Auto-Revive Items
by SiliconHero

Hello, reader. I've set up another simple tutorial to help you make your RM2K games more
exciting. This one will deal with automatic reviving items ---ones that bring your heroes
back to life if they should die in combat, such as the Reverse Doll in Star Ocean 2.

First, create an item called "Reverse Doll" in your Item database, and set its type to
"Other", so that it can be equipped by your users. Next, create a switch named
"ReverseDollAlex" (I'm using the default character's name for the purpose of this
tutorial), and make an equal number of switches that correspond to the number of people
who can use this item. That means, if you have six people who can equip the Reverse Doll,
then you should make six "ReverseDoll****" switches (**** being the name of the hero).

For the third step, you'll need to use one of your Common Events. Create a new one called
"Equipment Check". We'll need to use this function to see if your characters have the
Reverse Doll Item equipped. Set its function to Parallel Process so that it constantly runs
in the background. In the Equipment Check event, set up a Fork condition that checks to see
if your character is equipped with the Reverse Doll, and make it turn on the
"ReverseDoll****" switch if the hero is equipped, or turn it off if it is not equipped.
The fork will look something like this:

<>FORK Optn: Alex - Reverse Doll equipped
 <>Change Switch: [0001-ReverseDollAlex] - ON Set
 <>
<>ELSE Case
 <>Change Switch: [0001-ReverseDollAlex] - OFF Set
 <>
<>END Case

As with the switches, create an equal number of fork conditions that correspond to the
number of heroes who can use the item.

And now, the final step - adding the Reverse Doll events to the battle menus. First, using
a blank page, set the Trigger to be when the hero's HP reaches 0 (i.e. s/he has died).
Now, create a Fork Condition that checks to see if the "ReverseDollAlex" switch is on.
Inside that fork, you'll want to display a message that says something like
"The Reverse Doll saved Alex's life, then fell to pieces." After that, remove the Dead
condition from the affected character, recover his/her health fully, then remove the item,
and finally turn the switch off. It'll look like this at the end:

Trigger: Hero[Alex] HP[0]%

<>FORK Optn: Switch [0001-ReverseDollAlex] - ON
 <>Messg: "The Reverse Doll saved Alex's life, then fell to pieces."
 <>Condition: Alex Dead Cancel
 <>Recover: Alex - Full Recovery
 <>Equipment: Alex - Other Empty (this function will remove the Reverse Doll)
 <>Add/Remove Item: Reverse Doll 1 Decr. (will remove the item from your inventory, since
   it has been used already)
 <>Change Switch: [0001-ReverseDollAlex] - OFF Set
<>END Case

Again, be sure to create an equal number of pages for each hero in your game (and don't
forget to change the above information to match the next hero!).

This should give you a functional Reverse Doll item, saving your heroes from utter death
during a tough boss fight. There is one problem with this, however...you'll need at least
two living party members for your Reverse Doll to work. Otherwise, when your last hero
gets killed, you'll lose the battle and the game. It's a problem with the RPG Maker 2000
engine that hasn't yet been fixed. Sorry... :( 

And that's the end of this tutorial. If you have any questions or comments, e-mail me at
mega_man_digger@msn.com or siliconhero@barrysworld.com.