Staffy's Guide to RPGM1 (For Newbies)

Chapter 2: Basic Programming
Article 3:
"Special Events and their uses"

In the last article we discussed page conditions and how, when used with proper switching, one can do just about anything in RPGM1. In this article I'm going to cover Special events, I call them this because they are not like normal events. The most common type you will ever use is the Treasure event. 

Treasure events are events that are different from "normal events" in two respects; first, their menu is set up differently, and second, they have no page conditions. This means that they can not be affected by switches. Another property of the Treasure event is that it only happens once. Once it is activated, that's it: there is no way to deactivate it.
Obviously this has some draw backs, but the Treasure event redeems itself because it does have event contents and being a one shot deal means that if you use them in the right way you ultimately will save on switches! There are four ways to use Treasure events that will make your game better.

1) The Obvious way is to put treasure in them. Or not. I like to get creative with my treasure events. Some times there is just one Gold in there, and some times there is more than one item. I even like to mix it up and put Gold, Items, and maybe even Food in one all at the same time! It's up to you. 

2) Custom battle triggers. This is a really advanced way of using the Treasure event, but because it's just so gosh darn simple I'm including it here. The basic idea would be that there are some "enemies" running around (you can set treasure events to move around surprisingly!) and once they are dead you can move on to another area or you get an item. this can be done through some more complex coding in the events contents, but if you want to have your game have non recurring enemies,  (like Earthbound or Chrono Trigger for example) this can be just the ticket!

3) Switches. Ha ha, no no, like the type you PULL. :p Seriously though, if you want to make a graphical representation of a switch that opens a door or causes an action, Treasure events are custom built for this sort of thing. Their "before and after" graphical properties make animating switches a snap!

4) The last way is less common and I don’t particularly suggest it because it limits what you can do, but you can use the treasure event to make things disappear. People, plants, rocks, whatever. They do stay gone, but it looks...kitschy, too suddenly see something blink out of existence. I think you would only want to utilize this to add some sort of effect to it and make it a cutscene teleport animation. This could only be applicable to NPC's though. That's really more of an advanced skill.

For now, (and for simplicity) only use Treasure events for switches/buttons and of course putting treasure in. ;)

The OTHER special events are Intro events. This is most likely the first event you will ever have to deal with as you start making your game. An intro event is one that executes AUTOMATICALY at the start of any dungeon. The obvious use for such a thing would be for changing things (such as screen color) on a global scale while you are in an area. They are also nice for triggering your opening cutscene. The only problem with them is they have a nasty habit of starting EVERY TIME YOU ENTER A DUNGEON. They can be turned off, but it requires a little more programming skill then you possess right now. However, it just so happens that it's the topic of my next article!

Ok. Now for the interactive part! Let's dust off that test dungeon and place a Treasure event. We'll start small, so open up the event contents and then go to "Inventory" in the popup menu. Now you will be presented with a choice:

Add item
Remove Item
$* 

Choose whatever is in the slot the $ is in. Now you will get a little window popup that looks like [+000000]. Here is where you enter the amount of ingame currency you wish to award. This also deals in negative numbers so make sure that there is a "+" sign in front of the zeros. Now all you need to do is use the D pad up or down to set the amount and once you are satisfied, confirm it as you would any command. Now here is where you can have some fun. It is important that you let the player know that he or she has just received some thing so you will need to set a sound effect or a message to let them know as much. I like to do both. It's up to you though. After you have finalized the event contents, go back out to the main part of the event and set up some parameters. You will need to set a start type and also a before and after graphic. This is pretty much a self explanatory process, but I will say that there are more combinations if before and after then you might expect. BE CREATIVE!
     


*(this may be different based on the parameters you set your monetary system to in the system data)

Next, in the final article of this chapter, we will learn about the "Take over to" command!