A Noob's Guide to RPG Maker 2000/2003

Adapted by Dark Gaia from Flaming Newbie's guide. The ultimate guide to learning how to make your own game in RPG Maker.
So, you want to make your own RPGs eh? You've played Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy and now you too want to realize your dream. RPG Maker is a simple tool that allows you too to easilly create your own role playing games with very little work! It can, however, be complex and even daunting for those new to the concept. That's were this guide steps in. This guide comprehensively maps out and helps you understand the components and functions of RPG Maker, so that you have the knowledge needed to create what just may be the best freeware RPG ever to hit the internet! Read well, and learn, it is suggested you have RPG Maker opened and ready to use while you read this.

Table of Contents I. Intro II. The Database III. Basic Event layout IV. Switches V. Variables VI. Fork Conditions VII. Password functions ^**********************^ I. Intro ^**********************^ A. Intro I know your type of person. You are the kind of guy/girl who has played such games as Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, etc. and then thought Hey! I wonder how I can do that! I bet you have the RPG of your dreams right up there in your little head, and youre thinking Oh, it cant be that hard. Well kiddies, news flash : IT IS. You may not realize the tediousness of what you are about to embark upon, so dont say I didnt warn you. This tutorial will teach you the basics of how to make your dream RPG using the ingenious ASCII creation that we mortals refer to as RPG Maker 2000. Keep in mind that this is meant for NEWBIES (you know who you are) who are new to RPG Maker 2000 and need to learn some basics of RPG making. Also remember that in order to discover the true potential of RPG Maker 2000, you will need to use these techniques and use them as much

as you can until they are second nature to you. P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E these, experiment with them. On a final note, dont install RPG Maker 2000, think up a name, and then try to make a game first thing. Its not as simple as that. Create a new project called Test or First Try, just to get a good feel for RPG Maker 2000. Also, this tutorial is VERY long (my final total was 14 pages in Microsoft Word), so I recommend copy and pasting it into Word or WordPad or Note Pad or what have you.

^**********************^ II. The Database ^**********************^ A. What is it? Well, the database is one of the most important things you will use in RPG Maker 2000 (from now on, Ill just call it RM2k). To access the database, you can push F8, click the little button at the top that looks like a spreadsheet (its the 15th button from the left), or open the Tools menu and click the top item, Database. No matter how you get there, once accessed you will see a whole bunch of tabs at the top. Depending on what version of RM2k you have, you may have to run your mouse over the little arrows on the top left to see all of the options. They are as follows: B. Hero If you click the hero tab (its usually the one that comes up first), you will see a whole lot of stuff all in a little space. First off, I would like to point out that in the bottom left hand corner of every tab there is a little musical note sign (to get technical, its a dotted eighth note and a sixteenth note, counted 1-e-and a). Click on this if you want to listen to music while you work, which I really like to do. Its hard to put up with all of that without some music. Anyways, on with the Hero tab explanation. On the left hand side, you will notice a column with the title Hero Party. This, as any quick-witted person could guess, is where you arrange your party of heroes! In this column, you only type their name, but you set up the rest later. Want more than 8 heroes? Head on down below the big white space and you will find a button that says Max Field Number. I realize that Max Field Number is worded a bit strangely, but basically its the number of spots you have in this column. You can pick any number between 1 and 5000 here. Keep in mind, however, that if youve written in the names of the first 8 spots and then lower the number to 7 or less, the character(s) youve reduced will be erased. The program will remind you of this every time you change the number. If you move to the right, still at the top, you see two fields-Name and Degree. Name, of course, is a given. Degree could be better said using Job Type or Position or something like that. Both of these will show up on the in-game menu. To the right of these is the selected characters walking graphic. To change this, click Set and choose what you would rather have as that heros persona. You can also check the Transparent box to make the character translucent. This is a pretty cool effect for spirits / the dead, and other things like that. Below the Degree box, you will see Initial Level, Max Level, and Critical Hit Chance. These are pretty self-explanatory. Remember: if you create a character that doesnt join your party until halfway through your game, dont set his Initial Level to 1! Make it approximately what the other characters levels are. Otherwise, you could have a well developed, level 30 hero with almost all of his skills learned fighting alongside a level 1 weakling. Max Level is, obviously, the heros maximum level. It can be between 1 and 50. Why you cant jack it on up to 99, I dont know. I would really prefer it if it went to 99, but maybe we can look forward to that in RPG Maker 2003. Critical Hit Chance is the percent chance that the selected character will have a sudden burst of strength and cause more damage then normal. Below Initial Level and all that, you will see a box that says Select Face Graphic. Click Set to change the selected heros face graphic. This face will show up in the menu and you can show them in message boxes, but it is not required (it does make your game a bit better though). To the right of this, you will see six boxes that look like bar graphsMax HP, Max MP, Attack, Defense, Mind, and Agility. These represent the characters growth in specific areas. Double click to zoom in and edit. Just below the face graphic are 4 check boxes-2 Sword Style, Equipment Fix, Control by AI, and Strong Defense. Check them to activate them. Im going to assume that you are

