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[Mabef]

Is there some kind of free program I can use to make music?

EDIT: Ok found the links in the OP but this stuff is way out of my league...lol.

For you and anyone else interested, two of the most ubiquitous DAWs for beginners are Fruity Loops (PC) and Garageband (Mac). Then, for general audio editing/recording, there's Audacity.

Depending on your musical background, a typical DAW learning progression could be: Using loops to create songs > Adding effects to loops > Editing the MIDI of loops > Majority of loops are MIDI edited > Writing MIDI from scratch.

Feel free to try them out and research alternatives. Making music is an impossibly deep skill that takes a lot of time to develop, but it's def rewarding and worth the effort.

 

[Earthpainting]

I did some brainstorming and started making a basic design document while I was waiting for an appointment this morning. I have a rough idea now of what I'll want to be doing. I decided to keep my paws off the scripting, since learning the structure and syntax would really devour my available time.

I'll start making some assets over the weekend, as well as set up a dev-room. It's always a good idea to make a map which you can fill with events to test out. If you have your most commonly used events all set up, it becomes a matter of copying and pasting.

Either way, I'll probably have some stuff to show or talk about by next week..

 

[Hunter S.]

WRPGS >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>JRPGS That makes the obvious much simpler.

 

[Conor_Fool]

This sounds absolutely awesome. I've never even dabbled with creating a video game, and it's definitely waaaaaay out of my league, but I'm going to check out some tutorials and if I have enough free time I may even attempt to participate Such a cool competition!

Son of a... I have a damn macbook pro! I'll try Wine

EDIT: Son of a x2. I missed the freaking bundle :'[]

 

[akidnamededdy]

For you and anyone else interested, two of the most ubiquitous DAWs for beginners are Fruity Loops (PC) and Garageband (Mac). Then, for general audio editing/recording, there's Audacity.

Depending on your musical background, a typical DAW learning progression could be: Using loops to create songs > Adding effects to loops > Editing the MIDI of loops > Majority of loops are MIDI edited > Writing MIDI from scratch.

Feel free to try them out and research alternatives. Making music is an impossibly deep skill that takes a lot of time to develop, but it's def rewarding and worth the effort.

Thanks for the tips! Making music is something I've always been interested in doing with the slight hindrance of the fact that I've never learned how to actually read music or play an instrument of any sort, hahah.

 

[belushy]

Thanks for the tips! Making music is something I've always been interested in doing with the slight hindrance of the fact that I've never learned how to actually read music or play an instrument of any sort, hahah.

Same. I was looking for virtual instruments online earlier, but some of the sites I was looking at looked kind of scamish. Might just go public domain music for my game, haha.

 

[timetokill]

All right, I got it just before the deal ended.

Fuck it, I'm in.

 

[waby]

oh damn didn't saw this thread earlier....

 

[Chainsawkitten]

Same. I was looking for virtual instruments online earlier, but some of the sites I was looking at looked kind of scamish. Might just go public domain music for my game, haha.

DSK has some good ones
Krakli have some cool effect ones (even if their interfaces tend to leave a lot to be desired...)

 

[sqwarlock]

Wanted to show off the tiny, tiny bit that I've done for this. I've got a vacation and a big, out-of-state move coming up this month, so I don't think I'll get to finish by the deadline though.

Still, take a look at my environment and a cutscene.

 

[timetokill]

Wanted to show off the tiny, tiny bit that I've done for this. I've got a vacation and a big, out-of-state move coming up this month, so I don't think I'll get to finish by the deadline though.

Still, take a look at my environment and a cutscene.

Wow, nice looking stuff! I hope you can keep working on it, but I know how rough an out-of-state move can be.

 

[belushy]

DSK has some good ones
Krakli have some cool effect ones (even if their interfaces tend to leave a lot to be desired...)

DSK was actually the one I was looking at that I was getting a weird feeling from. Have you used their stuff before?

@sqwarlock Looks great!

 

[DAREALGUMMY]

Well it's my first time attempting to make a game and I'm just getting used to the very basics but I feel like it's not too overwhelming so far.
Here's some shots

World Map. I might expand it.

