Hello my lil' creative blocks

I'm officially on vacation for one week! Yays! And I've been planning on what to do with all of this free time. Aside from playing through the 70 games on my To Play list (no, that's not a typo: I have a bunch of games to get through that I didn't put on my Now Playing list over there), I have many other projects that I would like to get done... like making RPGs

Some of you may be familiar with the RPG Maker series by ASCII (later by Enterbrain). We got our first taste of it here in the West a few years back with the PlayStation version, with PS2 and PC versions creeping out of the blue. I do prefer the PC versions to the consoles, only because they aren't as limiting in terms of importing your own graphics, music and such (although, to be fair, I've only played the original PS version and not the PS2 versions, so I don't know if anything's different).

So, yeah, I have RPG Maker 2000, 2002 and XP which I purchased a couple of months ago. I was hyped and ready to get to work on that Breath of Fire fangame that I've been planning since forever... when I saw this a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.tkool.jp/products/rpgvx/

Yeah... there's another RPG Maker coming to the PC: RPG Maker VX for Windows XP and Vista. And quite soon, too! I'm actually excited about this. From what I read, it will improve on some of the things introduced in RPGMaker XP as well as bring back some things from 2000 and 2k2.

Vehicles! Oh hellz ya!

Multiple tilesets for maps. w00t!

I could show more, but I'm too lazy to put them here. So, check out my Images page for more Besides, still shots can only tell you so much. So, here's a promo video from Enterbrain that'll give you an idea of what to expect:

Our friends in the East are going to get their hands on this on Thursday. I'm sorely tempted to import this, as there's some bonus content on the CD, such as special portraits and tiles, not to mention the various demo games (2 of which were shown in that vid). I'm hoping that when the English version becomes available for download, the folks at Enterbrain will be kind enough to translate and package those games as well. They look great!

So, aside from playing through a large backlog of games, I'm currently learning Ruby, the programming language that's being used in the RGSS system that was mentioned in the Promo. Again, you don't need to learn programming; you can fire it up and start ploping things here and there and make a good game. But to do some truly crazy and amazing things, knowing how to use Ruby to manipulate the program is the way to go.

For those who want to try it out early, Enterbrain has released a demo of the program here:

http://www.famitsu.com/freegame/trial/vx_trial.html

Unlike the English demo for RPGMaker XP, there is no time limit on this: you can have this on your system for all eternity if you want. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't have any restrictions (kudos to the folks at RPG RPG Revolution for the translation):

1. You cannot make a game disk
   The only way you can play games is by using the "Test Play" feature.
2. Limits on the number of items, skills, etc in the database
   This will not be limited in the trial version, but in the trial version you cannot change the default number of items, skills, etc. in the database.
3. 10 maps per game
   You cannot create more than 10 maps in this trial version.
4. 10 events per map
   You cannot have more than 10 events created in a single map.
5. Limited Runtime Package (RTP)
   In the complete version, there are 104 characters, 56 monsters, 80 face graphics, 80 animations, 1024 map tiles, 238 icons, 42 BGMs, 10 BGS, 10 MEs, and 200 SEs. There are considerably less in this lightweight trial.
6. Scripts cannot be edited
   You can take a look at the scripts, but not edit them. However, you can call scripts from the event command, on page 3, so feel free to try out scripting using RGSS2!
7. Games cannot be opened
   Not like there are any games you can open yet, but it's for thefuture RPG Maker VX games.
8. Games cannot be saved
   Your project will be deleted when you exit RPG Maker VX. You will still be able to save the game while you are in the editor, so you can test play all you want.
9. Updates not supported
   The trial version does not support released updates.
10. You do not need to install RTP separately
    Everything is included in this trial version, but in the full version you will need to install RTP separately like previous editions of RPG Maker.

It's quite fun. Some of you might have a little trouble navigating through the menus since everything's in Japanese, but that shouldn't deter you from giving it a whirl.

That's about all. I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Take care, and I'll see y'all in 2008!

This is DP signing off. And remember: Pixel art is awesome!

Toodles!