Bank Tutorial Using Events (RM2K3/XP/VX/VXA)

Bank Tutorial

The Bank Tutorial (all versions) is finally online!

According to October 2012's poll, the majority voted for a simple event-based bank system as the next tutorial. So, here it is. Note that this is not a complete step-by-step tutorial, but a rough guide for creating our banking system. Instead, each RPG Maker tutorial can be downloaded and, once installed, can be scrutinised.

Standing Picture Maker (RMVX/VXA)

Here is a site where you can create a full set of resources for your RMVX/VXA project. It's in Japanese but it's easy to figure out without translation. The site can be found here.

This is an angelic character I created using the online maker.

There are very few actual parts to create a wide range of resources, but you can still create some decent ones. The site also has a lot of different facesets. It's well-worth a visit.

Video Demo - Q-Engine for RMVX

RMT Companion Main Site

Q-Engine Updates Page

A video demo of the Q-Engine has finally been uploaded.

The Q-Engine is an enhancement engine for RMVX comprising a number of scripts/scriptlets and tweaks, all of which are customisable. Note: The version numbers in this video differ to the actual version numbers. Script release date is 15 December, 2012.



Music: The Experiment by Danosongs.

RPG Maker Times Companion Progress Update

RMT Companion Main Site

RMT Companion Blog

Progress on RPG Maker Times Companion website is slow but steady. It has now been transferred to its own domain name, with the blog itself having its own subdomain.

In order to expedite development, I've prioritised some of the sections:

• The top navigation menu on this blog (currently most of the links are pointing to the old defunct domain)
• Resources - Windowskins, Character Sets, Resource Makers
• Tutorials - Including the Complete Chest Tutorial and the forthcoming Bank Tutorial
• Q-Engine for RMVX - Development has continued on the script, which is now ready for release (it should have been a few months ago).

RMVXA Titles2 Graphics

Here are some Titles2 graphics for RMVXA, along with examples of what they look like. These were created in GIMP as I was experimenting with transparent layers and brushes. They are free to download and use, but please give credit to me, Companion Wulf, somewhere.

Smeared Blood

Gold Celtic Frame

Cage Bars

How To Use

Import the graphics into the Graphics/Titles2 folder from within RMVXA.

In the System tab of the Database, pick and choose the titles combination graphics in the Titles Screen section.

Futuristic Tileset

The latest addition to the ever-growing RPG Maker resource expansion packs is the Futuristic Tileset. You can buy it for $19.99 (or $74.99 for a non-RPG Maker license).

There have been very few decent RPG Maker games set in the future and fewer resources, so this quality tileset (which includes two parallax backgrounds) is a worthy addition.

RPG Maker Times Companion v2 Coming Soon

Development on the new RPG Maker Times Companion site is underway. The previous site sadly closed temporarily when the co.cc domain provider shut down. I didn't really lose anything because I made backups. Bitter experience has taught me well over the years!

Anyway, the theme is a modified version of the Middle Earth one found at Smart Magazine Themes. And, of course, since I’m a HUGE Tolkien fan, what a perfect way to start RPG Maker Times Companion v2!

So now the onerous task begins of restoring the blog to its former glory. I’ll go through each of the posts and pages from the previous version and tweak them accordingly, and will continue working on it throughout December in readiness for its domain name launch in January 2013!

Make Your NPCs More Interesting

NPCs are essentially the lifeblood of an RPG. Life without them would be boring indeed. They can serve as merchants, old adventurers, town- or city-dwellers, advisers, and a plethora of other things. But many games fall victim to keeping the NPCs in the background, not really that memorable or lifeless.

LagunaXI has written a very good article, Ideas To Make Your NPCs More Interesting, which explains this problem perfectly. Here's a sample of it, a few paragraphs taken at random.

What do you mean place a random statue in the town!? Well let me explain. This is just the comical sub heading of my point, it doesn’t HAVE to be a statue it could be anything. A gravestone, an old abandoned shack maybe an old well. Something that has no real significance other than to be there. Not only does it provide a little back story to the town but more importantly (for this article) it makes an interesting talking point available for NPC’s living in the town. I’ll give a couple of examples.

Say I place a statue of a warrior in the middle of the town, some of the examples it opens up NPC Dialogue wise are…

“This statue was built when my Grandfather was just a small boy, so it must be pretty damn old huh?”

It's worth reading through the article, as it'll give a few additional ideas on how to bring NPCs to life and add dimension to a bustling town or city.

RPG Maker Times Companion Site Is Down

The RPG Maker Times Companion website is down. This is because the domain site (co.cc) is also down and it has been for a few hours now, but this is more permanent. The domain site closed yesterday. Google confirmed that it would no longer be indexing any co.cc sites because too many people were using it for spam and other questionable sites, making life very difficult for the legitimate sites. Trust the few who make it hard for the majority! As a result, as of today, RPG Maker Times Companion is closed.

However, this is only temporary. If all goes well, RPG Maker Times Companion will have its own permanent domain name soon. I'm aiming for the dot-com or dot-info at the beginning of December, if not definitely for the New Year. It's time to bite the bullet and go for it!

In the mean time, I'm working feverishly on creating an alternative, temporary website to re-upload RPG Maker Times Companion, notwithstanding the problems that may arise because of the co.cc and Wordpress database settings. This is going to be a hideous process that may take some time. Unfortunately, this will also affect most of the links on the navigation menu at the top and this will not be updated until either the new temporary site or the domain site are ready.

This blog will continue as normal and will be updated alongside the Facebook page.

Is Magic Really Real? Cartoon

This is something I did a while ago just for fun. While it's not directly related to RPG Maker, it still has fantasy elements to it, so I thought I'd post it. If it takes too long to load or doesn't load at all (most likely it won't), you can view it here.

You can create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!