HQ System Tutorial Part 2 Written by Igtenio, the Master and Creator of the HQ System Igtenio@hotmail.com <>Introduction<> In the first Tutorial, I introduced the complete HQ System. That's the basic system, mind you. Here, in Part 2, I address situations like Airship HQs, Making Ways(I'll explan), my Exclusive Outpost system, and more. <>Requirments<> To fully take advantage of what this Tutorial offers, you need to read and be able to understand the basic HQ system in my first Tutorial. What you don't need, though, is to understand everything. Just the basic stuff. <>And What, my Good Man, can we do?<> Anything. The 2 systems I'd recommand using together are the Ways and the Outpost System. The Outposts are easily linked by the Ways, so it works to a mutual advantage. Even with the Airship, the Ways are useful, for Story Purposes. <>The Ways, the only Way to travel<> The Waygates(I shall call them. You can call them whatever you want), is basiclly a stone out on the world map. When the Character 'enters' it, he's transported to a Map that's nothing but a stone floor, with black background(Or anything you want). The map is somewhat in Scale with the world map, but smaller, so it's faster to travel from Point A to Point B with the Ways. Of course, it's also safer. This's how to make them. First, decide how you want them used. This's one of the systems that can be used outside of a HQ game, so you need to know weather to use it on the world map, or have it connect locations, like connecting the HQ to the Outposts. If it's the World Map, then they're just icons, like Towns. Eitherway, you need to make a map that's a direct extension of the Folder, named something like 'The Ways'. The most realistic way is to use the same scale, but make it smaller. Like, if the world map is 80 by 80 tiles, then cut it in half, and you get 40X40. This's a good scale. If you wanna make travel real fast, then cut it again to 20X20. Except for the Stone walkways, the entire background is made of Transparent Tiles from the Lower Chipset. Now, to scale it right, you need to know where you want the Waygates to be. If they're in Towns or similar places, then use where the Location is on the World Map. Say, the first Waygate is 20 down and 40 across(using the Grid Location). Then, on the Ways Map, the location should be 10 down and 20 across(If the Map is half the worldmap), or 5 down and 10 across(If the map is a forth of the World Map). The Waygates are never in buildings on the Way map. On the Way map(And the world map, if they're directly there), I use the Sprite that's on the right side, and 5 down. The little thingie next to the Temple tile. On the Way map, Make the Waygates on a little 3X3 island, with the Waygate in the middle. Now, program each Waygate like this: Graphic to use: The one I told you to earlier Script: Teleport: (Insert the Destination here to it's corrisponding Waygate on the other map. Make the hero appear in front of the Waygate) Not hard, eh? Now, even without an Airship, the Character can travel to other places Encounter free! Although, you might be wondering why to use Waygates if you have Airships. Well, think of it in one of 3 reasons: 1: Waygates could be an earlier form of travel, before the Character gets an Airship. 2: Waygates could be used to go to places the Airship can't, like, say, a Shielded Area, or a Volcanic Island. Espacilly useful if it can only land on grassy areas. 3: (And this is a pretty cool idea, I think) Make a town that can't be reached, because it's surrounded on all sides by mountains. No room to land the airship. And, you can make a Waygate in the town, so the Character can only reach it through one. In this case, don't make an Event for the town. Just put the tile down. Not like the Character will be entering it like that. <>Expanding Your Power, One Outpost at a Time<> So, you like your HQ and all, but feeling kinda, powerless? Feeling like your Rulership is restricted to that little Castle or Tower you call a base? Not anymore! Enforce your rulership with Outposts! Okay, I swear I won't talk like that anymore. But, like the idea? Then I shall show you how to make your own Outposts. Okay, first, you need someone to offer to build them, like a Carpenter. In my Example, an Evil Baby Genius named Stewie shall offer. This's the coding