Inspiration Behind The Waves Plugins

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Introduction This is an article written by Yanfly. The Waves plugin series are the first batch of plugins published by team VisuStella MZ. These primarily focused on the essentials for RPG Maker MZ and the types of plugins general RPG Maker MZ projects would use. Here, I will talk about the thoughts, inspirations, and core ideas that went into the creation of each one of these plugin waves. We have split up these plugins across 8 waves, each released in a batch after some time. Use the knowledge however you see fit. Wave 1 Core Engine Battle Core Main Menu Core Message Core Events & Movement Core Items & Equips Core Skills & States Core Elements & Status Menu Core Save Core Options Core The idea behind Wave 1 of the VisuStella MZ plugin library is to create all of the cores needed for the typical RPG Maker MZ project to function. These cores contain everything from modifying the base scripts for RPG Maker MZ, to adjusting the battle system, items, equips, skills, states, saving, the game's menus, etc. We have also decided to make these the best we can by adding in many popular plugin features from Yanfly Engine Plugins, and Olivia's ,Irina's, and Arisu's MV libraries. These became super cores as coined by a few members of the community. And that's essentially what they are. In my years of providing my script and plugin services to more than hundreds of creators across the community and having peered into many of their games, I've taken note of what plugins are "staples" for the typical RPG Maker project. These "staples" are also decided through data and analytics. The VisuStella MZ cores having contained all these features allow for a few things: They will save the time of whoever is using them by installing all the common features at once. They will serve as the code foundation for future extension plugins by creating bridging functions that connect everything together. They will be able to cover anywhere from 80% to 90% of what a game developer needs for the typical RPG Maker project. Without a doubt, the plugins that we have created for Wave 1 can easily be considered the VisuStella MZ library's best plugins. We have also decided to keep this wave free. Or rather, that was me since Olivia, Irina, and Arisu were screaming about making it cost something since we put in so much hard work for it. But alas, I had a promise to keep. As to keeping them free, I believe that we can use this to allow the RPG Maker community a good foundation when using RPG Maker MZ, which, in my opinion, is the best iteration of RPG Maker thusfar. Wave 2 Debugger VisuStella MZ Dragonbones Union VisuStella MZ Victory Aftermath VisuStella MZ Button Common Events VisuStella MZ Quest Journal System VisuStella MZ Visual State Effects VisuStella MZ Picture Common Events VisuStella MZ Party System VisuStella MZ Skill Cooldowns VisuStella MZ Gab Window VisuStella MZ Wave 2 is where VisuStella MZ's luxury and paid plugins begin. Any features that we would deem to be essential across the majority of RPG Maker projects would be added to the cores as updated features while new mechanics and functions that are not relevant across all projects would be found here and future waves as luxury plugins. The common theme across wave 2 is that there isn't any except that they were the most downloaded plugins by analytics and various metrics alone. These analytics and metrics prove to be true even with VisuStella MZ's statistics. Amongst the most downloaded plugins of Yanfly Engine Plugins that wasn't a part of the Wave 1 Cores, these were it and they would make for a great start for Wave 2. Any experienced RPG Maker developer can quickly take a look at these and understand why they're some of the most downloaded plugins for RPG Maker projects as a whole. The Debugger is extremely useful for playtesting. Dragonbones Union allows for the usage of non-sprite animations created by Ækashics that breathe life into the game. Victory Aftermath is heavily used because of how lackluster the default victory sequence is, but we opted for Olivia's version of it as it is cleaner and requires less button clicks (the most common complaint for the Yanfly Engine Plugins variant). Button Common Events allows for game developers to add in more functionality for their map scene. Quest Journal System for logging quests throughout the games. Visual State Effects for adding that extra oomf to states. Picture Common Events for adding more intractability with pictures. The Party System because the default RPG Maker party swapping system suuuuuuuuuuucks. Skill Cooldowns because MMORPG's and online games made them cool. Gab Window because it's a great way to add character interactions. Wave 3 Battle System - ATB VisuStella MZ Action Sequence Camera VisuStella MZ Weapon Unleash VisuStella MZ Aggro Control System VisuStella MZ Battle AI VisuStella MZ Animated Map Destination VisuStella MZ Grid-Free Doodads VisuStella MZ Life State Effects VisuStella MZ Extra Enemy Drops VisuStella MZ Wave 3 is our continuation of converting the Yanfly Engine Plugins library's over to VisuStella MZ. Most features are converted easily, but the VisuStella MZ team decided to update each of these plugins to be more robust and have new features to them. This