Advancement Tips?

[vVTalonVv]

Before I actually start designing maps and such, I wanted to figure out how to progress the game as smoothly as possible. Without it being TOO easy or damn near impossible.

I've looked in the database at the main characters and monsters and such, and would like to know how one would figure out how to make the game "even". How would I be able to figure out how much speed to give a monster, or how much defense? Or when making a weapon, how much extra attack should it get?

Same goes with leveling up. What should my ranges be, so that characters progress evenly, but also different from each other?

 

[Kiriashi]

It all depends on your game. Start making your first character, and give him whatever you want. From there, give everyone else values based on the first character's values (stats).

 

[vVTalonVv]

Alright. What about monsters and traveling? Like, how do I know how strong to make the monsters in the NEXT chapter of the game, compared to the first? Is it kind of just a guess and check? Or is there a way that I can play my game AS I'm making it?

 

[Jason]

Well you can testplay it, I don't see anything wrong with that.

Or what you could do what I tend to do;

On the first chapter, say bob (Made up obvs) starts at level 1, with his equips etc etc.

The quests etc. and storyline will get him to level 10, IF he doesn't go out and grind too, if he does, he'll end up higher than 10.

When the second chapter is ready to be made, keep in mind, that bob WILL be level 10 or higher, so have a look in the database at what his stats would be at level 10, and work your enemies around that, making them slightly higher towards chapter 3

Chapter 2 quests and storyline WILL get him to level 20, again, higher if he grinds, so when I make Chapter 3, I will base the enemies stats around bobs as if he were level 20, getting higher as the end of the chapter arises.

Well, that's how I do it anyways, maybe it'll help, maybe it won't, but meh.

 

[vVTalonVv]

Alright. Pretty much I think I'm going to draw out some basic ideas for "chapter 1" and play-test the game as I go along. Since I know all the quests/secrets, I'll end up going through it pretty quick, but I can adjust the game as I see fit.

For World Map purposes: How does one edit the map so that different continents/areas have different monster troops? Would be silly if the ENTIRE map had only the first starting troops, in which case traveling would be simple. Same applies to monsters on the sea/air.

 

[BlueScope]

First of all, you can check around for programs labeled damage calculators, which might help you out on the balancing issue... personally, I say screw those, though, because testplaying is the way to go. And it is a tough job, especially since just a single person testplaying won't work out - no matter how versatile you try to be during your testplays, you'll never cover all the different player types, from grinding to running through to overarmoring to whatnot.
Testplaying is a necessary bitch, and I can only give you the advice to have people on the internet testplay your games... unless of course you got 20 game-happy friends with too much time on their hands near ya

For the world map thing, you'll need an additional script to handle for RMXP upwards, since that feature's been taken out (you'll notice that Enterbrain dropped worldmaps altogether by missing worldmap tilemaps, which VX has again). You should find that easily in the Submitted Scripts section though, if you search for 'Moster Area Script' or something.

Overall - if you're an RPG Maker rookie, get comfortable with the system before you think about making a chaptered game. It's a tedious process, and game design isn't such an easy business as it might seem to be. Then again, you can only learn it by trial and error, I suppose, just don't let yourself get dragged down by those failed attempts, because all of today's great game designers have had them.

Good luck.

 

[vVTalonVv]

Thanks everyone for all of the info! I'm going to make a test game, and do some eventing as well as balancing and see what happens. Practice is all I can really do for now.

 

[Kiriashi]

As for matching "Part 1" with "Part 2", check this out:
http://www.rmxpunlimited.net/forums/ind ... topic=2130


You can transfer characters over.