for his event: I'm excluding any Switches to make him appear at the HQ, so start this code on the page he appears there. Also, I'm assuming you know the settings for a person. Graphic to use: Any for the Character. Scripting: Message: (You don't even need this line, if you wish) Maybe something like "What the bloody hell do you want? An Outpost?" Show Choice: (Just Yes or No) Message: Something like "You Bloody Sure?" Show Choice: Yes or No Deduct the cost(Optional, if you wish to charge) Message: Something like "Bloody Well. It'll be done soon." Set Timer: Around 3-5 Minutes is good. Start Timer: Needs no Explaning, but I'd suggest showing the Timer. Kinda like a report of how soon it'll be done. Set Switch: Something like "Outpost 1 Made" Set Switch: Something like "New Option 1" Now, just make a new page for as many outposts, plus 1. Make each page Activate by the last switch, so the Second page would activate with "New Option 1". For each, copy this code, with new switchs at the end. On the Last page, make a message like "I'm bloody through with Outposts.". Now, comes the hard part. Mapping the Outposts. You know the drill. They can be anything. Even just a little shack out in the middle of no where. Don't make Entrances or Exits yet, though. Now, on the World Map, choose where you want the Outposts to be. Usually, next to cities that were saved is ideal. I personally enjoy using the Tower Tiles for this. Both need to be events. The Top of the Tower is usually just an event, above the character, that's activated by the Switch from the above Event, that one being "Outpost 1 Made". The Bottom is just built up from the settings of the top, so you can copy and paste, if you want. Just make the bottom under the character, and make it teleport you to the Outpost. Otherwise, it's just like the top. One thing you can do is to Transfer Characters there, to man it. Here's how that's done: 1: Choose the Characters that'll move. I'd say no more then 3 Characters per Outpost. Make a New page in the event for them at the HQ, make make it activate with the same switch that creates the outpost. Have the Graphic be transparent. 2: Make an Event at the Outpost that's the Character. The only switch you need on this Event is the switch that's tripped when the Character joins, since the Event at the HQ will disappear as soon as the Outpost is available, it's not needed to move the event, and if the Character isn't available, he won't appear there, and he will when he does join. Remember, Outposts are just like Mini-HQs that don't evolve, so you can put many of the things from my previous tutorial, as well as some from this tutorial into them. <>What the hell do you mean, We're outta gas?<> Ah yes, who can't remember the joy of soaring through the air, knowing that no one, except flying monsters, could reach you in your wonderful airship? But, alas, many of those Airships are owned by another person, who lets you borrow it during the game. Why settle for a normal Rent-a-Airship, when you could have your own Soaring Home? Like the idea of home Following you everywhere? Here's how: Now, first, there's the Design Process. Not much to this. Basiclly deciding what your AS(As I will refere to the AirShip), will look like, the Icon, yadda yadda. Although, you don't need a Actual AirShip. Think of how interesting it'd be if there was an Entire village on a Dragons back? Suddenly, the Dragon becomes an option. The HQ can be anything, from a real AirShip, to a Floating Island, to anything. That's all I really have to say on that subject. Now, comes the programing. Unfortunetly, you can't just put down an AirShip Start place and go from there. Nope. You almost need to program it yourself. Here's what you do: Put an Event on the World Map where you want the AS to be. On page 1, program this: Name of Event: (I don't know. 