Vote Milkshake Devlog

With all of the news of RPG Maker U2U coming out recently, my brother and I have been very inspired to make games. While we've been working on our longer project Linkship Competition, we were more in the mood for making a game quickly without a lot of intense game mechanics, art, programming, etc. to take a break and make a lot of quick progress. That's how our games used to be when we were hobbyist kids who didn't really know much about game design. So we took a day to work on a couple of mini-projects for fun without any intention of actually posting playable versions online or anything. We called this "Vote Milkshake".

Vote Smoothie: Context

So the reasoning behind the name of this project is that back in 2016, we made collaborative projects in RPG Maker MV called Vote Smoothie. We were drinking smoothies and deciding what we wanted to do for the day. We usually like to come up with a list of ideas for creative projects to do and this one came out of that time. We made two games at the same time. The requirements were that we would include a random sound clip we made, have our characters take turns "making the game", and that each "turn" would end with a dialogue choice. The next person would decide which way to take the story and start developing from there.

During this time, we made one that was more of a visual novel where it was like a pop-up book with little characters on Popsicle sticks and Pigger is telling a story to the other orphans.

The other one was an underground explorer game where Topaz is mining and searching for treasures. This one had a unique sepia tone, zoom, and interface elements.

Vote Milkshake: Process

We've tried many times since then to recreate this experience with new projects, but every time it just didn't feel as fun as this one. And we didn't want to just continue those games, but wanted something fresh usually. Each time we tried to do this, we had a lot of requirements and restrictions that we added, which maybe over-complicated them. But with Vote Milkshake, I think we did recreate that feeling finally but in MZ. We kept it simple with the same basic requirements, worked fast, and didn't do a lot of planning. I started by setting up a basic project file and GitHub for collaborating, but that was it! Then we duplicated it so we'd have the same starter project for both.

I started with Squidwik's game, which was the "Nun Version". Because we work fast with these projects, we don't draw our own art. We use existing premade sprites and tilesets, and assets we designed with our characters in character generator software like Looseleaf. The biggest challenge was finding premade tilesets honestly, because most are paid nowadays. Back in the RPG Maker 2003 days, those were free and all over the internet!

But I found a tileset that was pretty good by hou-uoh. I was able to design a little outdoor area pretty nicely. I just had to adjust their tileset a bit to work with RPG Maker specifically. A lot of their aspects were paid/not included, so I used the free assets that were available for this.

Because we were creating all of the dialogue straight in RPG Maker, old style, without the assistance of Ink, I really wanted to make writing dialogue as seamless as possible. I used Hakuen Studio's Message Common Events plugin to create common events before and after messages so I could show a picture file and erase it for the dialogue box. Because I wanted it to automate per character, I set up a string variable for the character's name that I set before a dialogue box, and then this common event runs automatically before and after dialogue boxes to show a smooth transition of the message boxes and faces, depending on the character. This way, it shows the character's face graphic automatically and their name is set up automatically in the name box. I really wanted this to be automated upfront so I could develop even faster!

Then I designed the dialogue boxes and choices images. I wanted them to be themed together, so I made use of some of the pieces of hou-uoh's tileset to design the borders of these so they would thematically work together. I added some gradients and other aspects too.

Because I was working on the visuals more, I also used the fountain portion of the tileset and set up event pages to cycle through and animate the water. This was a fun little feature I added to make the scene feel more alive.

I also played around with Moghunter's Weather effects plugin to make the scene feel more alive. I was going to use RPG Maker's built-in rain weather effects, but there wasn't enough customization. So I used this one to add a more custom rain, and then had even more fun with star effects, butterflies, and more!

Because the choices are a big moment, I wanted to make that stand out a lot in terms of visuals. So I added the weather effects, but also added a picture at the top that indicates that it's a big decision. And I used Aerosys' Gab Windows plugin to add a little pop-up that reminds the player of what the choice is that they're making.

I also wanted the sound files to stand out more, so I added a speaker emoji and different text color for when the character is talking.

