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It is indeed disappointing... because I like this style of mapping contest. Some alternatives are a bench of judges who decide the winner, rather than a poll. It does take some fairness away when there is no poll, but that's assuming any poll is respected and not randomly voted on. The other is to record the demos and upload them to youtube, and have a poll. Rmxpunlimited does have a youtube account. Either way, I think we should at least give this system another shot before we jump back to 20x15 maps. I'm assuming your map was Moonlight Enchant? Your entry was great Gary, dont worry about it. But this contest allowed you to use events as well to improve the feel of your map, as the voters (had the option of) testing the map themselves. My entry would have had little or no events, just a journey through the map. Just like the Nina's Journey to the cave entry. At the end of the day, its still a mapping contest.

When you think about it though, you have both been here since 2007. Nearly 3 years.

2009 is now officially in the past, so lets take a second to a reflect... What was your greatest achievement of 2009? The thing you are most proud of, or happy that you did. For me, it was my final grades in university, which I dub my 'comeback' :) . Overall I am very pleased 2009 is over, a slow uneventful year, and I look forward to a better year in 2010.

Firstly input the custom name for your character. Second, save the game. Third, test the name in a message on the first map Fourth, test the name in a message on the 2nd map. Do this without ever closing the project. Make sense?

To get the full version of RPG Maker XP, you fork over 60USD. You can purchase a license here: https://license.ntitles.net/purchase.asp?m=D2404C91A7044E4B85FACBE99DD5C50B&u=8415BA932B9B405398B140BC809DD502 Every illegal version of RMXP kills 13 puppies. Hmm...I am reasonably sure that \n[1] will always display the name from the database, even when it is changed. By "player's custom name that they made when the input name pops up" do you mean the Input Name Processing command which looks a little like this?: The only thing I can think of is that perhaps you didn't input your custom name before you tested the 2nd map. If it said 'Hi aluxes', then you must not have inputted the custom name. Try saving after giving the custom name, then test each much from that point.

Hi all, Times are changing in the RPG Maker scene, and I've been idle for a wee bit too long now. Something just doesn't fit with developing a website for an engine I have barely spent 10 minutes in. SO, I want YOU to write a story for me, for my RPG Maker VX game. This way I will be forced to learn the engine, where I may otherwise not be motivated to do so. What I need you guys to do is post themes, character files, plots, etc. No matter how small or long. Just excrete those creative juices, in post form. Try to make them consistent with the posts above yours, and watch as I bring your ideas to life. I hope this breaks the recent seemingly contagious outbreak of writers block on RMXPUnlimited. :)

Umm...haha, geez I'm a lazy admin :P A mod exploded on me, the secondary user group mod to be exact. I have to reupload the original file. I'll do it in the morning when I get up. If this is not fixed in...13 hours, remind me. :) I'm actually still a fair bit from completing the skin after 2 months since I started it. It is very tedious work, though there's changes popping up all over the place.

Yes, well I think Emily had 3 usernames. Originally it was SCMike. There are one or two things I am stubborn with, this is one and the other is member pruning. Yeah. Glad you see my point.

Yes, you're right Hebi. I think it was actually on IPB 2.3.x too. The topic was closed to prevent user name change requests, so I have no problems discussing it. Although this is something I doubt I will be moved on. Here is what I PM'd Emily regarding that topic you quoted: For the display name history, yeah it does help, but the laziness of the average user is amazing. You practically have to flash links in front of their face before they notice it(to exaggerate an example). They would have to firstly notice the display name history. Also, some information is stored in the database by inserting the users display name. For example, if I were to query the database for one of Emily's old topics, the topic start would show up as 'SCMike'. Do you see my points?

