Alright, cool.

The tips are useful, I've been using rm2k3 for years and didn't know some of those things. =P

0_0

Looks awesome. I love you for doing this work. rm2k3 is way cooler than rmxp or vx.

Question though, this may be stupid, but does this create game disks so that people won't need rm2k9?

So, I'm making a cbs in rm2k/3. Everything was going well until I got to the magic HUD. There are 60 possible skills. The HUD is composed of two columns, each column displays 10 skills vertically at a time(FF style). Scrolling through the list is okay, it's a little buggy and a little laggy, but not too bad. The problem is when autoscroll comes into play. The lag is abominable!

I'd post the whole event but it's too damn long. Which I know is the problem (being too long). Here's basically how it works.

There are five different events that take part in displaying the Magic HUD. The most important event takes into consideration what keys the player is pushing. We'll call this event, KEY INPUT This event just changes a few variables around. It is a parallel process.

The second event is called by KEY INPUT when it is need, it determines what HUD to display based on the variables the first event is giving it. We'll call this event HUD DISPLAY. It is inactive (not parallel).

The third event is also called by KEY INPUT when it is need. Except, this event determines where to place the Arrow display based on variables it's been given. We'll call this event, ARROW DISPLAY. This event is inactive.

The fourth event is the AUTO SCROLL event. It has two pages. The second page is a parallel process, it is activated by a switch when either the Item or Magic Menu is opened. Very simply, it acts independently of KEY INPUT. It merely waits until the player has held a key down for about a second, then auto scroll takes over, zipping through the list at an item every .0664 of a second. (I think, that is if 0.0 wait is equal to .0166)

Now, the fifth event causing all the lag, we'll call it LIST DISPLAY, is inactive. It is roughly 580 conditional branches long and changes 20 pictures at a time. This is due to the way I have the system set up. In the Magic HUD, there are a maximum of 20 items that can be displayed at any given time depending on what skills the character has learned. The pictures themselves don't move when the player pushed up/down. Instead, the pictures change their appearance to give the affect of a scrolling list.

LIST DISPLAY is called every time the player pushes the up/down arrow. That means, when AUTO SCROLL is doing its thing, LIST DISPLAY is being called every .0664 seconds (in theory). Obviously, even when I was scripting all this, I had some concerns about lag. But I didn't think it would be this bad.

I was hoping the problem was in the amount of conditional branches the system was running through in a short amount of time. I was wrong. I tested this theory by breaking LIST DISPLAY up into 4 pages. Each page was only capable of displaying a range of items and each page was called accordingly, thus cutting down the amount of conditional branches the system had to work through from about 580 to 150 (at a time).

But this didn't reduce lag.

I'm thinking it has to do with the 20 different "show picture" commands happening x amount of times a second. But I just can't figure out how best to implement a list system.

*TLDR

My list display is too slow and I think the way I set it up is inefficient. What can I do to reduce lag? Or, is there a tut out there that describes a better way of creating a list in rm2k3?

BTW, hi! I made an account here years ago and didn't post much.

Any help or suggestions would be god sent. Thanks for reading the whole thing if you did and I hope that's enough information.

=\ That's no good. Maybe try copying your save file and redownloading. Because none of the vehicles are RTP. Though I did use some RTP in the battle animations.

EDIT: I know the RTP from rpgrevolution works fine with my game.

That's a good idea, I do have the sprites do some reactions, though I admittedly could make more "lively". I don't use facesets in messege boxes though, I was never fond of that. I only use facesets in battle and menus.

I get where you're coming from. I've felt that the first bit of my game can be tedious, I just don't know what else to do. There's a lot to the story, and I wanna make sure everyone gets it. I guess that planet part is a little useless, but not entirely.

What was the error you got?

BTW, I'll fix that broken link deal.

Hazelnut FTW!

Though I enjoy my tea as well, just had a couple bout a half hour ago actually.

Fuck FAFSA and 095 classes.


On a sidenote, any brand of spice or food additive called NoSalt should be taken off the shelves for inducing vomitting.