And that was everything I did during my first turn for Squidwik! Like I said, I didn't draw the sprite or tile assets, and I also didn't bother finding royalty free music because this is a very hobby project that I'm not planning to post as a playable game online. So here's a clip of the whole scene so far (some copyright music is included again because it's just for fun, so please support the original creators):

While I was developing that project, my brother was developing the "Jungle Version". Once he finished his part, it was Pubby's turn to create the next scene. I started by adding the transitioning parts from his existing maps to the new areas I was going to design. So I made some basic story parts. Then, I designed the swamp area. Finding tilesets again was a challenge, so I combined a few together to make what I needed (by hypnobius and noelru).

Because I was struggling to find free tilesets, I used mostly RTP ones for the interior of the house. I was trying really to make the shapes more interesting, since I always struggle with making backgrounds look interesting and not too flat/boring. So I added a bit more depth to it. 

I spent a lot of the time for this one with finding tilesets, making multiple maps, and adding more story parts. I also updated some aspects to make the dialogue a bit more streamlined with events like the previous game. I didn't add nearly as many effects though since this turn was a lot shorter. Because the textbox style was very close to being just a faceset in the standard RPG Maker way, I updated them to be actual facesets instead of individual image files so it'd be easier for us to add those straight into the text boxes with less additional showing of pictures.

This involved me having to edit the rmmz_windows.js file to add the additional padding. It took me awhile to figure that out, but it was really the only way I could figure out while having word wrap enabled in VisuStella's Message Core plugin.

So this one had a bit less extra features compared to the previous one with the parts I worked on, but here's a clip of the scenes I put together (and again, has copyrighted music and tilesets/sprites that I didn't draw):

It was fun playing around with effects and experimenting when I didn't have to worry about complex game mechanics or drawing my own art assets on this project. So this really helped me expand and have fun with more of the fundamental and basic features of RPG Maker. It's a very different way than I've been using MZ for the most part in recent years, but it's fun to hop in and do this kind of hobby project every once in awhile where it's nothing serious and no intentions to commercialize it in any way. I'm hoping we can come back to this project again to continue working on it when we want to make a game but aren't worried about the polish and presentability of it quite as much. Overall, this was a really fun Saturday project!

Stage Left Devlog

So I had a a dream the other night that I made a game in RPG Maker, so I decided to make the game a reality. I spent about 6 hours developing this game and tried to reuse some character sprite assets I already had so that I could focus on the game mechanics.

 You can download and play the game here:

I didn't end up taking screenshots along the way while I developed, but I'll dive into the development process here. I started off by making an event that sets a random number between 1-4 to each of the characters. Then, it checks if those random numbers are different. If they're not, it loops through until all 4 numbers are unique since they're associated with each character.

Then I set each of the slots to a character name and show their appropriate sprites in the slots that they're associated with. This is so it can briefly show their positions to the player so they can spot where everyone is for the memory portion of the game.

I made a quick console check before I even showed the sprites though so that I could fully test one of the characters and know which each position was.

There are 4 character sprites on the map that I set up. And like I said, I started with one before I really split everything up. I later split everything into common events so I could reuse the code, but it was originally in here. Basically, when you interact with a character, it'll set some variables and visuals, but then change the sprites back to their characters and reveal whether you were right or wrong. Depending on the round you're in, that'll redirect you to see the success or incorrect sequence.

At the start of each round, it briefly reveals the characters for a set amount of time. This speeds up as the game goes on to make it more challenging. Then, once you've seen them all, it changes the sprites back to the mystery sprite so you can't tell who it is.

 

 

And once you answer correctly, it moves on to the next round until you've guessed them all correctly.

If you answer it incorrectly, it still reveals the character, but reveals who that was to indicate you answered incorrectly. It ends the game and starts over.

I ended up drawing my own background so it would be integrated a bit more. I made it super simple, since the lights are out and you don't see it in much detail anyway.

I also drew the lights that shine down and made those be individual picture files. This was a simple ellipse and straight lines, but I think it works for what it is. I also added a custom blend mode and opacity to make it look more like a light.

And then I wanted Clove, the player, to stand out when walking around. So I created a following parallel event where it follows her X and Y positions when the player is able to walk around. I added a bit of an offset so it would show up where I wanted it to.