smart enough to understand what those mean. If not, maybe wait a few years or learn to read or something. Below that is a Curve of Experience box. Click Set to edit this. This controls your characters growth as far as leveling up and how much experience each level requires. Now, jump up to the top right corner. You will see all types of equipment slots. This will be what equipment the hero selected will initially have at the beginning of the game. Note that depending on whether or not you checked the 2 Sword Style box the top two may be either Arms and Shield or Arms and Arms. Below this is the characters Unarmed Battle Animation, or what the attack will look like if the character does not have a weapon equipped. If you leave it as is, it should be Hit A, which is a simple punch animation. Below this box is the Skills table. I say table in lieu of box because it looks more like a table, consisting of the skill itself and what level it is learned at. To edit this table, right click and select Insert, Delete, Copy/Paste, or whatever it is you want to do. Below that is the Tech Skill Slot Name. It is a checkbox, and checking means that in battle the name you choose will show up as what you want the Skills to be grouped as. For example, if your skills are Fire, Ice, Thunder, and Demi, you could use Black Magic or Elementals or something like that. Below these are two boxes-Condition Effect and Afflicted Condition. These are pretty simple, so I wont detail these right now. That about wraps up the Hero tab! Now lets move on to... C. Skills Because a lot of the tabs are similar in layout to the Hero tab, Im not going to be as detailed and slow as I was in section B. On the left is your column of Tech Skills / Magic. This is your list of skills available. Click one to edit it, and again dont forget about the Max Field Number button. On the top row are Name, Classification, and MP Cost. Give the skill a name, classify what type of attack it is (if its a regular attack, just leave it as Norm), and set how much MP the skill will require. Pretty simple, really. Below, write up a little explanation explaining what the attack is. This will show up in the game when you highlight the skill in battle or in the menu. To the right is Effect Range-if the attack will hit only one enemy or the whole clan of scum buckets. Below and to the left is Using Message. You cant honestly need an explanation for this one. Pick a Battle Animation for the skill over on the right, and then give it a Failure Message for when it (sadly) doesnt work. Below this are Hit Chance, Mind Chance, and Variance. Set these to desired values. The rest of this page is pretty simple. Next tab! D. Items The Items tab is probably the simplest tab in the database. As usual, the column on the left has everything (need I remind you of Max Field Number?) and all you need to do is select one to edit its stats. Name it, give it a type (weapon, medicine, etc.) and an explanation and youre pretty much done. If it has a status effect or it cures one, specify that. Be sure to be genuine in your names and explanations-how many games use Potion with the explanation Recovers xx HP.? Be more imaginative in your items (you can get VERY creative with the weapons) and replace Potion with Ale of Argandor, and Recovers xx HP with Specially made ale with the power to restore xx units of your current health. Well, dont use those exact things, but get creative. It will make your game seem a lot more original because.... well, it WILL be more original! On to the next tab, which just happens to be... E. Monsters Does this REALLY need an explanation, even for a flaming newbie like you? You name the monster, set its stats, give it a picture and youre done. Also, set the rewards. You dont want to do all that fighting for nothing, do you? Reward the heroes with EXP, money, or even an item (Ale of Argandor, anyone?). Again, think up some creative names. F. Monsters Party Here, arrange the monsters into parties and youre done. Also, dont forget that even if the monster is fighting alone, it needs to be in a party by itself. The map properties ask for Monster Parties, even if it is only one lonesome monster fighting without a partner in crime. G. Attributes We are going to skip this section as well as section H, Conditions, because they are very

