  ( Wolfette )
(C:) Hiya Topaz! 
A little ... hopefully it's little anyway...
suggestion for Scenario. Instead of just one type of
'killing
the player' event in a game how about 2! One where the
player is plunked down at the feet of the king or
whatever, and one where the player goes to the "Game
Over"
screen! Lol! I could really use the game over part in
a couple of places!
Poof, gone again guy!!
|
 (  Topaz )
(C:) Hi
Wolfette:
Long time no write ! Howarya ??
I have this planned for the little skull that's already
in the icons.
Here is how it is going to work.
If the player dies and there is no "defeat"
marker placed, then the player is put right back at the
last Inn they stayed at or talked to minus half their
gold.
If the player somehow dies before they talk to ANY inn,
then it is curtains after all.
If a "defeat" marker has been placed, then the
player will IMMEDIATELY go there with no penalties, mind
you, it's up to you to do the:
  
And .. I'm not sure, I don't think I have in math
available for the Sprite Messenger just yet .. I'll check on
this once the "defeat" marker is in use.
Nontheless a good suggestion ! Dragon
Warrior does
this, and I definitely don't like it when you just
get GAME OVER (sucker) -play again .. I hate that .. 
On
a different note, I am running MDX Jukebox in the
background, and although I did lose a lot of categorized
music in the great HD crash, there were quite a few that
got uploaded, so what I am going to do is ultimately have
9 selections for each of the types already in Scenario
that only go up to 3 or 1 so there will be more choices
of music. 
 Hope This Helps ! |
 (
Nils )
Q241:Hi
again David!
Is there a way to make a warp go to
another place when a switch is activated?
(just wanted to know)
|
( Topaz )
A241:
Hi Nils:
You would need to do a comparison for this switch inside
the Sprite Messenger and then Warp Surf using     to surf
into a warp that is inaccessible by the player, that is,
if you want to go to a new map.
Follow these keystrokes to see how to have one SURF to
the left if the flag is not true, and to SURF off to the
right if it IS true:
From the Sprite Messenger hit:
  (make sure
you are on the word INQUIRY!) 
 to select LitBulb  and type
out:     and
then type out    and
Okay, you don't want to enter any text on this page if
you JUST want the warp to occur the instant this tile is
touched; we're ready for the next page.
Hit  or on the last
5th line and you are on PAGE # 2.
This would be
the page that gets run IF the flag of GATE is Unlit  , so hit again to
select
and we're
ready for PAGE #3.
Hit or on the last
5th line and you are on PAGE # 3.
This will be the page tha gets run IF the flag of GATE is Lit , so hit again and this time select the
warp arrow facing the opposite direction and we're almost done !
Hit  to select LABEL hit and type out and to confirm it !
We're all done with this part ! Let's save this Sprite;
hit   and the Sprite
is saved.
Now from here, go far left until you reach a tile the
player can NEVER reach and insert your warp to where you
want to go if the flag of GATE is Unlit , then return back to the decision-gate
Sprite and go far right until you reach a tile the player
can once again NEVER reach and insert your warp to where
you want to go if the flag of GATE is Lit .
Return back to the decision-gate Sprite, you're all done
!
Be certain to hit   occasionally, especially after a fair bit of
work like this, so all of your work will be saved and you
can continue working on your world. 
Hope This Helps ! |
  ( Kenuchii )
Q242:have
you ever considered partnering with someone to make
scenario more powerful?
p.s. im trying to learn c++
|
( Topaz )
A242:
Hi Kenuchii:
... This has been considered many times, but I am retired
now.
Part of my being retired is because I did work for
companies in the past, as partners, and every one of them
ripped me off, mostly because I have no business sense
and no idea what anything is worth, including my skills
and/or programs. While I have no doubt there are some
people out there who sincerely would like to be good and
honest partners, I've been burned enough times to stay
away from the candle whether it's lit or not.
I like  a lot. I'm glad to finally have
some time to sit down and write it, but you must also
come to terms I am just one person. While I would not
mind someone answering the Q & A for me every now and then  perhaps someone could also put together some
of the documentation to explain advanced features of it,
especially the Sprite Messenger. I have FAQ on the way, but I want to add just a
few more features to current before I do, and
there are still some WinXP incompatibilities existing.
But I will always and only want to be the programmer for
it.
I write code very strange many people have said (even my
Dad) and unless it's my own coding, I really can't work
with it. I tend to call routines recursively changing
flag decisions about branches deep within nested loops.
