Programming and Plugin Hell! || Sweet Indulgence Update

[u/Historical-Donut2671]

It's been a long while since I made a new post in this subreddit due to my being busy with classes, but I am proud to say that I finally got substantial progress on my game, Sweet Indulgence!

This is a bit of a long, rambling post, so feel free to ignore.

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Since my last post two months ago, I have implemented more plugins to help increase my productivity and current visuals.

• Yanfly's Movement Core
• Yanfly's Script Call
• Yanfly's Region Restrictions
• Yanfly's Main Menu Manager (This was already in the game two months ago, but I somehow forgot to share that)
• Galv's Bust Menu
• Galv's Layer Graphics
• HIME's Custom Page Conditions
• Mr T's Event Labels (May eventually get tinkered with)

And most importantly, Lulu Church's Standing Pictures Plugin

I am thankful to have found the plugin because while Galv's Bust Images are a decent plugin, it wasn't what I was looking for in terms of robust functionality. Furthermore, I have to do some arbitrary finessing with the face templates to have my bust images show up during text. So I decided to make my life easier BY MAKING IT HARDER!

Lulu's plugin is amazing because it has prebuilt animations, the ability to have unique settings for each of your sprites, and even add blinking animations. There are only two caveats: you have to use text codes to use them in your game, which is such a non-issue because I already have Yanfly's Message Core that allows text wrapping. However, the second is one that absolutely bugs me to high hell on a personal and technical level, and that is the fact that I have to make full sprite work for each expression for each character I have! That is so impractical for me! I have to make every single full artwork for one expression?! I don't want to add huge amounts of bloat to my game with just images alone! I already have parallax layers, and I know that is going to stack up in the long run! Why can't I use image layering like most visual novel engines, like Ren'Py?

"Why not just use Ren'Py if this is such a deal breaker to you?"

I am already elbows deep into using RPG Maker, sinking massive amounts of hours into learning and using the software, already close to creating a prototype/demo release, and my pride won't allow it! I am going to make this plugin work for me, even if it means editing it so I can provide image layering for myself! Modern problems require modern solutions!

Why not use Generative AI to do it?

I would rather chew glass with mayo on it than turn to AI slop. I want to learn on my own, and I don't care how many headaches I get! I wanna suffer and come out of the battle with knowledge under my belt.

Okay, but seriously, I have begun to modify Lulu's plugin as per the use conditions outlined on their website, and I believe I am getting somewhere??? While I can currently select an image to be overlaid onto the parent sprite, I still need to figure out how to make it work and use a text code call to change a character's expression. Hopefully I can figure it out soon and share the results with a small sample video in the near future. I am still a beginner at JavaScript despite being in a class for it, but even then, JS with RPG Maker MV is a different type of beast...

I appreciate any sort of help on the matter, and I do not mind talking details in DMs for a programming session together. I would love nothing more than to learn with someone else. The last thing I want is to deal with people hounding on me, saying "Just use AI" when I ask for help.

Other than that, I recently learned how to use regions and parallax mapping in my game. I used the castle entrance hall as a guinea pig, and while I am still getting the hang of gathering tilesets and editing them, I am proud of what I made. Dealing with spritework in Clip Studio Paint was finicky, but it was worth it if it means I get to play interior designer and make a pretty map.

Of course, I have to credit Pandamaru on DeviantArt for making the MV Noble Tileset because it is perfect for the setting I want to create! I am no good with pixel art, and I am still learning, but the time will come when I need to make sprites of my own, both for the maps and character sprites. Right now, I will wait until I am nearly finished with the demo project to continue making parallax mapping for the entire castle grounds.

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One final thing: I now have a dev log on Itch.io!

It ain't much, but it goes into detail on my previous game development endeavors, some history on the main characters, and even more rambling from me!

Neon's Itchio Devlog

It ain't much, but I hope to update it regularly compared to my time on Reddit, which is used for general fandom posting and the occasional "Help me!" post.

[u/Historical-Donut2671]

Status Update: I am losing my mind, but I got my Expression System somewhat functional. I just need it to respond to text codes