stupid and self-explanatory. H. Conditions See section G. I. Battle Animation Here, you can create and manipulate battle animations. For now, they are all preset for you, but if you ever become a very skilled pixel artist you can make some battle animations that have the character actually running up and hitting the monster. Of course, if you ever reach my almost God-like level of mastery in RM2k, you can create a Custom Battle System, in which youll need a whole different set of stuff. But thats beside the point.... after all, youre just a FLAMING NEWBIE!!! Ahahahahahha! Just kidding. Youll get there if you stick with it. J. Terrain Next up is the Terrain tab. Here, you set up different battle backgrounds, and later on you assign them to chips on the map. For example, if you get attacked on a grassy field, the battle background will most likely be some sort of.....*DRUM ROLL*.....grassy field! K. Chipsets Here, you can name chipsets and give them the graphic to use. Also, you assign those terrains we just talked about. You also decide what you can walk through / what you will not be able to pass. If you are using the default RTP stuff, it is already set up for you (you lucky kid, you). L. Vocabulary Here, you set up various terms the game uses in battle, in the menu, in shops / inns, etc. This doesnt require much of an explanation. M. System In this tab you determine your initial party, the Title / Game Over screens, various sounds / music, vehicle graphics, and other things like that. N. Common Events This tab allows you to create common events (hence the name Common Events!) that will either be used always or will be called upon often (save points). This way, you dont have to recreate the script every time you want to use it. That wraps up the Database section! I know its long, but practice and explore a bit... youll get it.

^**********************^ III. Basic Event Layout ^**********************^ A. What is an Event? Events are probably THE most important thing you implement into your game. They control absolutely everything that happens in your game, unless your game is just a person walking around oblivion. With events, your person can talk, teleport between maps, move, jump, and just about anything else. Events ARE your game. They are THE most critical aspect of RPG making. B. The Event Screen The event screen is really not as complicated as it looks (if it already doesnt look complicated, go ahead and grab a juice box and a blanky-its nap time.) First, name your event. The Event Conditions are the things that cause the event to happen-whether or not a switch is on (we will cover switches and their functions in section IV.), what a variables value is (variables are in section V.), or anything else. To add script to the event, right click the big open section on the right and hit Insert. Shocked at what you see? Dont be. There are 3 pages of these. These are ALL of the event commands in RM2k. I know, I know. You have no idea what they all do, but you will learn the main ones. For the others, just experiment and practice with them. Anyways, click one, set it up, and its in. Actually,

dont do that yet. Well get to that later. First, look at the left side. Here you set up the events stats, and start conditions. Overview-Push Key activates the event when the hero walks up and activates it him/herself; On Hero Touch-when the hero touches it; On Touch (Event, Hero)-when ANYTHING touches it; Auto Start-starts automatically, but wont end unless you end it with a switch and a new page (again, later); Parallel Process-goes on no matter what / is always happening. Im sure youre just dying to learn about some stuff to put on this event, so lets move on.

