Making a fan game

[DeweyisOverrated]

I have the near full-script and direction for my fan game planned out.  Obviously, its a Chrono Trigger sequel.  My question mainly concerns what tools I should use.

Temporal Flux (i think) sounds intriguing... pros are that you'll already have a vast amount of the sprites and other things you'll need for the Chrono universe... but looking at screen shots of coding it seems that maybe its too complicated?

RPG Maker (whatever the hell build they have out now) seems to me to be more fit.  Maybe its easier to start from scratch than have to worry about rearranging everything?  And it seems plain out easier to use?

Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

One more note, I do have some basic programming experience.

[ZeaLitY]

It's up to you. I'll go down some of my pros and cons:

*Temporal Flux Pros*

-Crimson Echoes is blazing a trail with shotguns and machetes in terms of learning and teaching rom hacking.
-As you said, everything is ready to go. New areas, new maps, and all the CT sprites at your disposal.
-The Rom hack will be less than 4 megs big.
-Rom hackers and others will help your inquiries if you're willing to learn.

*Temporal Flux Cons*

-GFX editing and some other aspects of CT rom hacking still require good experience in the business, and maybe knowledge of ASM.
-Chance of corruption, and you're at the mercy of the latest version of TF and any bugs it might encounter. Backup often.
-You must plan it out to the letter sometimes.
-All the info regarding events and stuff is still mostly tied up in the minds of experienced rom hackers, and is only beginning to filter out into full blown tutorials.

Can't speak for RPGMakerXP. Being able to use any music you want rules. Plus, no character limit, blah blah. But you'll have to port CT's tiles in step by step, and its sprites.

[Ramsus]

Do you like programming? Are you captivated by solving difficult problems in elegant ways? Does understanding exactly what your computer does on a machine code level seem exciting? Are you a perfectionist?

If not, stay away from anything that involves a lot of code, even if you have some basic programming experience. The end results may be better, but it takes longer and the only way to stay interested is to have a sincere interest in programming and computers.

And Temporal Flux doesn't seem very complicated to me, just poorly documented and a little unrefined. If you don't mind working within the technical limitations of the original game, I'd suggest using it, since the end result will be smaller and can run on anything with an SNES emulator (not everyone uses Windows...). The biggest advantage is getting all of the original artwork and music, which is a big help considering how time consuming it is to make content.

Also, check out this tutorial set if you plan on rolling your own graphics.

[DarkGizmo]

I have Rpg Maker Xp and I must say it is pretty limited (or I suck alot), many option from rpg maker 2k seems to have been erased (like event height) and you need to get the sprites (there msut be alot out there?) and the titles sets seems really small for CT background.

[eternal_magus]

Temporal Flux is good for some things, but I strongly reccomend Rpg maker xp.

It has many features that would be extremely difficult if you were rom hacking, or using temporal flux. Sure, you'd have to get all the graphics yourself, but once you do making the game will be fast moving and pretty fun. Rpg maker XP has many features. The hardest thing would be getting a battle system that was like Chrono Trigger's. I know someone who is currently working on one for Rpg maker XP but I don't know when it will be complete.

My fan game, Chrono Void, is being made with rpg maker xp. It's very easy to use and I highly reccomend it

[Chickenlump]

Your choice of program and methods for making a fan game is up to you, and lots of people will play your game reguardless. The best of luck to you whichever route you choose.

Using the original ROM has more going for it than just "It has all the graphics already there".

*It has all the sound and music already there too.
*It has the same game engine everyone knows and loves
*It has the same FEEL while playing the game, that no RPG maker has yet to mimic


Other +'s for using TF over the others
*People will play the game using an emulator, making your game playable on a MUCH wider spread of computers and OS types, not including emulators for XBox, etc...
*People can play your game on their SNES's if they wish.

I'm sure there are LOADS of +'s for the other options as well, I'm just slightly biased, as every RPGMaker program I've ever played a game from felt nothing like the original, the timing was off, the music wasn't as good, the game physics in general were just off or unrecreatable, the list just went on and on...

If you plan on making a really different type of game, then in that case surely use one of those types of programs.

[DeweyisOverrated]

Edit: few questions on temporal flux... I managed to dl version1.1... is that the latest build?

Second, I unzipped the file, and I "apparently" dled that MSN 1.1 thing you need to run it (by clicking on the link and doing windows update saying that would install it) but checking my comp I don't have it installed, and TF doesn't work (naturally).  Anyone got a quickfix for this? (There's probably something I jsut have to switch on or something stupid like that.).  Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Lol!

hello all... I'm new here (well, kinda... I've never posted before)

I might have a third option for anyone who is interested.  

Check out www.gamemaker.nl

It is similar to RPG maker but has MUCH more flexibility.  The cons that come along with it is that more work is involved (don't know how the usability stacks up against TF, but the possibilities of gamemaker are greater)

Also, I've been working on building a "engine" (so to speak) for my own planned fan game (which will probably not get off the ground because of other obligations).  Whether or not that happens, I do plan to finish at least a demonstation of the engine.

I might even be willing to help someone out with their project...

[Fogg]

The previous post was made by me...

stupid login thingy...

[BlueThunder]

I am thinking of making a game about what happens after all the games. I could!

[kickacecrono0091]

I don't know about Flux, or RPGMXP, but dont get RPGM2k3. You have to use their premade sprites, and you can't change the coloring, so the character choices for the game are limited. Not one of the sprites looks like a character from Chrono Trigger. Theres a Magus looking one, but he doesnt have a battle animation thing, so you cant use him really. (The sprite is meant to be a villian to fight, not to fight with, and you can't use the villian animations for the heroes.) There's also a Crono one, but with brown hair, which is wear the no color change thing comes into play. Anyway it's up to you.

[Anonymous]

RPG MAker XP is powerful, but buggy. Rm2k3 is very good for making simple rpgs, but is limited. I suggest just using C++ qnd some freeware game engine