Inspiration Behind Visual Novel Series

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Introduction This article aims to explain the mindset and inspiration behind each of the volumes in the Visual Novel series. Visual Novel Volume 1 The Visual Novel series begins here. We focus on drawing out the inherent important tools useful for visual novels that can still be used for regular RPG projects without feeling out of place. Extended Message Functionality This is an article written by Irina. The plugin is inspired by the desire to bring the functionality commonly found in visual novels and modern RPGs into traditional RPG Maker games. Visual novels often have features like auto-forwarding text, fast forward options, and the ability to save and load during messages. By incorporating these features into RPG Maker MZ, the plugin allows game developers to create a more immersive and interactive storytelling experience for players. Auto-forwarding messages after a set amount of time and extended fast forward options make reading through dialogue more efficient. The message cursor provides a visual indicator of the message progress, aiding players in keeping track of where they left off. These enhancements aim to create a smoother and more enjoyable reading experience for players, keeping them immersed in the narrative. The plugin is designed with compatibility in mind, allowing for seamless integration with other plugins. This provides a solid foundation for game developers to build upon and expand the functionality of the message system in unique ways. By using the Extended Message Functionality plugin as a base, game developers can combine it with other features and plugins to create even more immersive and interactive storytelling experiences tailored to their specific game concepts. Message Log This is an article written by Irina. The plugin is inspired by the desire to provide players with a convenient way to revisit text that they may have missed or want to review. In a fast-paced game environment, it's not uncommon for players to accidentally skip or overlook important information conveyed through dialogues or text boxes. By implementing the Message Log, players can easily access and review past messages without the need to reload scenes or interact with NPCs again. This feature ensures that players can catch up on crucial details and stay engaged with the game's narrative. The Message Log plugin aims to enhance the player's experience by allowing them to review the log and remember where they left off, even after loading a saved game file. This feature enables players to quickly refresh their memory on the storyline, objectives, or character interactions, helping them seamlessly resume their progress without confusion or frustration. By providing this convenient tool, the plugin enhances the overall gameplay experience and reduces potential frustration from forgetting important details. Message Visibility This is an article written by Irina. The plugin is inspired by the desire to provide players with the option to toggle off the message window, allowing them to fully appreciate and immerse themselves in the onscreen graphics such as pictures, parallaxes, and backgrounds. By hiding the message window, players can enjoy a clear and unobstructed view of the visual elements before them, ensuring that the artwork and visual design of the game are not marred by the presence of a text window. This feature caters to players who value the aesthetic aspects of the game and desire a more immersive visual experience. For games that feature CG artwork or detailed visuals, the Message Visibility plugin becomes even more essential. It allows players to toggle off the message window specifically to appreciate and focus on the intricate details and artistic aspects of the game's artwork. This feature recognizes the importance of showcasing the game's visual assets and provides players with the flexibility to appreciate them fully without any distractions. It caters to players who have a strong appreciation for the game's artwork and want to engage with it in a more immersive and unobstructed manner. Additionally, the ability to run Common Events when hiding or showing the message window allows for further customization, enabling developers to manage other windows that may not be covered automatically by the plugin. This feature empowers game developers to tailor the message system to their specific game design and enhance the overall visual presentation. Visual Novel Volume 2 With volume 2 of the Visual Novel series, began working on the more intricate features found in visual novels. Where volume 1 focused on features that can appear in many RPGs without question, volume 2 focuses on features that are seen more with actual visual novels. Visual Novel Picture Busts This is an article written by Irina. One of the main inspirations behind this plugin is to offer a simpler and more user-friendly method for managing Picture Busts in RPG Maker MZ. Using the built-in event commands like "Show Picture" and "Move Picture" to create Picture Busts can be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially when trying to recreate the style of Visual Novels. This plugin streamlines the process by providing Plugin Commands specifically designed for Picture Bust usage, allowing for quick and easy manipulation of the visuals and properties of the Picture Busts. The Visual Novel Picture Busts plugin aims to enhance the storytelling capabilities of RPG Maker MZ by enabling developers to create dynamic and expressive cutscenes. By utilizing the Plugin Commands, developers can easily switch between different expressions or poses, change graphics, and apply various visual effects to the Picture Busts. This versatility allows for the creation of engaging narratives and brings characters to life in a manner reminiscent of Visual Novels. The plugin was originally developed for RPG Maker MV and has been improved for RPG Maker MZ. The inspiration behind the enhancements made for the MZ version was to provide greater control and functionality. By focusing on Plugin Commands instead of text codes, developers have more