Introduction This tutorial will show you how to setup a seamless flashlight effect between two parts of a map. In the tutorial, the scenario is an ancient scroll room, which fades to darkness as you move away from the lamps. This tutorial shows to event a system, but explains a lot about events along the way. Preview Here's what we'll be making. Just so you don't go through the tutorial just discover you wasted your time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAEhRrsS7gU Materials If you want to create the tutorial as we go(and I hope you do), I'll provide you with a demo which contains all the materials used in the video, just without any events. In the demo are the map, a BGM, a BGS and an image which will act as our flashlight. I recommend download the demo and using it for this tutorial, rather than following instructions and creating your own. Flashlight Tutorial.zip Tutorial Setting up the Map The first step is to create the map, simple enough. For our flash light, we are going to be using a graphic which has a hole, or transparent center. This is where we will see our character, and a couple of steps ahead. The first issue we will come across is the player going to the edges of the map and moving away from the center of the graphic. Therefore, apart from the entrance of the room, the map needs to extend a decent amount of tiles past the edges of the room. Sort of like a 'buffer' of tiles. So your map should look something like this: If you don't do this, here's what can happen: But by using this technique you shouldn't run into any problems, and the character should be visible when you're right up against the wall, like this: After you have created your map and made it looking all pretty, we want to add a BGS(background sound). Download the demo above and steal the BGS from it to use, and add it in your Map Properties. Set the volume to about 70-75%. Our BGS is going to playing throughout the entire map, but our BGM(background music) is going to fade depending on where we are on the map, so we are going to initiate using events. Setting up Parallel Process Events All of our events are going to have their trigger set to parallel process, but I will leave the last one separate as it is the main part of the tutorial. In the mean time we'll be setting up two other events: the first to set the screen color tone, the second to store the players Map Y(explained below). Create an event anywhere on the map, preferably somewhere you can see easily. We are going to set the screen color tone when we first see the map in-game. In the commands list, add the following commands: -Change Screen Color Tone(2nd tab): Red(-110), Blue(-110), Green(-110), Gray(140), Time(0 Frames). -Erase Event(1st tab) Finally, set the Trigger to Parallel Process. Parallel Process will run the event commands alongside other events. This is in contrast to Autorun, which will stop everything else until the event commands are run, which you typically use in cutscenes to keep the character stationary. The erase event is there to set the screen tone color once, when we first see the map. We will later be changing the screen tone color, so it's necessary to delete the event as soon as the tone is changed. The event will run again each time we return to the map. Your event should look like this: The next parallel process event we are going to create will store the players Map Y which will allow us do run event commands depending on where the player is on the map. Each square represents 1 X(horizontal) or Y(vertical) movement. Hopefully this diagram will clear things up if you don't understand: We also refer back to this picture as we use this technique to find which Y value is the minimum before the the lights go out. Ok, lets setup the event. Create another event, preferably beside the one we just made, and set the Trigger to Parallel Process. In the events commands, add the following: -Control Variables(1st tab): Variable(Single->select a variable and name 'Player Y'), Operation(Set), Operand(Character->Player->Map Y). And that's all, we will use conditional branches with the value of this variable in our next event. The event should look like this: Alright, at this point we should have our map made, a dark screen color tone, and a variable telling us where our character is vertically. Now its time to setup the main event, which controls the flashlight and BGM. Main Event Create a new event, and set it the Trigger to Parallel Process. We will do this for all our event tabs. Now, this is the point where we decide at which point on the map our flash light comes into play. On this particular map, we are only concerned with where the play goes vertically, so we need to find a maximum Y point. To find the value of the point where the flash light comes on, go to the map editor and click on the square. On the bottom bar of RPG Maker XP, it will tell you the coordinates. Here's an example: They Y value is the one on the right. We are going to use 47 for the tutorial. You should know this by now, but this means that when the character is above 47(squares) the flashlight will come on. If below, the flashlight will turn off. Page 1: This is a simple page, it will basically determine whether our player is below 47(within flashlight range). If it is, Self Switch A turns on, and the event commands of page 2 run. The event commands are as follows: -Conditional Branch(1st tab): Variable(Player Y, the variable we setup before)->Less Than->Constant(47) -Control Self Switch(inside the conditional branch, 1st tab): Self Switch(A), Operation(On) It should look like this so far: Page 2: This page is what happens when our flashlight turns on. You can tinker with these to suit your preferences, but this is how I set it up. Set the Trigger to Parallel Process. Turn On Self Switch A(if you don't know what this is, refer to the next screenshot and look at the left pane). Event commands: -Change Screen Color Tone(2nd tab): Red(0), Blue(0), Green(0), Gray(0), Time(40 Frames). -Show Picture(2nd tab): Picture Graphic(the graphic at the top of the post), The Origin(Upper Left), Constant(X->0, Y->0) -Move Picture(2nd tab): Number(1, or from the Show Picture command), Time(20 Frames) -Fade Out BGM(2nd tab): Time(4 seconds) -Control Self Switch(1st tab): Self Switch(A), Operation(Off) -Control Self Switch(1st tab): Self Switch(B), Operation(On) It should look like this(if the settings above are unclear, you should see them in the screenshot): Page 3: This page is very similar to page 1, it waits until the character is back out of the flashlight area(above 47) and then goes to the next page. Set the Trigger to Parallel Process. Turn On Self Switch B. Event commands: -Conditional Branch(1st tab): Variable(Player Y, the variable we setup before)->Greater Than->Constant(47) -Control Self Switch(inside the conditional branch, 1st tab): Self Switch©, Operation(On) -Control Self Switch(inside the conditional branch, 1st tab): Self Switch(B), Operation(Off) It should look like this: Page 4: This page controls what happens when the character exits the flashlight area. It will erase the picture, play the BGM, and change the screen color tone. After that it will return to page one and wait until the player goes back into the flashlight area. Set the Trigger to Parallel Process. Turn On Self Switch C. Event commands: -Change Screen Color Tone(2nd tab): Red(-110), Blue(-110), Green(-110), Gray(-110), Time(10 Frames). -Move Picture(2nd tab): Number(1, or from the Show Picture command), Time(20 Frames), Opacity(0) -Play BGM(2nd tab): Choose one of your choice, or use the one from the demo -Control Self Switch(1st tab): Self Switch©, Operation(Off) It should look like this: Conclusion That's it. One thing you should notice about the last event is that it's a loop. Four pages isn't necessary, but it makes things neat and tidy and easier to understand and come back and change if you need to. Download the Complete Demo