Already 2 companies have contacted me about commercializing it.
One said they were already using it and wanted to pay me
royalties for a world they were preparing ..
Well, what was really important to me was that a
company was building a world in my engine without telling
me. I really - don't want any money, and I'm not in a
good position to receive it. I just wanted to see the
world file,  maybe Testplay
it for a bit, and definitely learn good ideas and
things to add to my engine, based upon an entire company
thinking my system is good enough to build a world, well,
I very much value their opinion and will look to their
world for trouble spots that I could improve upon in my
programming ..
You can help, Kenuchii, as can you all. Mr. Morteo has contributed a lot
of RPG pictures and music for February and a big portion of Add-Ons will be because of his
generous contributions to both new images and music. What
I really need right now are new TILES and Sound FX for February Add-Ons. <hint!> 
. . .
Regarding learning C++ , well .. that's a language I have
programmed in, but I didn't like it. I have downloaded
the sourcecode to PocketNES for the GBA and would like to maybe add some
features on it (as I have it encoded on my own GBA
flashcard). You
can see some of my suggestions to Flubba and Hoe, two major programmers of PocketNES, by clicking  . But speaking with Loopy, the primary author, says
that PocketNES is a combination of C programming
and machine-language. I don't know if I can commit that
kind of time or energy for this with taking priority.
Hope This Helps ! |
  ( DarkLink )
Q243:Hello,
I just downloaded Scenerio RPG Maker and it seems to be
everything Im looking for in an RPG Maker. I have two
questions,
(a)
does
Scenerio RPG Maker allow for a 3 member party battle? If
not, will it ever be implemented?
(b)
Also, does
Scenerio support .avi files such as cutscenes?
|
( Topaz )
A243:
Greets DarkLink:
Hey, you entered in some very nice  oncepts as well as a new custom one
! Thanks, DarkLink ! 
Click to go there.
(a) I feel fairly certain that will not have except one player in it, as for
 however, I have planned for 3 players with 6
on the sidelines so you really define 9 players
altogether. However, with some ideas I have on items,
this may be superficial and not as powerful as turning player
data into items with unique characteristics. I am
still thinking about it ..
(b) I actually do know
how to play .AVI's in GFA but I don't want to encourage large
world sizes, and I have no way of linking the .AVI window directly in the window; it wouldn't look right. For now,
consider using Storyboards in telling a story in your RPGs. I have provided several
in the Add-Ons section. Click to go there, but for now, I'll
include a sample here:
NOTE, this
picture will appear double-size in your world rather than
here, on the website.
To save this picture off, right-click your mouse on it
and choose Save Picture as... Then click in the area to
the right of Save as type where you see GIF (*.gif) and change that to Bitmap
(*.bmp) and
save it in your \REALM\ directory, where you have installed on your computer. Okay ! This is
how you save all Add-Ons in !
Now let's create a Sprite Message to display it !
From the main editor, hit (pick out a Sprite, I think
the 3rd one looks pretty close to matching her) and hit to confirm the
image for the sprite. Then it's and you are in
the Sprite Messenger.
From here, hit and looking in the middle near the top there
will be a  icon with the label ImagePos. Select it and hit . Notice your
cursor has changed to  which means if you hit from here, you
get to select the picture from a file-list; just what we
want, so we do. Use the arrow keys  and  to navigate
until you find her picture. When you do, hit and it will
auto-magically be typed in ! Go down a line and type out
some text here:
What can I interest you
with ?
We're ready to save this Sprite so hit and it's all saved !
Now go to put a merchant icon right next to her, like
above her, hit to enter TestPlay and then talk to her.
You'll see the storyboard appear and the message, waits
for a keystroke, and then she becomes an Items Merchant.
That's it ! Now if you leave off the merchant tile, well
*cough* she must be trying to interest you with something
not in the items list ?? 
If you use with a picture name, you can also put a  (comma) and a number from  to  to place your
picture in any of 9 places on the screen:
Position is chosen by
default, and the Storyboards can be of any size, but 160x96 is suggested and it is the
size used in all my Storyboard Add-Ons.
As with all Sprite Messenger commands that use a name or
filename, you need to leave a trailing space after it so
it will not interpret the next characters as data for the
prior command.
     
Hope This Helps !
|
  ( Shadow )
Q244:
(C:) I have a suggestion for
Scenario X, and a question for it to.
