What's up, RMers?

[Remi-chan]

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.

Your remarks were entirely rational. It's not uncouth to clown on RPG Maker with it being in such a self-absorbed state of greed. As for me, 2023 has been pretty good! I released Demo 3 of my game finally, and on 3/14 as well! A bunch of other cool stuff is happening too, I moved into a really neat house as well. But I've always been pretty optimistic a person, able to see the good in the bad. The silver lining in what is otherwise fairly tragic or horrible.

@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.

This is a question I get a lot. 80% of it is just making sure you only work on things when you actually feel motivated to do so. When I'm just not feeling something, there's no point rushing ahead to try and do it, as that disinterest / lack of inspiration will show in the final product. The rest is keeping momentum when you do get it by just having the most fun you can with what you're doing. Get those mad music beats going, share stuff that you get done and enjoy the praise, then use that elevation of music and mirth to proceed. It is probably the only reason I get 17 boss battles done in under a month despite some of their... complexities.

Ultimately, the only real advice I can give is just find a way that works for you. A lot of my motivation comes from knowing people (those who work for me) have put their heart and souls into making the assets for this project, and I have no intention of letting that work go to waste.

Oh, right: How long have I been doing this? Since I was 11, and I'm 35 now... so 24 years. I knew even back at that age i wanted to make games, so I did whatever i could, wrote gaming manuals (TT_RPG style), later I'd make modules with the Neverwinter Nights toolset editor, while only finally finding RPGmaker in 2007. That was over 16 years ago now. So I've been using RPGmaker for 16 years. I released my first major game about 12 years ago (Intelligence 314th Clash, on 3/14/2011) and in 2013, I had found a team and formed the crazy Chimp Collective. (Also on 3/14.)

I released our ten year anniversary 3/14 video on yeah, March 14th this year. It is an absolute joy to work with these fellas, and i feel ever honored to be in the position I am!

Getting any fan art or recognition for my efforts means so much to me. I've been working my ass off, but I'd do all this even if no one ever played my games. I just love to create. It's so dope that others can find joy and inspiration in what I do. I'm so utterly unable to describe how much all the support means to me.

At present I'm at about the most unproductive I've been since early February. Doing a thing here and there, but essentially, I'm just waiting for my artists. All the work I've done has now put the game basically close to complete as far as Demo 3 goes, so now I've been taking the time to get on top of some things I've had to neglect.

I'm looking forward to working on the final version of the game, but I want to finalize Demo 3 and get it fully steam-ready before I begin on the next installment, what will be the games final installment.

But I am still doing things here and there, one of the more invisible but visually appealing changes is the thumbnail updates for the scenes on youtube.

Just for some examples~! The Lilac in the FS16 thumbnail is by the character's voice actor: PhoenixAstra, who is multi-talented and cool as heck, even if she will scarcely let herself admit it.

As for Simian Scandal, the 11th episode will be along once Fantasia Demo 3 is fully complete and steam ready. Episode 12 might come once it's actually on steam as I somehow think it might take some time to get it online. I'll definitely have some stuff to report by then~

I will also be releasing the third demo of the game on IndieDB, Gamejolt and all those other platforms once it's fully fleshed out. That means no more placeholders or errors.

Siletrea has generously been playing through the game and doing a 100% run. It's been so nice seeing the game from someone else's perspective than my own. if that interests you at all, I recommend subscribing to her youtube as she puts her VODs up on there.
https://www.youtube.com/@Siletrea

If you can make it, she also streams these live on her twitch at 7:00 PM EST on Friday!
https://www.twitch.tv/siletrea
Also her Vtuber is amazing! She is the voice of four characters in the game, too! Koko Spiral, The Immoral Messenger, Xeltara and Ashe the Enma.

Well, I think that's enough outta me~

[DerVVulfman]

AND NOW... FOR A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME!!!



