RPG Maker VX News

Alex's Adventure

Posted October 26th, 2007 at 5:07am CDT by Durandal

Enterbrain has announced the newest piece of information about RPG Maker VX. As spoken by Toshie:

Today we're going to give you a little information on the tiny character the player controls when walking around the map.


These tiny characters have been prepared in the "character set" image file.


Character Set

We touched on this in an earlier blog entry, but you can think of this as roughly the same as RPG Maker 2000.

However, it differs from 2000 in that the size for each character is optional. It can be decided on freely. Where do you look to decide the size of one character? One character's size is automatically calculate it as 1/12 width and 1/8th height of the image file.



Dividing the entire image file into equal parts and automatically deciding on a set size for one character is the same in RPG Maker XP.

However, be mindful of the fact that if you line up characters with unequal sizes in the same set, it'll be a dreadful thing. Even the all-purpose Maker has limits.


The moment of a mysterious being's conception.

Of course, people with good intuition should have already noticed that. Oh yeah! You can bring in RPG Maker 2000 character sets into RPG Maker VX as they are!
... but it's not confined to being perfectly scaled with the map!


I'm Alex! It seems I've come to a world much larger than normal!

Oh! I'm forgetting something important.
The up-down-left-right lining pattern in RPG Maker 2000's character set differs from RPG Maker VX's. When you import them, make sure to shift the pattern just a tiny bit!



Well then, that should be about it for today.

About Tilesets

Posted October 25th, 2007 at 5:34am CDT by Durandal

Enterbrain has announced the newest piece of information about RPG Maker VX. As spoken by Arts Kawashima:

Today I will give explain a bit about tile sets.

What's a Tile Set?
If you were to select a canvas to draw a map with, the tile would be like the colors. We call an assembly of these tiles a "tile set".

In the most recent games of the series (2000/2003/XP), you were not able to overlap and use multiple tile sets in a single map. If you're one who remembers "RPG Maker 95", please think of it like 95's material arrangements.

Though recently in the series you had to choose from sets such as those "prepared for field use" or "prepared for small, indoor articles" depending on what would be useful, VX will allow you to use them simultaneously use them without concern. Using them straight is fine, as is making use of your imagination to select something to draw with. Even though they are default materials, we can say that this is one of the places the creator can make use of their artistic talents.

About A~E Tile Sets

A... Land and sea, walls and floors, and all tiles that will be the map's ground.
B... Windows and signs, trees and grass, field-use castles, towers and the like.
C... Stairs, cabinets, beds, and all small, indoor items.
D... Pillars and entrances for caves, statues, and small items for dungeons.
E... Space left empty for the user.



A~D are all default compiled materials, while E is for you to add and use your own materials.

Furthermore, you can write over the data for the A~D images and place in your own materials.
However, in order to set auto-tile and shadow placement, you'll have to understand the rules. As you can follow the instructions in the help section for those details, it seems those enthusiastic about erasing everything are in the clear.

When we put together a lava zone map, Director M saw it and said "I want to go to a hot spring too~"

Today's Oneshot

The Secret of Animation

Posted October 24th, 2007 at 4:12pm CDT by Jaceryl

Enterbrain has announced the newest piece of information about RPG Maker VX. As spoken by Toshie:

Today I'm going to introduce the animation of those bangs and explosions on the battle screen.



Up until now, whenever you wanted to create a graphic for an animation, you'd have to dedicate one entire portrait file to preparing it. Because of this, if you were to replicate a part in another animation, you'd have to use the same graphics from the respective portrait file.
However, now you will be able to use two portrait files simultaneously!



For this example, we set Graphic 1 to "attack" and Graphic 2 to "fire", allowing us to express "fire attached to an attack".


Graphic 1: Attack


Graphic 2: Fire


By combining the two together, it looks like this!

In other words, this means that you can seperate the graphics you want to replicate and prepare them beforehand. By preparing your materials effectively, you can also decrease the game's total data load.

Incidentally, since the size of the animation graphics will be the same as RPG Maker XP's graphics, you can use the ones you already have!

VX Allows You to Intuitively Create Maps

Posted October 23rd, 2007 at 5:22am CDT by Durandal

Enterbrain has announced the newest piece of information about RPG Maker VX. As spoken by Arts Kawashima:

This week we're going to touch on the Map Editor's "Auto-Tile" and "Tile Set" features.

The Function of Auto-Tiles

In RPG Maker, the Auto-Tile is one of the aspects to make construction easier. For example, if you place a "ground tile" over a "sea tile", a shore line will automatically appear on the boundaries.

Also, if you decide to use the "single tree" tile


You can create a forest by connecting the tiles together as you draw.


Automatic Shadowing

When making a town or dungeon, if you have a tile that acts as a wall, the program has the ability to automatically create a shadow for it.

For this example, we start off by drawing out a ground surface. From there, if we draw in building-specific tiles, a shadow automatically appears on the right side of the building.


With this, even from the beginning you have the advantage of being able to create a map with a feeling of three-dimensionality.

Automatic Layer Recognition

To put it simply, a layer is a hierarchical progression of fellow tiles. When you want to place a new tile pattern while leaving the items beneath it, the Layer function is a useful tool.

In the previous release, XP, your drawings could be divided into the upper, middle, and lower stratums. However, creating a map whilst being mindful of what tile should be put in what layer to make the picture seem clean required some experience. Therefore, we have made VX automically recognize layers.

For this example we will try to place a long-narrow tree on the unmatched ground where the bricks and grasslands meet.



In this way, we are able to place a tree while still making use of the pattern on the ground surface. Even though the tiles now acting as a foundation are different, it doesn't matter.


By the way, if you change your drawing to a different tile, it will erase them all at once (in this case, when we used ground-specific tiles).

I can only convey so much by explaining in words, but I feel we have made it so that when you actually try it out you will be able to intuitively create what you want to.

Face Portrait Discussion

Posted October 19th, 2007 at 2:30pm CDT by Durandal

Enterbrain has announced the newest piece of information about RPG Maker VX. As spoken by Toshie:

Today we're going to pick up on the other "face" of the Maker, Face Portraits.

You've probably already noticed, but we've reinstated the ability to utilize face portraits in RPG Maker VX. These character pictures were drawn by our illustrator, Fumio Minagawa.



Fantastic use of such vivid colors.



This time we're going to go ahead and put up a special work in progress picture. Let's keep this a secret from Director M, shall we?

Even though it's just a face portrait, the surrounding parts of the character are clearly drawn in as well.

...ah! It's just about time for Director M's regular patrol!
Adios, everybody!

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