First of all, to do with the battle system (and I think a
lot of people would love this). Now, don't get me wrong,
I know battles are very hard to create (and I'm like you
to, I don't find battles a strong element of RPGs, UNLESS
they are well put together).
Topaz, you could make a Zelda-like fighting system, AS
WELL as a Selection-style, fighting... thingy... for
Scenario X.
Before you think "NO NO NO" too much work, you
could do this over time. I know the battle system for
Scenario X will be more complicated with elements and all
that to it, nice and technical, but for some people, that
battle system just doesn't quite make them happy.
Think of the old Zelda's for SNES, battle system was
simple but fun. You could give each enemy simple tactics,
as they got higher, better ones, and items and stuff
EVENTUALLY to aid the player and stuff. Also, you know
how you have Sword and Armor level ups, which you will
have for Scenario X and what you have for Scenario, keep
it the same but let us name them, so you could pretty
much make it seem like a new weapon. EG: You recieved
"Excalibur!"
Anyway it's just a suggestion but I'm sure a lot of
people would like it.
(a)
In
Scenario X, I know the program will work completely
different, but will the NAVIGATION of the program be the
same as Scenario? As in, working your way through the
program, and stuff. Would the Sprite Messenger work the
same way, or is it a whole new ball game that we need to
learn the rules to? Can we still use old tricks for the
new system, as in items, multi-choice questions, etc...
Thanks Topaz. (I know it was a long one but there are
some good ideas)
|
( Topaz )
A244:
Hi Shadow:
(C:)
Unless it's
like chess, TYT (Take-Your-Time) type of combat, I'm not going to be
interested. Writing action games or incorporating it in
current or future and/or is not going to happen.
This however does not mean that I won't have Sprites
animating independently, cause they will.
If I find free time (a few years from now) I may put together a
platform/shooter game-maker I have in mind, but that's as
close as I am going to get with action games.
(a)
I have some
very different ideas for the Sprite Messenger, but I also know too that
many of you will be accustomed to the comfortable and
easy one of today. I will probably allow both which means
two sets of Sprite Messenger Icons, the ones you are using
now, and the ones specifically for .
Hope This Helps ! |
  ( Chuck )
Q245: How
did you make Scenario? |
( Topaz )
A245:
Hi Chuck:
This has really been answered a few times now. 
It's one of the first FAQ I'll be putting together, but for
now, click for your answer.
Hope This Helps ! |
  ( Firefly )
Q246: do
you have any guides to the sprite messenger? you know,
like a big list of actions possible. I'm new at this and
i ain't too good at the whole sprite messenger thing.
thanks.
|
( Topaz )
A246:
Greets Firefly:
This is a good question, and I have not really put a
public link up to Chibisoft's Sprite Messenger Command
Chart. You can
find that by clicking . It's incomplete (as I keep
adding commands),
but it should get you started in the right direction.
 (mental
note to myself, I could build an optional SPR.HLP file
that is downloaded and when the cursor is on any of the
Sprite Messenger Icons in the selector field, a
description and example would be seen for each of them)..
Hope This Helps ! |
  ( ? )
Q247: Hey,
Ive been playing the sample world and i got stuck
in this cave. can i get out somehow? or do i have to
defeat something? i have killed the 13 slime things and
all
the scorpions from the pit except for the one that cant
be fought. i have defeated the lizard man in the temple.
i realy want to get out..
|
( Topaz )
A247:
Greets ?:
Well you just made my day thinking the sample
world Suzi's Quest was a complete RPG ! Actually, it's unfinished, and mostly there
to demonstrate new Sprite Messenger commands as I create them.
Just hit
to exit Testplay. However, where you are, if you
touch the chest close to the trick heal-angel just above
where you can buy armor, you'll warp off this map to a
different one.
Also, you can backtrack to the first square where you
first arrived here and warp out, or go all the way right,
up, and left and there is a warp to exit this map from
there also.
Also,
in the future, please include your name or alias so we
know who or what to call you. Thanks.
Hope This Helps ! |
  ( Abyssal Spectre )
(C:) I have recently downloaded
Scenario and is my fist time posting, so let me give my
regaurds for how excelent and easy to use this program
is. I also liked how quick a download it was for my old
56K modem ;) . Anyways, on to my question :)
Q248:
I have
tried some of the add-on sprites and sucessfully imported
them into the program (nice ^_^) and when i use them they
appear obviously bigger then the preset sprites and the
pics that appear in the add-on section... I am curious
about this if there is a way to fix it or is this the
formating done by Scenario that you've mentioned
previously because it looks kinda messed up. The only
ones that seem to look decent are the girls from the
"5 Quite Sprites" block, but part of that is
their skinniness i believe.
thanks for taking your time to answer this and good job
:)
|
( Topaz )
A248:
Greets Abyssal Spectre:
(C:) Really do appreciate the
compliment !