Originally, the Layered Battler Tool included a readme document that was in RTF format, an old-school windows wordpad format that works with systems as old as even Windows 3.1.  However, it was a massive 5Meg file, larger than the package itself.  Rather than continuing its use, I opted to rewrite the instructions in a conventional .chm Help file.  Even with twice as many graphics, the help file is only 440K in size, not even 10% of the original size.

But wait.  Yes, there is a pop-up shown here!

There is a small button on the right side of the panel, one that contains a classic round Help button.  And clicking that button will, in fact, bring up the help file while the editor is running. 

As to the pop-up notice, it appears the first time you open the help file.   And it provides instructions how to reveal the text of a help file if the help file appear blank.  Its nothing more than a simple properties setting. But its here for the end users who are unaware of that fact.

And as always, all the texts used by the editor are contained within the INI files.  So the INI files could be converted to Spanish, German, Italian or whatever language is preferred. Only the actual folders and variable names must remain the same.

I plan to upload THIS incarnation soon, though the help file needs a small chapter on partitioned graphics, and I am working on a new set of Half Kaiser resources that this can handle. And yes, I do have further developments in mind. But work on the current graphics must proceed.

[kyonides]

I wasn't supposed to post anything here but something strange happened while working on my EskapeLevelsDown ports. The earth shook for a few seconds!  
Was that some sort of indirect message trying to catch my attention back then?

[kyonides]

Man, it's incredible that trying to help some noob ends up with being accused of being snobbish.
Like really? Are you  serious?

I know I have a strong opinion on a specific programming or logical topic but I have a very good reason to be serious about it. Now that topic turned into a little flame war being waged against me.

As a matter of fact,  Wulfo had discussed that very same issue with a fellow forumer here. It was about defining a method using def inside an existing method. It's one of those things one should learn about Ruby if a given student or hobbyist wants to use the language properly. This actually means that such a thing should NEVER be done at all. Never!

I even provided them with another example, dividing a number by zero. You simply don't do that. It's not negotiable. Hey! You won't chase down all of the mathematicians that warn you against ever doing that.

Oh yes, I knew the OP was a newcomer and I never expected him to get a grasp of it. Thus, I skipped the explanation on my first reply on that specific subtopic. He complained and called a moderator to deal with it. OK, both of them didn't get it. Fine. I left a 4 paragraph discussion on how being a newcomer was not helping him understand how bad the idea was and how Ruby has some "bugs" or logical errors like the one I discussed here on my topic on learning Ruby. Yes, I mentioned the one about including modules in classes or other modules. That's an advance topic for the OP. Wulfo can handle it, I definitely can but not the OP.

One thing is true, I didn't tell him what to do in a specific way to make the window or sprite shake, but he already had an idea on how it's supposed to be.

Before I finish my rant here, I wanna add that I clearly stated that I NEVER called the OP a moron. I simply said the idea was moronic and should not be implemented for his own good. One might say it was kind of a strong stance but I even reminded them of teachers telling their students to never do something bad in programming because they'd kill a  kitten if they ever do it. It's a blatant lie and we all know it but serves as a reminder of what you're not supposed to try out ever.

Really, Millennials and generation Z seem to become quite intolerant whenever people offer them some strong piece of advice or corrects them for a good reason.

[DerVVulfman]

As a matter of fact,  Wulfo had discussed that very same issue with a fellow forumer here. It was about defining a method using def inside an existing method. It's one of those things one should learn about Ruby if a given student or hobbyist wants to use the language properly. This actually means that such a thing should NEVER be done at all. Never!

Um, no. I never discussed with anyone about coding a method 'within' another method. One can make a module within another module, or 'nested' methods. Those happen often, particularly if one is working upon a configuration section. But I never discussed with anyone about nested methods.

Also, I read that VXAce Title Screen thread...

[kyonides]

It gotta be a relatively old post that you no longer remember. I guess it'd take me some time to find it.