is also to take advantage of the newer and improved Plugin Command system added through RPG Maker MZ in addition to taking advantage of RPG Maker MZ's new and improved performance. The way we decided the plugins this time around were also based on popularity. And just like with Wave 2, it's not hard to see why some of these were picked: Many of you took a look at Battle System - ATB and laughed because TPB is a thing by default in RPG Maker MZ. Then proceeded to soon learn that default TPB is absolutely lacking in so many ways in terms of mechanics and consistency. But all the more, the Battle System - ATB has appeal in how it is more inspired by Grandia's ATB than Final Fantasy's ATB. Action Sequence Camera adds camera control functionality to the action sequences utilized by the Battle Core. We opted to keep these separate from the Battle Core as there are often game devs who want to use another plugin developer's camera system for the battle system while still using the Battle Core and this would allow for the least clashes. Weapon Unleash because so many of you are Golden Sun fans and aren't sorry about it. Aggro Control System for your Taunt, Aggro, and Provoke effects. Battle AI because good golly, there's no way to make enemies specifically heal targets missing HP without plugin assistance. Animated Map Destination since the default touch anchor animation is just a blinking white square. Grid-Free Doodads because it allows you to express your off-grid tile creativity without having to create parallax maps. Life State Effects for the most popular and common Lunatic Pack effects that people love to use. Extra Enemy Drops because just dropping three items is lame. Also, the item drop animations by Irina are so satisfying to look at. Wave 4 Battle System - CTB VisuStella MZ Enemy Levels VisuStella MZ Proximity Compass VisuStella MZ Enhanced TP System VisuStella MZ Auto Skill Triggers VisuStella MZ Animated Pictures VisuStella MZ Item Crafting System VisuStella MZ Anti-Damage Barriers VisuStella MZ Credits Page VisuStella MZ Wave 4 is when team VisuStella MZ started getting its rhythm. We started getting used to the framework and work flow of making plugins for RPG Maker MZ. On top of that, we have been figuring out how to translate major plugins like Battle System - CTB over to RPG Maker MZ and have it integrate well with the base code. All in all though, the choices for this wave's plugins are split between 50% popularity and 50% based on what Final Fantasy X used for its game's features. Battle System - CTB uses RPG Maker MZ's TPB as a base if only for consistency. We abandoned the Yanfly Engine Plugins library's CTB battle system format that used Final Fantasy Tactics as a base and instead, used an updated version of Final Fantasy X for turn structure. Enemy Levels is a strangely popular plugin for the Yanfly Engine Plugins. Probably because it allows for better stat scaling and reduces the headache needed to figure out what stats should be used for what level. Proximity Compass is a popular plugin of Olivia's and its MV version saw lots of downloads. We later added a minimap system to this plugin for more functionality. Enhanced TP System is akin to Final Fantasy X's overdrive modes so we decided to add it here from Yanfly Engine Plugins. Auto Skill Triggers is a new plugin that we used to replicate enemy behaviors found in Final Fantasy X that respond to certain actions. Animated Pictures is another popular plugin of Olivia's and we also ported that from the MV version. Item Crafting System should be pretty obvious as to why it's a popular pick. Every AAA game loves a good crafting system and so do many game developers. Anti-Damage Barriers is a much requested mechanic to be brought over from Yanfly Engine Plugins. We decided to expand it and gave you all a large variety of barriers and not just damage barriers, but also barriers that were found from the Tips & Tricks effects that I've made for MV. Credits Page was later added to this wave to give all available waves a minimum of 9 plugins since this and Wave 8 had only 8 plugins at the time. Wave 5 Battle System - STB VisuStella MZ Weapon Animation VisuStella MZ Weakness Popups VisuStella MZ Skill Learn System VisuStella MZ Action Sequence Impact VisuStella MZ Database Inheritance VisuStella MZ Horror Effects VisuStella MZ Steal Items VisuStella MZ Encounter Effects VisuStella MZ Text Wave 6 Battle System - BTB VisuStella MZ Message Letter Sounds VisuStella MZ Battle Cursor VisuStella MZ Class Change System VisuStella MZ Action Sequence Projectiles VisuStella MZ Combat Log VisuStella MZ Bright Effects VisuStella MZ New Game Plus VisuStella MZ Menu Cursor VisuStella MZ Text Wave 7 Battle System - FTB VisuStella MZ State Tooltips VisuStella MZ Visual Item Inventory VisuStella MZ Common Event Menu VisuStella MZ Visual Text Window VisuStella MZ Visual Fogs VisuStella MZ Equipment Set Bonuses VisuStella MZ Limited Skill Uses VisuStella MZ Visual Parallaxes VisuStella MZ Text Wave 8 Battle System - OTB VisuStella MZ Weakness Display VisuStella MZ Break Shields VisuStella MZ Weapon Swap System VisuStella MZ Boost Action VisuStella MZ Skill Containers VisuStella MZ Visual Battle Environment VisuStella MZ Sideview Battle UI VisuStella MZ Patch Notes VisuStella MZ Text Ending Statements Text End of File