^**********************^ IV. Switches ^**********************^ A. What is a Switch, and why are they so important? Have you ever hit a light switch? How about pushed a button to make something happen, like the buttons on the oven or the dishwasher? If you have, way to go. You should be proud of yourself and all the worldly experience you have obtained. A switch in RM2k is a lot like that. Once triggered, something will happen or something will change. For example, in the Test game you should have already made, create a little house on the map. On / in / near / somewhere in the vicinity of it, create a new event. Call it Greedy Person. Make his / her graphic whatever you want it to be. Then, a few steps away, make an event and name it The Giver. Choose a graphic for this dude. In both events, make the start condition be Push Key. Now, for coding! Before you begin, go into your Database and make an item called Lightbulb. In the code for Greedy Person, hit Insert and make him say a message. Ill use Hey! Can you get me a lightbulb? Then, up at the top, click new page twice. On the second page, make the Event Condition: Switch [0001: Lightbulb received]. Also on page 2, put a message thanking the person. Ill just say Oh, thank you so much for this lightbulb! How can I ever thank you? Then, put in the Add Item option, but set it to decrease item-lightulb. Then do a Change Switch command turning on Switch [0002]. Finally on page 3, make the event condition Switch [0002:Greedy has LB] ON, with a message saying Thanks! Greedy Persons code should look like this (remember, depending on what version of RM2k you have, it may look a little different.):

[Code]: Page 1: Push Key, Same Level as Hero, no conditions Message:Hey! Can you get me a lightbulb?

[Code]: Page 2: Push Key, Same Level as Hero, Condition: Switch [0001] ON Messageh! Thank you so much for this light : :bulb! How can I ever thank you? Chng Item Count: (Lightbulb) 1 (Rem) Change Switch: Var[0002: Greedy has LB] Switch ON

Page 3: Push Key, Same Level as Hero, Condition: Switch [0002] ON Message:Thanks! Now then, where do you get the lightbulb, and how do you get that switch on? Why, its all up to The Giver! Give this event 2 pages, same conditions / settings as Greedy Person. On page 1 of The Giver, make a message to the gist of Hey! I have this lightbulb here. Do

you want it? Then do Add Item-lightbulb add 1. After that, do a Change Switch command that turns on switch [0001] ON. In the second page, put a message like Sorry pal, Im fresh out of goods!, and have it only start if switch [0001] is on. The code for The Giver should look like this:

[Code]: Page 1: Push Key, Same Level as Hero, no conditions Message:Hey! I have this lightbulb here. Do : :you want it? Chng Item Count: (lightbulb) 1 (Add) Change Switch: Var[0001: Lightbulb received] Switch ON

[Code]: Page 2: Push Key, Same Level as Hero, Condition: Switch [0001] ON Message: Sorry pal, Im fresh out of goods!

Keep in mind for both events that the graphic needs to stay the same on every page, or else hell disappear or transform or something. And there you have it! Play through it a few times and make sure it makes sense. Thats really all there is to Switches. Try out some other little situations on tour on using multiple switches, like maybe Greedy Person changes his ways, but The Giver wont accept, etc, etc. Now, we can move on to (one of my favorite things) Variables!

^**********************^ V. Variables ^**********************^ A. What are they, and when can I use them? How many of you have been in a math class above pre-algebra? Well if you have, you should already know what a variable is! Thats right, this is just like those variables (I guess school DOES have some sort of vague purpose... RPG Making!). Basically, you use variables to store numbers. Also, you can display them in messages. Still dont get it? Heres a little sample event Ill call the lightbulb collecting minigame. On a separate map, make two people, both in random spots. For the first person, name him the Informer. Give him a graphic and make him Push Key / Same Level as Hero, no conditions. Make him say something like this (actually, type it EXACTLY like this, because this message contains coding): You have collected V[0001] lightbulbs. I know, youre wondering what the V[0001] part is. This tidbit will display what number is currently stored in the specified variable, in this case being number 0001. Now, pick the other event and name him/her Light Dude. Same conditions as The Informer, but give this person a different graphic so that he can be told apart from the Informer. Make him have 1 page. On that page, he should say Heres a lightbulb!. Next, Add Item command-lightbulb x1. Then, put in a Change Variable command. Whoa, this is a new screen! First, name the variable Lightbulbs Held (or something of the like) and set the operand to 1, the lower boxs top field to 1. This way every time you talk to this person he/she will say, Heres a lightbulb! and give you one. Im not going to type out the code, but try out the scenario anyways. You get a lightbulb (or two or three or eighty-five) and then talk to the informer. He will then inform you (it all makes sense now!) about the number of lightbulbs you have. There are many other uses for variables like for displaying numbers in a Custom Battle System, storing numbers of monsters killed or other stuff like that, and literally millions more. Experiment with that A LOT, because variables (believe it or not) can make your