My sleep habits have always been sub-par. On average, I used to get 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night. Killed me through highschool, I'd sleep through half my classes. Been doing a lot better with that though. Now I tend to get 7 to 8 hours. It's amazing what a few extra hours can do...

Speaking of sleep... *dozes off*

Demo v1.2
DOWNLOAD HERE

Demo Info
Some controls I never pointed out. When on the world map, pressing the '+' or '-' on the number pad will move the map to each corner of the screen and enlarge it at the center.

Also, there's a short readme in there that may be of some help to skim through real quick before beginning. I'm not too certain on the game time, if I had guess, I'd say average gameplay could be anywhere from 6 to 10 hours. Oh, and the demo does end rather abruptly, so try not and be too turned off by this.

Story

The small planet of Gaia is wrapped in a world of mystery. Two countries seemingly as ancient as the world itself, Demi and Loki, have been at peace for countless years. Their history is grim yet relatively uncertain. Many people say the everlasting peace is due to events of a time long ago, when grief, disease and plague ravaged the people of Gaia, forcing them to come together as one peaceful entity in order to survive. No one is certain why these events occurred, but nevertheless, these values were passed down through the generations, even after the Dark Years had ended.

For as long as there has been peace there has been a strong spiritual attraction to Loki. Perched on a cliff high against the sea in Loki, a statue calmly rests. This statue has seen many a generation of people on Gaia. This relic has one trait which makes it so beloved by all of the world. The torch which is held in its hand is everlasting and has never gone out. Thus, its known as the Maiden of Fire. The fire fed by nothing, seeming to come from the statue. Persevering through rain and wind.

The king of Loki is very naive and young. The king of Demi is very ambitious and greedy. When a man named Seren rises through the ranks of the Demin Army and becomes chancellor to the king and Commander of the Demin Army, he reaches the king in ways no others had before. He is able to convince the king to betray the Lokins. "There is power in having the Maiden of Fire." He tells the king. "All the world will come to you for guidance."

But behind Seren's calm exterior lies a man haunted by a monster whispering in his ear. Promising him everything if he only help him in return.

Thus, the stage is set. The Demin king begins to rule his country with absolute authority. Forcing men and women into his army to toil for his own desires and severely punishing those who disobey him. But a disruption in the balance of magic and nature, and the appearance of strange beings foreshadow terrifying events that could lead to the destruction of all.

Characters


Name: Samson Drenrin
Age: 26
Weapon: Fist Fighter
History: His father died when he was very young. And at the age of 11, his mother very suddenly disappeared. All that heard the story thought she'd run away, but there was never any evidence of what happened to her. Around the same time, a priest called Sir Gambit was elected as High Priest when former High Priest Alfred died of a sudden heart attack. Gambit saw Samson's plight and seeing as he was a mere child, took him as his step-son and raised him through to adulthood. Samson joined the Lokin Army and when his service was over he took to traveling the world.


Name: Parry Renshaw
Age: 45
Weapon: Swordsman
History: Was born and raised in Juniper, a city in Loki. Both mother and father were revered members of the Lokin Army, both of whom died of natural causes some years ago. Parry joined the Lokin Army when he was 16 and began his rise to the top. He became Commander of the Lokin Army when he was 30. Just like his king, he is a little naive.


Name: Hector Windew
Age: 30
Weapon: Ax Fighter
History: His father died when he was only twenty and was forced to take over the throne and become King of Loki at a very young age. Though the years have given experience his is still a bit naive, one thing his father was not. Hector personally recognized Samson's outstanding strength and when Samson became a top fighter, they became friends.


Name: Martha Lindt
Age: 23
Weapon: Staff
History: Was born in Loki. After her mother died at child birth, her grandfather Kasper, took her in. 15 years ago, when Martha was only 8, Kasper resigned as chancellor to the High Priest and moved into the rural area of North Loki. There he showed Martha the details of becoming a priestess and the magic class known as Mystic.