I've been going through some depression recently so your
praise really helps my spirits (some of it
was because of my HD loss). Kami opened a new
oncepts on Good vs.
Evil.
To answer your question, there is no exact science to
enlarging smaller images to look correct when they are
enlarged. You are always going to get that blur factor in
there. The Add-Ons I had prepared for February before the HD crash had some
very well-rendered sprites that I enlarged with minimal
blur and very accurate looking 32x32 size. I was trying some new
techniques and hope to apply these again for this March's Add-Ons.
If you want to use non-dithered sprites, use any of the
set at or before November 29th, 2002 until I can get them to
appear correctly and there are 80+ of them so that should get
you started.
The thing is, there are many RPG2000 sprites out sized at 16x24 and exact matching Anime
Portraits to
accompany them. I was recently requested in Email to
match the Sprites with the Portraits. This will do it,
but it's a bit of extra work for me. I was very pleased
with the results February however and will submit those
similarly rendered in March.
Hope This Helps ! |
  ( Dias Flac )
(C:) Hello Topaz, first time to
post, have had scenario a couple days (learning a lot
from these Q & A boards :) ) and i really am enjoying
it ^_^. good job with it!
Q249:
i have
a couple questions relating triggering things to happen
in a sequence.
(a)
i saw
your answer for the "Shovel" quest, i want to
implement that in a similar fassion with a longer dungeon
quest. Ive set it up so far that i can get to the bottom,
beat the boss, get the item, then head back to town. Im a
little confused on what to do next.
(b)
I also
want to expand on this by when i speak to the person
about the item i recovered like a tree on another map
dissapears (so i can have the player progress through the
game).
|
( Topaz )
A249:
Greets Dias Flac:
(C:) Thanks Dias !
Once I finish all of the new oncepts and Q & A I am going to start on the FAQ which should help Worldbuilders even more.
(a)
If
you're asking or lacking for story ideas, I prepared a
few suggestions of them you can read by clicking .
|
If any of you have
some story ideas you'd like to share with others, I can
open up a new webpage that contains RPG story ideas
written by you!
If it is especially good and easy to write, then someone is
bound to make a game out of it and beam up a copy to the Download
Station.
You can submit your story idea(s) by clicking .
I'll prepare a new webpage and list your name right
beside it as the contributor.
|
(b) Expanding on your quest -
try out many of the rooms in the default quest that comes
with , and
several of the rooms in the Answers world too to see how to make use of
complex switches.
For a prepared tutorial on switches, click .
Hope This Helps ! |
(
Wolfette )
(C:) Hi there Topaz! How're you
doing? I love the new site!!! So glad I can get back into
it again now :)) LOL! had/have a bit of game writers
block, but it feels like it's starting to clear up again
finally! Going to try out the most recent version of
Scenario in the next day or so and then see how 'Quest'
goes with it ;D
Later dude! And keep up the great work!!
huggles,
wolfette
|
( Topaz )
Hiya
Wolfette !
(C:) Good to hear from you again
!
It's bad news here with my HD crash and one person
wrecking an entire message forum of my interest for
several others. Hopefully she won't, we'll see ..
In this HD crash, I have lost the very last elements of
source-code to and I won't be able to do any
further work on it till someone decides they repair HDs
and writes me  ..
The good news is I'll see Dad tomorrow and
get my new computer !
Full plans are underway for which you can see by clicking .
Other than that my next goal is to start the very
detailed and explicit FAQ that answers so many of the same
questions I have been asked several times in Email ! Augh !
Hope This Helps ! |
(
Eilu )
Q250: well...
i've been busy with the program
and I have a few more questions that popped up
(a)
Is there a way
to make an NPC follow the hero around? Like
if an NPC lost her child and you found the kid and are
leading him back to his mother.
(b)
Can you make
critters in such a way that they have
a %chance of dropping an item?
|
( Topaz )
A250: Hi
Eilu:
(a) To make a
Sprite appear to be following the player -
This can be accomplished quite easily like so.
Let's make a Sprite that when the player touches, they
will follow the player and vanish from the map (so there
are not two of them and you can't select her again).
From the Map Editor in , hit
<pick out this sprite  > and hit .