 

[Chainsawkitten]

DSK was actually the one I was looking at that I was getting a weird feeling from. Have you used their stuff before?

@sqwarlock Looks great!

I use their stuff pretty often. A lot of free VSTs are made by hobbyist or small groups. More often than not, it's just some blogspot blog. Just scan all the stuff you download. I've never encountered any viruses.

 

[esterk]

For anyone wanting to compete, I have one VX key left. Pm me if you want it!

Edit: it's gone!

 

[kogasu]

Insanely good! How long did it take you to whip up?

Thanks! You've also done quite an epic job with yours yourself.

I worked on these two sort of at the same time. I would say it took two to three days to write both and mixing took a few days as well. Altogether, I would say it took me about less than a week, give or take a day or so. It was made easier by the fact that these are really short and one I already had an idea of before this contest even started.

 

[Data Elemental]

Son of a... I have a damn macbook pro! I'll try Wine

EDIT: Son of a x2. I missed the freaking bundle :'[]

If you still decide to pick up a copy, it may be a good idea to with XP instead of VX Ace. The latter seems to have some problems with Wine (at least on Linux).

 

[Aquamarine]

Wanted to show off the tiny, tiny bit that I've done for this. I've got a vacation and a big, out-of-state move coming up this month, so I don't think I'll get to finish by the deadline though.

Still, take a look at my environment and a cutscene.

Oh wow! That looks awesome!

Can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[Mentok]

Thanks! You've also done quite an epic job with yours yourself.

I worked on these two sort of at the same time. I would say it took two to three days to write both and mixing took a few days as well. Altogether, I would say it took me about less than a week, give or take a day or so. It was made easier by the fact that these are really short and one I already had an idea of before this contest even started.

Wow that's awesome! I tried my hand at a rock beat but wound up deleting the whole song because I just couldn't get the pieces to flow together (and separately they didn't sound like completed songs). Needless to say, I was sad that 3 days went down the drain hahaha!

For those wondering what I'm using, currently it's nanostudio with audacity. Here are another two I put together.

Cheers!

https://soundcloud.com/zaddy-em/bossfight
https://soundcloud.com/zaddy-em/kingsandcorpses

 

[KiraFA37]

Wanted to show off the tiny, tiny bit that I've done for this. I've got a vacation and a big, out-of-state move coming up this month, so I don't think I'll get to finish by the deadline though.

Still, take a look at my environment and a cutscene.

I am intrigued by this 30 second clip. I hope to see more.

 

[sqwarlock]

Dang it, you guys weren't supposed to want to see more! >_<

I'm still in the process of developing the concept, but it's sort of a self-therapy tool for me. I'm going through a very scary time of life right now (moving away from friends and family to start a new job in a new city that I might not be able to afford to live in) and so that leaves me thinking about the past and what my life here has been like. Will there be combat? Maybe? If there is, it'll be the extremely cliched trope of "fighting ones inner demons".

If I can get a 2-3 hour game out of this by the deadline, I'll be happy. Regardless, you all will get to play whatever amount of my game is done by the time the deadline hits.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Well it's my first time attempting to make a game and I'm just getting used to the very basics but I feel like it's not too overwhelming so far.
Here's some shots

World Map. I might expand it.

I can't design town and overworld for shit.

Thanks for the reminder

 

[DAREALGUMMY]

I can't design town and overworld for shit.

Thanks for the reminder

Don't be so hard on yourself. Most of my time has been making the maps and such. I haven't designed my first full town yet but go in not beating yourself too much over how things look. It's going to be more about how they play out together in the game I think.

 

[L Thammy]

I can't design town and overworld for shit.

Thanks for the reminder

Not sure why the overworld is bad. You might want to avoid diagonals and make the edges of the environment a bit more irregular. Those are more tile-based limitations than anything.

The room's a bit barren, but you could spread things around or add a few things. Like anything else, you could go back and improve on it later on.

