Lost...

[Aqueous]

Hey guys, perhaps this isn't the best requesting help post in the world but I've been searching the site for ages and I can't find basic tutorials for scripting except one of the Window tutorials and in that some of the images were missing.

I have things I want to do with scripts but have virtually no scripting experience previous to this. I've tried getting existing scripts but I just end up more confused. Then I tried looking up tutorials to start from the bottom but so many of the commands in this language I don't understand...it feels like tracing lots and lots of overlapping wires but I can't find the beginning or the end of the wire.

At the moment I'm trying to add a new stat to the game - Crit Chance. I've basically copied existing stats in Game_Actor and Game_Battler 1 but I get the feeling there's alot of things I'm missing out. Am I telling the game that this stat exists, for example, or am I just making calculations with a variable that I haven't even defined is what I'm thinking.

I'm basically lost and confused and wondering if I could get a point in the right direction.

Thanks ^^.

 

[Selwyn]

First of all, if you want to add a new stat, you should take a look at one of ccoa's tutorial in which she explains just how to do that step by step.

Also, I think you're aiming too high for a first script. You should read tutorials on how to create windows and how to display them, there are quite a few tutorials on that I believe.

 

[Aqueous]

Aye I suppose I am aiming too high with the first script though I've taken a little look around the main menu and pretty much understand how to make a stat show for example.

I suppose also I'm wondering why I would script windows to pop up rather than use the regular pre-set commands especially sicne I've been using RM since 95.

Trying to search for that tut by ccoa though, thanks for telling me who made it by the way, can narrow the search down somewhat. At the moment I'm having issues displaying and creating the stat because usually the stats are pre-defined in the System data file it seems (by searching around) and of course I can't access or edit that...so I'm guessing I have to basically make a whole new script for the stat rather than add it to the existing scripts. Since I didn't realise that at first I thought what I was doing was basic but apparently not!

 

[Tassadar]

Just start out with some minor edits, until you get a bit more experience with RGSS. After that just experiment. Trial and error are your best friends.

 

[Anonymous]

That's how I started, just edited scripts (windows mainly) then after that I gained the experience to create my own, which lead to other types of scripts and so on...

 

[Aqueous]

Aye I've been doing some of that right now. I've moved stats around on the Menu screen and such. The base is there for a new stat Crit Rating. Added it as a new parameter and such just don't have a script which basically tells the program what the values are for the stat and the "name" of it since all of that is pre-defined for other stats in System.

Meh. One question though. How much do you script when creating your games?

I mean...basically all of the original functions from the earlier RM programs are there which were usually more than enough to make your game. The only time you needed to really go beyond this is to make CMSs or CBSs. So I'm basically asking is, apart from complex things such as a CBS or adding a new stat etc. do you script much? If not that'll probably make me happy!

 

[Anonymous]

Err, it depends what type of game you are making.

Me personally do and don't script alot, I have my main project which is 595mb (and still growing) and I script a lot for that game (I haven't released any yet but I really should)
and another game which is 213mb and I don't script much except for windows on that.

The games size is based on custom resources and game length.

It just depends on what you need for your game.

Plus in earlier rpg makers it was a bit tedious with all the events, whereas scripting helps a lot in that department.

 

[Aqueous]

Well the game I'm going for, ultimately, would be a standard FF-like RPG with a side-view CBS etc. whether turn based or time based I don't care. It'd mainly be story and cut-scene driven. I'd want additional features, of course, like I have some ideas to a unique kind of "equipment" that you get, similar to materia in its function and usage but equipped to the character directly rather than the weapon.

Except that, it'd all be pretty standard and default. When I look at the program and the game I have in front of me...the only scripting I can see myself in need of doing is in the main scripts window to change the basic structure of the game and plain sailing from there on.

As for scripting cutting time - yeah no doubt it chips off time. I don't know an awful lot about scripting or the vocabulary of Ruby but I can tell from the volumes of text in this RM to create, for example, a menu compared to the length of the common events used to make menus in previous instalments that scriping makes it shorter.

However, for someone like me who, at this time, basically knows jack shit about this language and how to write in it rather than just edit or read it, the prospect of a simpler even if more tedious method is uplifting to a script-noob like me

What is the point in scripting windows by the way? Isn't it just easier to use the default dialogue options? Or are the scripted windows used for something differently entirely?

 

[Tassadar]

Meh. One question though. How much do you script when creating your games?

I mean...basically all of the original functions from the earlier RM programs are there which were usually more than enough to make your game. The only time you needed to really go beyond this is to make CMSs or CBSs. So I'm basically asking is, apart from complex things such as a CBS or adding a new stat etc. do you script much? If not that'll probably make me happy!

Like said before, it depends what kind of a game you're planning to make. An example; with my previous project, I was just editing small stuff to make it look slightly better for what I intended to do with it. It was a typical RPG, with leveling, big bad boss etc. With the game I'm currently making, a high-school rpg, there's no such thing as leveling or a boss. It's about having a decent life, dating, everything possible in high-school. So a lot of scripting will be involved with this, as this needs a good-looking CMS, a dating system, some minigames (like when you're too late for school you need to sneak into classroom without being caught, things like that) and many other scripts.

So basicly it's like this: try to start out easy and continue from that point. Scripting will become easier as you learn more about it.

To answer your other question, scripting windows is used to change interface, or adding a new submenu. The little money box in your menu is an example of a window.

*Edit* Beat you to it arbiter :D

 

[Anonymous]

Scripted windows can be for anything take for example the prexus craft script it has a window all for itself inside the menu, all in all a window can be made for anything as long as it warrants it.

The default dialog box is just for displaying text and is already built in, but as another example when you walk into a town you may want a window to show in the middle or the corner of the screen to tell you the towns name, there are no limits for a new window. Hope this helps.

[EDIT]
Tassadar new project is a prime example of scripting needs, it makes/helps things branch out into other directions and give infinite possibilities.

@Tassadar, sounds like a great game, commercial or freeware?

 

[Aqueous]

Right so scriping for windows would mainly be for functional windows. I'm glad to hear that ^^.

When I was reading the tutorials I was worried lots of people were doing entire scenes with the dialogue windows being done with script for odd reason . It sounds like even with heavily scripted games theyre still done in the main script editor which I view as kinda separate from the events of the game which, of course, I do on the map. I'm glad to hear that, because it means the parts of the program I'm familar with and the parts I'm not sure about are mostly separate.

Thanks for the help! Still cant find that ccoa tutorial about adding a stat though. Sucks!

 

[Tassadar]

Adding stats should be done after getting some more experience with scripting. Right now, it seems like you're still a rookie (just like me) and adding stats isn't exactly easy.

@Arbiter: Freeware of course, I wouldn't want to let people pay for something I did for fun. It's about the experience, not the money

 

[Aqueous]

Ah dammit. Well to be fair I'm not sure how to get experience with it except for diving in because there's not a whole bunch I want to do that isn't complicated!