Then hit and you are in the Sprite
Messenger !
From here, hit and move the red-circle cursor to the
far-right upper corner 4 down from the top to the  icon and
hit to
confirm it. then type out:
  hit the  once for a
separation, then hit and then look two icons above the Player  to find the
Magic
Wand  and hit once you have it
highlighted.
Now to make this Sprite vanish hit once again
and this time select the LitBulb icon which is all the way to the far
left four icons up from the bottom and hit once
highlighted and then type out and you're all done !
Your entire line should appear as follows:
|
| |
Let's
explain a bit what is happening here.
When you use followed by
a number, then that Sprite will appear to be following
the player around. To make him/her go away, use  <<period>>
The Magic Wand tells that you want to update the
display right after the last line is seen and run on this
Sprite
Messenger Page.
And the switch we will see changed will be the girl since
we are Lighting Up the switch
named girl.
To save this Sprite, hit and you are returned back to the
Map Editor !
We need to make this Sprite a switch so now hit <<don't
hit
yet!>> and type out once again followed by
<<and since there is a menu error here, to return
back to map editor>>.
We're
all done now ! 
To testplay your creation, move the cursor a short
distance from the Sprite you just made and hit to enter Testplay, then talk to the girl. Her
map Sprite will vanish and she will now be following the
player.
You can hit key at any time to return back to the Map
Editor, and you can clear any sprites following you for
debugging purposes by hitting:
  <<make
sure you are on the NO MASKS/TAG-ALONG>>
and once again hit . Hit to make the notice go away and you are back
to the map editor.
To turn OFF the girl switch
from the map editor, put the cursor directly over it and
hit .
You can tell that a Sprite will not be seen in Testplay
as it will appear as a ghosty smear instead of an insert.
 If you just want a Sprite
to follow the player without all the switch nonsense I
used for this example, use:
followed by
any number from 1 to 28.
To make your follower vanish, use this (where
the is the period . key)
That's it ! Now you're an expert on how to make
Tag-Along sprites !
Next question ..
(b)
Critters have a % chance of dropping an item
First off Eilu,
it is important for you to note that no critters
can carry items in current . This due primarily to help the
merchants. I mean if a critter had a % chance of dropping
a Potion, then there would be little point in buying one
from a merchant. While it would be rather difficult to
explain in here I am going go go ahead and say:
You can download the new Answers world by clicking .
Actually, you get a sub-room.  The answer for this room really doesn't take
much space and is pretty similar to Wolfette's earlier question on how
to gain an item after defeating a critter so I put both
questions beside each other.
You can find your answer in the Answers
World here:
     
There are a few interesting factors involved.
Note that you can only attack the Slimey by being exactly
one space below it.
There is no other way to attack it. In this, the player must
be sitting on the hidden Sprite that,
when the switch activates (which it
will since the switch is linked to the critter being
defeated) will
then be run.
You will see this is also the case for the other two
critters for Wolfette's answer as well.
If you want to reverse the decision of a switch on a
sprite so that the contents are run only IF
the switch is ON instead of OFF,
move the cursor directly on top of the Sprite with the
switch and hit  to HIDE it. To return it to
normal, hit again.
Notice that a little  appears in the info window when
this tile is HIDDEN.
You can tell when a Sprite will either be active
or inactive since the words:
(inactive)
will appear in the bottom-right info box if the current
state of both the switch and hidden status makes it
inactive. Hit the key when on top of it to flip switch states
of the switch named SLIMEY to both ON
and OFF which also reverses the
decision on whether or not the Sprite will activate when
the player touches it.
These two concepts of merging switches with the hidden
status on a map cel are fairly complex to understand if
you are new to them. To learn more about them, look for
other shazy Sprites in this world and other world files.
Look
for more information on the HIDDEN SPRITE in future FAQ.
Note the Inquiry of 10%
and the label of RARE.
What this means is, from this point there is a 10% chance
of skipping the Potion page and instead running the
Miracle page, which has the page label of RARE,
which is indeed rare as it will occur only 10% of the
time.
In the map editor, put your cursor right on the shazy
Sprite just below the Slimey and hit to view the
contents of it. There are 4 pages to it in all.
You can put any % you want for your inquiry, like 25%,
75%, 33%, etc.
Making use of these, you can indeed have your RPG take
different courses each time it is played and with proper
use, you can definitely surprise the player and enhance
ther gameplay of your world a second time around ! 
Hope This Helps ! |
