supplemental work is needed if color balancing becomes an issue.  It's pretty much color balancing that requires the progress bars to appear.  And the buttons I had initially disabled due to technical issues are now fully enabled.

I have some more cleanup to take care of, and documentation to write for this latest version.

  Oh, joy... I love writing documentation.

But it is nearly done.

This post written while listening to "Hellsing Ultimate - Black Dog" OST

[kyonides]

Since I updated or stopped updating scripts, I expected people to feel comfortable enough to go download them. I mean, they have all the requested or promised features after all. Yet, some scripts and demos still got ignored. That makes me consider the possibility of retiring some of those scripts for not catching people's attention. That might include the recent SkrollShop scripts version 1.4.1 as well.

EDIT

SkrollShop is no longer available on this forum.
Keep in mind that I only support the latest versions of my scripts.

[DerVVulfman]

And there goes people with short attention spans...  Everything must be Now! Now! Now! 

"You must learn patience." - Yoda

Well, saying that LayeredSpritesheet may actually be a case of "I spoke too soon"?  Completely functional it is, but the INI settings that control the names and depth values for the layers should actually be placed in an individual Style's INI file.

That is to say, for the Half Kaiser resource, the description of the resources layers should be defined solely for the Half Kaiser package.  And for the RMVXAcePlus resources, its own INI would define the available layers its own package.

Basically like this:

Style.ini

[File]
Width = 600
Height = 135
Frames = 4
Poses = 49

[Layers]
Number  = 30
Primary = 01
Linked  =[1,2,5,7,12];[8,9,10,11];[23,24]
Layer1  =01;Body;1;Body Template
Layer2  =02;Face;2;Face or Head Options
Layer3  =03;Eyes;4;Eye Selection
     .  .  .

[Poses]
Pose1  = Stance - General Moving 1
Pose2  = Stance - General Moving 2
Pose3  = Stance - General Static
Pose4  = Stance - Shield Raised Moving
     .  .  .

This design is great.  But there's more I wish to add...

1. If the Hue and/or Color Balance options are enabled/disabled
   
2. If the Depth options where you can change the layering order is enabled/disabled
   
3. If the Opacity control functions are enabled/disabled
   
4. X/Y positioning of the resources within the main window... Pre-zoom.  This for smaller scaled resources.
   
5. The maximum zoom/scale setting available.
   

Some of this would be for smaller-sized templates like creators of RMXP or RMMV RTP scaled reources, centering the resource in the center of the main window as it need not scroll.  And then there's reources like a faceset generator as layers are very much 'fixed' and should not be manipulated.

I think these things out before I do a release so I don't have to backtrack for an immediate update.

[kyonides]

It's not as easy as claiming it's a short attention span. That family of scripts is nothing but an example. There are others that have been released months ago or even back in 2021 or so and they've been asleep the whole time.
If people don't care about them, why should I offer them anything in particular?

On the other hand, I'd appreciate if people reported bugs in the first few weeks or so. Yeah, I know not many forumers can do so. But KBackFire had been there for a whole year and had been downloaded by some guys.

Nobody noticed the bug I found there? I can't believed that. I do wanna offer quality products, yet, it isn't always possible for me to keep track of the hundreds of scripts I've published so far.

And then a new idea comes along and makes me focus on something else.
So for those of you that are able to run them, please let me know.
Don't keep that for yourselves!
I do wanna help fellow game makers!

Please understand that I am NOT blaming you guys but asking you for a favor instead.

[Kain Nobel]

It's sad to say, but RPG Maker just isn't cool anymore.

Recently had a private discussion with somebody I personally know IRL who uses RPG Maker XP and VX Ace, whom downloaded Unite and didn't like it. What she had told me is the developer / publisher has lost sight of what made people passionate about the brand in the first place and that, like everything else in life, it has become an over commercialized clap trap designed to milk money out of people. Just like all the ills and pitfalls of modern gaming, their releases seem premature and rushed, with a lack of proper QA and testing, and are oft times bugged which makes her think they no longer care like they used to. She told me some of the basic control operations in Unite are unresponsive and may occasionally cause a hangup, which is a huge turn off for a much more expensive software, and the UI itself is not very sleek. She was disappointed in the lack of new features, and further frustrated that none of the mapping systems have been quite as attractive as the classic XP maps were. Overall, she sounded quite upset with what it has become, and would like something different and is holding out for something better.

RPG Maker Unite really gave the brand a nasty black eye and is going to result in net negative growth for the company, and the communities, for the foreseeable future. This won't change until something new and improved comes out. Unite was neither new or an improvement - it was an unmitigated disaster. They seemed to forget their target audience appreciates a visually stimulating UI, with a great organizational workflow, and are hungry for something better. IMO, nothing has changed since VX. As for the new features? People have been self-implementing those "new" features since the XP days. They're not new at all.

I tend to disagree with some of her statements, but overall sentiment is the same. We agree more than we disagree.

What I do like is the fact that mapping tile sizes can be changed (16, 32, 48 if I recall.) Anticipating the future of gaming, I personally am starting to make things more suited for 4k resolutions, but this is nothing more than an experiment. However, I've got a new homebrew engine going and have fallen away from the brand altogether. They'll have to move mountains to sell to me again. Hopefully they don't read this and think "Oh, 4k? We'll do that" - that's great, but you'd have to do something else to gain my interest back, and I'm not even sure if there is a big market for 4k or not. I don't think there is.