precise control over the Picture Busts, allowing for seamless integration into the game without the need for complex scripting or event setups. Message Keywords This is an article written by Irina. The plugin draws inspiration from the need to provide players with contextual reminders and explanations about important terms or concepts within the game. By assigning keywords to specific terms or proper nouns, the plugin enables players to hover over these keywords and access tooltip windows that provide additional information or lore explanations. This feature is particularly useful for games with rich lore or complex terminology, allowing players to easily refresh their memory or delve deeper into the game world's lore. Inspiration for the plugin also comes from the desire to condense lengthy and intricate mechanics explanations into concise keywords. Similar to how trading card games like Magic: The Gathering utilize keywords to represent complex abilities or rules, the Message Keywords plugin allows game developers to create keywords that represent specific game mechanics. When players encounter these keywords within the game's Help Window or other relevant windows, they can access tooltip windows that provide detailed explanations of the mechanics, promoting better understanding and engagement with the game's systems. Attached Pictures This is an article written by Irina. One of the main inspirations behind the Attached Pictures plugin is to provide game developers with a flexible system for displaying busts and creating dynamic facial expressions. By allowing the attachment of smaller graphics, such as different facial features or expressions, to blank busts, developers can create a diverse range of emotional combinations without the need for separate full-sized pictures for each expression. This approach offers efficiency in terms of asset management while still allowing for expressive and vivid character portrayals. The plugin also draws inspiration from the desire to add visual effects to busts or other pictures in a more dynamic and fluid manner. By attaching additional pictures to a target picture, developers can create interactive effects that move and respond to the target picture's properties. This opens up possibilities for creating visually stunning animations, special effects, or other captivating visual elements that add depth and liveliness to the game's presentation. Visual Novel Volume 3 The third volume of the Visual Novel series focuses on adding other tools used in visual novels or story-driven games that add feeling to a game. Animated Message Text Effects This is an article written by Irina. One of the main inspirations behind the Animated Message Text Effects plugin is the desire to add depth and emotion to the text displayed in the Message Window. By animating the text, developers can convey the intended tone more effectively, allowing players to connect with the characters and story on a deeper level. Drawing inspiration from games like Undertale, where animated text adds a unique charm and personality to the dialogue, the plugin provides a range of effects to enhance the emotional impact of the text. Animated text effects offer a powerful tool for characterizing and storytelling. By utilizing effects like staggering, shivering, swinging, and glowing, developers can imbue the text with the traits and characteristics of the speaker. This allows for a more immersive and engaging narrative experience, where the text itself becomes a visual representation of the character's emotions, intentions, or surroundings. The Animated Message Text Effects plugin is designed to provide developers with creative freedom and customization options. With over 40 custom text effects and the ability to create their own, developers can tailor the visual presentation of the text to suit their specific artistic vision. This flexibility allows for the creation of unique text effects that align with the game's aesthetic and storytelling style. Visual Cutin Effect This is an article written by Irina. The Visual Cutin Effect plugin was originally created in RPG Maker MV and has been improved upon for RPG Maker MZ. The inspiration for the plugin came from the desire to enhance the visual impact of scenes and provide more control over the cutin effects. The transition to RPG Maker MZ allows for expanded shape variety, increased control options, and streamlined accessibility through plugin commands. The primary inspiration behind the Visual Cutin Effect plugin is to add impact and focus to important moments in the game. Whether it's to emphasize a specific character, create anticipation for an action sequence, or convey a particular mood, visual cutins have the ability to captivate players and enhance the overall experience. By selecting from the 20 different cutin styles and their variations, developers can choose the most suitable visual representation to achieve their desired effect. Visual cutins are also inspired by the desire to portray communication between characters in a visually engaging way. They can be used to depict conversations, skits, or interactions, allowing players to immerse themselves in the dynamics of the game world. By combining the selected cutin style with background colors, parallax images, and character portraits, developers can create compelling and dynamic scenes that bring the characters to life. CG Gallery This is an article written by Irina. One of the primary inspirations for the CG Gallery plugin is the gallery feature commonly found in visual novels. Many visual novels showcase stunning artwork, and players often have the desire to revisit and appreciate these visuals outside of the main gameplay. The CG Gallery plugin allows developers to recreate this functionality, providing players with a dedicated scene where they can view and enjoy the artwork they have encountered during their playthrough. The CG Gallery plugin also draws inspiration from the desire to evoke a sense of nostalgia and allow players to revisit fond memories associated with the game. By providing a space where players can review and reminisce about the artwork they have encountered during