 

[DAREALGUMMY]

Not sure why the overworld is bad. You might want to avoid diagonals and make the edges of the environment a bit more irregular. Those are more tile-based limitations than anything.

The room's a bit barren, but you could spread things around or add a few things. Like anything else, you could go back and improve on it later on.

Those are mine actually. Yeah, I might extend the overwold to fix those edges and such. The room is barren for a reason but I might add a little more. I actually reduced the size of it right before taking a screenshot because it was way too big with nothing in it.

 

[L Thammy]

Those are mine actually. Yeah, I might extend the overwold to fix those edges and such. The room is barren for a reason but I might add a little more. I actually reduced the size of it right before taking a screenshot because it was way too big with nothing in it.

Whoops! That's what happens when you work and GAF at the same time.

I had guessed that the room was supposed to be rustic since it matches with your other screens. But since I was reading HP_Wuvcraft's post wrong, I figured that must be what he was complaining about.

 

[hitsugi]

There are a few, extremely thorough action RPG-based scripts out there for RPG Maker.. but my god are they involved.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

Just wondering what you use to make this music? Like do you have a keyboard, or do you have a neat computer program for it?

There's an awesome DAW I toy with called MuLab that's free; altho w/ the free version, it inserts a white noise when you have more than four tracks in a session, and there's a VST-i limit. But other than that, if you're looking for a free solution or one that doesn't cost much to get the full deal (it's about $70-$90 for the full program) and gives you lots of options regardless, that's the one.

Just as an example, if you have a USB midi keyboard you can use it in MuLab no issue, but AFAIK the free version of Fruity Loops doesn't let you use them. It makes a *big* difference.

There's also some awesome free synths and plug-ins you can try. Synth 1 is a free VST that's won a lot of awards; it has two oscillators, an arpeggiator, FM synth, sub-osc, effects, delays, lfos, legato.... pretty much everything you'd need to make most sounds. It's very good with bass sounds and pads from what I've figured.

And Gliss EQ is a great spectrum analyzer for reading the frequency space of your sounds, so you can see if you have resonant peaks to EQ out or see where you may have unwanted frequencies that are causing mud and distortion.

You have to use the 32-bit version of MuLab unfortunately to use those VSTs, b/c from what I've tested the 64-bit version doesn't support them. The DAW itself has lots of great presets, filters, effects and a logical layout however.

Then, for general audio editing/recording, there's Audacity.

This is also a good one, and pretty much mandatory. Very good for editing samples.

Well from what I've read it looks like a lot of y'all have already made a lot of progress, that's awesome. Can't wait to see some WIPs. I still wouldn't mind pitching in with a picture or two if anyone's interested, the option can just sit on the table for a while x3.

 

[belushy]

Thanks for the info, jhmtehgamr20xx. I definitely look into some of that stuff.

edit: Do you have any opinions on Podium Free?

 

[Cheshire_Buddha]

So I'm planning on using GuitarPro tabs of actual songs and turning them into MIDIs to use for my game.

Will this disqualify me in any way?

 

[Dusk Golem]

So I'm planning on using GuitarPro tabs of actual songs and turning them into MIDIs to use for my game.

Will this disqualify me in any way?

Nah, as the games aren't commercial I'm not concerning myself too heavily, the only thing that's off-limits is taking stuff directly from games (IE, sprites, direct music, etc.) Though using familiar tunes people will know does run the risk of taking people out of the moment.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

Why not use GuitarPro to create your own tracks?

Does anyone have a good tutorial on how to create your own tileset sheet? Not so much the sprites, but how to arrange them onto a sheet the game reads. I'm using the Modern Tileset DLC and it's annoying me that there's no grass tile on the sheet.

 

[ZenaxPure]

Does anyone have a good tutorial on how to create your own tileset sheet? Not so much the sprites, but how to arrange them onto a sheet the game reads. I'm using the Modern Tileset DLC and it's annoying me that there's no grass tile on the sheet.

