So, in the near future I will be experimenting with Godot. If I manage to prototype a RPG battle system that works like my current one, then it is all a matter of translating my JavaScript plugins to GDScript in a way it fits the new engine.
I am confident that I can make a whole game on RPG Maker and keep pushing its limits if I want to. However, in this year of learning I have acquired enough experience to feel like I could try another engine, a general one that is more receptive to my crazy ideas.
As for the overworld, I have managed to make a fully functional 2.5D physics and render sorting, but the fact is that I am basically not using any native tool to build maps. Inserting the background/collisions via a JSON is not hard, but it could be more convenient.
I've written plugins that enhance/replace almost every system of the core engine. While I am almost satisfied with how the battle system turned out, it still relies on VisuStella and Dragonbones plugins, which I can at most can override via reverse engineering of obfuscated code.
In all seriousness though, it has been a year I have been implementing new features on RPG Maker MZ and I believe the phase of "exploring how far I can go" has reached a point where I can give a verdict whether staying on this engine still makes sense.
what is even going on anymore
New update for Mega Man X: Union!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwXt...
#rpgmaker #rmmz
It seems my RPG Maker MZ got infected with the Sigma Virus.
The good news is that now I can load 3D models into the game using the THREE library. This is huge.
I am experimenting with PIXI functions to manipulate sprites and the screen and I can say that RPG Maker MZ barely explores anything this library allows. There are just so many amazing effects you can do with this!
Rewrite player motion system to mimic MMX physics and integrate it with the collision boxes by checking if the player coordinates match one of them;
Create a new kind of object capable of carrying animations and colliding with other objects (for projectiles);
That's about 5k lines of code.
Four major things:
Assign a third coordinate "h" to all objects. The h coordinate shares the (visual) vertical axis with the y coordinate;
Get rid of tilesets and create a JSON with settings for collision boxes and load them & their sprites with the map;
+
I still have to figure out how to eliminate the visual depth ambiguity that may make players guess incorrectly the position of platforms, but for now I am adding this color filter that gets darker if the background is below you, and brighter if it is above.
Sprites now have a unified sorting function that first groups elements by depth (the third axis), and then sorts them by their y coordinate. This prevents objects from appearing behind walls, and puts them in front of background elements when they are indeed in front of them.
Mega Man X: Union (Alpha) - Momentum Transfer and Render Sorting
Updated physics to the 3D system. Now, platforms can move with many different easing options, as well as carry and transfer momentum to the player in all directions. Jumping is now a movement accelerated by a gravity constant.
Please support my detective cousin!
I just backed GUN NOSE on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/add...
Here I have the 3D vertex grid with tile height (z coordinate) indicated by colors, with the 45° top-down projection below. If I make the background models respecting this placement, it is guaranteed that the render will fit the actual tile grid in the game.
Typically top-down views follow a "pseudo ortographic" perspective. In this case, the top face would be at 90°. It's impossible to set up such a camera in Blender. The 45° angle is special because both faces are treated equally and the compensation factor is straightforward.
I realized I can make prerendered backgrounds in Blender to replace tilesets as long as I create a correspondent vertex grid and see it from a 45° ortographic view. The y and z axes are squashed by a factor of cos(45°) = 1/√2, so I just need to render compensating that. #gamedev
I tried to replicate the Maverick Hunter Base from Mega Man X5 in Blender. The task was way harder than I anticipated (having to figure out 3D positions and dimensions from a single perspective, low resolution details, lighting scheme...), and I guess this is as far as I can go.
Though I can't compare pixel art to a 3D model, I can definitely say there has been an improvement here. As a 3D model, Gigantex can finally be animated in a practical way.
Mega Man X: Union (Alpha): Zero's Earth Gaizer
Zero has zero patience for annoying traps preventing him from slash the enemies! He can now clear the battlefield by blasting a rain of debris over enemies.
Really? I assumed that wouldn't be an issue as long as I posted the entry on Twitter
Robot Master Design: Data Man
Pen Name: IrregularSaturn
A cleaner of the cyberspace. Beware! He might suck up all your data.
#MegaManDO #DesignARobotMaster
Mega Man X: Union - Introducing Block and Dodge
While some enemy attacks may require you to take full control of your targeted character, others may require reactions from possibly all your party members. Of course, it's better not to leave them in a line if you intend to dodge rather than blocking!
I just finished the first boss fight of the game, which is actually a tutorial. It makes you play with all the main mechanics that I intend to have for enemy attacks, so in the process I made a massive progress on writing plugins for features RPG Maker lacks.
Going with the "make it exist first, make it good later" philosophy for Mega Man X: Union's graphics and polishing. What I need to ensure is that the engine will allow me to make such refinements at a later point without breaking anything.
(Mega Man X: Union)
So... at the cost of having a "shadow" below every sprite, the combat system now supports proper 3D coordinate tracking and collisions! This will allow enemy attack patterns to be much more complex.
(Mega Man X: Union)
I can't promise you'll get to play with the boy in the first part of the game, but know that the boy is there.
(also, there is nothing wrong with his forehead)
Axl sprite by @theultdark.bsky.social
[ Luachra ]
Style H #pixelart and Reploid design commission for @exidous.bsky.social .
#styleh
[ Lambda ]
Style M #pixelart commission for DubiousRobot.
#stylem
