RPG Menus

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=95 BGCOLOR="#CC99CC" TEXT="#080000" background="006265f1ezuady.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Final Fantasy Chronicles News</B></FONT><B>  </B><B> </B><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Final Fantasy Chronicles News"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game Authoring Template"><U>Game Authoring Template</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Verge Neverending Story"><U>Verge Neverending Story</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Verge Vs Everything Else"><U>Verge Vs Everything Else</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Verge Versions"><U>Verge Versions</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Intro to Verge 2.5"><U>Intro to Verge 2.5</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bad Game Design"><U>Bad Game Design</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bad Game Design 2"><U>Bad Game Design 2</U></A>   |   <B>RPG Menus</B>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Medeval Demographics"><U>Medeval Demographics</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="V2k Info"><U>V2k Info</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Resources for the Verge Community"><U>Resources for the Verge Community</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="RPG Development"><U>RPG Development</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Map Technical Specs"><U>Map Technical Specs</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Avoiding Spagetti"><U>Avoiding Spagetti</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hicolor or Locolor"><U>Hicolor or Locolor</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Making Maps to the Verge Pallet"><U>Making Maps to the Verge Pallet</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Final Fantasy Bouncy Digits"><U>Final Fantasy Bouncy Digits</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Laws of Final Fantasy"><U>The Laws of Final Fantasy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Final Fantasy Case of the Invisible Pers"><U>Final Fantasy Case of the Invisible Person</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Grand List of RPG Cliches"><U>Grand List of RPG Cliches</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=385 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles"><U>Articles</U></A>   |    <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Final Fantasy Chronicles News"><U> home</U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game Authoring Template"><U>Game Authoring Template</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Verge Neverending Story"><U>Verge Neverending Story</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Verge Vs Everything Else"><U>Verge Vs Everything Else</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Verge Versions"><U>Verge Versions</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Intro to Verge 2.5"><U>Intro to Verge 2.5</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bad Game Design"><U>Bad Game Design</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bad Game Design 2"><U>Bad Game Design 2</U></A>   |   <B>RPG Menus</B>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Medeval Demographics"><U>Medeval Demographics</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="V2k Info"><U>V2k Info</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Resources for the Verge Community"><U>Resources for the Verge Community</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="RPG Development"><U>RPG Development</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Map Technical Specs"><U>Map Technical Specs</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Avoiding Spagetti"><U>Avoiding Spagetti</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hicolor or Locolor"><U>Hicolor or Locolor</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Making Maps to the Verge Pallet"><U>Making Maps to the Verge Pallet</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Final Fantasy Bouncy Digits"><U>Final Fantasy Bouncy Digits</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Laws of Final Fantasy"><U>The Laws of Final Fantasy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Final Fantasy Case of the Invisible Pers"><U>Final Fantasy Case of the Invisible Person</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Grand List of RPG Cliches"><U>Grand List of RPG Cliches</U></A></div> <div> RPG Menus</div> <div> One of the main parts about an RPG is the menu system. Why is it so important? Well to put it bluntly this is what your party depends on to live. Here you can equip weapons, use items, use magic, organize your party, view status conditions, etc. etc. It just depends on your imagination ;) So where do we begin?</div> <bR> <div> Well first we have to decide just what we want in our menu. This could be anything from Items to Status. It can also be something you've made up, whence the sentence above, "It just depends on your imagination." So let's write it down. To help you out here's a few things that could be in the menu.</div> <bR> <div> Items</div> <div> Equip</div> <div> Magic</div> <div> Status</div> <div> Save</div> <div> Order</div> <div> PHS <----Switch Party Members just in case you don't know ;)</div> <div> Job</div> <div> Ability</div> <div> Skills</div> <div> Tech</div> <bR> <div> So let's pick some, </div> <bR> <div> Items <--A definite MUST-HAVE in an RPG ;)</div> <div> Equip <--Another popular choice in a menu</div> <div> Magic <--Greatly useful if your party will learn spells</div> <div> Status <--Very common in RPG's</div> <div> PHS <--Another common choice for a menu, aka Switch</div> <div> Save <---Another must have in an RPG unless you have an autosave function. </div> <bR> <div> There, now we have a couple of basic selections you see in a lot of RPG menus. So where do we go from here?</div> <div> What do you want your menu to look like? While one of, if not the most, popular layouts is the Final Fantasy style, why not design your own? You'll feel better and probably get more respect if you have something original. ;) </div> <div> Now there are a couple of things worth considering before starting the actual design. </div> <div> Will you be displaying your parties current stats when you first enter? For Example: </div> <bR> <div> Charity LVL.3 Aryon LVL.4</div> <div> HP: 356/450 HP: 400/470</div> <div> MP: 40/50 MP: 43/65</div> <bR> <div> If so we have to compensate space in the design to fit this information. As well, you have to decide how many party members' current stats we will be showing. The more popular way to do this would be to only show the current members in your party, but then you have to figure out how many people can be in your party at one time ;) What about speech pics? They can be shown in the opening of your menu as well. Again, we have to compensate for this.</div> <bR> <div> Another thing to consider is will you be showing how long the player has been playing the game? (ie. Time: 10:32:34). A great way of displaying how long someone has been playing your game is to count the number of steps they have taken (ie. FF6). Or you could even do both =) What about money? Surely you’re going to allow your player to be able to purchase things in the game. ;) So it’s a good idea to show the amount of, whatever monetary unit your game uses, is currently possessed by the party.</div> <bR> <div> Now we're left with the actual design. Now you could go in and blindly code a bunch of rects and rectfills until you think it looks good, or you could open up your favourite(Writers note: I am Canadian this is how we spell it damn it! ;P) paint program and mess around. Both these methods work fine, but can (especially when coding) take awhile. The way I like to design a menu is to draw it out on paper first. That way, you can make little rough sketches of where everything will be placed, etc. A good solid approach would be to draw a large rectangle, and place other rectangles inside of your first, move them around in different sketches until you're satisfied with the layout. But why stop at rectangles? Try any shapes, circles are a good choice, I've never seen a triangular menu layout but hey! It could look good! ;) </div> <bR> <div> You can also use this guide when designing the sub-menu's. ie("Items, Equip, etc. etc.") It's always good to plan ahead before you attempt anything. =) Just think of three major keys when designing: </div> <bR> <div> 1. What do you want to display?</div> <div> 2. Where do you want to display it?</div> <div> 3. How much space will you need?</div> <bR> <div> That pretty much concludes the basics of designing an RPG menu. When you're ready to actually code your menu, I recommend you read H@tchet's "Making a Menu" article. It doesn't get into heavy material like building an inventory system, but it is a great way to learn how to make a working menu and can give you some ideas when tackling the sub-menu's.</div> <div> I hope this article helps when you feel it's time to design your menu. ^_^ Happy Gaming! =)</div> <bR> <div> Questions? Comments? Feel free to e-mail me.</div> <div> - Rysen <A HREF="mailto:rysen@rysensoft.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:rysen@rysensoft.com"><U>rysen@rysensoft.com</U></A>[]</div> <div> [<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.rysensoft.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.rysensoft.com"><U><U>http://www.rysensoft.com</U></U></A></FONT>]</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>