If you set up the modern tile set correctly (Inside Database -> Tileset) there should be 1 left over tab in the "A" section. I used this one for misc. stuff like grass. And just for reference, as the best I can tell anyway, you can stick any tiles you want in the "A" section and those will work as your map foundation (houses, grass, cliff side, water, etc.) and the B through E section seems typically used for objects. The ones in B through E have three states (O, X, and "Star") as opposed to A (O and X). The star allows you to set that object to appear in front of the character if they pass through it (allowing you to walk behind objects essentially).

I believe all that is correct anyway, this is just from me messing around with it since I got the futuristic tiles from Dusk I wanted to mix some of them with the modern because the objects look so good together.

Edit: For a visual this is what it looks like in the database.
Edit 2: Linked the wrong picture!

And this was the small map I made.

 

[Tommy Gun]

I've been recording a lot of video tutorials for RPG Maker VX Ace lately, and made a 3-part beginner series that goes through pretty much the whole program. It's over 2 hours long, but it has chapter links so you can skip through if you want. Maybe it could be added to the OP?

 

[Mr. Luchador]

If you set up the modern tile set correctly (Inside Database -> Tileset) there should be 1 left over tab in the "A" section. I used this one for misc. stuff like grass. And just for reference, as the best I can tell anyway, you can stick any tiles you want in the "A" section and those will work as your map foundation (houses, grass, cliff side, water, etc.) and the B through E section seems typically used for objects. The ones in B through E have three states (O, X, and "Star") as opposed to A (O and X). The star allows you to set that object to appear in front of the character if they pass through it (allowing you to walk behind objects essentially).

I believe all that is correct anyway, this is just from me messing around with it since I got the futuristic tiles from Dusk I wanted to mix some of them with the modern because the objects look so good together.

Edit: For a visual this is what it looks like in the database.
Edit 2: Linked the wrong picture!



And this was the small map I made.

Thanks for this, I had tried this but I think there's something wrong with the tilesheet when I set it to A as not all the tiles appear and when you start the game it cycles through them.

 

[PsionBolt]

Thanks for this, I had tried this but I think there's something wrong with the tilesheet when I set it to A as not all the tiles appear and when you start the game it cycles through them.

A tilesets are "autotiles", which behave in a certain way that's not immediately clear. The full details of how an A tileset is constructed can be found in the help file under "Resource Standards".

 

[ZServ]

Ugh. Making adequate puzzles in dungeons is incredibly taxing. I hope I can finish before E3, that way I don't have that on my mind those 3 days.

 

[Aquamarine]

Just finished writing the multiple endings!

Again, I'm doing everything out of order...as inspiration comes to me, I'm writing it!

 

[Copons]

Just finished writing the multiple endings!

Again, I'm doing everything out of order...as inspiration comes to me, I'm writing it!

I always feel super guilty when I see everybody planning in advance, doing a lot of research before even placing the first event.
But I don't know, when I write a dialogue "on paper", it never feels natural, like I involuntarily force myself to add lines (which is usual bad), while when writing directly "in the middle of the story" it all comes up better (still crap, but at least better ).

This has huge disadvantages tho, as I've a reindeer dude called "Reindeer" and I mispelled him "Raindeer" like a hundred of times before noticing it, and correcting lots of events (and remembering which ones!) is such a pain!

 

[Tommy Gun]

This has huge disadvantages tho, as I've a reindeer dude called "Reindeer" and I mispelled him "Raindeer" like a hundred of times before noticing it, and correcting lots of events (and remembering which ones!) is such a pain!

You can either make fake "actors" and then call them with \n, or you could manually set variables to your different names (call with \v). That way you can change the name at any time, and they'd all update.

 

[Aquamarine]

I always feel super guilty when I see everybody planning in advance, doing a lot of research before even placing the first event.
But I don't know, when I write a dialogue "on paper", it never feels natural, like I involuntarily force myself to add lines (which is usual bad), while when writing directly "in the middle of the story" it all comes up better (still crap, but at least better ).

This has huge disadvantages tho, as I've a reindeer dude called "Reindeer" and I mispelled him "Raindeer" like a hundred of times before noticing it, and correcting lots of events (and remembering which ones!) is such a pain!