I also added moving pictures for the curtains so they would open at the start of the game and close at the end of the game. This is 2 picture files moving towards or away from each other.

Because I wanted this to be a very quick one-night project, I reused a lot of sprites I already drew and used RTP music and sound effects from RPG Maker. I just used some custom fonts and basic plugins so it wasn't entirely default. But I added sound effects for each instance of something changing on the screen to help show that.

So this was a fun short little project to keep me motivated since it's been hard to find time lately to work on projects. So taking a break to finish something in about 6 hours really helped with this.

Linkship Competition Devlog 5: Core Battle Mechanics Continued

I came back to working on this game after about a month or so break. I continued to focus a lot on figuring out core battle mechanics and trying to really get that MVP there.

The first thing I did was update the resources and other HUD elements so they would line up properly with our placeholder assets. I also updated the enemy resources to associate with those enemy variables.

Then I started creating the functionality for the health bars so that they'd be tied to the variables and scale based on where the health was at. I also updated the special attack bar to work similarly to this. 

To make this all functional, I started working on the Knight teammate's abilities. I started with an attacking feature where it would deplete health. I also added a healing mechanic to heal them.

While I was adding these, I decided to update the characters (which are actually listed as Armors in the Database) to use the Armor Types. This way, I could check if they're healing, attacking, defending, etc. with just checking their type instead of having to cycle through every character we set as that.

And then after that, I worked more on the cooldown timers. I updated the visual to show their face icon filling up when a cooldown is active, so the player can tell how close they are to completing them. Then, an animation plays on the character to show that they're ready.

Then I took a little break from game dev to draw some rough animations. I decided I wanted to do run cycles instead of walk cycles for the characters to look more natural with the actual speed that they're moving at. So I started with Ralphie. Just doing roughs for right now.

Then I got the animation working in RPG Maker after using Galv's plugins. It took me awhile to figure out how to get it working, but I was able to adjust the animation speed and also show different animations for idle and walking. It allows me to use 4 frames instead of 3 also, which makes it overall more smooth than the typical RPG Maker limitations.

After our full work day, I decided to update some mechanics we talked about. I started with changing the Knight's ability to be a regular cooldown and then the healing and attacking to be button mashing instead.

Then I changed the orange resources to automatically fill up your special meter when picked up instead of acting like a regular resource.

Then I fixed our current issue of resources being stuck on the page with self switch B even after you turn them in to the Inventor. I wrote some code to find the last event on the map, and work within a range to reset those and turn self switch B off.

And I bought Kadaj's Parallel Lives plugin since he added controller support. It had some conflicts with some of our existing plugins and I couldn't quite get it working correctly, but I was messaging with him to try and see if it could get fixed in the future at least so we might actually end up using it. He made some updates and we're still working to see if we can get the rest of the plugin conflicts figured out.

Then I started working on the hacking mini-game functionality and loop. First, the player destroys the room door when they have their weapon. Then, it turns off the roof of the room to reveal what's inside of the room.

And from there, the player can interact with a control panel. If they complete the mini-game, they successfully destroy it. I haven't actually implemented the mini-games, but it does work for what would happen if you did complete the mini-game, as the HUD updates with it.

I added all of the door and control panel events with some placeholder art so I could properly test out all of the mechanics.

I also added a cooldown timer that refreshes where the enemy will actively destroy the player's control panels as well. This is on a timer and it randomly selects one of the rooms to destroy if it hasn't yet.

With most of the core win and lose mechanics set up, I decided to actually implement the win and lose conditions to show that. So I created an event that checks for all of the win and lose conditions, and triggers the end of the battle when that happens.

I did a few performance optimizations since I noticed some lag. So I added a loading screen and set it to fade out when it goes there and back in once everything has finished loading. I'm hoping this will help a bit.

Add that's the update for this time! I spent a few days on all of the updates in this post and our battles are getting closer to including all of the core mechanics needed. Only a few parts left in the battle for the MVP to be fully there, then we can work on polishing things up and testing the fun. I'm looking forward to having everything in place so we can also figure out some of the timing on the cooldowns and seeing how it all works together.