February and March: short visual novel made w/ RPG Maker XP

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gekiganwing
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February and March: short visual novel made w/ RPG Maker XP

#1 Post by gekiganwing »

I admit it, I made judgment errors while creating "Drifting Leaves." And now that Nanoreno 06 will end in three hours (in my time zone), that project is written but still not complete. I'll ask for help with ALICE characters in a day or two, once everything's calm again.

But I completed something before the deadline! Better yet, it's the first interactive story with graphics that I've completed in my 15-18 months of trying to make visual novels. It's short, but my first real achievement.

Last weekend I began creating a short story with RPG Maker XP. I began Saturday morning, and finished it Sunday afternoon. No errors. Everything worked the first time!

Thus I present my Nanoreno 06 surprise project: "February and March." It's a visual novel that happens to use RPG Maker XP. It has two endings. It is only five minutes long... but that short length is one of its strengths. It has pretty good pacing, and it's quick enough that the lack of opportunities to save doesn't matter. The story is... well, I won't spoil it. It isn't the best I've done, but it includes themes I've waited a long time to use: life in Japan, the post-college hero, and nerd-on-nerd action. ^_^

Want to find it? Go to my site http://www.visualnovels.com. It'll be under Personal Works. Since my USB drive and Yahoo Hosting were being annoying today, I ended up archiving it with the file name februaryandmarch.exe.zip. Hopefully it will work! I'll test this tomorrow... and replace it if I can't download my own file.

Once I finally get the character graphics on "Drifting Leaves" working, I'll take a step back and re-make my summer 05 project "Winn Freddie" with RPG Maker XP. After all, the writing on that was okay... it just needed graphics.

So says the Taiyaki Fan, who certainly did NOT create any April Fools jokes hours in advance.

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#2 Post by PyTom »

Are there other files we need to download to make this work? When I first tried running it, I got an error telling me rgss102e.dll was missing. After installing that DLL, I now get the error:

RGSS-RTP Standard not found.
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#3 Post by RedSlash »

I would assume you would need a copy of RPGMaker XP.

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#4 Post by papillon »

You certanily should be able to build RPG Maker games that do not require RPG Maker to run - the one commercial RPGMaker game I've encountered runs just fine without it!

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#5 Post by monele »

You can. You need to include the DLL PyTom had a problem with and any media you took from the RTPs should be included in game folders.

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Will test soon

#6 Post by gekiganwing »

When I tried downloading my own file just now, I somehow ended up with two .exe files within the .zip file. I never meant for there to be a "February and March 2."

I was able to get some rough "test" games to work on other computers without having to install RMXP on them. But I'll test this out in the next day or two. After all, some of those tests succeeded on modest computers (less than 700 mhz) but failed on better computers.

Thanks for first replies.

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#7 Post by mikey »

papillon wrote:You certanily should be able to build RPG Maker games that do not require RPG Maker to run - the one commercial RPGMaker game I've encountered runs just fine without it!
It'd be wise to make something standalone, mostly because if it needs the RMXP program to run, you're effectively making it a game one must pay for.

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#8 Post by monele »

*shakes head*. The RTPs can be distributed freely. Only the making program can't. But downloading a full package of data where only a few percents are used is usually seen as cumbersome.

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#9 Post by mikey »

So is there a way of getting the RTP file(s)? I sort of looked for something, but found nothing. :?

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#10 Post by monele »


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#11 Post by mikey »

Thanks, it works!

Hmmm, do the choices have an impact on the outcome? :?

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#12 Post by Otaku Dash »

Question! Sorry if it sounds dumb....

Now I'm confused... acording to previous RPG Maker programs, the RTP's were on the full program. This download of RPG Maker Xp has the RTP's or do we have to download them even after downloading the program?

I ask this cause the program is 29 MB while the RTP's are 23 MB.... and I have a bit of experience with RPG Maker 2000 and Rpg Maker 2003, so it should make sence right?

Maybe I'm just being psicotic as always.... I need my meds >_> :P
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#13 Post by monele »

I think they're separate downloads but I'm not absolutely sure... Try installing the program one and see if the game runs? ;)

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#14 Post by mikey »

Well, first of all, congratulations! This I suppose is indeed the first full project from you, with graphics and all. I admit, it's a bit unconventional, but I think it's a good idea to work with RMXP (or anything else), if one is struggling with Ren'Py (I got that from your blog(s) ^_^). The resulting SD characters aren't really what I'd consider bishoujo/nen, but that's not really the point, as this is primarily a ren'ai game. And I believe this, despite the RPG-style graphics, is a ren'ai VN.

However, as much as I approve of this concept, I was a bit surprised by the content. After Singles Camp, Winn Freddie and other text scripts from you, I almost thought this was written by someone else. The game felt profound, but somehow unrealistic. It was in its way cute and fun, even a nicely rounded story...

.. but I found Emiru to be incredibly direct, and that also goes for the protagonist. The geek/nerdy sides aren't really looked at, neither is the age difference (I have a soft spot for that one), they are just mentioned and there are many conversations that feel really unnatural - lines like "Hello I'm a programmer, and I'm going out with Emiru."are to be found all over the game and don't really work (for me).

Ultimately, this is very different to your other works, mainly because Emiru and the surrounding situation feel more like she is the protagonist's wish come true, than a story where he would have to deal with the various aspects of his and her personality.

Hmmm, I hope this doesn't come through all negative. As I said, the idea is very nice and you have to take into account that I actually do prefer the Quine/Katherine pace of romance games with focus on a few days or even events, to the more condensed type of story that F&M is. Also, whenever there is even a hint of side characters, they instantly have a sense of dimension, as the ones in WF etc have and I enjoyed that aspect.

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#15 Post by gekiganwing »

One of my earlier projects had way too many "hero gets wish fulfilled without doing much work" elements. Even though this was a short story, I admit I started worrying about that too. And worrying about plot - asking myself if there should be more consequences, or why the hero was being so guarded about his personal life, or if the story went on and Emiru said "April Fools! I don't like you at all" or...

(Yes, I worry. A lot. ~_~)

All those factors above are meant to be ways to encourage myself to create more thoughtful stories. Sure, I can make something in which the main character gets all the girls/guys/money/candy, but I think I'm capable of more... even if I'm not capable of writing an epic tragedy just yet.

Anyway, I confirmed yesterday that my download will at least work on my computer. I'll try it on one or two others soon, in between seeing if my ALICE character images can be scaled down w/o black backgrounds using GIMP for Windows.
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