the story, the CG Gallery adds an additional layer of engagement and connection to the game's visuals. It allows players to take a trip down memory lane and relive the moments they have experienced, fostering a deeper appreciation for the game. The CG Gallery plugin is designed to cater to players who have a strong affinity for the artwork in the game. By allowing players to view the artwork individually, zoom in and out, and move the pictures, the plugin enhances the player's ability to appreciate the finer details and artistic elements of the images. The addition of text descriptions and artist credits further enhances the overall experience, providing context and recognition for the artwork. Visual Novel Volume 4 The Visual Novel series plugins finally get into voice acting. Voice acting has been such a staple for the visual novel genre that it's only a matter of time before we see plugins made for it for RPG Maker MZ. Voice Acting Control This is an article written by Irina. If you've added voice acting to your game to elevate the storytelling experience, you may have noticed that RPG Maker MZ lacks certain functionalities necessary for a smooth voice acting implementation. With Voice Acting Control, we sought to bridge this gap and provide you with the tools needed to masterfully manage voice acting in your game. One of the primary features of Voice Acting Control is the addition of a separate audio volume channel dedicated specifically to voice acting. This means that players can now adjust the voice volume independently from other audio elements, ensuring a personalized audio experience tailored to their preferences. Whether players wish to immerse themselves in the dialogue with crystal-clear voices or set the volume to their desired level, Voice Acting Control offers the flexibility to cater to individual tastes. Through Plugin Commands, game developers gain complete control over playing specific sound files as voice tracks. This grants the freedom to synchronize voice acting with character dialogues, cutscenes, and important events, to control audio channels when needed. Furthermore, the plugin parameters facilitate the automatic setup of sound files as voice tracks, seamlessly integrating them into the voice audio channel, even when using the PlaySE event command. Voice Acting Control also introduces text codes designed to trigger voice sounds when new pages appear in the Message Window. These page-related voice lines can be replayed with ease, thanks to the replay button added to the Message Window. This feature allows players to revisit important voice lines or simply indulge in the captivating performances of the voice actors. Battle Voices This is an article written by Irina. With Battle Voices, you gain control over the vocal performances of your actors and enemies during battles, adding a layer of audio-feedback to the gameplay. We set out to create a solution that not only offers an extensive range of voice lines for various battle scenarios but also provides the flexibility to customize voice sets to suit your game's unique needs. We have used many other RPG Maker MZ battle voice plugins and they didn't have the features we wanted for battle voices so we decided to create our own. Our focus on variety and flexibility allows you to craft a unique and immersive auditory experience for your players, ensuring they stay captivated throughout their adventure. One of the features of Battle Voices is the creation of battle voice sets that can be seamlessly applied to both actors and enemies. Through the convenient Plugin Parameters, you can craft personalized voice sets, reducing the clutter in the noteboxes of your characters and adversaries. Additionally, enemies with different trait variations can have distinct voice sets, allowing for more nuanced and engaging encounters. Battle Voices allows a myriad of voice lines to be available for various battle situations. From uttering battle cries at the start of combat to celebrating victories and dealing with escapes, each situation offers multiple randomly selected voice lines, ensuring battles remain dynamic and free from monotony. The plugin also takes into account different types of actions, such as basic attacks, guarding, and skill usage, providing specific voice lines tailored to these actions, giving each character a unique voice on the battlefield. To enhance the auditory experience, Battle Voices incorporates the play of additional lines upon performing actions, landing critical hits, or defeating enemies. The plugin is intelligently designed to differentiate voice lines based on the amount of damage or healing received, as well as whether the battler is guarding. Moreover, buffs, debuffs, and states all have dedicated voice lines for their application and removal, further enriching the tactical aspects of battles. Side Chatter This is an article written by Irina. Inspired by modern JRPGs, Side Chatter offers a fresh approach to delivering side conversations and interactions without disrupting gameplay. With Side Chatter, you can easily add your desired text and expressive face graphics to bring characters to life. The plugin also allows for the inclusion of sound effects, enabling the addition of voice acting to give each dialogue entry a distinct voice. One of the features of Side Chatter is the option to set delays before the dialogue appears, providing a sense of timing without complex wait commands. This ensures that the dialogue entries feel natural and fluid, enhancing the overall pacing of the storytelling. Side Chatter offers flexibility in placement, allowing you to choose between the left or right side of the screen for the dialogue to appear. This ensures seamless integration with your game's unique aesthetics and layout. While other similar plugins exist, Side Chatter aims to provide variations and enhancements that cater to different storytelling styles and preferences. Its diverse set of tools empowers game developers to craft captivating and immersive narrative experiences, keeping players engaged throughout their journey. Ending Statements And that concludes this article. Happy RPG Making! End of File