game run a lot smoother and more professionally.

^**********************^ VI. Fork Conditions ^**********************^ A. What are they, and how can I use them? OK, its time for another math reference. For those of you who have taken Geometry, you may remember something called a biconditional statement. This is what a Fork Condition is! For you non-math people, it is what I call an If Then statement. It checks to see if something is happening, if a Switch is on, if a variable is a certain value, if a Hero has something equipped, and just about anything else you would need to check for. How about a real life example, in NON-RM2k terms... If it is 4:30, then I will watch TV. Now, what if it isnt 4:30? What can you do? Then (in RM2K) you create an Else case that basically changes If Then to If Then If Not Then. Another life example... If it is 4:30, then I will watch TV. If it is not 4:30, then I will sleep. That is a life example (exciting life, huh?), but what about in RM2k? Well, lets pay our old friends The Informer and Light Dude a little visit. Go back into The Informers code and create a Fork Condition that states If variable [0001] is above 5. Down in the bottom left corner, be sure the Add Else Case is NOT checked. Inside the fork, create a message stating, Wow! You have more than 5 bulbs! In fact, you have V[0001]! Incredible! The Givers brand new and improved coding is now:

[Code]: Page 1: Push Key, Same Level as Hero, no conditions Message:You have collected V[0001] lightbulbs. If Var(0001:Lightbulbs Held) 5(>=) Message:Wow! You have more than 5 bulbs! In fact, you have V[0001]! Incredible! End Case This is a VERY simple type of Fork Condition. Again, I have the newest version of RM2k (version 1.07), so my wording may be a bit different. If you have 1.06 or below, it looks more like: Fork Optn:Var[0001:Lightbulbs Held] 5 abov etc. etc. But what of the Else Case? Well, lets use that same example except with an Else Case. Right click on the Fork Condition and click Edit. On the bottom left corner, turn on the Else Case box, if it isnt already. Youll notice the coding looks a bit different. Under Else Case, copy and paste the original message (the one that says You have V[0001] lightbulbs.). Then, erase the one outside of the fork. Now, your code should be like this:

[Code]: Page 1: Push Key, Same Level as Hero, no conditions If Var(0001:Lightbulbs Held) 5(>=) Message:Wow! You have more than 5 bubs! In

fact, you have V[0001]! Incredible! Else Case Message: You have collected V[0001] lightbulbs. End Case And there you go! Play it through, getting less than and more than 5 to see the changes. That is really all there is to fork conditions. Some of the most advanced techniques in RM2k consist of fork conditions (Custom menus, battle systems, shops, etc.). In fact, they are almost mandatory! Learn and experiment with forks, and they become a valuable weapon in your arsenal of RM2k programming skills. Onward!