Maybe they need to do an RPG Maker XP Ace. Yeah, that would probably double their sales. Not only would it double their sales, I would probably drop my engine in a heartbeat to use it. I shouldn't have to make something like this, they should be on top of their game! They're a company after all, aren't they interested in making money? I'd like them to make money. I'd like them to make a better product. They need to start hiring directly from the community and stop bothering with recruiting from LinkedIn. You're not going to find the talent you're looking for on LinkedIn.

In other words, if nobody is paying attention to your scripts, it's probably because they've split the community with their silly business decisions. Their biggest selling point was ease of entry, and Ruby scripts are the elephant in the room. My biggest disappointment is them ditching Ruby, as this is still a very viable language and is constantly getting better with age. It's very user friendly, and easy to learn, and I have no idea why they'd use anything else. If they want to grow their brand, and attract new users, they're going to have to go back to Ruby because nobody needs to take college classes just to be able to learn it proper.

Anybody who uses Java is probably somebody that went to college, and works professionally on enterprise software or even commercial 3D games - I doubt these professionals are the people that would be interested in RPG Maker. Also, people who play RPG Maker games are unlikely to be playing them on a mobile platform, so that shouldn't even be a priority. Games on phones are more for casuals, nobody is ever going to make a serious game for that platform, it's physically impossible.

RPG Maker Unite is the new Action Game Maker. Anybody remember that debacle? Yeah, it's best left in the past. They should've called it RPG Maker Bifurication, as it once again has the community going in different directions. This is a surefire strategy for destroying any semblance of brand loyalty.

I think this is the biggest reason Hironobu Sakaguchi hasn't been able to find success after departing Square Enix. His games have targeted mobile platforms, and consumers don't take mobile seriously. It's all about PC and consoles. Games like Terra Battle and Fantasian are the perfect example of this, whereas The Last Story and Lost Odyssey had much better successes since they were released on console.

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

About RPG Maker Unite, I've already commented in this very same thread but the impressions I got after reading the official RM forums was that the entry was nothing but an unmitigated disaster from every angle. For the people in the back: imagine a RM where you had to buy parts of the RTP separately. It's not surprising at all that it did a number on the brand.

And I said once and I will say it again: the mapping engine took a sledgehammer to the knees post XP.

[Remi-chan]

Unite really did go by its namesake and Unite people in their dislike of the rpgmaker brand, something i don't mind. The brand has been under my scrutiny for a very long time.

We already did have a funny Unite-bashing party, but I'm always happy to have another. If the core devs don't like it, they can consider it karma and retribution come way too fucking late. This is the price they pay for consistently being close-minded, myopic shallow dumpster-fires of people who prioritize profit over customer satisfaction and quality assurance.

If they continue, it will spill their end. MV already exists, so I can watch the brand die out happy.

The funny thing is, if they'd cared- Unite could have stood head and shoulders above the rest. But it should have been obvious from the get-go, especially after MZ, that they were just chasing unity asset store bucks.

Well, enough bitching~! Because I have something to share. I will consider this version of the Anime Opening the most current for Demo 3.


Enjoy~

[Kain Nobel]

lmao I was pretty salty, wasn't I? Sorry, we were over here taking shots without a proper chaser, discussing the topic, and I had some fire in muh belly. In other words, don't take anything I said too seriously, RPG Maker is still cool! Haven't popped bottles in over a decade, that was a lot of fun. Many things going on IRL, kinda caught up in some drama, but everything will pass. Year 2023 is a nightmare, 2024 is going to be bad ass (I hope.) Next year I might have some full time assistance, we'll see.

@Remi: Wow that was a pretty cool anime opening. Do you mind? I'm supposed to be the cool one here, you're cramping muh style :P (Jokes!) You definitely stay true to your craft, got any tips for staying productive and motivated? How long have you even been doing this? The animations, vocals and lyrics were cool, great job to you and the team.

[kyonides]

What's next for videogames including RM series?
I suspect it gotta be something like dozens of repetitive DLC's, subscriptions, passes and the like.

Just take a look at MS products. First you bought floppy disks, then CD's came out, followed by DVD's. Now you download it and pay a subscription.

Can't we truly own things like in the past?
MS doesn't think so. Remember the case in a Swedish court where MS claimed the defendant had violated the security of his own computer! But being the owner himself allows him to do whatever he ever wants with it!!

Or take a look at EA games asking you to get passes or subscriptions for pretty much any game now. SimCity 4 doesn't for any weird reason. Sony has implemented a similar mechanism but I dunno if you already need to subscribe to their network for any fee.

Classic RM still has its good old 90's or early 2000's feeling. It's nostalgia but also a quite different approach or maybe a less obscure and greedy viewpoint than nowadays.

Was Ruby fully exploited? I don't think so. They simply choose old versions of the language on purpose. Even 2.0 for ACE could have been a powerful game changer. OK, they don't want that and we just let it go. They come up with MV because they care about mobile phones. There's a catch, they keep making mistakes that don't let us think previous ones were just mere accidents. Wanna a proof? There's the return a false value bug. The system breaks or keeps ignoring commands or functions. Change them to nil or void or return true and they start working all of a sudden.

So the guys behind the whole series ever since XP have struggled with computer languages. Can I believe Ojima did it all on his own? Well, either he suffers from split personality disorder a la Joker or his team included junior programmers. Even in ACE I really found some repeated call for something that had already been done, properly taken care of. And the list goes on and on.

You like any specific version? Good for you.
Know that the SRPG engine can be even worse. Not that complicated if you speak Japanese, yet, it's a headache for the rest of the gaming community. So was the RM community lucky up to some point?

[Kain Nobel]

RPG Maker is still cool, it's just going through some growing pains.

I need to exercise the negativity out of my system, been dealing with a lot IRL lately.

Productivity is down, down, down. 9 weeks behind this year.