Happy New Years!! I'm writing this in the last 40 minutes of 2009, as we're about to finish the first decade of the 21st century. It's not just your average new years, though I'm sure it can't beat December 31st 1999(the old 2012). As is tradition, what are your new years resolutions? Mine personally are to do well in university this year, and study consistently which has been one of my problems over the last 2 years. For a new years present, I have created a new forum footer(look at the bottom of the forum). To query the database for the latest user-submitted content, it is a 200+ line script displayed through an iframe. Its purpose is to promote new content, and get them a couple more views. It is themed off classic website footers which you'll see all over professional websites. Its features include: -icons per engine(scripts, tutorials, projects from the download manager) -icons for major download categories, otherwise a default icon -category name included in the rollover title, as well as the full title of the content Hope you guys like it and find it useful :) Happy New Years.

Congratulations Hebi, I'm glad that it's at RMXPUnlimited.

I feel like a double-post is necessary... I just tested the maps because I finally got RMXP working on my copmuter again... No offense Jesse, but your entry wasn't really what I would call a mapping entry. It consisted of a mainly dialogue and a battle system, and very little use of tiles. The map Nina's Journey to the cave consisted of skillful mapping, and for me was the standout map. I'm not even sure whos entry it was. Leon, the poll suggests to me that perhaps requiring the maps to be downloaded isn't the best way to do it. It is the best way to judge aesthetics of all the aspects of the map, but this does not seem to have happened in this case.

You basically described a shop system. I think I can see an error in your screenshot. At the start of the event processing, you need to have a 'Control Variables' command which randomizes your variable RandomSet1 within the range you want. From the looks of it, the variable is set to 0, so no conditions of the conditional branches are being met. Make sense?

As Emily said, here's the demo form: Random Weapons.zip Since this doesn't require a script, I'll move the topic to the general support forum. [moved]

Happy new year to you too Ravenclaw. I'm glad the service went well. I look forward to your return here, but take your time.

Yeah Hebi, seems like a lot of incompatibilities and requirements with this one. I'd like to get a few more votes on the poll for my decision.

What do you think of Google Chrome? Have you tried it? What do/don't you like about it? More information about Google Chrome Get Google Chrome Personally I think google chrome looks ok, but I havn't used it a whole lot to give a proper opinion on it. I heard that it gathers a lot of your information and sends it away to google. That does make sense though being one of the largest ad providers, they can direct more appropriate ads at you and therefore increase their revenue. I accidentally installed it last night when trying to install something else.

Ah, sounds good to me Leon. You see a part from being away from my house for most of that week, I am yet to install sound drivers on my newish laptop, which prevents me from installing RMXP. I had planned on doing it on my old computer and flash-driving it onto my laptop which has internet. Sort of a dilemma, a computer without internet and a computer without RMXP. Should have it on my laptop by the next contest though.

Sounds like some good battle system add-on ideas to me. Your title doesn't make much sense though.. these sound like add-ons for effect, I'm sure if you made enough of them you could call it your own battle system.

Congratulations Jesse. (you better see this)

Yes Jesse that's right, I have deleted your vote as well. Left another day, it is clear the poll would have been different. But as it is, voting had officially closed when each nominee had 4 votes. By the rules, all 3 are winners and any votes after the closing date do not count. To avoid anymore confusing I'm going to lock the topic. Pol is you wanted this open or having something to add, you can open it again.

Not sure why that is, it's never really happened before. Yes Nisage, it was too late to vote as the winners were already announced and the voting was technically closed. I'll delete your vote to keep the poll as it was.

I really like this idea, and I would like to write some RPG Maker XP content. As for spriting though, I think you'll find a good source of info here: http://www.rmxpunlimited.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=3913 I am curious also as to how this e-book will differ from the help manuals, which are an excellent but neglected source.