^**********************^ VII. Password Functions ^**********************^ A. What is a password, and how do I use them? A password is...well, its exactly what it sounds like. It creates a system in which when a certain key is pushed (direction, decision, or escape), it will perform a certain task. Im trying to think of a good example for this that doesnt involve lightbulbs...ah yes! Well do a simple jump-when-enter-or-space-is-pushed event. First, there is something you need to understand about passwords-when the password is set, it stores the input in a variable. So, create a variable called Jump Input. If you look at the password screen, youll notice that each available input option will have a number in parentheses. This is the number that is stored in the chosen variable. Side note: you may be wondering which directions are what number- they are: 1-down, 2-left, 3-right, 4-up. Now back to our regularly scheduled tutorial...The event we are about to make will be 1 page, and will be a Parallel Process. The position of it doesnt really matter, and it should not have a graphic. Put it up in a corner or something, and name it Jump Command. First, insert a Cycle option. You havent used this feature yet, but its basically a loop that happens over and over. Dont forget that all of the next commands will be inside the cycle command. First, select Enter Password, and set it to variable [0002: Jump Input]. It doesnt matter which box you check, as long as decision (5) is checked. After that, create a fork condition that checks to see if variable [0002] is 5. Dont give this fork an Else Case. Inside the fork, put in a move event command. Make the event move the Hero like this-Start Jump, Step Forward, and End Jump. For added effect, put in a sound effect that sounds like a little spring just before the move event command. The code should look VERY similar to this...

[Code]: Page 1: Parallel Process, any level, no conditions Loop Enter Password: Var[0002: Jump Input] If Var(0002: Jump Input) 5 Play SE: Jump2 Move Event: Hero-Start Jump-WalkForward-End Jump End Case End Loop Try it out! Pretty cool, huh? Passwords arent that hard! Still, Ill do one more example. Go ahead and erase that jump event. In its place, make an event called Confusion. This is a little thing that I thought up myself. The overall effect is that if any of the heroes are inflicted with Confusion (its called Chaos in the default settings), their walking will be all screwy. When they step up they will go left, when they step left they will go down, when they step down they will go right, and when they step right they will go up! Lost yet? I

hope not! Now for some coding. Start with a condition change to Chaos on the main hero, well call him Alex. Make a Cycle. In it, make an Enter Password command, with the Directions box checked. Rename variable [0002] to Chaotic movement, and store the password in this. Below the Password command, youre going to make 4 (count them 4) fork conditions inside one big fork condition. Obviously, it will be one for each direction inside a fork that checks to see if the character is confused. NOTE: none of the forks ahead will have an Else Case. Use my enormous run-on sentence up there as a reference to the directions and their incorrect counterparts. After the Enter Password, make a fork that states, If the Hero Alex has Chaos condition. In this, make the first direction fork that states, If variable [0002] is 1. Inside this fork, make an event that moves the Hero right. Under that forks End Case, make a new fork that states, If variable [0002] is 2. In there, make the hero step down. Below that one, make a fork stating, If variable [0002] is 3. In it, make the hero step up. Finally, the last fork in the big fork should state, If variable [0002] is 4. Inside it make the hero move left. With that, youre done! Heres the coding:

[Code]: Page 1 Auto Start, any level, no conditions Condition: (Alex) Chaos (Add) Loop Condition: (Alex) Chaos (Add) Enter Password: Var[0002: Chaotic movement] If Alex = = > Chaos is Condition If Var(0002: Chaotic movement) 1 Move Event: Hero-Right End Case If Var(0002: Chaotic movement) 2 Move Event: Hero-Down End Case If Var(0002: Chaotic movement) 3 Move Event: Hero-Up End Case If Var(0002: Chaotic movement) 4 Move Event: Hero-Left End Case End Case End Loop And there you go! A good effect, if you ask me. Just make it a common event in your game and the Chaos is more realistic! However, in your game, take out the line that makes you go Chaos. That was just for an example if he was already in Chaos state. I hope you understand the Enter Password command more now. As Ive said after just about every other section, experiment with it. Play around a bit with it. And there you have it! Now you too are ready to make your own epic adventure in RPG maker! True skill, however, takes time, so just play around a bit first, and discover the intimate functions of the program yourself. Happy making