Guys, this is what I was referring to when talking about including modules and its constants somewhere else.

https://www.save-point.org/thread-7532-p...l#pid56249

[DerVVulfman]

Well... that was an example of incorrectly using the 'Include' private method (or command) that is built into Ruby's Module class.  The Include method allows one to invoke (or duplicate) features from another targeted object.  This object typically a separate Module or Class.

However, the example I provided and you are linking was one of recursion.  Not of simple nesting.

I could nest a class within a module, which is commonplace as part of Object Language's hierarchal structure.  Consider RPGMaker's RPG::Actors class, an actor class within the RPG module.  In 'general' for object orientated code, statements and code may be written and contained within methods.  A collection of methods may be contained within a class.  And classes may be contained within Modules. 

This is the same hierarchy within C++, but more rigidly enforced.

I could also nest a class within another class, or even use 'include' to nest a module within a class. This would not generally cause a problem, but looks ugly.

An functional example of successfully nesting a method within another method.

Code:

#==============================================================================
# ** Window_Base
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#  This class is for all in-game windows.
#==============================================================================

class Window_Base < Window
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Get Text Color
  #     n : text color number (0-7)
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def text_color(n)
    #   
    #------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # * A color selection method 'nested' in another method (IT WORKS)
    #     n : text color number (0-7)
    #------------------------------------------------------------------------
    def text_nested_color(n)
      case n
      when 0
        return Color.new(255, 255, 255, 255)
      when 1
        return Color.new(128, 128, 255, 255)
      when 2
        return Color.new(255, 128, 128, 255)
      when 3
        return Color.new(128, 255, 128, 255)
      when 4
        return Color.new(128, 255, 255, 255)
      when 5
        return Color.new(255, 128, 255, 255)
      when 6
        return Color.new(255, 255, 128, 255)
      when 7
        return Color.new(192, 192, 192, 255)
      else
        normal_color
      end
    end
    #------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # * End of Nested Method
    #------------------------------------------------------------------------
    #
    # I am calling a method IN this method
    return text_nested_color(n)
    #
  end
end

It makes little sense to do actually do such, and the 'nested' method cannot be called elsewhere but the parent method it is contained. But coding is a matter of logistics and flow.

And I did test it with the "\c[#]" control character command within Show Choice as 'text_color' is invoked in the Window_Message class.

But the example in which you are citing is where I described the improper use of the Include command to create an endless loop... recursion... because the 'include' command placed a copy of the entire module within the class that was already within the module.  Since the module was now within the class, that meant the class was now within the module within the class... ad infinum.

And the example of mine which you cited was an example or recursive flow, as dangerous an issue as stack overflow.

[kyonides]

Yeah, what I meant was that there was a specific case where including a Module would be a terrible practice as discussed in Ruby Scripting and in your recent post here. Yet, I didn't feel comfortable with talking about this with a newbie that barely knows how to move a sprite or window.

But there's another awful example as well. The third one is doing the following:

Code:

$game_party.actors.map do |actor|
  actor.age
end.max

Yes, it's still possible to call a method at the end of such a block but it's a bad practice. Some people would write it like this instead:

Code:

$game_party.actors.map { |actor|
  actor.age
}.max

It's obscure for sure. The best idea would be to do something totally different and a lot simpler than any of those similar options. Anyway, I'm posting the whole mini discussion in the Ruby Scripting thread.

[DerVVulfman]

Fine. Because I just helped OP into understanding that it is best not to directly edit/alter the original scripts and to apply edits and new code below the Scene_ scripts and above main. And I gave a rudimentary explanation of the alias_method (or just alias as commonly known). That he was doing direct edits was one of the first things I had noticed when he made his post on Tuesday, his direct edit of Scene_Title. This confirmed when he used a script supplied by a member here by pasting it atop Scene_Title. A veteran, but certainly more experienced in the art aspects of the Maker series.

[kyonides]

Hey, hybrid furball! You said you own RM2K3 right?
Does it really feature an ATB system by default?
I really thought it was a whole lot more simpler than that.