This tutorial is going to teach you how to make a nice Thunderstorm in RMXP complete with sporadic lightning and thunder.

Setting the Mood

If you want to see this tutorial in video form just check it out at
https://www.youtube....h?v=yICax9CQ-_I

 

Alright boys and girls today I'm going to make a nice thunderstorm using RMXP. I was just going to give you a link to the tutorial on my youtube channel but I see nothing wrong with making a text / picture alternative.

Setting The Mood

 


First off make a event on your map that you want the thunderstorm to happen on.
I tend to like to name mine so if I have a problem I can easily find the event in question so let's just name it Thunderstorm. Make sure to choose Parallel Process so the storm is going on as soon as the player is on the map.

 

While you're at it right click on your map. Click map properties and where it says Auto Change BGS click the check box and click on the down arrow to pick a rain sound.

 


Now we can't have a thunderstorm without some rain so go to Set Weather Effect. Choose Storm. Pick a level of storm that feels right to you by using the slider where it says Power. I chose 7 myself.

 


When most Thunderstorms happen it's not sun shining so we're going to make it a little blue to represent the overcast sky. So choose Change Screen Color Tone and choose a kind of blue color to represent the overcast sky.


Now you will have to make a variable. So pick Control Variable and make one I called mine StormTrigger but you can call yours whatever you want. Choose random and in the spaces you want to put 1 ~ 3. Just as shown. This will be important later.


Here Comes the Storm

Now choose a conditional branch. In the branch you will want to choose variable and choose the variable you made earlier. Choose Equal To Constant 1.

 

You'll want to choose a waiting time to prevent it from being too annoying and feel a little more random like Thunder and lightning should. I chose 100 frames for my first one.

 

Next you want to choose screen flash to represent the lightning. The default is good on this one.

 

Just like in real life once you see the lightning you hear the thunder. So choose Play SE and choose an appropriate Thunder sound. Personally I went to a site called Sound Bible and got me about 3 different sounds and use them. Changing it up for each Branch.

 

Now just copy the conditional branch you just made and paste it in the else statement of the first and do the same thing again with the second conditional branch you made. Make sure to change the constant number for the each conditional branch statement. As well as varying up the Time Frame for your wait command. You want it to feel a little random.

 

You should have a pretty cool storm going but you want it to turn off when you go inside a house so...


Inside the house

Inside your house make a new event. I named mine Storm Stopper. Select Parallel Process so it will run as soon as you enter the house

 

Well you don't want it raining and storming in the house so choose Set Weather Effect and this time choose none. The Time should be 0 frames since you want the rain to stop the moment you enter the house.

 

Last but not least you want your lighting to go back to normal while inside the house. So choose Set Color Screen Tone and leave the sliders at the default. The only thing you should change is the Time . Change it to 0 so you player sees no transition.

 

And that's it. If you run your game you should have a nice Thunderstorm with sporadic lightning and thunder effects.

 

Artistic License


You might have noticed your BGS (background sound) may have followed you from your
outside map to your inside map. It's up to you whether you want the rain to continue as far as hearing it inside the house. If you don't simply choose Fade Out BGS and that would end it. If not and you want to hear it then you can choose Play BGS and change the volume to about half so it sounds muffled.

 

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial. If you have any questions feel free o ask.I will try o answer them to the best of my ability. And if you have a suggestion for a future Tutorial I am always eager for a new idea.

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271 Posts
714 Points

Kitsuki  said 25th July 2015

Thanks for the great tutorial, man! Perfect detail ;D I'll be able to make a great thunderstorm thanks to this!

Guest_ovan35 said 2nd April 2016

Thanks Kitsuki. Sorry I'm so sporadic with coming to the site. It feels like you have a million and one ores in the fire and never can seem to get to all of them.I really need a course in time management.

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