Moonpearl

Hiya! Missed me? Well, I'm back, baby! I've dropped RPG Maker and found a new toy: Renpy! Actually, I'm surprised so few people use it. It turns out Python is A LOT similar to Ruby, so RPG Maker scripters should feel at home. Plus, there's a nice set of tools for debugging and stuff, I'm really enjoying myself so far. Anyways, to the point. This is not exactly a project, or more precisely, it's a demonstration of a script I could use in a future project of mine (as well as me tinkering to see how far I can get with RenPy). This is a conversation simulator. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not like you get to type in what you want to say and the computer answers. But, rather than choosing between a few dialogue options (which is how it's classically done), you get to choose what topic you wish to discuss, among a number of them (20 in this demo). Nothing groundbreaking so far. It turns interesting when the computer answers. You see, the conversation is two-way, and the person you talk with will also pick a topic in turn. Of course, the computer doesn't pick at random (which would be pointless). Actually, the NPC is anxious to discuss a topic in particular, and the idea is that you score points if you manage to get the conversation to that topic. But since the NPC doesn't want to make a harsh transition, they will always try to come up with a topic which is relatively close to the one you picked, and yet drives the conversation toward the desired topic. And it's the only clue you're gonna get. In short, it takes conversations in role-playing games to a new level. It's not about choosing between a few predetermined lines, which are always obvious by the way, to get what you want - but rather, it's some sort of mind game where you have to read between the lines, and use everything you know about the NPC to understand what they're trying to tell you. I hope you'll enjoy the concept in its current form, though I have quite a few ideas to make it even better. For now you just have to exhaust all topics to find the right one, but in a real game situation, you would have a limited number of tries before the NPC gets tired and walks away. Also, you would start off with a limited number of topics, and unlock them one by one, as you get to know people/places and events occur. So the first conversations would be easy to handle, while you could very well end up with dozens of topics, and have to tread carefully when you're in a critical event with just 3 tries. Also, what you can't for now because there's just one NPC to talk to, is that she has a personality. That is, she has her own favorite topics, and the one she'd rather avoid. A different NPC would make different picks in the exact same situation. I've prepared 2 situations, with the exact same scripted dialogue. The difference is that in one, the girl wishes to discuss a predetermined topic which is always the same, so once you've found it you can try different approaches and see how she tries to draw closer to it. In the second, though, the desired topic is chosen at random, so you can put your guessing abilities to the test! Anyways, here's the download link. Don't hesitate to let me know if you like the idea and how you'd like to see a full game based on this system. :) Cheers! Download PC version: http://www.mediafire.com/file/xc41cfcma2h4428/Test-1.0-pc.zip Download Mac version: http://www.mediafire.com/file/48mzab68mnsrn8q/Test-1.0-mac.zip

I'm an absolute fan of Doom. Thanks for reminding me of the open beta, I'm going to try it right nooooooooooow...

I don't think RGSS can read animated GIF. Put it as a battleback and see if it animates. If it doesn't (which I'm pretty sure will happen) then I'm afraid this is a no-go since we're hitting the built-in limitations there. It would be possible, however, to put all the frames in a single picture, like a spritesheet, and have a simple script cycle through them.

Funny how people miss that Start menu so much. I've always managed without it in previous versions of Windows so I don't miss it one bit. Other than that WIndows 8 is pretty much the same as Windows 7 anyways. My new laptop does have Windows 8.1 and honestly I scarcely see a difference with my use of Windows 7.

Absolutely not. :p I'm not the first to think about it, guess someone just beat me to it. Too bad the site doesn't mention how advanced the project is. I'll make sure to give it a try in the following days.

My thought exactly... Well, yes, it's SOMEWHERE... Here's my old blog post on the matter. I might send the code to you if you're interested but it all depends on a quite specific installation of Ruby and it's still experimental so no guarantee it works on your part.

Well because Ruby is more novice-friendly (which RM deifinitely is) and also Japanese (which RM is, also). Why use C++/C# rather than Ruby to program the core engine? Well, simply because it's way faster - or at least it should be. Then again RGSS's core had incredibly poor performances but I believe it's just because of poor programming, since I was able to replicate the same graphics functions in pure Ruby 10x faster - so that doesn't tell us anything about the language they used in the first place. Also, the use of C++/C# to write the core DLL would explain why the core classes don't have their code listed in the help file while others do - because they have no *Ruby* code. Anyways I guess there's no way to know for sure, it has just always seemed obvious to me that it was written in C++/C# but I might very well be wrong.

Are you sure about that? Surely RPG Maker projects contain a Ruby interpreter to read the scripts, but the underlying code is contained in a DLL file and I doubt you can actually generate DLLs from Ruby (or that it's relevant to do so in the first place). I'd rather say that the DLL is a C++ or maybe C# extension which defines new Ruby classes and methods but I would be really surprised if it was pure Ruby. As for the maker itself it *might* be written in Ruby but if they could program in C++/C# in the first place it's unlikely they used Ruby for that.

Hey guys, so it's been a while since I posted this, but I've been playing again lately, aaaand, well, I guess I'm still at loss of partners. Quite a few things have changed though, so let me advertise again. :) we can change regions at will so I can play on American servers if needed and others can play on European servers with no problems. due to the spawning feature (not quite new but posterior to my initial post) you will be able to enjoy the full multiplayer contents of SC2 as long as you play along with someone who's bought the game (like me for instance). So it just take a download on your part and you're good to go. there's a mod which mimics the upcoming expansion around, and we get to try the new Archon mode, which means playing as allies but sharing units and buildings, which makes it a lot easier to learn specific parts of the game if you're a beginner while the more experienced player takes care of the rest. Also, please note that I'm by no means a hardcore player. Plus, I enjoy playing as a team more than one against another anyways, so don't worry if you feel like a noob, I'm not going to abuse your level. And I know all 3 races well enough to teach any of them if you need, though I obviously have my own preferences. Don't hesitate to contact me so we can add each other in the game and have some good time. :)

I'm confused. You're posting in the VX Ace forum, showing a screen of VX, and then you tell me you're working with XP? What am I missing?

And probably rethink your entire project too... Many scripts are not available for both versions, not to mention the software's capabilities themselves...

I could do it with RMXP...

Basically you just need to write code and compile it to make it into an executable program. Then code can do pretty much anything, a video game is just a huge series of commands to display pictures, manage input and play sound. You probably want to use a library like SDL or SFML as a basis (such libraries feature a wide range of multimedia functions, pretty much like what the RGSS library stands for), which spares you the effort to write everything from scratch. Then again, from that point onward you're on your own and you'll have to code everything, menus, tilemaps, battles, whatever. It's nice of you to want to try something else than RPG Maker but even as an experienced programmer it's a long way before a game written from scratch starts to resemble anything like Phoenix Wright or Professor Layton. I personnally recommend you start to experiment with your target language first, until you feel comfortable enough with it to try your hands at something big.

No worries, I'm not in any sort of rush. Your work is perfect! Thank you for your contribution. Just one thing: how do you say Indonesian in Indonesian?