What I like to do is write in Excel, because it allows me to create branching dialog easily as well as hyperlinks to consolidate dialog flow.

And, what I like to do is improvise dialog by acting it out. You know, putting yourself in the character's shoes and talking out loud and writing it down as you're saying it....like I'm in a play or something.

That's the best way I have to make sure that all of the dialog is natural...or at least...as natural as it can get given the circumstances of my unique setting. ;-)

 

[Cheshire_Buddha]

Why not use GuitarPro to create your own tracks?

I use GuitarPro on a daily basis to write my pop-punk music, but setting up drums takes me far too long. I'd rather use this as a showcase for those whose work goes unnoticed.

Nah, as the games aren't commercial I'm not concerning myself too heavily, the only thing that's off-limits is taking stuff directly from games (IE, sprites, direct music, etc.) Though using familiar tunes people will know does run the risk of taking people out of the moment.

Thanks for the quick response.

It's a risk I'm willing to take, especially when I'm limiting myself to RTP for a real world 'comedic' RPG.

 

[esterk]

So I really love the look of painting each map but it is going to extend how much time it takes to make each of them. It's probably worth it, however.

My main concern is the filesize it will create. Does anyone know on average the filesize of the games we will be making if exporting with RTP or whatever it's called?

 

[DustyVonEric]

Hi Guys,

Am I crazy, or is there really no Redo button in VX Ace?

So an accidental click of the Undo button could mean being screwed without a recent save?

Please tell me I'm crazy, or blind, or both

I mean there's no way, right? I have to be wrong. I feel like an Ultra-noob asking this, but could someone please tell me how to redo?

Thanks a bunch

 

[Lucent]

So I really love the look of painting each map but it is going to extend how much time it takes to make each of them. It's probably worth it, however.

My main concern is the filesize it will create. Does anyone know on average the filesize of the games we will be making if exporting with RTP or whatever it's called?

I wouldn't care if it looked awesome.

 

[Copons]

You can either make fake "actors" and then call them with \n, or you could manually set variables to your different names (call with \v). That way you can change the name at any time, and they'd all update.

Always thought of that, as it would also fit with my programming expertise, but I dunno, in the end I'd found harder to read events with numbered variables all over the place.
Like, "\N[1]" is way less readable than "NPC Guy". In the end, I only use the \N notation for actual actors (in this case, my game being "single" player, only \N[1]).

What I like to do is write in Excel, because it allows me to create branching dialog easily as well as hyperlinks to consolidate dialog flow.

And, what I like to do is improvise dialog by acting it out. You know, putting yourself in the character's shoes and talking out loud and writing it down as you're saying it....like I'm in a play or something.

That's the best way I have to make sure that all of the dialog is natural...or at least...as natural as it can get given the circumstances of my unique setting. ;-)

Ah, I'd do it if I lived alone!

Still, Excel comes way unnatural to me, I just need to "hard code" my dialogues right in the game. It always has been like this, and even if it's the worst thing possible, I just can't do any different.
Maybe this is why I'm not really into branching, as it would be impossible to manage my way.

 

[Data Elemental]

This has huge disadvantages tho, as I've a reindeer dude called "Reindeer" and I mispelled him "Raindeer" like a hundred of times before noticing it, and correcting lots of events (and remembering which ones!) is such a pain!

I encountered a similar problem, although likely smaller in scale. Would be nice if we could just open all the scripts and events in a text editor for some global search and replace.

 

[ZServ]

Gah, I'm so excited. Finally figured out where to take combat, so been spending a lot of time on that. Wish I could write better dialogue, but, if it ends up sucking that'll be on me.

 

[esterk]

Alright got all my core scripts down and working. Took a while to alter some of them and I still might look into a new battle system, but now I can focus on just making the maps and plotting out the skill trees. Whew.

 

[Stuggernaut]

I am trying to figure out how to make an event that can alter a part of the map.

So I have some bones on the ground that are blocking a path and the player has to have a bottle of "acid" to melt the bones away. I have everything working except a way to remove those bones.

Anyone have any ideas?