'Airship'? But, for this Tutorial, I will use 'AirshipHQ') Graphic: Whatever the Airships is. Below Hero Push Button Script: <>Erase Screen: Mosaic <>Variable Ch: <>Variable Ch: <>Variable Ch: <>Memorize BGM <>Teleport:(Let this teleport you to somewhere on the Airship, like the Bridge, or any other place) <>Change Switch:(Something like 'On Airship') <>Show Screen: Mosaic Now, on Page 2, do these: Switch: (Something like 'Airship Moves') Graphic: Transparent Below Hero Push Button Now, it's time for the Second Event for this Process. Put this somewhere, like, oh, say in the corner of the World Map. This one, as well, must be in the World Map. Name: (Doesn't matter. For this example, I'll use 'Core Event') Graphic: Transparent Parallel Process Below Hero Scripting: <>Fork Option: (Airship Moves - ON) (Add ELSE Case) <>Fork Option: (Vehicle: Airship) (Add ELSE Case) <> : ELSE Case <>Change Switch: (Airship Moves - OFF set) <>Change Vehicle Graphic: (Change the Airship graphic from the one you chose to the Lower Right Square in the Crown 7 Set) <>Variable Change: () <>Variable Change: () <>Move Event: (AirshipHQ: Escape from Hero) <>Set Place Event: (Event: AirshipHQ, By Variable: Airship X, Airship Y) : END Case <> : ELSE Case <> : END CASE This single event mostly controls the actions on the World Map. Where's the other 2 are mainly ingame functions, this is the one that controls them. Okay, 2 down, 1 to go. This next event is placed in the Airship, where you make the decisions to to fly or not. I leave everything but the scripting out, because it greatly depends on what kind of exit you have. Sometimes, it's a person, and sometimes, the option is presented when you stand on a certain tile, or talk to a person, or hell, even ask the AI of the ship to fly. Like I said, they change depending on Circumstances. Name:(Depends. For this Example, I'll call this Event 'Daedalus', after the AI that controls the Airship in one of my games) Scripting: <>Message: (Something like 'Do you wish to fly?') <>Show Choice: Yes/No(Cancel Case: Choose 2) : [Yes] Case <>Erase Screen: Fade-Out <>Setup Vehicle Place: (Airship: Map ID, Map X, Map Y) <>Goto Memorized Place: (Variables Map ID, Map X, Map Y) <>Change Switch: (Airship - ON Set) <>Change Vehicle Graphic: (Set the Airship to the Graphic you want to use for it) <>Ride Vehicle <>Wait: 1.5s. <>Show Screen: Fade-In. <> : [No] Case <> :END Case Okay, and now that's it! This event simply lets you choose, when you talk to the right person/thing, it lets you choose weather to leave the Airship or not. These three events let you enter the airship whenever you wish. But, there is one Drawback. You can't start the game on the Ship. If you do, then when you try to leave, the game'll crash, because it relies on the Coordinates of where the Character is when he enters it. There is one way to do it, and no, it doesn't require a hell of a lot of work. You must do this anytime you want to start on the Airship, be it the begining of the game, or your Character steals it and appears on it. Make an Exact Copy of the Airship Maps. Now, delete the Daedalus Event in the Airship, and make it so that when you first talk to it, it teleports you near an Area where the real Airship will appear. In that case, in the AirshipHQ event, make it appear when a Completely unrealted Switch is actived, named something like 'Gain Airship'. Now, when the Character talks to the Daedalus event in the One-Use Airship, it Teleports him to the side of the AirshipHQ Event. <>New Sub-Systems<> Well, it's that time of year again, and I've been playing around with Varibles and such, and I have found one interesting Tid Bit. <>Banking ain't always fun<> You can make banks. That acually store money. There are some things you should know about the difference between the Bank System and the Gem Dealing System. First off, in Fantasy Games, the bank really isn't realistic. I mean, even with magic, it's impossible to seriously create a magical banking system. In these cases, I truely believe Gem Dealing is the way to go. And even if you created a place at your HQ to store money, do you really want to have to go back there when your low on cash? As for Futuristic games, yeah, Banking is more realistic then Gem Dealing, so I'd say you use that with Futuristic Games. Just remember, you can't manually put in how much you want to deposit or withdraw. Not only that, but whatever the maker of the game has set for the Deposit limit, is all you can deposit. After you deposit that, you can only withdraw it. What kind of bank is that? But, if you wish to use it, here's how: The bank is only an Event with 2 pages. To make it available Multible Places, just copy this event and put it wherever you want it. Name of Event: (I'll use 'Bank') Page 1 Graphic: Whatever you're using for it. Push Key Same Level as Hero Script: <>Message: (Anything from "Would you like to deposit", to "Welcome to the ATM.") <>Show Choice: Yes/No (Cancel Case: Choose 2) [Yes Case] <>Change Variable: () <>Change Gold Held: () <>Change Switch: () <> [No Case] <>(A Message here, if you wish. But it's not needed) [End Case] <> Since Page 2 is similar, you can just copy this page and look through the Page 2 entry to find the changes. Page 2 Graphic: Same one as above Switch: 'Credit Deposit' - ON Push Key Same Level as Hero Script: <>Message: (Anything from "Would you like to Withdraw", to "Welcome to the ATM.") <>Show Choice: Yes/No (Cancel Case: Choose 2) [Yes Case] <>Change Variable: () <>Change Gold Held: () <>Change Switch: () <> [No Case] <>(A Message here, if you wish. But it's not needed) [End Case] <> Don't worry about changing switches or anything for each Bank event. Like I said, though. I wouldn't use this system. I just think it's way too limiting, espacily when you compare it to the Gem Dealing System, which can be used anywhere. Although, there is a futuristic Version of the Gem Dealing System, that I believe would work better then the Bank System. <>Chit? Don't you Swear at me<> Some people believe that, eventually, all money will be carried in a Credit Card type objects, so that Pays and such are automaticlly added to them. Now, we're gonna do something kinda similar. We're gotta make 'Credit Chit', that store money. Kinda like a Gift Certificate. These can be bought and sold at 'Chit Machines', that deduct that much money from you, and gives you a Credit Chit for an amount, like 5000 Credits. They can also be found in other places, like in Drawers and such. First, we need the Chits. In the Item Section, make an Item called, duh, Credit Chit. This is set up like this: Name: Credit Chit Classification: Common Goods Price: 2 Explanation: A Card that holds 5000 Credits This's all we need for the item. The reason for the low price is simple. People don't want to be caught with Chits that aren't theirs(Even if the Character bought it, who'll believe someone sold a 5000 credit chit for a credit?). Now, it's time for the Credit Chit Machine to be built. Remember, I'm just using this as an Example. This could very well be a new kind of banking in your world. Lets get to the programing! Name: I'll be using 'Credit Chit Machine' Graphic: Whatever you wish to use. Push Key Same Level as Character Scripting: <>Message: something like 'Welcome to the Credit Chit Machine! Please Choose one of the following!' <>Show Choice: Purchase Chits/Redeem Chits/Nevermind [Purchase Chits] Case <>Message: Something like "Chits come in amounts of 5000 Credits. Wish to Purchase one?" <>Show Choice: Yes/No [Yes] Case <>Fork Conditions: (Conditions: Page 1: Money: 5000: above, Add ELSE Case) <>Change Money: (Set: Decrease Money, Operand: Set: 5000) <>Change Item: (Set: Add Item, Add/Drop Item: Credit Chit, Operand: Set: 1) <>Message: Something like '1 Chit Bought' <> :ELSE Case <>Message: Something like 'Sorry. You don't have enough cash on you to purchase a Chit.' <> [No] Case <> :END Case <> [Redeem Chits] Case <>Fork Conditions: (Conditions: Page 2: Items: Credit Chit: Has it, Add ELSE Case) <>Change Item: (Set: Drop Item, Add/Drop Item: Credit Chit, Operand: Set: 1 <>Change Money: (Set: Increase Money, Operand: Set: 5000) <>Message: Something like '1 Chit has been Redeemed.' <> :ELSE Case <>Message: Something like 'Sorry. You don't have any Chits on you to Redeem.' <> :END Case <> [Nevermind] Case <> :END Case <> Now, just paste this wherever you want the Character to be able to Buy and Redeem Chits. Ta da, instant Cash. <>Special Thanks<> These are the people I thank: BlueBomberMan: For making a RPG Maker section to a gaming site. And letting me call him BlueBomber in my Series. GameMaster60 and Wong: My Fellow Gurus at X-Sages.com Every Member at X-Sages: For providing Names, and thinking I was insane when I asked if they wanted to be in my RPG. Konami: For accually making a decent Series of games. Jago: For seeing the talent in my work. Thanks man. <>Very Special Thanks<> Don Miguel: For translating RPG Maker 95 and 2000, and risking his neck with Ascii to do it. Gotta love the man(No, not like that). Igtenio, the Master and Creator of the HQ System