Name: Jake Tinne
Age: 19
Weapon: Nun-chucks
History: Born in the Northern Continent. He had lived with his grandfather ever since he could remember. He has no recollection of what happened to his parents and his grandfather never elaborates on the subject. When Jake was 13 he found a lone wolf pup in the cold forest. He took it in and raised it to be his pet and friend. He hated the cold Northern Continent, however. It was lonely, unforgiving, and held no hope of a bright future. So when he was 18 he left for Demi. He picked up his unusual fighting style from a strange man that traveled through his home town when he was 15 that showed him the power of nun-chucks, if used properly.


Name: Timber
Age: 7
Weapon: Claws
History: Loyal to Jake and all who befriend Jake. Was found by Jake alone in the savage wilderness of the north. Ever since, Timber has never been anywhere but at Jake's side.


Name: Elli Seel
Age: 35
Weapon: Spearswoman
History: This woman keeps a lot to herself. She was a chancellor to High Priest Alfred 15 years ago. But after his death, she disappeared from society.


Name: Seren
Age: 32
Weapon: Swordsman
History: Born in Demi. Rose quickly through the ranks of the Demin Army to become chancellor to King Lessard V and Commander of the Demin Army.


Screen Shots
I'm not gonna post every single screen shot I have on this page. Here a link to my photobucket albums dedicated to AoA screen shots: Screen Shot Albums

















Systems

• View Key Items Menu
• View Character Class Statistics Menu
• Class system (elaborated more further down)
• Change party Menu
• Adrenaline System (Limit Break-esque)

Chapters
There are seven planned chapters to this whole game. I'll release their names as I finished them. So far I have the first two completely done.




Chapter III is currently 80% done. I'll release a new, updated demo for that when it's done.

The Eleven Classes

Class Hierarchy
Electric > Water > Fire > Ice > Wind > Earth > Electric
Mystic > Cosmic > Kinetics > Nature > Wild > Mystic

Class Training and Level
Each class has levels 0 through 5. Each number represents a character’s skillfulness in that class. 0 means the character has no experience with this class and knows no skills from this class. 5 is the Master Level. To gain levels, one must acquire AP from monsters in battle. AP is similar to EXP, once enough AP is gained, the character gains a level in the class they were training and learns a new skill. The amount of AP required to gain levels in Classes is the same for each class.

0>1 requires 200 AP
1>2 requires 600 AP
2>3 requires 1500 AP
3>4 requires 3000 AP
4>5 requires 6000 AP

Level 5 is the highest level for any class. Players can take on any Class they want at any time without forgetting learned skills.

Elemental and Specific Classes
Classes are divided into two groups, Elemental Classes and Specific Classes.

Elemental Classes:
-Electric
-Water
-Fire
-Ice
-Wind
-Earth

Specific Classes:
-Kinetics
-Cosmic
-Mystic
-Nature
-Wild

Classes Analysis

Elemental Classes: All elemental classes are offensive.
-Electric
-Water
-Fire
-Ice
-Wind
-Earth

Specific Classes:
-Kinetics: Defensive.
-Cosmic: Offensive.
-Mystic: Curative.
-Nature: Status effecting.
-Wild: Offensive and/or status effecting.

Master Skills
Master Skills are special abilities obtained only from finding Items called compounds. To learn the master skill for the Electric Class, one must find the Electric Compound and use it on a character who has mastered the Electric Class. Only one Compound exists for each class in the game and can only be used on one Character.

Adrenaline System Elaborated
When a character attacks a foe, depending on their strength/defense and the foe's strength/defense, they gain an amount 0 through 20. This is a fraction out of a 100. Adrenaline is reached when so-called, "Adrenaline points", have reached 100 percent. In Adrenaline State, a character can use Techs. Techs cost no MP, but can only be used in Adrenaline State.

If a character uses magic, they can still gain Adrenaline Points, but their intelligence is pitted against their target's intelligence to determine how many adrenaline points out of 20 will be gained.




Some Credits

Battle sprites inspired by InsaneJP
Jake's sprite and others by InsaneJP
Majority of MIDIs by me, drenrin2120
Timber Faceset done by a friend named Emilejon
Other facesets made using Facemaker
Everything else is random stuff I found resource questing

Hey! Sup? I joined a while back but I forgot I had an account here. 0_X