Help
Written by Ramza
Hello everyone. Thank you for reading the first in a series of tutorials by yours truly, abou the simple basics of rm2k. Although these tutorials are for people who have no clue what they're doing, it's reccomended that you at least know how to make a map, an event, and know the basics of the database. I'll help you with the rest in these tutorials =D
Important:
Do not use this tutorial on any site without the strict permission of me, Ramza. If you do, I will be forced to sick the internet security dudes on you. Got any questions or comments? Or any suggestions about a topic to cover in this series? Send them to ramza@blade2k.net
Okay, this is the first in series of tutorials for rm2k, completely devoted to the little guy that no one seems to want to help. This particular one is devoted entirely to the basics of the 'Move Event'... along with a few more advanced tricks to help you out a bit.
Well, first you have to have an event. This would work best if it was an 'Autostart' type event for this tutorial... but in other situations, it would be advantageous to use another method. Give this event a characterset graphic... for the tutorial's sake we'll name this event "bob". Look up at the top left corner of the event editor window... and change "event XX" (where x is a number between 1 and 99) to Bob.
Now let's fiddle with the movement commands. Begin entering event script. (double click in the big white box to the right of the event editor window) click the '2' tab. On the second column click on 'Move Event'. A new window pops up. In the upper left corner of this window, there is a dropbox, click on this and change 'Hero' to 'Bob' or 'This Event' (here it doesn't matter... but use bob for simplicity sake) Now here's a big list, that tells you what the buttons in this window do:
(button name - effect)
first column:
step up - Makes the event that you have selected move 1 space up step right - Makes the event that you have selected move 1 space right step down - Makes the event that you have selected move 1 space down step left - Makes the event that you have selected move 1 space left Step Right-Up - makes the event move diagonally right and up (northeast) Step Right-Down - makes the event move diagonally right and down (southeast) Step Left-Down - makes the event move diagonally left and down (southwest) Step Left-Up - makes the event move diagonally left and up (northwest) Step Random - Makes the event move one space in any of the four directions (right, left, up, or down) Step Toward Hero - Makes the event move one space towards the hero. Step away from Hero - Makes the event move one space away from the hero. Step forward - Makes the event move one space in the direction that it is currently facing. Move speed up - Speeds up the movement of the event. Move Speed down - Slows down the movement of the event.
Second Column:
face up - makes the event face north face right - makes the event face east face down - makes the event face south face left - makes the event face west Turn right 90 - makes the event turn to the right from whatever direction it was previously facing. Turn left 90 - makes the event turn to the left from whatever direction it was previously facing. Turn 180 - makes the event turn backwards from where it is facing. right-left turn 90 - I have no idea what this does. chances are you'll never use it anyway... Random direction - makes the event face in any of the four directions (north south east and west) Face hero - makes the event face the hero. (look at him) reverse face hero - makes the event turn it's back towards the hero. wait a moment - makes the event wait for a time period equivilent to the amount of time it would take to do any of the other actions. move frequency up - makes the time between steps shorter move frequency down - makes the time between steps longer.
third column:
Start Jump - makes the event begin jumping. when it's jumping, it moves as normal, only slightly above the ground. End jump - makes the event stop jumping. This will only work if he was jumping before you entered this command. fix direction - makes the event only face the direction it is currently facing. If it moves, it will continue to face the direction it was previously facing. cancel direction fix - cancels the above command. start slip though - makes the event able to walk through other events and things in the chipset that can not normally be passed through (walls trees signs etc) end slip through - cancels the above command. Stop animation - if the event moves, it no longer goes through it's 3 frames, just the middle one. resume animation - cancels the above command. Transparency up - makes the event more transparent. Transparency down - makes the event less transparent. Switch ON - turns on a switch Switch OFF - turns off a switch change graphic - changes the graphic of the event into the one that you select from the pop up window. Play Sound Effect - plays a sound effect (duh)
There are also two checkboxes down in the bottom left corner of that window. The first of the two makes the event never stop moving... when it finishes it's path, it will begin it over again. The second one makes it so that if the event hits a wall, it will ignore a command that it cannot do.
There's also a 'Move Frequency' Thing at the top of the window with a bunch of checkboxes from 1-8. This increases or decreases the amount of time between each move command. 8 is the fastest, with no delay. 1 is the slowest, with a really long delay between commands.
a few tricks of the trade:
always put a "move all" command after a move event. The name is misleading, but this command actually makes the event wait until the move event has been completed before going to the next thing. This is invaluable for events where you want talking after movement and such.
During auto start events, the hero cannot be controlled by the player, however, he can still be moved through these move events. This is handy for stopping the player from interfering in your cutscenes. Parallel Process events are similiar to Auto start, but they do not prevent movement.
For any questions you have about move events that haven't been answered here, go to the blade2k.net forums and ask for help in the beginner's forum. Someone will be glad to help ya.
That's all until next time, when I cover the ever illusive 'Switch'
