Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 11
Puzzles
A common mainstay of most role-playing games (RPGs), both new and old, is the puzzle. Defeating monsters and
other assorted baddies to get through dungeons can be fun for quite a while, but puzzles break the monotony and
make it so that the players have to flex their mental muscles as well as their alter egos' physical muscles. During the
course of this chapter, I will be covering three puzzles that I have devised in my time working with RPG Maker VX Ace
(RMVXA). Without further ado, let us begin with the first one.
Slippery Floors!
Perhaps the bane of any gamer who has played RPGs for even a short amount of time, slippery floors prevent you from
controlling your character until it slams face-first into an obstacle. Making slippery floors is actually a very nuanced
process in RMVXA eventing, as there are many things you have to take in consideration. For example:
•
You have to prevent the player from inputting actions as he or she is slipping.
•
You have to define what constitutes a slippery floor, unless you have an entire floor full of such
tiles.
•
You want the game to auto-input movement commands in the same direction, until the player
gets stuck against an obstacle.
•
You have to determine when the player has been stopped by an obstacle, so that he or she can
move manually again.
The good news is that, once you understand what you need to do, you only require a single Parallel Process event
to handle everything.
Creating Our Staging Area
First, however, I'm going to unveil the tweaked version of Abandoned Mine FB1, which is where I'll have the icy
area that the player can slide on. Take a look at Figure
11-1
to see the area map. I segmented the large central area
and separated the westernmost part of the floor into its own little section. Besides that, I added secret passages that
connect the eastern sections. I placed a new staircase at the northern end of the western corridor. So, how does the
top floor connect with this lower floor of the mines?
•
The staircase at (23,15) on F1F leads to the ice section staircase located at (24,44).
•
The stairs at (48,5) on F1F lead to (49,34) on FB1.
